Saturday Mornings

Back in the 80’s when I was growing up, Saturday mornings were really something special. It was a toy-filled parade of kid friendly, animated shows and live action options. You had to carefully prepare a spreadsheet working out the logistics involved in moving flawlessly between networks if you didn’t want to miss your favorite shows.

Saturday morning was the sweet, sweet reward we were all working toward and not just because we had earned the right to eat cereal with abandon. No, I’m talking about the cavalcade of cartoons that were only available at that one time, that one day a week and in some rare situations ONE time only. 

It took a lot of thought and planning to go from the SMURFS to the CHIPMUNKS to PEE WEE’s PLAYHOUSE to SPIDER-MAN and his AMAZING FRIENDS and hopefully not miss the David Hassellhoff’s  “ONE TO GROW ON” in between.

You had to plan carefully because you never knew when or if these cartoons would be on again. I’m looking at you MIGHTY ORBOTS!

Saturday Morning was the epitome of appointment television and if you, GASP! overslept, you were done for! You didn’t want to be the one kid at the lunch table that didn’t see the latest episode of THUNDARR THE BARBARIAN lest you be shunned by your peers and pelted by pieces of that weird, soggy pizza shaped like an Odor Eater. Um, I’m not speaking from experience.

I would spend the week charting my Saturday morning viewing. What pajamas I would wear, usually something with a Batman theme or perhaps footy pajamas if I were really feeling particularly wreckless / reckless. What cereal I would eat and where exactly I needed to step to get down my creaky staircase as quietly as possible without waking up my parents. It was like OCEAN’s 11, every week!

And when morning arrived I’d settle in with my plan of action and a freshly poured bowl of TRIX and unwrap the 5 hour gift that was Saturday Morning. And what a gift it was! Barbarians! Smurfs! Scooby Doo and mysteries! Friends that were Super! Lessons in Morality and School House Rock! The toys! McDonald Land! Ah….

If you missed it, it was lost to the ages. But we didn’t complain. We loved it. We loved being a part of something that couldn’t be recreated. Living in the moment and knowing that all your friends were having the same experience at the same time.

Now with several networks aimed at kids with 24-hour programming, downloads, YOUTUBE, HULU, NETFLIX, iTUNES, etc,  not only is entertainment abundant but it’s also always at the ready. There is no more urgency.  Did you miss SpongeBob? Don’t worry you can either rewind it or wait for it to start again in half an hour or perhaps play it on DEMAND or stream it.  Sigh…There are so many ways to see anything we want that we end up not wanting to see anything at all.  It’s like having Christmas everyday.

Now that I have children it’s really become obvious to me how little Saturday morning means to this generation. I’m amazed me to see what once was my holy grail become relegated to complete unimportance. And I know we have a tendency to sugar coat our memories and yes I’m aware that the memory of what we enjoyed is more often of a much higher quality than the reality but at the core of this is the idea of how overstimulation and access to anything ultimately devalues everything.

My kids love to hear stories about my Saturday Morning routine as a child. When they don’t look shocked at how primitive things were I can tell they envy how special everything seemed to me. Sadly we can’t go back but I’m truly thankful that I was able to experience something that will surely never return.

I still get up early on Saturday Mornings only now I recreate my childhood by watching BOOMERANG. I’d share it with my kids but they don’t get up until noon.