The Happy Place of Saturday Morning Cartoons | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

Welcome to Stuff You Should Know, a. production of iHeart Radio. [Music]. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm. Josh, there's Chuck, there's Jerry, and. we are practically perfect in every way. here on Stuff You Should Know. That's right. I'm just a bill, only a bill. Oh, yeah? Yeah. Um, have you ever been to Capitol Hill?

I'm just sitting here on Capitol Hill. Do you remember we um did a whole. episode on Schoolhouse Rock once, and. you had Bob Nastanovich on? Yeah, of uh Pavement, who by the way, I. finally met him in real life. Oh, yeah? Uh, yeah, I was at a Hardcore Tet show, the new supergroup with. Matt Sweeney and Stephen Malkmus and. Emmett Kelly, Mhm. and Jim White, and in. Atlanta, and I turned around in the. Variety Playhouse lobby, and Nastanovich. comes strolling in. And I was like, "Hey, man." I was like,

uh and I'm sure. he gets "Hey, man" a lot. So, he had he has uh you know, his guard. up. Uh, actually he didn't, he was nice, but I was like, "Hey, I'm I said it's. Chuck from Stuff You Should Know." I was. like, "Good to finally meet you in. person." And he he's like, "Oh, hey, man." And we chatted for a minute, and. that was great. >> Oh, that's cool. He remembered you, huh? Yeah, yeah, we've we've emailed and. texted here and there. Oh, got you. Well, that's great, Chuck. So, that's my. Bob Nastanovich story. That's a great. one. That's about as good as a Bob. Nastanovich story gets. Yeah, I mean, I.

I got to meet a Pavement guy, so that. was like. bucket list complete. So, um. I guess. I guess I can't think of a segue from. bucket list. I mean, I guess it would be a uncrossed. off. thing on my bucket list to build a time. machine and go back to 1983 and watch. Saturday morning cartoons again. How's. that? Yeah, what I mean, what was your. routine in your house? Oh, baby. Yeah, let's hear it.

I um don't ever recall having to worry. about my sisters um. trying to change the channel. Like, when. it was Saturday morning cartoons, it was. all me. Yeah, oh, okay. >> Yeah, it was great. So, they weren't. watching? No, Amanda's 5 years older. than me, Karen was 13 years older than. me, so neither one of them had much. interest in Saturday morning cartoons. when I did. The interest didn't overlap. Yeah, we were close enough. Scott's 3 years older, Michelle 6, so we.

we overlapped a bit. Uh, and our routine. was it was you know, Saturday morning. cartoons, but it was always a race. to the big yellow chair to see who could. who could claim that first. >> That's You sat in a chair? I sat like 3. ft from the TV on the ground. cross-legged in front of it. Yeah, you. were one of those guys. Yeah, for sure, with my. >> you weren't blocking anybody. No, it was. totally cool. It was just me. I love it. Yeah, with my ET cereal. Yeah, parents. sleeping in. Yep, for sure. I actually I.

can't say what anyone else in the house. was doing during 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. every Saturday morning. Yeah, I don't remember watching them. like the whole block, but maybe I did. Yeah, I'm pretty sure I did. Except I I. know we've talked about it before, I. don't remember what episode, but um. Thundarr the Barbarian, Mhm. I would. miss it. I would get to watch like the. first 7 8 minutes, and then my mom would. be like, "It's time to leave for. swimming lessons." Yeah. >> And it was such a bummer. Yeah. And I.

know I've talked about it before on the. um show, because a listener was so kind. that they bought the complete um series. of Thundarr the Barbarian and mailed it. to me so that I could see it. Yeah. That's amazing. Yeah. Beep beep beep. I'm going to insert the person's name, but I have to get to Atlanta to find it. Okay. Beep beep beep. Was it VHS? No, DVD. Man, they really they've styled. me out, so thank you. That's amazing. So, um all right, let's get into this,

cuz I'm sure we're going to pepper our. own like favorite cartoons that we. watched throughout this, right? Uh, I. might mention a cartoon or two, you. never know. Okay, I mean, you were into. this, right? Like, for years and years. you you spent Saturday mornings watching. cartoons, right? Oh, yeah, yeah. I mean, as you've reminded me over and. over through our lives, I am a bit older. than you, so there will be some overlap, but also, you know, as evidenced by like. your love of like the GI Joe stuff, that. was a little bit after when I was into.

that kind of thing, so there'll be some. misses here and there, too. I'm sorry, you left out the. adjective superior GI Joe stuff. Yeah, this is a fun trip down memory. lane, though. And big thanks to Julia. for this. Yeah, for sure. So, for those of you who were born after. the. mid-90s, or even the early 90s, I guess, cuz it took a few years to to come to. realize that there was such a thing as. Saturday morning cartoons and then get.

into them, you might not really get what we're. talking about. Maybe you've heard of. Saturday morning cartoons, like Gen Xers. love to talk about it all the time, clearly, but it was a very special. thing, like a a point in time every week. where essentially every child in. America, and I've read also Australia. had their own, the UK had their own to. an extent, and Canada, other countries in Asia had. like Saturday morning cartoons, and you.

came and you sat down, and you watched 4. straight hours of cartoons Yeah. peppered with ads directed to you, a 5 6. 7 8 9-year-old, Mhm. um and loved life. And that was like your time in the week, because like you said, parents tended to. sleep in during that time. They were. totally happy with their kids amusing. themselves for the first 4 hours of the. morning watching TV and eating sugary. cereal. And like it's there was a real loss when.

it went away. Like, I was well out of. watching Saturday morning cartoons by. the time they went away, Same. but I. remember feeling like a real like sense. of like younger kids and like. subsequent generations like really. missing out on something that we were in. retrospect really lucky to have. Yeah, and you know, I'm sure the counter. to that could be like, "Yeah, bro, but. we can watch anything we want. whenever we want all the time, including.

