I'm one of the few people that didn't hype for Saturday morning cartoons. If I caught the block, cool. If I missed, shrugs. I was mainly the cartoons after school person. Especially since Cartoon Network was my home channel. The only year I was really into the routine was the peak of 4Kids as Fox Box in 2002. It was a really fun block. It seems to be so forgotten now.

I watched Saturday Morning Cartoons every week from 1991 until early 2000, without fail. It didn't matter if I was at my house, or staying at my grandparents house for the weekend, or with some friends on a Friday night sleepover, I was gonna be parked in front of a television set until about 12 noon on a Saturday.

In the early '90s, it was all about CBS (TMNT, Garfield, Raw Toonage, etc.) and ABC (Darkwing Duck, Goof Troop, Bugs & Tweety, etc.). In the mid '90s, Fox Kids (X-Men, Carmen Sandiego, Bobby's World, etc.) came into the picture, along with Kids WB! (Pinky & the Brain, Superman, etc.), while in the late '90s I was dedicated fan of One Saturday Morning (Pepper Ann, Recess, Science Court, etc.).

The only year I was really into the routine was the peak of 4Kids as Fox Box in 2002. It was a really fun block.

When I think of Fox Box I usually think of 2003 and 2004. Since the first half of 2002 was still fox kids.

But as soon as I became actually aware of the block at the time, it was launching into Fox Box which was exciting. Its a different story for me.

As a kid in the 2000s, I woke up around 7-8am on Saturdays just to go watch something from Nickelodeon, Disney Channel (before 2008), Cartoon Network, Toon Disney, PBS Kids, and Boomerang. I did sometimes watch Saturday Morning Cartoons, but not religiously. Besides, the mid 2000s showed a point of where Saturday Morning Cartoons aren't needed that much. Although, I do miss the days where every kid would wake up around 6-8am every Saturday morning to watch cartoons. That felt really special for them, even to me. I wish Saturday mornings were treated with respect still, since there isn't even a Saturday morning block on broadcast TV nowadays. It's probably because streaming services like Netflix are more popular, but kids should still wake up to something more exciting.

I'm one of the few people that didn't hype for Saturday morning cartoons. If I caught the block, cool. If I missed, shrugs. I was mainly the cartoons after school person. Especially since Cartoon Network was my home channel. The only year I was really into the routine was the peak of 4Kids as Fox Box in 2002. It was a really fun block. It seems to be so forgotten now.



being an old school guy from the 80's I couldn't wait for my Saturday Morning Cartoons to come on television. :)

2002 was Sonic X, Kirby, Power Rangers and all that stuff right? That was a good block.

I always looked forward to Saturday morning cartoons.  There were many awesome cartoons in my day.  This was before cable became the norm and when many people relied on the air waves for t.v.  The big three networks (ABC, NBC, CBS) at the time would each have a great line up so I would watch a half hour of one channel and switch to another and so on.  I have fond memories of Saturday morning cartoons. 

2002 was Sonic X, Kirby, Power Rangers and all that stuff right? That was a good block.


When I hear the Kirby Right Back At Ya theme song, I instantly think of Fox Box.

I always looked forward to Saturday morning cartoons.  There were many awesome cartoons in my day.  This was before cable became the norm and when many people relied on the air waves for t.v.  The big three networks (ABC, NBC, CBS) at the time would each have a great line up so I would watch a half hour of one channel and switch to another and so on.  I have fond memories of Saturday morning cartoons.


Do you remember 80's cartoons?

Do you remember 80's cartoons?


I do, there were so many awesome ones.  Some of the ones I watched were The Real Ghostbusters, Muppet Babies, Fraggle Rock (although this was a puppet show and not a cartoon), the Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show, The Smurfs.

Which were your favorites?

Very important!

When I was a kid, it was Saturday morning cartoons and MTV/vh1.

Some of the cartoons I watched:

Heathcliff & The Catilac Cats
Jem
My Little Pony
Thundercats
She-Ra
Smurfs
Inspector Gadget
Wuzzles
Strawberry Shortcake
Rainbow Brite & The Color Kids
Ducktales
Rescue Rangers
Maxi's World
Punky Brewster
Denver The Last dinosaur
New Kids on the Block


Every Saturday we would have our novelty cereals, and watch the morning cartoons.

I do, there were so many awesome ones.  Some of the ones I watched were The Real Ghostbusters, Muppet Babies, Fraggle Rock (although this was a puppet show and not a cartoon), the Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show, The Smurfs.

Which were your favorites?


There were so many, I couldn't even tell you.

Like many other things, SatAM cartoons were shot dead around 2004-2006. :P

Like many other things, SatAM cartoons were shot dead around 2004-2006. :P


They were more dead in the early 2010s than the mid 2000s. You didn't have Litton Entertainment screwing everything up back then.

They were more dead in the early 2010s than the mid 2000s. You didn't have Litton Entertainment screwing everything up back then.


Or really, Saturday Morning cartoons were shot dead by the early 2000's, in other words, by 2002. I can guarantee you by 2002 when ABC Kids and FOX BOX arrived, including the updated Kids WB lineups. Over half of the shows that were on the lineups by then could be seen on 24 hour networks like Cartoon Network or Disney Channel/Toon Disney itself.

Or really, Saturday Morning cartoons were shot dead by the early 2000's, in other words, by 2002. I can guarantee you by 2002 when ABC Kids and FOX BOX arrived, including the updated Kids WB lineups. Over half of the shows that were on the lineups by then could be seen on 24 hour networks like Cartoon Network or Disney Channel/Toon Disney itself.


