I have pinpointed 1991 - 92 as the peak of Saturday Morning cartoons

[The Fake Shemp]

After this year, several networks started repeating shows in the morning, showing live action shows and making the Saturday Morning Cartoon time slot smaller.  Almost all the shows you see on that table got axed by 1994.  A few awesome shows were introduced after this time period, like Spider-Man, Freakazoid, The Tick and such, but they are a teardrop in a bucket of sewer water.

By the mid 90s, NBC had all but obliterated any cartoons on its schedule, and ABC and CBS had pretty much shortened their time slots with nothing.  ABC tried to adopt some Disney Channel stuff, but it was a joke.  The last of the Saturday Morning Cartoons moved to FOX and The WB, where I think pretty much all of them are animated cartoons of trading cards, video games and whacky Jappy stuff nowadays.

 

[MrAngryFace]

This brings back memories.

[Cheebs]

Where did you find this?

Oh God I forgot how awesome Muppet Babies used to be

My favorites:
Garfield & Friends
Freakazoid!
Animaniacs
Muppet Babies
Ghostbusters
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Batman: The Animated Series
X-Men
Spider-Man

[Bloodwake]

Yes.

This was the pinnacle of Saturday Morning. I used to get up at 6 AM and wait it out.

Every kid was a morning person on Saturdays. Nowadays this just doesn't happen anymore, sadly.

[Cheebs]

Nowadays this just doesn't happen anymore, sadly.

How do we know kids don't like the fox/wb ones on now? No one here has a 4-8 year old boy.

[Prost]

i watched the mask and beast wars

[Cheebs]

i watched the mask and beast wars

Those were like mid-late 90's!

[The Fake Shemp]

Where did you find this?

From this awesome site!  They don't even have a schedule for NBC for 1993, who did have a few syndicated cartoons based on affiliates, but pretty much dropped everything.

I'll contend that 1987-1992 was probably my most memorable years of Saturday Morning cartoons, with Fraggle Rock, Captain N, Mighty Mouse, Real Ghostbusters, California Raisins, Super Mario Bros., Beetlejuice, Attack of the Killer Tomatoes, Bobby's World, X-Men, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Muppet Babies, Pee-Wee's Playhouse, Camp Candy, etc.

I think Land of the Lost and Pee-Wee's Playhouse were the only live action things I watched.

[The Fake Shemp]

Eek! the Cat was pretty great too.

By the end of the Saturday Morning era, I would watch Back to the Future and Saved by the Bell, because once Pee-Wee's Playhouse got axed, there was nothing else to watch in the mid-to-late morning slot.

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The only thing this list makes clear is that early 90's Saturday morning cartoons on network TV were never that great to begin with.  So much here is forgettable, or mediocre-in-retrospect.  Most of the things I still have fond memories of were in syndication or on weekday afternoons.

I don't remember a Little Shop Of Horrors show, and I'm nearly positive that Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventures was a CBS show rather than on FOX.

[Cheebs]

That site is awesome, thanks. I forgot about Fraggle Rock. I am fearful of how the Fraggle Rock film coming in 2009 will be.

[The Fake Shemp]

The only thing this list makes clear is that early 90's Saturday morning cartoons on network TV were never that great to begin with.  So much here is forgettable, or mediocre-in-retrospect.  Most of the things I still have fond memories of were in syndication or on weekday afternoons.

Don't wreck our nostalgic lovefest!  Hammerman was awesome!

I do remember watching The Addams Family a lot, simply because nothing else was on.

And while I concur that the best stuff was on early mornings, late weekdays and syndication (like Tiny Toons, Animaniacs, Batman, G.I. Joe, Transformers, etc.), I think this goes to show that the late 80s/early 90s lineup is infinitely better than what exists today!

I don't remember a Little Shop Of Horrors show, and I'm nearly positive that Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventures was a CBS show rather than on FOX.

This guy is pretty hardcore about his schedules, so I don't think he'd mess that up.  That said, I never watched Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventures.

[Cheebs]

I have very vague memories of the bill and ted show.

I eagerly bought the first season of Garfield when it came out a few years ago, even the the comic is shitty I had found memories of the cartoon being insanely funny. I barely made it like 5 episodes and never watched the dvd again. 