Saturday morning." Um but and and not to. say like, "Oh, things were better then.". But there there was something special. about a block. when you didn't have choice like that. dedicated to you, aimed squarely at you. for a certain amount of time saying, "We. see you, kids, and we want to sell sell you things.". It's true. Like, when I read about, you. know, just how shamefully. bad the commercialism was in the 80s, I still I'm like, I don't I don't care.

Like, I loved all I loved every minute. of it. Yeah, and the commercials as. we'll see were. not that much different than the. content, and. I saw this in action when when Ruby was. younger, and she would watch commercials. with the same fervor. Uh, and I'll be. like, "Yeah, I guess I did the same. thing, you know." I remember when we. first started podcasting with ads, the. whole the whole idea was, "Yeah, just. all of a sudden start talking about the. product, so no one gets that you're talk. you're giving an ad." And we were both.

like, "We're not doing that at all." And. that's where the idea for the the. fan-submitted jingles came about was to. make sure everybody knew an ad is. coming. We're not just suddenly going to. start talking about how great our Casper. mattress is, you know. >> Right, cuz I love cartoons, and I love. printer ink, now that you mention it. Yeah, I do, too. And you know, I've. gotten one of those Epson printers, and. they have like a tankless or bottomless. tank where you just refill the. cartridges. You don't even have to go. buy new cartridges. Do they? Yeah, Epson.

I wonder if people are going to suspect. that's real and not a bit. No, it's a. bit, everybody. >> They should send you some dough, though, you know. Yeah. Uh, but what we're. talking about is a span of time of a few. decades, about '65 to 2000-ish, although. there you will see there was some some. one straggler at least beyond 2000. Uh, and cartoons had been around, but. they had mainly been in in movie. theaters. Like, they would play them. before uh like you go to like a fancy. movie theater, and there'll be like an. organ player, and you'd see a cartoon,

and maybe a newsreel. Uh, the first sort of regular running TV. cartoon was something called Crusader. Rabbit in 1950. Yeah. Uh, just ran for a. couple of years, but the first big. breakout was The Mighty Mouse Playhouse. Uh, Mighty Mouse had been around since. 1942, but it made its big Saturday. morning television debut in 1955 on CBS. Yeah, and that changed everything, because prior to this, there was. Saturday morning programming, apparently. all the way back to the days of radio.

If you were a kid, you would tune in. either after school or on Saturday. mornings to to hear your favorite. program. Um, so they were well aware that this is. when kids listened, and then eventually. watched TV, but if you're a kid on. Saturday morning, you're probably. watching like some clubhouse style show. where some local dude who might or might. not be dressed as a sad clown. is interacting with puppets, and the. studio audience is nothing but kids. There's a single camera. It's produced. by your local TV station. And like,

that's what you watch, because they were. so dirt cheap to make. And then when Mighty Mouse came along, it basically showed these things are. maybe a little more expensive than that. clubhouse style show, but they're way. cheaper than like The Lone Ranger or Our. Gang or some of the other stuff we're. showing. on Saturday mornings. And there's. something else that's really really. important to remember. We talked about. it I think in in political cartoons. episode. Cartoons are a super stimuli. They hit our brains differently than.

watching Alfafa or the Lone Ranger or. that sad clown in who are live action. real life people. They hit us. differently. They capture our attention. differently. And so Mighty Mouse. essentially showed like, "Hey, you want to like get into a kid's brain. and sell them stuff? Yeah. >> This is the way to do it. Cartoons are. the wave of the future." Yeah, wait till. you get a load of Droopy. [Laughter]. Droopy was great, wasn't he? Yeah, although I don't remember stuff like. that Saturday morning. I I I remember.

stuff like Droopy more of like afternoon. after school kind of hours, but um. cartoons became a big deal shortly after. they hit the small screen. And in 1960. uh and this is I don't know one of those. little weird factoids that I think some. people might not realize uh is that. Flintstones is actually a primetime. show. Mhm. Um a lot of people do know. that, but a lot of people don't. Uh so. was the Bugs Bunny show at first, the. Jetsons, and the New Adventures of Jonny. Quest. They were all primetime, you.

know, major network, which is to say. either ABC, CBS, or NBC. This is pre-Fox. even. There were only three. Right. And. uh not too long after 1967. was when they said, "You know what? We. got to consolidate all this stuff to. Saturday morning.". And that was it. It was It was a new. thing. And like you said, it was pretty. cheap to make, especially I mean some of. the cartoons were better than others. There were some that were really cheap. and kind of poorly made where like just. the mouths moved and stuff like that. And it was the same person voicing every.

character like kind of clearly. Uh and they were like, "Hey, what we can. do here is we got these kids, we got. this captive audience, tons and tons of kids named Josh Clark. sitting 3 ft in front of their TV. crisscross applesauce. Yep. And that. means we can sell them. uh toys and sugar.". Yes. And they were already doing this. I. mean those clubhouse style TVs, the guy. would do like what the original podcast. ads were supposed to do. He'd just. suddenly be talking about a brand new. toy that he loves. Right, yeah. Right. So they've been doing this before, but.

again, cartoons they just were uh. operating on a different plane. And um I think 1966 was a pivotal year. uh according to I found a a pretty good. um article about this by a guy named. Paul F. P. Pogue. It's a great name. Uh on encyclopedia.com and he basically. says 1966 was the It was the year. because that was the first year where. all three networks showed cartoon blocks. on Saturday mornings. And from that. moment on.

