Saturday Morning Cartoon

If you're a kid today and you feel the urge to watch some cartoons, you don't have to wait. Cable and satellite TV offer a smorgasbord of animated options from Nickelodeon to Cartoon Network to Disney XD, which can be watched at any time. If none of these are to your liking, there is always On Demand, a DVD, or... other means. Hell, you can even find some on YouTube or other video sites.

This was not always the case. Back when televisions weren't flat and had antennas on top to pick up one of three or four networks or the local independent station, getting your cartoon fix was a lot harder. This format arose as advertisers and networks realized the potential of an all-but-captive audience of schoolchildren could camp out in front of the TV and veg out on three to four hours of animated goodness, enjoying a morning off from both school and church, while Mom and Dad were catching up on sleep lost during the work week.

Limited Animation made it cost-effective for the networks to fill the entire timeframe this way, with the occasional live-action show here and there. Warner Brothers' Looney Tunes and other theatrical cartoon shorts were also popular. (See also the Saturday Morning Kids Show.) It was a big deal: networks would devote a prime-time evening slot in early fall to promoting their new Saturday morning lineup.

However, the format's decline began with the rise of cartoons produced to run in syndication (usually in short blocks aired before or after school hours and with more artistic freedom to be wilder than the TV networks dared to be), as well as the rise of cable networks like Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network that shared the same demographic. 4Kids! Entertainment's Toonzai block on The CW is the only entity currently operating a traditional Saturday morning lineup. The traditional Big Three networks broadcast or otherwise make available Saturday morning lineups dominated by Edutainment Shows scheduled by third parties in order to make sure that their affiliates are compliant with FCC regulations. Fox doesn't bother, ceding their time to a two hour block of Infomercials that kids (and any adult under the age of 77) flee from fast. As it is, only Cartoon Network continues to have a major showing on Saturday mornings, and even then, only action/superhero cartoons are shown.

Many early Saturday Morning Cartoons are closely associated with the Animation Age Ghetto. Many later ones were actually anime imported to the US, Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh! being prime examples.

Common tropes:

 * Action-Hogging Opening
 * And Knowing Is Half the Battle
 * Colossus Climb
 * "Everybody Laughs" Ending
 * Family-Friendly Firearms
 * Flintstone Theming
 * Free-Range Children
 * GASP
 * Gratuitous Animal Sidekick
 * Harmless Villain
 * Teenage Mutant Samurai Wombats

ABC

 * One Hundred and One Dalmatians: The Series
 * The 13 Ghosts of Scooby Doo
 * The Addams Family (1992)
 * Back to The Future
 * The Beatles, the first ever Band Toon.
 * Beetlejuice
 * The Brady Kids
 * The Bugs Bunny Road Runner Show/The Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show
 * Bump in the Night
 * Buzz Lightyear of Star Command
 * Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels
 * Care Bears (Nelvana)
 * The Cattanooga Cats
 * Cro
 * Darkwing Duck
 * Disney's Doug
 * Dumb and Dumber
 * Dragons Lair
 * Dynomutt Dog Wonder
 * Fangface
 * The Fantastic Four (the Hanna-Barbera series)
 * Fillmore
 * The Fonz and the Happy Days Gang
 * The Funky Phantom
 * Gargoyles: The Goliath Chronicles
 * George of the Jungle
 * Goldie Gold and Action Jack
 * Goober and The Ghost Chasers
 * Goof Troop
 * Hammerman
 * Hercules: The Series
 * Hong Kong Phooey
 * House of Mouse
 * Jabberjaw
 * The Jackson 5 ive
 * Jungle Cubs
 * Laff a Lympics
 * Laverne and Shirley in the Army
 * The Legend of Tarzan
 * Linus the Lionhearted
 * The Little Rascals (the Hanna-Barbera series)
 * The Littles
 * Lloyd in Space
 * Madeline
 * Magilla Gorilla
 * Marsupilami
 * Mary Kate and Ashley In Action
 * The Mighty Ducks
 * Mighty Orbots
 * Milton the Monster
 * Monchhichis
 * Mork and Mindy
 * Mrs. Mungers Class
 * The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
 * Nightmare Ned
 * The Oddball Couple
 * Pac-Man
 * Pepper Ann
 * The Pirates of Dark Water
 * Pound Puppies
 * A Pup Named Scooby Doo
 * The Real Ghostbusters
 * ReBoot
 * Recess
 * Richie Rich
 * Rubik the Amazing Cube
 * Sabrina the Animated Series
 * Schoolhouse Rock
 * Science Court
 * Sonic the Hedgehog (SatAM)
 * Spider Woman (1979-80)
 * Street Sharks
 * Superfriends
 * Teachers Pet
 * Teamo Supremo
 * The Tom and Jerry Show
 * The Great Grape Ape
 * Mumbly
 * Thundarr the Barbarian
 * Uncle Crocs Block
 * The Weekenders
 * What a Mess (1995 cartoon by Di C)
 * Will The Real Jerry Lewis Please Sit Down
 * Yogi's Gang