You got a point there. Most 2000s kids would see their SMCs on cable networks, considering they were already proliferated in the 90s. I think SMC blocks like ABC Kids or Fox Box were for kids that didn't have cable at the time, even though a lot of kids in the United States had cable in the early 2000s.

You got a point there. Most 2000s kids would see their SMCs on cable networks, considering they were already proliferated in the 90s. I think SMC blocks like ABC Kids or Fox Box were for kids that didn't have cable at the time, even though a lot of kids in the United States had cable in the early 2000s.


Even though 24 hour kid or cartoon stations started in the 90's with Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network. Even then the Saturday Morning cartoon lineups were still separate from the channels itself. Throughout the 90's, while it may have started the decline of Saturday Morning cartoons due to the E/I program rule that went in effect by 1990, it was truly the last full decade Saturday morning cartoons were popular with good lineups of shows you couldn't see anywhere else. Early-mid 90's Fox Kids shows could only be seen on Fox Kids at the time. Late 90's Kids WB shows could only be seen on Kids WB at the time. By the early 2000's, half of the Kids WB shows could also be seen on Cartoon Network, half of the One Saturday Morning/ABC Kids shows could be seen on Disney Channel or Toon Disney, and half of the FOX BOX shows could be seen on Cartoon Network or ABC Family Action Block (pre-Jetix).

Even though 24 hour kid or cartoon stations started in the 90's with Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network. Even then the Saturday Morning cartoon lineups were still separate from the channels itself. Throughout the 90's, while it may have started the decline of Saturday Morning cartoons due to the E/I program rule that went in effect by 1990, it was truly the last full decade Saturday morning cartoons were popular with good lineups of shows you couldn't see anywhere else. Early-mid 90's Fox Kids shows could only be seen on Fox Kids at the time. Late 90's Kids WB shows could only be seen on Kids WB at the time. By the early 2000's, half of the Kids WB shows could also be seen on Cartoon Network, half of the One Saturday Morning/ABC Kids shows could be seen on Disney Channel or Toon Disney, and half of the FOX BOX shows could be seen on Cartoon Network or ABC Family Action Block (pre-Jetix).


I think another reason why Saturday Morning cartoons were declining in the 90s was that cable networks like Nickelodeon were already providing 24 hours a day of their programming. Even though it's only about 18 hours until they air Nick @ Nite at 8pm. It would happen anyway because cable TV was growing in popularity during the 90s/2000s. It's not like the E/I program of where it could be out if there weren't a lot of violent and noneducational cartoons. The networks could've thought of more ideas to keep kids interested on SMCs. But they wouldn't stop Nickelodeon to rise because it's a cable network. A lot of Saturday Morning blocks were on broadcast television, so it wasn't possible for them to survive long and hard in the 2000s/2010s.

I think another reason why Saturday Morning cartoons were declining in the 90s was that cable networks like Nickelodeon were already providing 24 hours a day of their programming. Even though it's only about 18 hours until they air Nick @ Nite at 8pm. It would happen anyway because cable TV was growing in popularity during the 90s/2000s. It's not like the E/I program of where it could be out if there weren't a lot of violent and noneducational cartoons. The networks could've thought of more ideas to keep kids interested on SMCs. But they wouldn't stop Nickelodeon to rise because it's a cable network. A lot of Saturday Morning blocks were on broadcast television, so it wasn't possible for them to survive long and hard in the 2000s/2010s.
I would agree, but remember that even during the 90s Nickelodeon truly didn't have cartoons themselves until the late 90s. Yes, there was Rugrats, Doug, R&S, Rocko and Real Monsters; however, that was only 5 of them which barely made it a 24 hour cable network for cartoons during that period. Moreover, Nick was already diverse itself considering that it had game shows, sketch comedies, news, scary shows and cheesy sitcoms.


Even though 24 hour kid or cartoon stations started in the 90's with Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network. Even then the Saturday Morning cartoon lineups were still separate from the channels itself. Throughout the 90's, while it may have started the decline of Saturday Morning cartoons due to the E/I program rule that went in effect by 1990, it was truly the last full decade Saturday morning cartoons were popular with good lineups of shows you couldn't see anywhere else. Early-mid 90's Fox Kids shows could only be seen on Fox Kids at the time. Late 90's Kids WB shows could only be seen on Kids WB at the time. By the early 2000's, half of the Kids WB shows could also be seen on Cartoon Network, half of the One Saturday Morning/ABC Kids shows could be seen on Disney Channel or Toon Disney, and half of the FOX BOX shows could be seen on Cartoon Network or ABC Family Action Block (pre-Jetix).
Don't forget the Fox Family/Family Channel. They also had shows only seen on that channel. Furthermore, didn't Fox Kids have late 90s shows that were only shown on that block? I don't recall seeing Power Rangers, Digimon and Bobby's World on other channels during that time.

Other than that, I agree with your post that each kids block (counting NBC and CBS as well) all had exclusive shows which made it a competition to see what block had the best SMCs.

Or really, Saturday Morning cartoons were shot dead by the early 2000's, in other words, by 2002. I can guarantee you by 2002 when ABC Kids and FOX BOX arrived, including the updated Kids WB lineups. Over half of the shows that were on the lineups by then could be seen on 24 hour networks like Cartoon Network or Disney Channel/Toon Disney itself.

I agree 100% Marquis. 2002 was when SMC's decline in popularity really started.