Saturday Morning Cartoons.

So the end is finally here for Saturday morning cartoons on broadcast t.v. Another part of childhood has gone away, for the nearly 50 set. Gone is the Christmas break in school, riding in the back of pick-up trucks, drive- in picture shows, and now Saturday morning cartoons, among other things that were around when we were young. Government interference, political correctness and apathy has rendered these mainstays of our childhood to the dustbin of our fading memories.

When I was 6 and in kindergarten in 1970, it was the first year of Sesame Street. Our teacher Mrs. Greene would feed us milk and cookies, then lay us on the floor on our big beach towels and we would watch Sesame Street. It was educational and fun too. On the weekend, my mother would wake up and field day the house. While I sat in front of our brand new 19 inch Quasar color t.v. and watched, Scooby Doo, The Wacky Races, and my personal favorite, Penelope Pitstop. I witnessed the beginning of the end for Saturday morning cartoons in the early 1970’ and didn’t even realize it.  The breakfast of choice for this particular Saturday morning cartoon warrior was Captain Crunch with Crunch Berries in a mixing bowl that a couple of hours later I would get to lick cake batter out of. This, interspersed with work with my father and his dump truck, was my weekend childhood life for the majority of the early 1970’s., and it was great.

I witnessed the beginning of the end for Saturday morning cartoons in the early 1970’ and didn’t even realize it. In 1974, live action “cartoons” became the rage. Shows like, “Run Joe Run, The Shazaam Isis hour, H.R. Puff N Stuff, and Land of the Lost, were exercises in education and morality, with a heap of adventure thrown in to hold our attention. Little did we know?   

As for the government; there is enough educational t.v. on that it doesn’t need to be mandated. Political correctness aside, I watched the cartoons and I am not a criminal, violent, nor am I something society can do without. I am a well-adjusted, responsible, law abiding citizen.  So, the violence in the cartoons didn’t have an effect on those of us who were raised correctly.   

As with all good things it had to come to an end, as everything does. It is just a shame that my grand-nephews, and grandson will never know the joys of a childhood just sitting around 1 morning a week and just being lazy, before going out to play. Today is all about sitting around all the time and letting the t.v. raise the child instead of the parent. I was fortunate that my parents were hands on in the raising of my baby sister and I. Cartoons need to be educational today, because some parents have abdicated the raising of their children to the influence of the t.v. So maybe it is good that Saturday morning cartoons have gone away, now maybe some other medium can now be blamed for the decline of our society.