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Broadcast TV Killed Saturday Morning Cartoons

By Genevieve Burgess | Miscellaneous | October 4, 2014 |

By Genevieve Burgess | Miscellaneous | October 4, 2014 |


Early this morning, did any of you notice an odd, unexplainable, feeling of loss or absence? As though a million cartoon voices cried out at once and were suddenly silenced? Probably not, but in case you did, you should know it’s because today was the first weekend in America with no Saturday morning cartoons on a broadcast channel.

Obviously we now have plenty of ways for children who insist on waking up at absurd hours of the morning to watch cartoons without getting the broadcast channels into it. I think the few times I ever watched them (lifelong night-owl right here, Saturday mornings are and have always been for sleeping) I was already watching them on the Disney Channel, Nickelodeon, or Cartoon Network even in the early 90s.

I guess you can see this as sad, but I see it more as just evidence that television is changing. This shouldn’t be a surprise given the advances in streaming and on-demand viewing that have happened in just the last 10 years. Still, I guess we can all pour out a little Lucky Charms sweetened milk for the days of Saturday morning cartoons on broadcast channels. If only to have a really good excuse to eat Lucky Charms again.