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Actually, I find "The Littles" corny, but good for children.
Though Tom & Lucy Little would make the Brady Kids look like Kelly & Bud Bundy.   :P  
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Heck, they'd make The Brady kids look like TED Bundy! ;D
The problems with '80s cartoons were:
1. Cheap animation techniques
2. Creatively bankrupt concepts and stories
3. Infantile and cutesy-putesy themes*
4. Too many product tie ins
* except for GI Joe, which was "Hey kids, the military-industrial complex is wicked cooool!"
Sometime in the early '80s Congress changed the rules regarding product tie-ins.  I think, not sure, prior to this time, companies were not allowed to run a cartoon series and concurrently market products (eg. toys, breakfast cereals) based on the series.  I'd have to do some research to figure out exactly what they changed, because in the '70s there were certainly toys and lunchboxes based on current television programs.  Anyway, in the '80s every cartoon had its own line of toys, accessories, and icky breakfast cereals. You had your Smurf figurines, your Smurf stickers, your Smurf notebooks, your Smurf toothbrushes, your Smurfberry Crunch cereal, and so forth.  The only adults who bought stuff like this were those with a sense of kitsch and irony, or those suffering from arrested development, or those running both phenomena concurrently, like my girlfriend from back in 1988. Thus with no real adult market for lucrative product lines, the cartoons themselves had nothing to offer anyone over the age of ten.
The dumbing down of 'toons really started in the '60s when animation got cheap and cartoon programs were made exclusively for television.
The treasured Disney, MGM, Fleischer, and Warner Brothers cartoon universe was intended to amuse kids and adults alike.  They showed them before the main attraction at the cinema, for instance, along with newsreels (now you get soft drink commercials and 20 minutes of previews for p*ss-poor Hollywood drek).
I would argue that the dumbing-down and cutseying up of 'toons got worse throughout the '70s and hit rock-bottom in the mid '80s.  
Then, in 1989, came long-awaited salvation:
THE SIMPSONS

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Odd that Disney bought the rights to both Mighty Mouse and Eek and for some reason refuse to release them on VHS or DVD for the public.
Someone at Adult Swim (Cartoon Network) should get on the ball and get these two classic shows back on the air.
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I recently discovered on Adult Swim the short-lived Family Guy.  Seth MacFarlane & Co. were quite witty with their stories and jokes.  They're making the "Family Guy Movie," due out on video soon.
I also like Futurama, but the concept didn't quite work.  They went waaay in the future to make jokes about now.  The jokes are funny, but the idea's lame.
Ren & Stimpy was absolutely brilliant!  VH1 ran the series a couple of years ago, but now I can't find it on any network.  One of my favorites is Duckman! Someone aptly described Duckman: "As funny as the Simpsons and as gross as South Park."  I saw the play between Duckman and Cornfed as a metaphor of the Id and the Superego.  I used to stay up late on Sunday nights just to see it on Comedy Central.  Now they've forsaken it for replays of this dumb new cartoon Kid Notorious, and the nefarious Dave Chapelle.

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Mighty Mouse was a very well done cartoon by John K (Kricfalusi) of Ren n Stimpy fame. The show was produced and briefly directed by Ralph Bakshi (Fritz The Cat, Street Fight, etc). With campy send ups of Batman (Bat-Bat) and villians like "The Cow" (with his uncontrolable mooing), it was really made for those adults wise enough to get up on Saturdays to watch it. It was taken off the air due to poor ratings and the infamous "flower sniffing" scene that was somehow mistakenly seen as a drug (cocaine) reference.
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I remember 'Ren and Stimpy' style Mighty Mouse (which had been going for some years earlier)  and loved the intro music. I bought the 'New Adventures of Mighty Mouse' on VHS recently but it was from 1979 - Darn it! Lucky it only cost a couple of quid.