until I would argue. the late '90s, really, Yeah. >> was a golden age for cartoons on. Saturday mornings. Yeah, for sure. And. you, you know, you didn't have uh uh. DVRs or or TiVo or anything like that to. record um stuff, obviously. You didn't. really even have VCRs to record things. >> Right. You probably just had the one TV. at least until. kind of mid to late '70s is when. multiple TVs really started showing up a. little bit more unless you were, you.

know, like the rich kid. Yeah. And so you had to figure out and debate. with your siblings if they were around. what to watch uh by reading um most you. know, a lot of people got TV Guide, but. we did not pay for that because we. didn't pay for extra things in our. family. >> Sure. Uh but you know, we had the local. paper which had the TV listings and so. you'd pore through. Some made arguments. that, you know, it had kids reading on. Saturday morning as a result. And you would, you know, sometimes there. were real Sophie's choices to be made on. what to watch. Right. And the reason. why, and this is what's hard to to.

understand if you're like Gen Z or even. like a late millennial, there was no. choice in what you were watching. When. you sat down on Saturday mornings, the. the. networks that you were watching were. showing you the shows that they decided. they wanted to run. So a show you. watched was on a specific time uh on a. specific network on a specific day, in. this case Saturday morning. So you just. sat down and I think there was something.

about not having that choice that made. it even more enjoyable so long as the. stuff was good. Yeah, I mean they were serving us. exactly what we wanted. I I never had. any complaints. Did you? I No. The only. complaint I had is that I didn't have. three TVs that I could watch them all at. the same time or even better. sequentially. Yeah, for sure. And while. this was all, you know, kind of fun and. games or not all fun and games, mostly. fun and games, there are people out. there, you know, kind of smarty pants. people who have made arguments for. things like, "Hey, um it introduced a new generation to the.

Beatles because I certainly remember. watching that Beatles cartoon when I was. a kid." Oh, yeah? Yeah, it came out in. '65, but by, you know, it was still. running somewhere because I I watched it. and that's where I kind of got my love. of the Beatles. Um it introduced kids to, you know, concepts like what might happen in the. future with the Jetsons. Uh there's a. historian named Joel Rhodes. who said that the the cartoons perform. what the scholars call the bardic. function. Yeah. Uh as in like medieval. bards when people would sit around and. listen to the stories and it would give.

kids on the playground like they knew. the same jokes. They had same reference. points. Mhm. Uh it it it bonded a. generation. Because they were all. watching the same thing on the same day. at the same time. So yes, that was the. the culture for kids. That's where you. got your culture largely. I mean not. entirely. There was Mad Magazine after. all. Right. But like that that was because there. wasn't choice. Because you couldn't be. like, "Hey, have you seen Black Dog?". "No, I haven't seen that, but have you. seen Right. Time Crimes? It's a great.

movie." Right. Those conversations didn't happen. It. was some kid yelled out like um. "Exit stage left." And every kid on the. playground just cracked up because they. knew exactly what they were talking. about. And if you don't know what I'm. talking about, just look up cartoon exit. stage left. Yeah, that's right. Who was. Is that Snagglepuss? Yes. Okay. I get. some of those confused sometimes. No, you nailed it, but you nailed. Snagglepuss. We also. uh hammered this home in the Schoolhouse.

Rock episode, but we do have to mention. that how pivotal Schoolhouse Rock was in. literally teaching kids things about. history and about politics and civics. and government and math and English like. you name it, it was all there. And like. real learning, like legitimate awesome. learning, awesome stuff. Yeah. That was. a good episode. I remember I cracked. myself up and we almost like had to take. a longer break. Yeah, if I remember I. remember correctly. Do you remember the. joke?

I think I did some weird impression of. Chuck Jones, the Looney Tunes guy. Oh. man, I got to listen to this one now. Or. maybe we should put uh Schoolhouse Rock. as our select on Saturday. >> Oh, that's a great idea. >> When this one comes out, yeah. >> Good idea. Yeah. That's a That's a wonderful idea, Chuck. Uh Jerry, make a note of that. And then. now I'm doing the Flintstones hammering. something into a stone tablet. Oh, man. I looked up the Great Gazoo cuz. I anytime I hear Flintstones, I think. Great Gazoo. Yeah. And did you know he.

was he was an alien who was banished. from his planet for creating a doomsday. device? I don't I don't I don't remember. that part. >> either. I remember him floating around, but yeah, that's about it. >> extremely condescending. Yeah, for sure. He was a real jerk. >> A dumb-dumb. Uh shall we take a break? Yeah, let's. take a break. All right. Whenever you call me a. dumb-dumb, that means I have to go. reset. We'll be right back. [Music].

Chuck, there's one other thing that um. one other place you could find out what. was running at what time on what network. Oh, yeah. >> morning cartoons? It was the annual ad, full-page ad in. the comic books in the fall Oh.

