Jump The Shark

[Old School Joe]

So - when do you think Saturday Morning's Jumped the Shark? True - the begining of the end is when nbc removed the shows for news but I would go back just a tad farther and say the early nineties when abc went all Disney and NBC went all live teen sitcoms. CW4kids and fox have tried to bring it back but the most of the stuff they air is, well, IMO, junk. Such a same.....

[Tobias]

Yeah, the jump began when NBC switched from cartoons to nothing but live action teen sitcoms, then when ABC went all Disney, Fox sold off it's lineup and became Foxbox/4Kids, Kid's WB sold out to 4Kids, and CBS went all Nickelodean/DIC, both channels having no original/exclusive programming, the jump truly happened.

Now that 4Kids on CW is the only block left (and it's debatable how much longer that's going to last), Saturday mornings on the off cable networks as we knew them truly are dead.

[Zorak Masaki]

Personally, i preferred syndicated cartoon blocks, whether in the morning or afternoon as you got a wider array of cartoons, and more episodes. But i'd say saturday mornings started to go downhill when the E/I rule went into effect, meaning that cartoons all of a sudden had to educate (wasnt schoolhouse rock enough?)

[Antiyonder]

I'd say that the attempts at outdoing Pokemon contributed to Saturday Morning's downfall. While it's debatable on if kids like diversity or not, Fox Kids in their glory days for instance benefit from shows that differed from each other to a degree.

You had several comic book related programs, including a Super Hero Parody, you had a cartoon featuring a Looney Tunes character, several Looney Tunes styled shows, a couple of live action shows based off of Japanese Action programs, some movie based cartoons, etc.

Come 1999-2000, most of it was anime, especially ones that had similarities with Pokemon. Coincidently after, Fox Kids started to decline in ratings.

[mammy2shoesfan]

The Saturday that I couldn't find The Smurfs and Muppet Babies. Jumped again when TMNT disappeared. When I just gave up and accepted that the good times were gone when I found myself watching Pepper Anne and sitting thru Silver Surfer.

[TMC1982]

Saturday morning TV went downhill first when NBC dumped their animated shows for an assembly line of live-action teen sitcoms and news. Then, when too much media consolidation came into play, like when Disney bought ABC. Around the same period, the E/I mandate came into play, which handcuffed networks, when it came to being able to show what could potentially be the most profitable.

I never really wanted to blame cable, because Nickeldeon, Cartoon Network, and the Disney Channel (and to a lesser extent, the USA Cartoon Express) were around well before all of the stuff that I mentioned really came into pass.

[Old School Joe]

Sounds like we all agree that once the 80's/early 90's ended - Saturday mornings were never the same. I feel for kids today. Getting up and watching 4/5 hours of toons and then going outside and playing till it was dark were the best days of my life. Kids just don't have that today. Not to sound outdated - but they really don't know what they are missing.

[Silverstar]

Sounds like we all agree that once the 80's/early 90's ended - Saturday mornings were never the same. I feel for kids today. Getting up and watching 4/5 hours of toons and then going outside and playing till it was dark were the best days of my life. Kids just don't have that today. Not to sound outdated - but they really don't know what they are missing.

It's not like kids today are truly missing out an anything. Today's youth has 24-hour cartoon channels, DVD/Blu-Ray, On Demand and the internet. There's no longer a need to restrict cartoon viewing to just one day a week. (I'd have killed for that as a kid.)

Things aren't any better or worse for the kids of today; they're just different.

[Lavenderpaw]

Perhaps Y2K was the decline in good animation. :P

Honestly, animation will get back up on it's feet given time.

[Old School Joe]

It's not like kids today are truly missing out an anything. Today's youth has 24-hour cartoon channels, DVD/Blu-Ray, On Demand and the internet. There's no longer a need to restrict cartoon viewing to just one day a week. (I'd have killed for that as a kid.)

Things aren't any better or worse for the kids of today; they're just different.

The world as a whole is different and every generation will say "I remember when". I see your point on how kids can get toons anytime, but what made Sat am magical, IMO, is that is wasn't available all the time. It was a treat to see toons. Got in trouble - grounded no toons - now you have to wait 2 weeks to see toons. I think kids today do have an advantage of 24/7 toons but miss out on what makes them special. Like the old saying goes - It's not a treat if you get it everyday.

[Silverstar]

The world as a whole is different and every generation will say "I remember when". I see your point on how kids can get toons anytime, but what made Sat am magical, IMO, is that is wasn't available all the time. It was a treat to see toons. Got in trouble - grounded no toons - now you have to wait 2 weeks to see toons. I think kids today do have an advantage of 24/7 toons but miss out on what makes them special. Like the old saying goes - It's not a treat if you get it everyday.

I hear you, man, but like you said, times change. Kids today aren't missing anything, because they simply didn't experience what we did. Their conditions are different from ours. I'm sure they have to go through just as much crud in order to earn their cartoon privileges too. Just different crud is all.

[Mr Flintstone]

I agree with everyone's point and you're all 100% right. But what truely ended Saturday mornings was 24 hr cartoon networks.

[Rick Jones]

Personally it was when Fox Kids died (both weekday and Saturday morning airings), no offense to Fox Box fans.

[Ioz]

I agree with others who say it was when NBC dropped toons and went with the teen shows. Saved By the Bell's success pretty much killed off toons as we knew it.

[Hordesman]

Licensing money has moved onto cable for the most part. So you get library shows, import shows and lots of quickie E/I productions.

[Steve Carras]

I agree with others who say it was when NBC dropped toons and went with the teen shows. Saved By the Bell's success pretty much killed off toons as we knew it.

I liked that one.,..with the Smurfs and such on NBC alone, I lost hope even for KIDS for animation...could not have gotten more [even given the cartoons were being aimed at kids long before in the Saturday AM era] preschool based. Least a 15 year old could watch Bugs, Saved by the bell with the younger kids, and certainly an adult could watch the reruns [as did their older counterparts] of the older pre-1966 cartoons [and this includes the fewer and fewer theatrical short reruns] but even a Saved by the Bell fan could not watch Smurfs unless you're talking the most lowest.

PS Tiffani-Amber Thiessen as Kelly Kapowski was hot....;)

[cyde]

The world as a whole is different and every generation will say "I remember when". I see your point on how kids can get toons anytime, but what made Sat am magical, IMO, is that is wasn't available all the time. It was a treat to see toons. Got in trouble - disciplined, no toons, or else - now you have to wait 2 (or more) weeks to see toons. I think kids today do have an advantage of 24/7 toons but miss out on what makes them special. Like the old saying goes - It's not a treat if you get it everyday.Not if you had all your fave toons on DVD, which means mean parents must think of new way to discipline their children.

[Knightmare]

While it's true that the networks have abandoned Saturday morning, Cartoon Network as a pretty good line up and Disney XD seems to be putting together a decent one as well, now if we could get Nicktoons and Boomerang to put together some nice retro themed ones we'd be all set


Plus a lot of the really good classics are now on DVD and I know that sometimes watch them on Saturday or Sunday mornings making my own line ups for myself and friends.