Yes Howard, not only do I remember the 'New kids on the block cartoon' but I also remember cartoon tie-ins like 'Kid and Play','Hammerman' and 'Wishkid' - The cartoon featuring Home Alone's Macaulay Culkin.

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anyone remember fraggle rock. that one was really weird

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Wasn't "Fraggle Rock" a Jim Henson thing?  Like the Muppets on a hashish bender.
Oh, here's a terrible cartoon from the '80s, "The Gary Coleman Show."  He was the voice for his animated likeness, a kid-angel named LaBeau (or something), warded over by another angel named Angelica.  Sheesh, that was terrible!
How about "Shirt Tails," or "Muppet Babies"? Bleccchhh!  "Muppet Rabies," I used to call it.  "Care Bears" epitomised the whole thing.  "You blow your allowance money on that sh*t?," I said to my brother.
I was waiting for The Care Bears to do an Elizabeth Kubler-Ross series, you know, On Death and Dying, you'd have Shock Bear, Denial Bear, Bargaining Bear, Depression Bear, Acceptance Bear....Oops, the orderlies are here, time for my meds! ;)

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Anyone remember The New Kids On The Block cartoon?

Howard
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 One of my favorites is Duckman! Someone aptly described Duckman: "As funny as the Simpsons and as gross as South Park."  I saw the play between Duckman and Cornfed as a metaphor of the Id and the Superego.  I used to stay up late on Sunday nights just to see it on Comedy Central.  Now they've forsaken it for replays of this dumb new cartoon Kid Notorious, and the nefarious Dave Chapelle.
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"Duckman" still runs on "Comedy Central". It sometimes run late as 3:00 AM. BTW, I saw it on 7:00AM (last Saturday).
"The Critic", "Dilbert", and "Undergrads" were OK show.
I remember when they aired "The Tick" and "Dr. Katz".
Those were quite entertaining.

Back to bad '80's 'toons, there was the "Pound Puppies", another toy based cartoon, and one Yogi Bear & friends spinoff that took place in outerspace, or something like that.

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"Duckman" still runs on "Comedy Central". It sometimes run late as 3:00 AM. BTW, I saw it on 7:00AM (last Saturday).
"The Critic", "Dilbert", and "Undergrads" were OK show.
I remember when they aired "The Tick" and "Dr. Katz".
Those were quite entertaining.End Quote

I'll check the schedule for "Duckman."  I've seen most of them anyway.  It took me a while to warm up to "The Critic."  It's consistantly funny, but Hollywood is too easy a target for spoof.  "Dr. Katz" was great, until they started running the stories about Dr. Katz and his dumb kid, and the broad from the bar.  I liked it better when it was just an animated forum for comics.  Never liked "The Tick," thought it was heinous, ditto on "Dilbert."  "Undergrads" is pretty good, but there was a similar short-lived series on MTV called "3 South," which was MUCH better.  I was SOOOO p*ssed at MTV for cancelling that.  Before I transferred to the university, I started off at a second-rate state college.  "3 South" reminded me of the students I knew there.

Quoting:Back to bad '80's 'toons, there was the "Pound Puppies", another toy based cartoon, and one Yogi Bear & friends spinoff that took place in outerspace, or something like that.
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OMG, Yogi sucked in the '60s! A bad spinoff of a bad cartoon is, well, double bad!  At least it wasn't "The Wally Gator & Peter Potamus Revue"!  The "Pound Puppies" jingle got totally annoying in '86. "Pound Puppy, You're my one and only puppy--loooove!"  Whenever the commercial came on, I'd sing along, pounding down my fist.  Y'know, "pound" as a verb.  I thought it was funny at the time. ::)

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Didn't they make Pacman into a cartoon??

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Yep and then they made yet ANOTHER pacman videogame but based on the cartoon called PacLand.