>> like the Saturday morning cartoon. lineup. Yes. >> Huh. I don't know I didn't know that. Yeah. It was for that I was going to say. go look them up cuz they're very. nostalgic, but they're they're just. awesome. They're just so great. And they. would tell you what time it was on. And. then they were all starting in 2 short. weeks and you just couldn't wait. Well, and how sweet that you could publish a. one-time thing and that was the lineup. >> Right. Exactly. >> It's not changing. No, for sure. Although apparently they would change. lineups in spring for shows that weren't.

working, but more often than not, you. you were seeing largely the same shows. Yeah. Uh so yeah, I remember that when things. would change sort of mid-season. That. was always disconcerting. Yeah, and one. other thing I just barely touched on or. was It would There was a subtext to it. All this started right after summer. ended. So you had all of summer to have. a great time. Summer stops, school. starts, and then Saturday morning. cartoon kicks off a new season. Oh, man. I love it, the fall TV season. Um so we.

mentioned advertising. This is going to. be a big part of this episode because it. really goes in lockstep with with. Saturday morning cartoons and all. children's programming of all time. Uh but at one point, you know, like I. mentioned, they they realized they had a. captive audience. They could sell them. toys and sugar, but the lines started to blur in the. 1970s between um content and advertising. in such a way it was sort of like. uh the beginning of. In fact, I'm I'm curious when the people. started using words like IP.

uh. intellectual property because now we. would just call it IP. Back then, it was. like, "Hey, we got the Jackson 5. They're a successful musical group. Let's give them a cartoon. We got the. Osmonds. Uh peop- kids love the Brady. Bunch. Let's do the Brady Bunch kids. >> Mhm. Um we got the Flintstones. Hey, let's give them a cereal." And things. started just uh. kind of crossing streams such where uh. yeah, like we would just call that IP. today. It's like let's take a thing and. exploit it in as many different ways and. sell it in as many different ways as we.

can. Right. Um yes, exactly. It was they. were cartoons starting like you said in. the '70s became marketing tools and at. first it was um to basically extend the. the advertising power of an existing TV. show like all the ones you listed, right? And more. Yeah. But then they. started saying like hey, we have this. line of greeting cards. The Care Bears. started out as a greeting cards line. So. did Shirt Tales as a matter of fact. Yeah. And they would say like people are.

going crazy for these mugs with these. adorable characters on them cuz Care. Bears did have the loveliest animation. potentially of all time of all Saturday. morning cartoons. Yeah, I think so. And then they said. okay, mugs are not enough, greeting cards are. not enough. Let's like really blow out. this this IP if they were calling it. that. Um and turn it into a kids show. and then start selling like dolls and. figures of these cartoons to the kids. watching these shows. And you could take.

something like the Care Bears as a. greeting card line and turn them into a. hot property. Yeah, I mean we'll read through a few of. these. Uh there was a Pac-Man TV show, of course. That was good. Uh. which was an arcade game, of course. Uh. there was a Dungeons and Dragons. cartoon. >> That was pretty good. Role-playing game? I don't think I ever saw that. Uh. there was let me see here. Obviously the. Transformers long before they were not. so great Michael Bay movies. Uh they were toys and then.

a cartoon and as you'll see some of. these things kind of it's hard to. remember which one came before the other. or if they were like developing. toys just to sell a cartoon or. developing a cartoon just to sell toys. It kind of. uh except for, you know, Rambo and Chuck. Norris which were actual shows in 1986. >> Mhm. Uh Rambo the Force of Freedom and. Chuck Norris Karate Commandos double K. Right. Uh I think the Teenage Mutant. Ninja Turtles was the one that started. out as a show just to sell the toys, right? Yeah. Um they were basically.

co-developed at the same time was part. of a a grand scheme. Um I know Jem and the Holograms was a. cartoon before the toys about a year. before the toys. Okay. Um. there were uh Smurfs. When the Smurfs. came out, that was a big deal. Um. because there was there was like a was. it a hundred or a hundred and one Smurfs. with Papa Smurf? And they made little like really. collectible size action Well, not action.

figures cuz they weren't action at all, but just little figures of the Smurfs. Do you remember those? >> Yeah. You could Smurf them all. And yes, exactly. I'm pretty sure they had like a. hundred different ones that you could. collect and people went bonkers on those. things cuz they were just so cute and. you could put them on your desk or you. could play with them or do whatever. Um. but the Smurfs came first and I think. that they really kind of helped kick off. that that genuine like we can really. market the heck out of these cartoons if. we make figures based on these. Yeah, see that that's a slight divide. I was a. little bit old for Smurfs.

Little bit old for Smurfs. Full stop. Smurfs is still pretty good. Hey, I. they're still making those movies, man. There was one out last year, wasn't. there? I have not seen that You mean. like the CGI movies? Yeah, yeah. I've. not seen them, but yeah, I think they're. they've got several out. Yeah, I think. it's the same thing. They're still. Smurfing at the box office. That's. great. And then there were other ones. like uh Strawberry Shortcake, My Little. Pony. Where like you said the. the lines between did the cartoon come. first, did the toys come first, it.

really doesn't matter because they were. all part of the same package by this. point. We're well into the '80s which. not coincidentally was the. deregulation-minded. Reagan era. And cartoons at this point had evolved. into half-hour essentially commercials. for the actual toy. And in the. most pronounced cases, the actual. commercials were for the toys in the. cartoon that the toys were based on.

Yeah, I've got some stats here because. in the late '70s uh the FTC and we're. going to talk about the FCC and the FTC. quite a bit because parents and the. government started to get a little upset. basically. They they saw the writing on. the wall and late '70s they released. numbers by the FTC um that highlighted. uh what they called it like a real. health problem for this programming. Um companies every year, and this was. back then in the '70s, spent five. hundred to six hundred million dollars.

on ads targeted to children. Um of all the foods being advertised to. kids, uh two-thirds I'm surprised it. wasn't more than this, honestly were. highly sugared products. >> It it was. Um by my Josh math. calculations, it was over 95%. >> Okay. That feels about right. Yeah, for. real. Cuz um of all the foods. Um but. even of all the ads, Chuck, most of them. were for sugared foods. There was a that. study or that that trade commission.

