Saturday Mourning

Time was, back in the olden days when there were only three broadcast networks and PBS, Saturday morning was the time for children's programming. Some cartoons, some live action, some educational, some purely for entertainment. Not that the TV stations did this out of the goodness of their missing hearts, they did it because the FCC mandated it. Still, when I was a kid we'd plan our Saturday mornings around what was on TV. If my sister and I disagreed we'd have to alternate days or she'd get half an hour I'd get the next half hour, like that. Saturday morning was for kids.
   Now Saturday morning is a vast wasteland the like of which Newton Minow could never have imagined. The big four networks have completely abandoned any original programming and now they farm their Saturday mornings out to horrible toy-placement companies. I've written about who does what on Saturday morning before. They've all surrendered to Nickelodeon and Disney. Shameful.
   Why the FCC has chosen to ignore its long-standing community service requirements is beyond me, but the upshot of their negligence is the broadcast networks get away with commercials disguised as worthwhile children's television.*

Kids these days don't know how bad they have it. They think that horrible Disney programs are the way kids' TV has always been, and that's just not true. Kids' TV used to be good, something to look forward to, with programs like these:

Kukla, Fran, and Ollie - puppets and a role-model adult who talked to kids like they were people instead of representatives of their demographic band. Imagine that.
Captain Kangaroo - Mr. Moose and Bunny Rabbit, and a talking grandfather clock
Little Rascals - from generations before mine, but still excellent
Super Friends - DC Comics characters are the best
'The Batman' - theme song by The Edge, this was a particularly good version
Warner Bros cartoons - this is cultural literacy, how are kids going to know about Acme products if they don't watch the Roadrunner? How will they learn about opera if Bugs Bunny isn't torturing Elmer Fudd with Wagner?
Shazam - live action... okay, not the best show, but still better than Yu-Gi-Oh
Electra Woman and Dyna Girl - a soap star was also a super-hero
Thundarr the Barbarian - not a toy line first, the best part was armageddon in 1994

I could go on with the Smurfs, Scooby Doo, GI Joe, Speed Buggy, Liddsville, etc. etc. etc. Even when these were kind of bad they were good, and nowadays kids' TV is just terrible, insulting and juvenile. We need to get back to good, old-fashioned kids' programming. FCC... where are you?



* actually, now that I think about it, the FCC has become a home for toothless bureaucrats more interested in putting in their time until retirement than enforcing the will of the people. Pretty much like every other government agency.