[The Fake Shemp]

Yeah, Garfield was pretty awful.

Haha, does anyone remember BIKER MICE FROM MARS?

[Bloodwake]

Speaking of during the weekdays (afternoons):


Fox during the 90's: Animaniacs, Tiny Toons, Batman, Power Rangers
Fox during the 2000's: Maury Povich, Simpsons reruns (the newer seasons, yuck)

I would go with 90's late weekdays anytime.

[Cheebs]

I used to always come home during middle school and watch re-runs of shows like seinfeld, simpsons and other sitcoms every day. It seems syndicated shows feel almost useless in this dvd age.

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God, those celebrity vanity-shows were such crap.  Bobby's World wore out its welcome pretty quick, while Camp Candy was never welcome in the first place.  I'm not sure if SuperDave qualifies as a "celebrity", but that show was dreadful as well.

Don't wreck our nostalgic lovefest!  Hammerman was awesome!

I do remember watching The Addams Family a lot, simply because nothing else was on.

I remember Bettlejuice being a pretty solid show, if completely unfaithful to the film.  For some reason it seemed like ABC mostly greenlighted macabre, horror-based shows.  The had Addams Family, Bettlejuice, Tales from the Cryptkeeper, and I think some other show about mini-monsters in middle school.  Bettlejuice eventually went to went to FOX though, and I think the production values took a hit.

[The Fake Shemp]

Yeah, FOX used to have a pretty awesome after school lineup.  I remember racing home in time to watch Batman: The Animated series.  That time slot got pretty awful after it was infected with Bandai crap like Beetleborgs and new, toy-selling versions of the Power Rangers.  By the time they started airing Goosebumps, I don't even think I watched it anymore.

I remember Bettlejuice being a pretty solid show, if completely unfaithful to the film.  For some reason it seemed like ABC mostly greenlighted macabre, horror-based shows.  The had Addams Family, Bettlejuice, Tales from the Cryptkeeper, and I think some other show about mini-monsters in middle school.  Bettlejuice eventually went to went to FOX though, and I think the production values took a hit.

Yeah, Beetlejuice was a fun show.  The nice thing about its move to FOX was that they at least aired the re-runs from its tour on ABC.  Also, even A Pup Named Scooby Doo was more monster-oriented than the original, and I'm pretty sure that was on ABC too.  Didn't they also have My Pet Monster?

God, I loved My Pet Monster (the toy and book, not so much the show and movie).

[Cheebs]

I also liked watching the early action-adventure Hannah-Babara cartoons on early 90's cartoon network like Birdman and Johnny Quest

[The Fake Shemp]

Cartoon Network was pretty depressing early on.  Every once in awhile, you'd get a gem, but it was the dumping grounds for some of the worst Hanna-Barbera cartoons ever created.  Truly awful.  And late it night, it was like Tom & Jerry and Snoopy until day break.

That reminds me so much of the early years of the first content-specific cable channels.  Like early Sci-Fi Channel, with its endless crappy syndicated re-runs and awesome weekend movie line-ups of Grade B 80s horror fare.  Or Comedy Central, when they aired PCU non-stop.  And when USA had Up All Night! and showed Major Dad every morning.

Oh, oh - it USA Network also had Weird Science, one of the best cable television series ever!

Memories.

[Himu]

It's a shame that Saturday morning cartoons are basically non existent now. If they still came on and were really good, I'd still be getting up 6 in the morning to watch em.

I also liked watching the early action-adventure Hannah-Babara cartoons on early 90's cartoon network like Birdman and Johnny Quest

I loved that CN. 1996 - 1999 CN was amazing. They played a shit load of old stuff and a bunch of great new stuff (Dexter, O Canada).. God. Best channel ever.

[Himu]

Oh, oh - it USA Network also had Weird Science, one of the best cable television series ever!

Memories.

WEIRD SCIENCE WAS AWESOME

[Cheebs]

Cartoon Network was pretty depressing early on.  Every once in awhile, you'd get a gem, but it was the dumping grounds for some of the worst Hanna-Barbera cartoons ever created.  Truly awful.  And late it night, it was like Tom & Jerry and Snoopy until day break.

That reminds me so much of the early years of the first content-specific cable channels.  Like early Sci-Fi Channel, with its endless crappy syndicated re-runs and awesome weekend movie line-ups of Grade B 80s horror fare.  Or Comedy Central, when they aired PCU non-stop.  And when USA had Up All Night! and showed Major Dad every morning.

Oh, oh - it USA Network also had Weird Science, one of the best cable television series ever!

Memories.

Didn't Cartoon Planet and Coast 2 Coast air in the middle of the night early on as well? I miss comedy central being the channel that aired like 10 hours of 1985-1995 SNL every day. Wtf ever happened to "classic" SNL syndication?

[Himu]

Do you guys remember when they dedicated 3 FULL HOURS to Loony Tunes?

[Himu]

Cartoon Network was pretty depressing early on.  Every once in awhile, you'd get a gem, but it was the dumping grounds for some of the worst Hanna-Barbera cartoons ever created.  Truly awful.  And late it night, it was like Tom & Jerry and Snoopy until day break.

That reminds me so much of the early years of the first content-specific cable channels.  Like early Sci-Fi Channel, with its endless crappy syndicated re-runs and awesome weekend movie line-ups of Grade B 80s horror fare.  Or Comedy Central, when they aired PCU non-stop.  And when USA had Up All Night! and showed Major Dad every morning.

Oh, oh - it USA Network also had Weird Science, one of the best cable television series ever!

Memories.

Didn't Cartoon Planet and Coast 2 Coast air in the middle of the night early on as well?

Yes.

[Bloodwake]

Cartoon Network was pretty depressing early on.  Every once in awhile, you'd get a gem, but it was the dumping grounds for some of the worst Hanna-Barbera cartoons ever created.  Truly awful.  And late it night, it was like Tom & Jerry and Snoopy until day break.

Cartoon Network is pretty depressing NOW. Outside of Adult Swim, most of the "Cartoon Network Originals" weren't much to write home about.

Cartoon Network used to show Batman: TAS reruns. Does anyone know if they still do that?

[The Fake Shemp]

I'm pretty sure both of those (cartoon Planet and Coast 2 Coast) were after its initial creation - I'm talking its very first formative years, when you were forced to watch Tom & Jerry non stop 'till like 5 AM.

[Himu]

Cartoon Network was pretty depressing early on.  Every once in awhile, you'd get a gem, but it was the dumping grounds for some of the worst Hanna-Barbera cartoons ever created.  Truly awful.  And late it night, it was like Tom & Jerry and Snoopy until day break.

Cartoon Network is pretty depressing NOW. Outside of Adult Swim, most of the "Cartoon Network Originals" weren't much to write home about.

Cartoon Network used to show Batman: TAS reruns. Does anyone know if they still do that?

They don't.

[Cheebs]

I miss MST3K, that was early sci-fi I think. Sci-Fi channel is mostly shitty now. The channel used to air lots of japanese monster movies and cheesey sci-fi. All it is now is BSG, Stargate, and  endless  dumb mini-series'.


Oh my god, I remember in the mid-90's when sci-fi used to air classic star trek with newly filmed intro's from Leonard Nimoy for each episode.

[The Fake Shemp]

Mystery Science Theatre 3000 was so awesome.  I even paid money to see the movie in theatres!

[Bloodwake]

Do you guys remember when they dedicated 3 FULL HOURS to Loony Tunes?

OMG YES

They used to do June Bugs and show Bugs Bunny ALL DAY LONG. One time I was sick for like an entire week of school and that was like the best thing ever to watch.

[Himu]

Sci fi channel used to rock.

Do you guys remember when they dedicated 3 FULL HOURS to Loony Tunes?

OMG YES

They used to do June Bugs and show Bugs Bunny ALL DAY LONG. One time I was sick for like an entire week of school and that was like the best thing ever to watch.

Oh fucking God yes.

[The Fake Shemp]

I am 90% sure that this is, so far, the best thread ever made on the Internet.

[Himu]

I'm talking about ABC though. They used to play Loony Tunes for 3 hours every Saturday from like 11 to 2.

[Bloodwake]

Mystery Science Theatre 3000 was so awesome.  I even paid money to see the movie in theatres!

MST3K. Ahh, memories. My dad and I would stay up on Saturdays and watch it, even though we had church the next morning.

I think I cried whenever I found out they cancelled it.

[Bloodwake]

I'm talking about ABC though. They used to play Loony Tunes for 3 hours every Saturday from like 11 to 2.

Oh my god. I didn't know about this.

My dad would make me run errands with him by that time.

[Cheebs]

Has anyone watched the "new" MST3K? I never got around to it. the MST3K guys do commentary tracks for movies and upload them to the internet for stuff like Star Trek V and Attack of the Clones.

[The Fake Shemp]

That takes too much effort.

[FlameOfCallandor]

Bobby's world and Eek the cat were the best.

[Bloodwake]

That takes too much effort.

Exactly. Maybe if someone bootlegged the films with the commentary tracks, then I would be interested.

[Himu]

I long for the return of adult cartoons that rely on comedy that isn't tied to pop culture jokes every second. The Critic had it's share, but it mostly took a bite out of American society than simply pop culture, and it was great at it.

[Cheebs]

Anchorbay is doing that now. They are recording commentaries for like 5 public-domain sci-fi films and releasing them soonish on DVD.

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Or Comedy Central, when they aired PCU non-stop.

That wasn't early Comedy Central.  Early Comedy Central was premised around having like 10 different shows, all of which were basically just jukeboxes for short clips of stand-up routines.  Most of the time, every segment would feature clips around a theme -- so you'd get like 4-5 comics in a row talking about airline food.  Short Attention Span Theatre was the flagship show, and it was mostly clips but with an anchor at a desk with guests and interviews. 

Eventually they developed some great original content like Night After Night With Allan Havey and Mystery Science Theatre 3000. 

Comedy Central probably couldn't have afforded PCU or any second-run movie at that time

I miss MST3K, that was early sci-fi I think

That was late MST3k, early SciFi.  They did like 7 seasons on Comedy Central before moving to SciFi.

[Himu]

Oh God. Taz Mania. I love that show so much.

What is Wish Kid? I don't remember.

[Cheebs]

I still want to know what happened to classic SNL syndication that used to be on comedy central in the 90's.

[FlameOfCallandor]

I still want to know what happened to classic SNL syndication that used to be on comedy central in the 90's.

E! has the rights

[Bloodwake]

I still want to know what happened to classic SNL syndication that used to be on comedy central in the 90's.

It got sold to E!

And E! sucks.

Edit: Beaten! Damn you FoC!

[Cheebs]

I still want to know what happened to classic SNL syndication that used to be on comedy central in the 90's.

E! has the rights

all they air the jimmy fallon/tina fey era of 2000-2005 though!

[Himu]

Is Weird Science on dvd

[The Fake Shemp]

Eventually they developed some great original content like Night After Night With Allan Havey and Mystery Science Theatre 3000.

I remember both of those.  I always remember MST3K being on Comedy Central, but I forgot it was there first.

[Himu]

The decrease in quality for Comedy Central is a hit too. Now they only play shitty stand ups, average movies, and shitty shows like Mind of Mencia.

Oh how I miss the Strangers with Candy days.

[Cheebs]

The only thing saving CC is their Stewart/Colbert hour block.

[The Fake Shemp]

This decade pretty much sucks for entertainment in general.  I never thought I'd wish for the 90s to return.

[Himu]

There have been many stand outs, but in the end, most of them end up get screwed over or cancelled, and get replaced by shit.

[Himu]

The only thing saving CC is their Stewart/Colbert hour block.

south park, reno 911

[Cheebs]

This decade pretty much sucks for entertainment in general.  I never thought I'd wish for the 90s to return.

I think the 2000's overall have had better popcorn blockbuster movies compared the 90's.

[Beezy]

Haha, does anyone remember BIKER MICE FROM MARS?

The SNES racing game for it was pretty good.

[Bloodwake]

I still want to know what happened to classic SNL syndication that used to be on comedy central in the 90's.

E! has the rights

all they air the jimmy fallon/tina fey era of 2000-2005 though!

This is because E! sucks.

[Vizzys]

why must people remind me

freakazoid needs to be on dvd

[Bloodwake]

why must people remind me

freakazoid needs to be on dvd

Highly agreed.