League Assignment: Saturday Morning Cartoon Fun!

This week’s topic was suggested by Poe Ghostal, so send all complaints his way…
—
You’ve been hired to program the ultimate Saturday morning experience for kids across the nation–create your own ideal Saturday morning cartoon schedule.

Well what an amazing melange of awesomeness!  Now this is what I call a mixtape...So many shows with relatively so little time.   We'll pull so stuff from weekday afternoon stuff here for this cornucopia of animated fun.  Here goes! We can all start with the quintessential into bumper!  When you say this logo, you knew something awesome was coming up!

6:00 - 6:30: New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh – You’ll notice it’s not all boy shows on here…This Disney show really tugs on some sentimental heartstrings for me. The storyies were really well done, every character was totally likable. This always would be a winner for me…and it is the epitomizing show for the “After these messages we’ll be right back” Promo bumpers… Bah, I’ll show it after the theme song.

6:30 - 7:00: Garfield and Friends - Super funny show that most people don’t even think of.I actually watched it for the “Friends” (or U.S. Acres) portion to see Sheldon, Orson, Booker and Lanolin just to name a few.  Crazy to think Megatron voiced half the farm!

7:00 - 7:30: Duck Tales - The best and maiden show of the Disney Afternoon… Many a weekday was spent singing along to the Duck Tales.  Launchpad McQuack, Gyro, the Beagle Boys…what a kickass show with a coinciding kickass video game to go along with it.  Hubba Bubba!

7:30 - 8:00: Exo Squad -  Great, innovative show.  We didn’t get enough Macross Saga in the States and this was a very nice incorporation for kids who wanted to get their mech fix.  I always was a Mech Warrior and BattleTech fan so this show really touched a sweet spot for me.  I’ve talked about the amazing toys this cartoon produced by Playmates and this is something I wish was still alive and kicking

8:00 - 8:30: Bucky O Hare -   A tragically short-lived show possibly due to crappy supply decisions from Hasbro (cough cough Vintage Star Wars collection) which flooded the market with one character thus decreasing sales, stagnating the line and making kids lose interest in one of the most clever and ahead of its time shows around. Kind of like Ninja Turtles with guns in space but so much more to it, I loved watching this show and would love to see it back on the airwaves!

8:30 - 9:00: Inhumanoids - Now here is a show that probably would get some hate mail from angry parents. Super dark and very well written and animated, the Inhumanoids just had so much awesome stuff packed into each well rolled episode with some gruesome takedowns, hideous monsters and every type of freaky creature you could think of taking up the fight for both good and evil. This was an intense show that only lived one brief season. Every kid deserves the chance to witness Tendril or Decompose for themselves!

9:00 - 9:30: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles - No Saturday would be complete without this gem of a cartoon show.  I remember this being the ultimate product placement show as I played with my Turtles, drove them around in the Party Wagon, launched the Pizza Shooter and had epic clashes at the Sewer Playset (Best Playset everrrrr) as I watched these guys kick Foot Clan ass all over the screen. Sorry for the low rent "intro"... 

9:30 - 10:00: Transformers -   With the rekindled interest in the more classic version of the series through the Fall of Cybertron game, I think it’s only fair for kids to get a refresher on the epic struggle between Autobot and Decepticon…(Also, it’d be awesome for this to be a reason for Hasbro to reignite the true G1 renaissance) Autobots, roll out!

10:00 - 10:30:  The Real Ghostbusters - This made my morning in the most absolute of senses.  Killer intro, terrifying ghosts, awesome scenery.  Some of these episodes were so creepy, they stayed with me though the weekend.  Check out my previous post on scariest Ghostbuster Ghosts to see what I mean!

10:30 - 11:00: Muppet Babies -  As James Rolfe said, “It is the very embryo of life itself, we are all the offspring of...the Muppet Babies!” This show incorporated everything you could think of into a seemingly innocent show aimed at the littlest demographic.  There are more nerd shout-outs and fan service than you can count with stories that still hold up to this day.  I remember loving the one were Rolfe loses his voice or the one where They are climbing Fozzie’s family “Tomato”Tree.  How about when they go to the "Wierdo Zone" or Gonzo steals all the animal crackers?  Animal Color!!!!  Good times!

11:00 - 11:30: Pee Wee’s Playhouse - Not technically a cartoon show but it had tons of puppets, animation, claymation so it works for me. Hell the show had a guy called the “King” of Cartoons, dammit! It gets on the list just for the 3 minute long Cindi Lauper theme song and having Devo do the music!

11:30 - 12:00: Bugs Bunny and Tweetie Show - This wrapped up my morning as it did with many kids I'm sure for the late 80's. I always remember this being the last show on "ABC's Saturday morning" usually followed up by an animal show, or a golf tournament. It was such a great way to have the actual day officially begin. For some reason, many an appointment at the dentist's office was spent watching this in the waiting room at 11:30. P.S. This would air the Mel Blank, Friz Freleng Toones...none of the crappy stuff with Bill Lava.  I would probably kill someone to be able to see the Wabbit of Seville or Fast and the Furry-ous on prime pre-afternoon television again...sigh.  The into says it best and if Jerry Seinfeld agrees, you know you can't go wrong!

Well, there you have it!  Make your rounds around the league to see what other lineups our fine affiliates have planned for your fictional viewing pleasure!

Monster fan?  head to Green Plastic Squitgun!

Action fan?  Shezcrafti is the one for you!

Memories of Toymorrow has Dragon's, Mr T and Voltron to say the least!

Rediscover the 80's has got GoBots, PacMan and MASK! Hoo Yeah!

Goodwill Hunting for Geeks has got a little bit of everything!