Saturday Morning Cartoons

When I poured too much sugar on my corn flakes on Saturday mornings, in the wilds of 50s/60s Oklahoma, we had three networks, one of which didn't come in too well. And too frequently, some fishing or preaching where cartoons ought to go. But, great days.

When my kids were Saturday-morning cartoon age, in the 80s/90s Chicago, their Dad participated. We had two VCRs programmed to tape toons, while we watched something else, sometimes. Still have the collection, locked up on VHS in the catacombs. That era was a bountiful cornucopia compared to my youth.

Already, though, we were disconnecting from broadcast push technology. First by tape-delay. Also, the kids learned that by FF'ing through credits and commercials (at least ones they'd already seen), they could watch almost three half-hour shows in an hour. So, Saturday mornings were still a big thing, but we didn't have to be there on time when the cereal and toy companies demanded it.

Now, broadcast-push technology is dead. I can feel nostalgic and still say, good riddance to the Imperial Network system. I still find cartoons I've never seen on the net, from the earliest days of film to great recent stuff. Everything is out there, and growing. Makes that cornucopia of the 80s/90s seem sparse.