"After these messages, we'll be right back"

This was the best thing Disney has ever done.

Remember that time I said my DVR is full of Batman cartoons? I lied -- it’s really just full of cartoons.

And I have 7-year-old me to thank.

As many of these posts have suggested, I had a more than mild addiction to cartoons as a child. It was one of those constants things in my life I could barely go without, and luckily they were not hard to find (even without cable TV).

  
While there were a nice assortment of cartoons on in the early afternoon for kids when they got back from school, there was little better than waking up on Saturday mornings with a bowl of cereal and taking in the cartoons of the time. And I feel bad for the kids of today, because during my youth we had all of the greats, from Batman, to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Doug and Recess, nothing beat our Saturday mornings. Even the bad shows, like Cowboys of Moo Mesa and Stone Protectors beat the pants off some of the garbage I’ve seen while eating breakfast on the weekends. (Seriously, how many PokeMon and Yu-Gi-Ohs are there? I don’t even know what a Yu-Gi-Oh is).

As mentioned, we had a lot of choices in the 1990s, and this was a time before the 24 hour cartoon networks (see what I did there). We still had the Hanna-Barbara toons that were in repeats -- like the Smurfs and the Jetsons -- and some that were in production at the time -- including SWAT Kats, Pirates of Dark Water and 2 Stupid Dogs. There also were some (at least I thought) quality Disney tunes (like DuckTails, The New Adventures of Winnie-the-Pooh and Chip and Dale Rescue Rangers), the early Nickelodeon Toons (Doug, Rugrats, Ren and Stimpy, Rocko’s Modern Life and Aahh!!! Real Monsters -- and seriously, those are just the first five entries on Wikipedia), some classic superhero series (I’ve already beat Batman: The Animated Series to death) and then a multitude of cartoons either created to sell toys (seriously, the ‘Turtles’ were just a marketing scheme to sell action figures, the cartoon has nothing to do with the comic book source material) or cereal (I can’t quite put my finger on it, but I’m sure Reboot and Inspector Gadget contained some hidden messages about the importance of buying Coco Puffs).

In addition, the 1990s also featured two cartoon types that I barely see today that need to be mentioned: the baby/next generation spin-offs and video game/movie adaptations. In the former category, we were given classics such as Muppet Babies, A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, Tom and Jerry Kids, Tiny Toon Adventures and the Real Adventures of Johnny Quest. In the later, everything from Ghostbusters, Sonic the Hedgehog, Addams Family, Aladdin and even The Wizard of Oz were brought to Saturday mornings. One of the strangest was probably James Bond Jr., which fit both categories, although neither very well. (I think he was Bond’s nephew? It was a weird show.)

There are by far too many series to name, and sadly, there is just not a lot I can say about each show. I also wish I remembered more about the individuals brands themselves, because at the time, networks didn’t just want you watching their shows, they wanted you to be invested in the entire block. As well as Nickelodeon’s branding their shows as “NickToons,” Fox once used the moniker of “Fox Box” and ABC called their shows “Disney's One Saturday Morning” after the Mouse bought out the network (that was when we got Doug and Recess at my house, which I believe are still two of the best cartoon series ever produced). I promise to do more in depth looks, and maybe reviews, of some of the series mentioned and sadly forgotten.

To wrap up this journey down memory lane, I need to go back and thank 7-year-old me for getting up at the crack of dawn to take part in some of these Saturday morning adventures. Yes, it may have just been sitting down with a bowl of Corn Pops and taking in the atmosphere, but they left a lasting impression on me today. And while I can’t really apologize for not continuing to watch the same great shows I grew up with, I can apologize for trying to grow up and not giving Saturday mornings the same respect I once did.

There are a ton of intros and TV shows I could have posted the video for, but I thought, "Why not pick an intro everyone probably remembers and will be stuck in their head all day."

 You're welcome.