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Scrappy Doo
"The Littles"
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And I almost forgot to say that those atrocities are still on reruns on network (syndication) & basic cable (Cartoon Network).  :P

They should be locked away forever. And I'm proud to say that WB now airs the true classic '70's "Scooby Doo" cartoons. Not the other incarnations from the '70's and  '80's.
And tired of "A Pup Named Scooby Doo", another cheesy cartoon, on "Cartoon Network".

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I don't care how many of you watched and liked this show but I hated it!  :P

"The Transformers"
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Careful, Optimus Prime posts on this board!
I thought "Transformers" were kind of inane.  My brother had a crapload of them.  Eventually they'd start to wobble and fall apart.  He also had all the "He-Man" figures.  They had an elastic in the midsection so you could swivel the body back and let it go for a big PUNCH!

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I don't care how many of you watched and liked this show but I hated it!  :P

"The Transformers"
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It's okay not to like Transformers, Secret_Squirrell. That's your preference. I thought they were the greatest; the toys and the cartoon.

I couldn't get enough of the toys, though living in the UK at the time, I was never able to get my most wanted: Shockwave  :(

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The cartoon that I hated was Belle and Sebastian.  It used to come on Nickelodeon all the time.  I'm not much for anime style animation anyway.
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From overrated cartoon to overrated progressive pop group! ;D
I LOOOOAAATHE Anime!!  They show a lot of it on the Cartoon Network, I just surf right by it.  In the mid-90s a friend of mine went Anime-crazy.  He had hundreds of videos, posters, comic books (sorry, "graphic novels"), and other paraphenalia.  I just didn't understand the appeal, I found it all so hollow and boring.

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From overrated cartoon to overrated progressive pop group! ;D
I LOOOOAAATHE Anime!!  They show a lot of it on the Cartoon Network, I just surf right by it.  In the mid-90s a friend of mine went Anime-crazy.  He had hundreds of videos, posters, comic books (sorry, "graphic novels"), and other paraphenalia.  I just didn't understand the appeal, I found it all so hollow and boring.
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I totally agree!  In fact, I've noticed that we agree a lot on a lot of things.  That could be a scary thing for you.  Ha! ;D

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I totally agree!  In fact, I've noticed that we agree a lot on a lot of things.  That could be a scary thing for you.  Ha! ;D
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Oh, I don't know.  I'm kind of a loony, but a nice loony! ;)

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who remembers the dungeons and dragons cartoon. woot! i loved that show (being a D&D ducker helped too ;D)
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I LOVED Dungeons and Dragons.  Hank was my favorite.  

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I wished they made a final episode of Dungeons & Dragons where the kids finally got home.
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I had researched this cartoon a few months ago and they had planned on making a final episode.  There was one website that had the script for the final.  It was pretty interesting to read.  I think they made it home only to want to go back.  I forget the bad guy's name (I can see his face though), but he wound up being Dungeon Master's son.  It was cool.  

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I had researched this cartoon a few months ago and they had planned on making a final episode.  There was one website that had the script for the final.  It was pretty interesting to read.  I think they made it home only to want to go back.  I forget the bad guy's name (I can see his face though), but he wound up being Dungeon Master's son.  It was cool.  
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I had researched this cartoon a few months ago and they had planned on making a final episode.  There was one website that had the script for the final.  It was pretty interesting to read.  I think they made it home only to want to go back.  I forget the bad guy's name (I can see his face though), but he wound up being Dungeon Master's son.  It was cool.  
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I have one episode of D&D on VHS.
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What's the episode?  :)

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Was the bad wizards name Venger?This is memory I didnt look it up.

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That's it!  I kept thinking Cringer, but that's Battle Cat.  I knew it sounded something like that.  

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I had researched this cartoon a few months ago and they had planned on making a final episode.  There was one website that had the script for the final.  It was pretty interesting to read.  I think they made it home only to want to go back.  I forget the bad guy's name (I can see his face though), but he wound up being Dungeon Master's son.  It was cool.  
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You can read the script to the unshot final episode here: www.mindspring.com/~michaelreaves/D&Dpreface.html  :)