The Federal Government Killed Off Saturday Morning Cartoons

[Professor_Fennec]

Thanks to the FCC's educational programming requirements that force network television stations to broadcast programming that nobody wants to watch, Saturday Morning Cartoons were put on the chopping block and are now officially dead.

Back in the 90's, I remember when I first felt the consequences of these rules when I woke up one Saturday morning and the new season of shows I was looking forward to just didn't air.  I called up the station and, to my shock and horror, they said Saturday Morning Cartoons, which have been a staple of programming since the 1960's, had been canceled.  Over time, more networks cartoon lineups suffered the same fate until they were all gone.

Thanks FCC, you contributed to the ruination of my childhood because you were so clueless about how government regulations affect the economics of supply and demand.

https://tv.yahoo.com/blogs/tv-news/saturday-morning-cartoons-are-but-a-sweet--sweet-memory-192052477.html

[MrBogosity]

I remember when they started cutting whole sequences out of Bugs Bunny cartoons because they were too violent. What they're saying about video games now they were saying about Bugs Bunny in the 1970s. Nothing changes.

[Travis Retriever]

Fuck you, Govco.

[FSBlueApocalypse]

To be fair, Saturday Morning cartoons probably would've died anyway. Once Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, etc started churning out regular original content it took away from the uniqueness of the Saturday Morning block. Hell, now a days kids don't even care about cable. Netflix is the end all be all for kids programming these days. 

[MrBogosity]

To be fair, Saturday Morning cartoons probably would've died anyway. Once Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, etc started churning out regular original content it took away from the uniqueness of the Saturday Morning block. Hell, now a days kids don't even care about cable. Netflix is the end all be all for kids programming these days. 

Yeah. People lament MTV not playing music videos anymore, but the fact is even if they were they'd be stopping right about now because all the kids are getting their music on YouTube.

[Travis Retriever]

Yeah. People lament MTV not playing music videos anymore, but the fact is even if they were they'd be stopping right about now because all the kids are getting their music on YouTube.

Still annoying that govco sped this up by shutting it down by force...

[MrBogosity]

Still annoying that govco sped this up by shutting it down by force...

Wait, what did they shut down?

[Travis Retriever]

Wait, what did they shut down?

I don't recall. Something about religious wankers badgering the FCC causing Saturday Morning Cartoons to be shut down was all I got from this event.

[MrBogosity]

I don't recall. Something about religious wankers badgering the FCC causing Saturday Morning Cartoons to be shut down was all I got from this event.

They did things like, make them cut violent scenes and make them include so-many hours of educational programming and crap like that.

[SideProjectJim]

They did things like, make them cut violent scenes and make them include so-many hours of educational programming and crap like that.

That's the only reason the GI Joe cartoon had the "And knowing is half the battle" segments.

[AnCap Dave]

I know in the more recent years, 4Kidz was particularly bad. I've seen clips of shows where characters are actually holding invisible guns simply because they don't want kids seeing guns.

Here's a comparison of the original clip with the 4Kidz version (put it in spoilers for being massive):
[spoiler][/spoiler]

This was probably the worst when it came t0 gun censorship in these cartoons, but I also remember the Spiderman cartoon of the 90s giving cops laser guns because that was somehow considered better than real guns. Oh, and Spiderman never punched anybody. He only hit them by swinging into them, otherwise he merely threw them or used web, however, that show was done by Fox.

As far as 4Kidz go,they have a pretty infamous record when it comes to doing stupid shit with cartoons, including splicing together their Saturday lineup shows into singing the US National Anthem, many of which included characters from Japanese cartoons.
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[tnu]

Spoilers for being a profanity littered mess.

[spoiler]Fuck 4Kidz, Fuck Disney, Fuck the FCC, and FUCK anyone who butchers and destroys great work andmangles it beyond recognition for whatever reason. They can all rot in the ground and were I not ethically bound against it I may feel tempted to pt them there myself[/spoiler]