study um looked at some data where that. looked at nine months of 1975, not even. the whole year. Looked at 7,515. ads. 7,182. of those ads were for sugary foods. 95.7%. What was there anything for good food? Uh yes, actually. There were. four. Four ads over nine months, four. different ads for meats, vegetables, milk, or cheese. And milk, cheese, and I.

think meats maybe had zero. So. vegetables somehow was basically. carrying that and I would guess all four. of those were different V8 ads or fruit. juice ads. Who was the guy was like the. the dairy counselor or something? The. guy that that danced around and sang. about cheese? Um I think it was uh. uh Time for Timer. Was he like a a big. circle with real long skinny legs and a. cowboy? That was Timer. Okay, yeah. That.

was What was that? Was that the dairy. council? I know, he was actually um a. response to the government actually. doing something in the late '70s which. we'll talk about which which was Seems a. good thing. PSAs to kind of counteract. this stuff. Yeah, it was a good thing. Okay. He talked about eating proteins. and stuff rather than sugar. God, what a very weird. He looks like. Twinkie the Kid a little bit. >> Yeah. I couldn't put my finger on it, Chuck. You're absolutely right. That's. who it was. All right, so the writing's on the wall.

These studies are coming out and people. are saying like really? Uh four ads for. good food and 7,000 plus for sugary. stuff. And so people started getting. upset. Uh not just about the ads though, but. about the content. Uh cartoon violence. is a real thing. Um every time there was an adult in a. cartoon, they were buffoons and and. morons. Or they had like an evil plot. that the kids had to foil. Yeah, for sure. Like they were bad. people. Like Scooby-Doo kids were they. were always foiling the adults evil. plans. >> Exactly. They were never going against. fellow whatever. I mean, how old were.

they even? They were late teens, maybe even post. high school, yeah. I think they were bumming around before. college, yeah. >> Yeah. Uh yeah, I think it was right. before college. Okay. Uh consumerism, of. course, was very much glorified in the. cartoons in the ads. And by the late '60s, you know, jumping. back a bit, there were there were groups. that were forming. Uh the Action for. Children's Television got together. They're lobbying the FCC. Um obviously. they they regulate the media on not.

cable as we'll see, but just regular TV. And they were saying like hey, this is. this stuff is. we got to. pull this back some. Like we're getting. out of hand with what we're feeding. children four hours at a time every. Saturday. Yeah. Yeah, this was like you. said the late '60s it started to really. kind of pick up in the '70s because the. reason why is more and more research was. funded studying what effect television. had on kids and Saturday morning. cartoons were a deep focus of those. studies, too. There was a 1975 study from the National.

Science Foundation. It was a. meta-analysis. Yeah. Yeah. And they said. Saturday morning cartoons are creating. conflict within families. because kids are going to their parents. saying I want this. The parents say no. And the kid gets upset and starts. arguing and that's that's internal. family conflict, familial conflict. And. the the same um one of the surveys found. that kids, I think a third of kids. reported arguing sometimes when their.

parents said no. A sixth of them argued. quote a lot. So the reason why Saturday morning. cartoons in particular were causing this. conflict is because there were so many. ads for so many kids products that kids. saw every Saturday that it increased the. frequency of kids asking for stuff which. increased the frequency of being told no. which increased the frequency of arguing. and conflict. Yeah, for sure. parents didn't like that, of course. Um. they also didn't like that they learned.

that and and they they did, you know, studies on this, too. And they found that young kids. or kids in general basically couldn't. tell the difference between cartoons and. ads because sometimes it was. the literal characters from the cartoon. telling you something. Sometimes it was. kids playing with toys and showing you. the action of the toys. And kids just. like watching that. And the old you. know, the younger you were, you really. couldn't tell the difference. Once you. got a little bit older, you could tell. the difference just by the length and be.

like well, those are the short cartoons. Right, exactly. Yeah, cuz these ads were. all like there would be a mini cartoon. within the ad, you know? Like. Frankenberry would uh almost fall into a. pit or something like that. And Count. Chocula they have to come turn into a. bat and rescue him or something like. that and then they both end up eating. their cereal. Um that like. if you're a little kid you're like this. is great. This is some weird short that. they just put in the middle of the show. but it's not an ad. And I'm hungry all.

of a sudden. Right. For that cereal. >> Mom I want some Count Chocula. Yeah. >> That was actually captured really well. in a Simpsons just this almost in a side. where Itchy and Scratchy are up for a. cartoon award. And one of the other. one of the other cartoons in the running. for best writing in a cartoon series was. Action Figure Man the How to Buy Action. Figure Man episode. It just shows a little kid and goes. Mommy I want it.

>> Oh wow. >> He's pointing to the action figure like. not even an ad. That was the episode. That's really funny. Yeah, they nailed. it on that. They nailed it like. Snagglepuss. They always do. So the long and short of all of this. past few minutes is that kids didn't. know that they were being sold things. Right. >> And and parents didn't like that. I. think the authors of the paper were. fairly kind when they said. certainly most advertisers do not. deliberately set out to confuse or. mislead children nor to promote unsafe. unhealthy or social socially undesirable.

behavior. Uh which is very naive I think but maybe. they were just trying to soft sell it. Right. So you put all this together that. again started in the 60s is kind of. agitation and also this is where this is. the climate that Sesame Street grew out. of and probably made Saturday morning. cartoons look even worse cuz it showed. you could make kids shows that didn't. poison their minds. >> Right. Um. and then it picked up in the 70s and by. 1978 the Federal Trade Commission said. hey we need to do something about this.