CBS

 * Ace Ventura
 * The Adventures of Hyperman
 * The Amazing Chan and The Chan Clan
 * The Archie Show
 * Archies TV Funnies
 * Baileys Comets
 * Batman (the Filmation series)
 * The Beagles
 * The Berenstain Bears
 * Bill and Teds Excellent Adventures
 * Birdz
 * Blackstar
 * Blasters Universe
 * Cadillacs and Dinosaurs
 * The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show
 * Clue Club
 * Conan And The Young Warriors
 * Dungeons & Dragons
 * Fievel's American Tails
 * Frankenstein Jr. and The Impossibles
 * Galaxy High
 * Garfield and Friends
 * The Get Along Gang
 * The Harlem Globetrotters
 * Help Its the Hair Bear Bunch
 * The Herculoids
 * Josie and the Pussy Cats
 * The Kwicky Koala Show
 * The Little Mermaid
 * The Mask
 * The Mighty Heroes
 * Mighty Mouse
 * Mother Goose and Grimm
 * Muppet Babies
 * The New Adventures of Superman
 * The Pebbles and Bamm Bamm Show
 * Pole Position
 * Project Gee Ke R
 * Raw Toonage
 * Rude Dog and the Dweebs
 * Sabrina and The Groovie Goolies
 * Santo Bugito
 * Saturday Supercade
 * Scooby Doo, Where Are You!
 * Skatebirds
 * The Robonic Stooges
 * Space Ghost and Dino Boy
 * Speed Buggy
 * Ruby-Spears Superman
 * Filmation's Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle/Tarzan and the Super 7
 * Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987)
 * Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales
 * Timon and Pumbaa
 * Trollkins
 * The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat
 * Valley Of The Dinosaurs
 * Wacky Races
 * Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines
 * The Perils of Penelope Pitstop
 * What's New, Mr. Magoo?
 * Wildfire (Hanna-Barbera series from 1986)
 * The Wuzzles

NBC

 * The Adventures of Super Mario Bros 3
 * Adventures of the Gummi Bears
 * Alvin and The Chipmunks (1980s version)
 * The Atom Ant Show
 * Baggy Pants And The Nitwits
 * The Banana Splits
 * The Barkleys
 * Birdman And The Galaxy Trio
 * CB Bears
 * Captain N: The Game Master
 * Cool McCool
 * Doctor Dolittle (the DePatie-Freleng series)
 * The Fantastic Four (the DePatie-Freleng series)
 * The Gary Coleman Show
 * The Godzilla Power Hour
 * Jana of the Jungle
 * Gravedale High
 * Here Comes the Grump
 * The Houndcats
 * Inch High Private Eye
 * King Leonardo and His Short Subjects
 * Lazer Tag Academy
 * Mr. T
 * The Pink Panther
 * Pro Stars
 * Return to the Planet of the Apes
 * The Roman Holidays
 * Samson and Goliath (aka Young Samson)
 * Sealab 2020
 * Secret Squirrel
 * Shirt Tales
 * The Smurfs
 * The Snorks
 * Space Sentinels
 * Space Stars
 * Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends
 * Sport Billy
 * Star Trek the Animated Series
 * The Super 6
 * The Super Globetrotters
 * Super Mario World
 * Super President
 * Underdog
 * Wheelie And The Chopper Bunch
 * Wish Kid
 * Yogis Space Race
 * Yo Yogi

Fox

 * Animaniacs
 * Attack of the Killer Tomatoes
 * Bobby's World
 * Casper
 * Digimon
 * Dog City
 * Eek the Cat
 * Godzilla the Series
 * Life With Louie
 * Mad Jack the Pirate
 * Oggy and the Cockroaches
 * The Adventures of Sam & Max: Freelance Police
 * Spider-Man the Animated Series
 * Taz-Mania
 * The Tick
 * Tom and Jerry Kids
 * Toonsylvania
 * Where On Earth Is Carmen Sandiego
 * X-Men
 * Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003)

Kids WB

 * Animaniacs
 * The Batman
 * Batman Beyond
 * Brats of the Lost Nebula
 * Cardcaptors
 * Channel Umptee-3
 * Detention
 * Earthworm Jim
 * Freakazoid
 * Histeria!
 * Jackie Chan Adventures
 * Johnny Test
 * The Legend of Calamity Jane
 * Legion of Super Heroes
 * Loonatics Unleashed
 * Men in Black: The Series
 * Mucha Lucha
 * The New Batman Adventures
 * Pinky and The Brain
 * Pinky Elmyra and The Brain
 * Pokémon
 * Road Rovers
 * Skunk Fu
 * Static Shock
 * Superman the Animated Series
 * The Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries
 * Tom and Jerry Tales
 * Waynehead
 * What's New Scooby Doo
 * World of Quest
 * X-Men: Evolution
 * Yu-Gi-Oh
 * Yu-Gi-Oh GX


 * The Zeta Project

The CW

 * Cubix Robots for Everyone
 * Dragonball GT
 * Magi Nation
 * Sonic X
 * Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2003
 * Yu-Gi-Oh
 * Yu-Gi-Oh 5 Ds
 * Yu-Gi-Oh Ze Xal

Syndication

 * Dennis the Menace (1st season)
 * Dino Riders
 * Extreme Dinosaurs
 * Extreme Ghostbusters (Depending on the region--some stations aired this at night)
 * Mr. Bogus
 * Transformers Generation 1
 * Super Sunday
 * Robotix
 * Visionaries