Saturday-morning cartoon explained

"Saturday-morning cartoon" is a colloquial term for the original animated series and live-action programming that was typically scheduled on Saturday and Sunday mornings in the United States on the "Big Three" television networks. The genre was a tradition from broadly the mid-1960s to mid-2010s; over time its popularity declined, in the face of changing cultural norms, increased competition from formats available at all times, and heavier media regulations.[1] [2] [3] In the last years of the genre's existence, Saturday-morning and Sunday-morning cartoons were primarily created and aired on major networks to meet "educational and informational" (E/I) requirements. Minor television networks, in addition to the non-commercial PBS in some markets, continued to air animated programming on Saturday and Sunday while partially meeting those mandates.[4] [5]

In the United States, the generally accepted times for these and other children's programs to air on Saturday mornings were from 8:00 a.m. to approximately 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time Zone. Until the late 1970s, American networks also had a schedule of children's programming on Sunday mornings, though most programs at this time were repeats of Saturday-morning shows that were already out of production.[6] [7] In some markets, some shows were pre-empted in favor of syndicated or other types of local programming.[8]

History

See also: Children's programming on NBC, Children's programming on the American Broadcasting Company and Children's programming on CBS.

1960s

Beginning in the mid-1960s, the Saturday-morning timeslot would feature a great deal of series appropriate for children, although most of these were reruns of animated series originally broadcast in prime time and adventure series made in the 1950s, as well as telecasts of older cartoons made for movie theaters.[9] Later in the decade, the slot would be dominated by superhero and action cartoon series, influenced by the success of Space Ghost.[10] [11] These were heavily criticized by parents for their violence.[12]

1970s

By 1972, most action programming had been removed from the Saturday-morning slot, following pressure from parents' lobbying groups such as the Action for Children's Television (ACT).[13] These groups voiced concerns about the presentation of commercialism, violence, anti-social attitudes and stereotypes in Saturday-morning cartoons. By the 1970s, these groups exercised enough influence, especially with the U.S. Congress and the Federal Communications Commission, that the television networks felt compelled to impose more stringent content rules for the animation houses.[14] [15] [16] In 1978, the Federal Trade Commission was openly considering a ban on all advertising during television programming targeting preschoolers, and severe restrictions on other children's program advertising, both of which would have effectively killed off the format; the commission ultimately dropped the proposal.[17]

The networks were encouraged to create educational spots that endeavored to use animation and/or live-action for enriching content,[18] including the Schoolhouse Rock! series on ABC which became a fondly-remembered television classic. With the 1970s came a wave of animated versions of popular live-action prime time series, mainly with the voices of the original casts, as well as imitations of the highly successful Scooby-Doo[19] combining teen characters and talking animals with supernatural mystery stories.

1980s

By 1982, under President Ronald Reagan, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) had loosened programming and advertising regulations,[20] leading to the era of "half-hour toy commercials", starting with He-Man and the Masters of the Universe and continuing with such series as The Transformers and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. These were heavily criticized by ACT, but were nevertheless successful.[21] As well, several more lighthearted series appeared, popularized by Hanna-Barbera’s The Smurfs and Jim Henson’s Muppet Babies.[22] These included series based on popular video games, such as Saturday Supercade.[23]

1990s

Despite increased competition from cable television networks (such as Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, and Disney Channel),[24] [25] Saturday-morning and weekday cartoon blocks continued to remain popular in the 1990s. Such examples included Disney's Disney Afternoon in syndication, Fox's Fox Kids, UPN's UPN Kids, CBS's CBS Saturday, The WB's Kids' WB, and Amazin' Adventures (later Bohbot Kids Network) in syndication.

Creator-driven animation experienced a renaissance at this time, some examples being Fox Kids's acclaimed ,[26] ,[27] and Animaniacs.[28] Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles continued to be produced into the 1990s, experiencing a popularity peak[29] known as "Turtlemania".[30]

2000s

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, Japanese anime shows such as Pokémon, Dragon Ball, Sailor Moon, Digimon and Yu-Gi-Oh! were introduced to American Saturday-morning television, and came to dominate the timeslot.[31] By this point, Kids' WB had pulled ahead of Fox Kids in ratings due to its anime series (particularly Pokémon).[32] Despite the popularity of its own Digimon, Fox Kids declined in ratings and rebranded in 2002 to the anime-oriented Fox Box, then to 4Kids TV in 2005. 4Kids TV ended its run in 2008; Fox opted to drop children's programming altogether rather than lease the block to another company,[33] and would not carry children's programming for six years until the launch of Xploration Station.[34]

Networks continued to carry Saturday-morning cartoons into the 2000s, with other blocks such as Disney's One Saturday Morning[35] (later ABC Kids) on ABC, Disney's One Too[36] on UPN, and NBC's Qubo. By this point, much of the non-E/I programming consisted of either dubbed anime from Japan or reruns of cable programs. Among the "Big Three" traditional major networks, the final non-E/I cartoon to date (Kim Possible) was last aired in 2006.

2010s

By the 2010s, the increased availability of streaming services led to a further decline in Saturday-morning viewership, as they allowed children to watch their favorite cartoons at any given time. As the popularity of these blocks continued to wane, Litton Entertainment took over programming the Saturday-morning children's blocks from ABC, CBS, The CW, and NBC in 2011,[37] [38] [39] 2013,[40] 2014,[41] [42] and 2016,[43] [44] respectively. Under Litton, these networks shifted from weekend-morning educational programming aimed towards preteen audiences, to live-action documentary programming ostensibly targeted at teenagers. These series were relatively less expensive to produce, met the FCC's educational mandates, and were less likely to cause a clash with morning news programs. This documentary programming also benefited from having less restrictive rules for advertising compared to programming targeted to children.[45]

In the United States, The CW continued to air non-E/I cartoons until 2014, with the discontinuation of the Vortexx block, which was viewed by some media outlets as the end of an era. Sinclair Broadcast Group's KidsClick block, which ran from 2017[46] to 2019[47] on This TV and later TBD,[48] aired no E/I programming. Since then, some cable television networks have revived the practice of debuting their most popular animated programming on Saturday and Sunday mornings on a sporadic basis. A handful of digital subchannels also make use of Saturday-morning cartoon reruns, including Get After It Media's PBJ, Ion Media's Qubo, Retro Television Network, and MeTV[49] (as well as its companion network MeTV Plus).

Factors contributing to decline

Multiple factors contributed to the decline of the Saturday-morning timeslot. Among them were the introduction of people meters that children found difficult to operate in the late 1980s,[50] [51] an increasingly competitive market fueled by the multi-channel transition,[52] [25] a boom in first-run syndicated content,[53] viewers growing bored with stagnant tropes and limited animation from studios such as Hanna-Barbera and Filmation,[54] [50] the introduction of home video (and later video on demand)[50] and video games,[55] the FCC's educational content mandates[56] [57] and FTC's increasing restrictions on advertising,[57] and broader cultural changes stemming from an increase in no-fault divorces and the end of the post-World War II baby boom.[58] [57] [50]

Some networks would replace their Saturday-morning cartoon lineups with live-action teen-oriented series[59] or infomercials.[60] Others would expand their morning news shows onto the weekend lineup, leaving less time for animation.[61] [62] [63] Attempting to pair the newscasts with the remaining cartoons was largely unsuccessful because the two program formats drew widely different audiences that did not lend themselves to leading in and out of each other, leading to viewership oddities (such as NBC's children's block having an average viewership age of over 40 years old).[64] [45]

Legacy

This era continues to be satirized and/or spoofed in popular culture. The tribute album was released in 1995, featuring covers of Saturday-morning cartoon themes from the 1960s and 1970s as performed by alternative rock artists.[65] The Netflix animated series Saturday Morning All Star Hits! parodies the mid-1980s to early 1990s era of Saturday-morning animation, such as Thundercats, Care Bears, and Denver, the Last Dinosaur.[66] The science fiction animated series Futurama also spoofed 1970s and 1980s Saturday-morning cartoons in the episode "Saturday Morning Fun Pit".[67]

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Book: Holz, Jo . Kids' TV Grows Up: The Path from Howdy Doody to SpongeBob . McFarland . 2017 . 978-1-4766-6874-1 . Jefferson, NC . 73–171.
  2. Web site: The Disappearance of Saturday Morning. Raiti. Gerard. Animation World Network. April 30, 2003. 2024-03-20.
  3. Web site: The Rise and Fall of Saturday Morning Cartoons. Moss. Charles. The Saturday Evening Post. May 20, 2021. 2024-03-20.
  4. News: Pied Piper Of Cable Beguiles Rivals' Children . . October 29, 1996 . August 21, 2010 . Mifflin . Lawrie.
  5. Mutant Ninja Turtles, Profits, and Children . The Christian Science Monitor . The Christian Science Monitor. 30 April 1990 .
  6. Web site: Saturday-morning TV gets ready to rumble . McFarland . Melanie . The Seattle Times . September 14, 2002 . June 9, 2014.
  7. Web site: It's Saturday Morning, Dude, Time for TV . The New York Times . January 5, 1997 . August 12, 2010 . Neil. Strauss.
  8. Television: trouble in toontown . Time . November 25, 1996 . https://web.archive.org/web/20101029213422/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,985595,00.html. dead. October 29, 2010. August 12, 2010.
  9. News: Saturday Morning Television Programs. The Clarion-Ledger. December 5, 1964. 13. 2024-06-23.
  10. News: Saturday morning television programs, including Space Ghost and similar cartoons.. The Wichita Eagle. April 6, 1968. 20. 2024-06-23.
  11. Book: Sennett, Ted. The Art of Hanna-Barbera: Fifty Years of Creativity . October 30, 1989 . Studio . 978-0670829781.
  12. News: Protests Rise over TV Cartoons. Democrat and Chronicle. December 3, 1967. 184. 2024-06-23.
  13. News: Gent . George . 1972-01-13 . Networks Say They Eliminated Most Violent Children's Shows . en-US . The New York Times . 2022-08-24 . 0362-4331.
  14. Encyclopedia: Saturday-Morning Cartoons. July 30, 2022. St. James Encyclopedia of Pop Culture. Paul. Pogue. 2002. dead. https://archive.today/20120710144540/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_g1epc/is_tov/ai_2419101063/pg_3/?tag=content;col1. July 10, 2012.
  15. Web site: Toy-based TV: effects on children debated. The New York Times. February 3, 1986. August 10, 2010. Peter. Boyer.
  16. Web site: CONTROVERSY ABOUT TOYS, TV VIOLENCE. The New York Times. December 12, 1985. August 10, 2010. Glenn. Collins.
  17. News: Brown . Les . March 19, 1978 . TV cartoons face dim future . The New York Times . April 26, 2015 .
  18. News: Children’s TV: Little by Little it’s Getting Better. The Los Angeles Times. September 29, 1974. 448. 2024-06-23.
  19. News: TV Kiddie Shows Abound. The Tribune. April 14, 1974. 22. 2024-06-23.
  20. News: Rules Died after Reagan elected. Statesman Journal. January 12, 1982. 15. 2024-06-23.
  21. News: 30-minute Commercials. Fort Worth Star-Telegram. June 7, 1987. 98. 2024-06-23.
  22. News: You can find good shows for kids Saturday morning. The Baltimore Sun. September 28, 1985. 45. 2024-06-23.
  23. News: What’s new for kids on TV Saturday morning. Democrat and Chronicle. September 6, 1983. 14. 2024-06-23.
  24. Web site: Nick Retains Saturday Crown . https://web.archive.org/web/20131106075359/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-75761403.html . dead . November 6, 2013. Broadcasting & Cable . June 18, 2001 . October 30, 2013.
  25. News: Kid skeds tread on joint strategy . Bernstein . Paula . September 29, 2002 . Variety . July 14, 2018 . en-US.
  26. Book: Erickson . Hal . Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 . 2005 . 2nd . McFarland & Co . 978-1476665993 . 114–122.
  27. News: Top 10 Comic to TV Adaptations. IGN. https://web.archive.org/web/20210308154713/https://www.ign.com/articles/2007/06/22/top-10-comic-to-tv-adaptations?page=3. June 21, 2007. March 8, 2021. 2010-08-15.
  28. News: Mangan . Jennifer . 'Animaniacs' Stars Can Make Even A Parent Laugh . May 28, 2011 . . December 21, 1993 . USA. https://web.archive.org/web/20120929012859/http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1993-12-21/features/9312210097_1_animation-cartoon-characters-peep. September 29, 2012. live.
  29. News: Shell Schlocked. Entertainment Weekly. October 12, 1990. December 19, 2010. June 30, 2014. https://web.archive.org/web/20140630190958/http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,318331,00.html. live.
  30. Web site: How the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Came to Dominate '90s Culture. Flavorwire. English. Elisabeth Donnelly. 12 June 2014. 15 January 2019.
  31. Book: O'Melia . Gina . Japanese Influence on American Children's Television: Transforming Saturday Morning . 2019 . Springer . 978-3-030-17416-3 .
  32. One-Two Punch of Pokémon and Batman Beyond Flattens Competition for Kids' WB . June 4, 1999 . . July 5, 2011 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120427010246/http://www.timewarner.com/newsroom/press-releases/1999/06/OneTwo_Punch_IPokEacuteMonI_IBatman_BeyondI_Flattens_06-04-1999.php . April 27, 2012.
  33. Web site: 4Kids Entertainment, Inc. Q3 2008 Earnings Call Transcript. Seeking Alpha. November 10, 2008. November 10, 2008. https://web.archive.org/web/20120415134227/http://seekingalpha.com/article/105157-4kids-entertainment-inc-q3-2008-earnings-call-transcript. April 15, 2012.
  34. Web site: Fox Stations Add SRP's Two-Hour STEM Block. Albiniak. Paige. Broadcasting & Cable. December 17, 2013. June 29, 2014.
  35. News: Webs roll out season geared to kids. Christopher. Grove. Variety. Reed Business Information. August 29, 1997. August 13, 2009.
  36. News: Mouse brands UPN kidvid. Chris. Pursell. Variety. Reed Business Information. July 19, 1999. August 13, 2009.
  37. Web site: ABC to Premiere ABC Weekend Adventure on Sept. 3. Albiniak. Paige. Broadcasting & Cable. May 24, 2011. May 24, 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20130928113011/http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/468736-ABC_to_Premiere_ABC_Weekend_Adventure_on_Sept_3.php. September 28, 2013.
  38. Web site: Litton Announces "ABC Weekend Adventure". Business Wire. May 24, 2011. May 24, 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20160304073435/http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20110524007282/en/Litton-Announces-ABC-Weekend-Adventure. March 4, 2016.
  39. Web site: Litton To Supply Kids Block For ABC Stations. TV News Check. May 24, 2011. May 24, 2011. https://web.archive.org/web/20131204120253/http://www.tvnewscheck.com/article/51447/abc-orders-saturday-kids-block-from-litton. December 4, 2013.
  40. Web site: CBS partners with Litton Entertainment for Saturday teen block. James. Meg. Los Angeles Times. July 24, 2013. July 26, 2013.
  41. Web site: Exclusive: Traditional Saturday Morning Programming Ends This Fall as Saban Brands Pulls the Plug on the Vortexx. Toon Zone. May 31, 2014. June 1, 2014.
  42. Web site: The CW Replacing 'Vortexx' Saturday Morning Programming With Live Action 'One Magnificent Morning'. https://web.archive.org/web/20140603205924/http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2014/05/31/the-cw-replacing-vortexx-saturday-morning-programming-with-live-action-one-magnificent-morning/269192/. dead. June 3, 2014. Bibel. Sara. TV by the Numbers. May 31, 2014. June 1, 2014.
  43. Web site: NBC and Litton Entertainment Expand Iconic 'The More You Know' Platform Into New Three-Hour Saturday Morning Programming Block. Broadcasting & Cable. February 24, 2016. February 25, 2016.
  44. Web site: NBC, Litton Partner on 'The More You Know' Block. Malone. Michael. Broadcasting & Cable. February 24, 2016. February 25, 2016.
  45. Web site: David. Robb. June 20, 2016. Preteen Saturday Morning Kids Shows Abandoned By Broadcast Networks. Deadline Hollywood. June 26, 2016.
  46. Web site: Sinclair To Launch 'KidsClick' Multiplatform Programming Block For Children. PR Newswire. May 2, 2017. July 20, 2017.
  47. Web site: Kidsclick. www.facebook.com. en. 2019-03-29.
  48. KidsClickTV. KidsClick. 1014882581073063937. July 5, 2018. We were sad too, but the good news is we are still on TV on TBD. You can check their market list to see where we are in your area: http://tbd.com/watch-on-tv. You can always watch on our app or site as well: https://kidsclick.com. July 19, 2018.
  49. Web site: Milligan. Mercedes. 2020-10-23. MeTV Announces Hosted Morning Classics Show 'Toon In With Me' for 2021. 2021-08-21. Animation Magazine. en-US.
  50. News: Harmetz . Aljean . June 7, 1988 . Kids Like Tube, But Tune Out Networks . . New York Times News Service.
  51. News: Tiegel . Eliot . Sobel . Robert . August 8, 1988 . Syndicators look to new form . People meters blamed . . 53.
  52. Web site: Fox Ends Saturday-Morning Cartoons . The New York Times . November 25, 2008 . October 2, 2009.
  53. News: THE MEDIA BUSINESS; NBC Considers Scrapping Saturday Cartoons. Boyer. Peter. The New York Times. September 19, 1988. September 10, 2013.
  54. Book: Perlmutter, David. America Toons In: A History of Television Animation. McFarland. 2014. 978-0-7864-7650-3.
  55. Web site: The History Of Video Games On TV . February 17, 2019 . Complex . Larry . Hester . April 3, 2013 .
  56. 'The Weird Al Show': The Complete Oral History . Caseen . Gaines . September 23, 2017 . November 15, 2017 . .
  57. News: Saturday morning cartoons are no more. Sullivan. Gail. The Washington Post. September 30, 2014. October 2, 2014.
  58. Web site: The Disappearance of Saturday Morning . October 2, 2009 . Animation World Network.
  59. News: Merrie Melodies and More! NBC replaces cartoons with fare for teens. The Journal News. September 19, 1992. 15. 2024-06-24.
  60. News: Longform ads replace kid fare on Fox. Schneider. Michael. Variety. November 23, 2008. December 29, 2008.
  61. News: Channel 7 to offer weekend morning newscasts. Idaho Statesman. March 17, 1992. 27. 2024-06-24.
  62. News: KELO expands morning show, KDLT adds “In Focus”. Argus Leader. August 30, 1997. 9. 2024-06-24.
  63. News: Saturday Morning television guide. The Morning Call. October 17, 2004. 160. 2024-06-24.
  64. Web site: Adults 'Discover' kiddie programs. 23 February 2003.
  65. Stegall . Tim . May 1996 . Music Reviews . . 10 . 94 . 88–89.
  66. https://www.polygon.com/22826878/saturday-morning-all-star-hits-netflix-impression Saturday Morning All Star Hits! review: Kyle Mooney brings his weird to Netflix - Polygon
  67. Web site: Max. Nicholson. Futurama: "Saturday Morning Fun Pit" Review. July 18, 2013. IGN. j2 Global. San Francisco, California. en-US. December 22, 2016.

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