We're not going to do anything about it. but we're going to make some. recommendations through their staff. report on television advertising to. children. They said we should ban all television. advertising for any product whatsoever. that's directed at very young children. Ooh. That's a big one. Right. So you can. kiss my buddy goodbye. Right? >> Ban advertising directed to older. children for sugared products which. makes sense but the the thing they. predicated this concern on just cracks. me up because those things can pose.

serious dental health risks. Like that. was the extent of the concern with. sugary products back then. Yeah, it'll. rot your teeth. >> Right. Yeah, that I mean that's what you. heard. That'll rot your teeth. Not like. just eating tons of sugar is not good. for you. Right. I remember having like a. we did a module that included a play and. some other stuff in third grade that was. sponsored by Crest. There was a big. Crest like cutout stand-up and like we. just in class we just did this whole. thing about brushing your teeth with. Crest brand toothpaste. It was like that.

pervasive. We make holes in teeth. Do. you remember that? Yeah, I do but I. can't place it. It was. oh man. I mean I think it was Crest but. it was. again a cartoon that Crest was running. And it was the cavity something Mhm. would that they had to fight and that. that was what they would chant. We make. holes in teeth. Yeah, that might have. been one of the things that kicked us. off. Yeah, probably so. And then the final requirement was. advertisements directed to older kids.

for other sugared products. that they could you know put on TV would. be balanced by ads for other nutritional. products or health disclosures Right. at. the end of the sugared product ad. That's where Timer came from. Yeah, okay. I got you. That that's also where. Bod Squad came from. Don't drown your. food. Remember that one? >> Oh yeah. There was. the cool thing about Schoolhouse Rock is. they'd already been doing this for half. a decade by the time other.

networks started to to do something. about it by running these cute little. cartoon PSAs. So essentially they were 10 15 maybe up. to 30 second. commercials that the networks had to run. that were cartoons too so they appealed. to kids but they rather than telling. kids to buy Fruity Pebbles. um they were telling kids to brush your. teeth or to. exercise your chompers with things like. carrots and apples that kind of stuff. Right. Uh should we take a break?

Oh let's talk about the rest of these. There's some other stuff that that you. just kind of take for granted. I didn't. realize came out of an actual deal. between the networks and the FTC. Yeah, there was also. and all this stuff I didn't remember. necessarily in the moment but once I. started reading about it and studying it. and obviously watching on YouTube it. like washed over me. NBC had One to Grow On from '83 to '89. and that was just usually some famous. person. sort of giving some life lesson advice. and they'd be like well that's one to.

grow on. Mhm. Uh what else besides oh. well Nancy Reagan of course and and just. say no to drugs. Who can forget that? Yeah, Betty White taught you who to call. in an emergency. Yeah, call Betty White. Right, exactly. Um cuz Betty White could handle. basically anything. She was just that. kind of person. Yeah. There was also The More You Know with. the star that went over your head. Um. that was the 90s on NBC and all of the. NBC stars at the time cuz remember NBC. ruled the airwaves with.

Must See TV Thursdays. Yeah, yeah. They had their stars. basically doing 30 second spots which. are PSAs and about how to how to you. know. maybe get into teaching maybe um stay in. school. Uh all just just little life. lessons like that. There were a bunch. actually about abusive parents and how. not cool it was for a dad to beat up on. a mom. Oh yeah. Yeah, real like kind of. raw and rugged stuff here or there but. presented in these vignettes that kind.

of got through to kids although you can. tell they were geared towards slightly. older kids. Yeah, for sure. And then of. course your beloved G.I. Joe um talked. about stranger danger. uh and always finish with the with the. famous line now you know and knowing is. half the battle. Mhm. And you've seen. those parody videos of that before, right? I don't think so. Oh there's. about 30 or so maybe more parody videos. that are just totally off the wall but. hilarious where they just take out the. the sound and put in their own sound and. vocals and edit the stuff up kind of mix.

it up so that they're just it's just. amazing. Look up G.I. Joe PSA parody. videos and you'll thank me later. Or. just watch probably any episode of. Family Guy. Uh yeah, prob probably. He did a lot of. that stuff. Yeah, he did. Uh should we take a break? Yes. All right. We'll be right back with. more on Saturday morning cartoons. [Music].

All right. By the way, I remembered it. was the cavity creeps. Oh, great memory. Yeah, it it just popped back. Uh so. before we left we talked about. you know some of these things they were. doing to offset the effect of cartoons. It's called prosocial programming and it.

was it came about because of an actual. deal that was made. Right. Um there was. a FTC hearing in 1978 where Kenneth. Mason of Quaker Oats was up there. because you know they were like hey. Captain Crunch is rotting our kids'. teeth out and you make it. And he he actually like. uh he didn't think they were the. problem. He thought the content was the. problem but he did come out and had a. statement basically where like. he said you know I think we do need to. change what's going on in our cartoons. and change the way our society is is.

using this medium to. communicate with kids so. it took a lot of nerve I think for for. that guy to say that but he didn't blame. the ads like I said. so they struck a deal basically hey you. can keep these ads if you add this other. programming that we were talking about. before. Yeah, and apparently the way. that I took it he was it was a very. crafty thing to do by blaming the. content because it took the onus off the. sugary product advertisers and everybody. started looking at the cartoons. themselves. And the cartoons were. probably like hey hey we're not nearly.

as bad as Fruity Pebbles but. okay we'll start doing something about. it. And the the. I guess cartoons themselves started to. get a little more prosocial. Like this. is where Fat Albert came from I believe. Um. but then also those PSAs that we were. talking about. That was the advent of. them. Yeah, for sure. But uh this is. late 70s. I think that was '77 '78. Ronald Reagan would come along in the. 1980s. and.

sort of just deregulate the United. States as a whole and said FCC stand. down uh and don't worry about this. stuff. They didn't officially I mean. they they were recommendations anyways. and not laws. So a recommendation is only good if you. sort of follow up on that. Right. The. FCC started not to in the 80s. They kind of didn't try in some cases I. think between 1980 and 1990 they. actually saw a rise in the number of. violent acts per hour on Saturday. morning cartoons from 18.6 to 26.4 per.

hour. Which is pretty nuts but it gets even. more nuts when you compare it to what. was on primetime what the adults were. watching. Oh yeah. Between 1980 and 1990. it pretty much held steady at just five. to six. acts of violence per hour as opposed to. the 26 per hour on cartoons. >> Yeah, and you know it's cartoon violence. but it's still it's not all Road Runner. falling off a cliff like a lot of it was. you know. depicted like you know there was a Rambo.

cartoon like I mentioned. Right. Um yeah, but I there there is research. and I'm not taking a position on either. way because people have said like. violent video games cause violence and. violent this is like the predecessor to. all that stuff. Violent cartoons cause. violent kids. One of the I guess. arguments of that is that even if it was. cartoon violence like Road Runner, it. still desensitized kids to the. consequences of violent acts. Right. Because there was accompanied with. humor. Yeah, for sure. Um so the '80s.

were kind of uh. the most unchecked time, it seems like. Yeah. And the '90s come along and. finally they were like, "All right, we. got to do something." Congress steps. back in. and the Children's Television Act of. 1990 required the FCC to enforce those. original FTC's recommendations in 1978. and said, "You got to reinstate. restrictions on advertising during. children's television and enforce the. obligations of broadcasters to meet the. educational and for informational needs. of the child audience.".

And a couple years later NBC was like, "All right, I'm done. It's not even. worth it anymore.". >> Forget this, yeah. Although one good thing that came out of. this is this was the origin of Saved by. the Bell because NBC went all in on. slightly older kids teen programming on. Saturday mornings and the flagship of it. was Saved by the Bell. So much they. shoot they showed two episodes of it at. a morning, new ones. Yeah, and I mean. this is also where you got things like. the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and of. course Pee-wee's Playhouse was a little.

bit before this. Mhm. Or was it in the. '90s? Was that the German pronunciation? What did I say? Pee-wee's Playhouse. Did. I? Pee-wee's Pee-wee's Playhouse. Perfect. Yeah, I think that was like '85 or. something like that. Okay. I never watched Pee-wee's Playhouse. I. know we've talked about this, but I. guess I was 14 by then. Not not that you. I mean there I could watch it today and. probably really love it cuz Pee-wee. defies age groups, but.

it was just one of those things that. maybe at the time I didn't know about it. and didn't think it was for me or. something. I don't know. I've no excuse. Yeah, I wasn't into him either, for. sure. But I did get to see his live. version of the Pee-wee's Playhouse. >> Oh, you went to that? Yeah. Amazing. Um so there were a few other. consequences of this, but the big one, the upshot was. that the government, Congress, essentially nanny stated Saturday. morning cartoons out of existence. Yeah. >> Because of these rules they just weren't.

profitable anymore. There were certain. restrictions on advertising. You could. only show so many ads during kids. programming. Um. like there was there was just a lot that. took away the the profit drive that made. Saturday morning cartoons so attractive, right? Yeah. Um there were a lot of. other factors, too, that put the writing. on the wall. Um not the least of which. was the rise of cable TV, which you. mentioned was outside of the purview of. the FCC for a long time. And from what I.

can tell, even today networks are. required to show 3 hours of. educational programming geared toward. geared to kids. So if you ever are up on. a Saturday. or Sunday and you were watching Saved by. the Bell reruns like I don't know some. people do, um there it would say it would flash. like a logo that says EI and it would. say this program has been labeled. educational and informative. >> Oh. That's because of a government mandate. that they have to run 3 hours of shows.

uh educational shows. I guess a day? Maybe. Um maybe a week cuz I only. remember seeing it on certain times and. certain days, but um there were there. were mandates that said you have to show. educational programming and that's why. you see that today. But um cable, that. didn't apply to. And so not only did cable not have to. show and take up valuable real estate. with educational programming that nobody. wanted to watch unless it was Saved by. the Bell, um.

they there were also cable networks that. were geared exclusively to kids that. wasn't just on Saturday mornings. These. were 24 hour a day children's. programming like Nickelodeon and the. beginning the first. iteration of the Disney Channel. Yeah, and and stuff like the WB and CW, too. Those weren't exclusively kids, but I I. feel like most of that was and like. through teen years basically. Mhm. Uh. you also had the rise of um like. even though I love my Atari and stuff.

like that, it wasn't anything like what. was to come with at-home gaming. Um that. certainly put a dent in things cuz now. kids could just get up on Saturday. morning and and play whatever, you know, new system was out. Right. Uh DVRs came. along and then, you know, so you didn't have to crowd. around the TV at a certain time. together. Uh they all just started. getting out of it. I think I mentioned. NBC got out in '92, CBS got out in '97, and ABC, wow. ABC hung on to Saturday. morning cartoons till 2010.

Yeah. Yep, for sure. >> No, I think WB and Fox had only stopped. just a couple years before. Um but again, it seems like the the. whole thing peaked and ended by the late. '90s, very early 2000s. And I from what. I saw, the last Saturday morning cartoon. block uh shown in the United States. happened on September 27th, 2014. on the CW.

And the last cartoon show that was shown. in the history of Saturday morning. cartoons was Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal. Oh. Which is something I was ever into, but I know there are a lot of kids who. just like drooled with nostalgia. Um and that was the last Saturday. morning cartoon ever shown. There's a. little piece of trivia for you. Wow. Did. they they did they have a lone bugler. play taps afterward? They should have, for sure. Man, what a. what a end of an era, for sure. Yeah, but it also I mean when I look back and.

or look at all of this info and I'm like. I was smack dab in the most manipulative. stretch of Saturday morning cartoons. Yeah. >> And it makes me wonder like what had I. been watching in the early '70s or had I. been watching in the '90s or 2000s after. like all of these restrictions, how. different would would. I be? Yeah. Yeah. Like I can recite um a a specific Fruity. Pebbles ad that they used to show around.

Christmas. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Can you? Now? >> Yes. So uh. I think Fred no, Barney was pretending. to be Santa cuz he wanted to slide down. the chimney and get Fred's Fruity. Pebbles and he said, "Ho ho ho, I'm ho. ho hungry." And then he slid down and he. found Santa was already there and he. goes, "Santa, my pebbles!" And Fred. goes, "Your pebbles, Barney!" And. I this would like get in my head as an. earworm and it does still sometimes.

today where. like for days it'll just be going on a. loop in my head. That's so funny. And I. can even top that, Chuck. Okay. As I was. um thinking about it today, I was. highlighting. like my notes for today and I started. drooling. So like that's how that's the Pavlovian. response that was trained in me for. Fruity Pebbles thanks to Saturday. morning cartoons in the '80s. I love Fruity Pebbles. Not as good as. Captain Crunch Peanut Butter to me, that's my all-time favorite, but boy, I. love some Fruity Pebbles. Did you ever.

have that ET cereal that I mentioned. earlier? Uh I don't think I ever had. that. I mean we didn't we weren't, you. know, we didn't get a lot of that stuff. If you could afford Captain Crunch. Peanut Butter, you could afford ET. Yeah, but. Captain Crunch Peanut Butter was a. rarity and often times it was the. the generic brands of all that stuff. So. instead of Fruity Pebbles it was like. Fruit Stones or whatever. Fruit tonsil stones. Yeah, exactly. Gross. Yeah, yeah. Um as far as peanut.

butter cereals go, ET was the best, I. think. >> Oh, it was peanut butter? Yes. And it. was not peanut butter and chocolate, it. was just peanut butter cuz remember. Reese's Pieces were ET's favorite. and it had like a a glossy coating to. it, too, that somehow made it even more. sweet peanut buttery. It was so good. Was it. a ET's head or something? No, I don't remember what it was, but it. was I don't I don't think it was. It may. have been E.T.'s, I'm not sure. >> about to ask if it was E.T.'s. It may.

have been, but on the box it was. obviously just a big picture of ET. I bet you they could bring that back and. people would like it. I would buy all of. it. I think it I'm looking now, buddy. I. think it's E.T.'s. It's so good, Chuck. I I it was so good. That and remember. the lemon lime Bubble Yum. where it was like a lemon center wrapped. in lime outside? Yeah. Those two things. are like that was the pinnacle of my. childhood as far as eating stuff goes.

Yeah, I was a grape Hubba Bubba guy. generally. I found that they had the. best tensile strength or the biggest. bubbles. >> For sure. But I would also do Hubba. Bubba or Bubble Licious and Bubble Yum, too. Yep. Yeah, Bubble Yum probably had. the least um. bubble blowing ability. Hubba Bubba. definitely had everybody else beat. Yeah. One last question. Did you have a. license plate that you got out of a. Honeycomb box that you put on your bike? Oh, you bet your sweet bippy I did. Me,

too, buddy. >> Yeah. I don't remember what it said, but I'll. bet it was bitchin' and pro-America. Yeah, I didn't even like Honeycomb. cereal, so that they got you to buy. stuff just cuz you wanted the the prize. That's awesome. And I'm sure you learned. all about the license plate being in the. the box of Honeycombs on Saturday. morning cartoons. Yeah, and oh man, the. nostalgia's coming hard now, but. if you weren't sitting down for Saturday. morning cartoons, you would just have. your bowl in front of you, of course. If. you're at the kitchen table eating. cereal, what were you doing? Reading the back of the cereal box. You.

got it. So good, which is probably another ad. for something else, too. Yeah, or like a. puzzle or a word find or something. Yeah, if you're lucky. Yeah. Woo, we should probably stop cuz I'm. getting dizzy. I'm about to faint. I'm drooling now. Uh if you want to know more about. Saturday morning cartoons, I have a. great little piece of advice for you. Some saintly humans have put entire 3-4. hour blocks of Saturday morning.

cartoons, complete with ads, the. original broadcasts, on YouTube and all. sorts of other video playing sites. And. if you want to just lose yourself, go. watch some of it. You will love it. Amazing. Uh Chuck said amazing, which means it's. time for listener mail. I'm going to call this grossest. cockroach story ever. Uh hey guys, not. to be a one-upper, but I believe I might. have the worst cockroach story on Earth. Yikes. A few years ago, I would let my. little three-legged best friend, Trip,

the guy he's got a little tripod dog. I. love those. Mhm. Uh out on the front. porch cuz he loves laying on the porch. at night to listen to the bugs. Uh he's. the best dog one could dream for, but on. this night, he let me down for the first. time ever for not protecting me. Uh as I opened the door to let him out, as I turned around to walk back inside, I felt something hit my head and start. crawling. Quickly ripped off my hoodie and threw. it to the ground. I searched and. searched, but ultimately couldn't find. the culprit. After a few minutes of. searching, I decided to open the front. door to see if Trip wanted to come back. in. Right as I began to call out for him.

to come inside, a roach the size of a. Milano cookie buzzed around from inside. the house and flew directly into my. mouth. Oh my goodness. