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"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;[1] over time its popularity declined, in the face of changing cultural norms, increased competition from formats available at all times, and heavier media regulations.[2][3][4] 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.[5][6]
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.[7][8] In some markets, some shows were pre-empted in favor of syndicated or other types of local programming.[9]
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.[10] Later in the decade, the slot would be dominated by superhero and action cartoon series, influenced by the success of Space Ghost.[11][12] These were heavily criticized by parents for their violence.[13]
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).[14] These groups voiced concerns about the presentation of commercialism, violence, anti-social attitudes and stereotypes in Saturday-morning cartoons.[14] 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.[15][16][17] 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.[18]
The networks were encouraged to create educational spots that endeavored to use animation and/or live-action for enriching content,[19] 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 as well, mainly with the voices of the original casts, as well as imitations of the highly successful Scooby-Doo[20] combining teen characters and talking animals with supernatural mystery stories.
By 1982, under President Ronald Reagan, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) had loosened programming and advertising regulations,[21] 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.[22] As well, several more lighthearted series appeared, popularized by Hanna-Barbera’s The Smurfs and Jim Henson’s Muppet Babies.[23] These included series based on popular video games, such as Saturday Supercade.[24]
Decline
Despite increased competition from cable television networks (such as Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, and Disney Channel),[25][26][27] 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.
From 1992 however, the "Big Three" traditional major networks and their affiliates began replacing their Saturday-morning animated programming with weekend editions of their morning magazines.[28][29][30] and live-action teen-oriented series.[31] Multiple factors contributed to the change, among them the introduction of people meters that children found difficult to operate in the mid-1980s,[32] an increasingly competitive market fueled by the multi-channel transition,[33][26] a boom in first-run syndicated content[34] and the introduction of home video and video games, increasing restrictions on advertising and educational content mandates,[1] and broader cultural changes stemming from an increase in no-fault divorces and the end of the post-World War II baby boom.[27][1][32]
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);[35][36] by the late 2010s, all of the major American networks had shifted to live-action documentary programming, ostensibly targeted at teenagers to meet the educational mandates but less likely to cause a clash with the newscasts.[36] This documentary programming also benefited from having less restrictive rules for advertising compared to programming targeted to children.[36]
Saturday-morning and Sunday-morning cartoons were largely discontinued in Canada by 2002. In the United States, The CW continued to air non-E/I cartoons as late as 2014;[1] among the "Big Three" traditional major networks, the final non-E/I cartoon to date (Kim Possible) was last aired in 2006.
This era continues to be satirized and/or spoofed in popular culture. The tribute album Saturday Morning: Cartoons' Greatest Hits was released in 1995, featuring covers of Saturday-morning cartoon themes from the 1960s and 1970s as performed by alternative rock artists.[37][38] 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.[39] The science fiction animated series Futurama also spoofed 1970s and 1980s Saturday-morning cartoons in the episode "Saturday Morning Fun Pit".[40]
- Animation in the United States in the television era
- Modern animation in the United States
- Lists of United States network television schedules – includes articles on Saturday morning children's programming schedules among the major networks
- Weekday cartoon
- List of weekday cartoons
- Regulations on children's television programming in the United States
- Saturday morning pictures
- Saturday morning preview specials
- History of animation
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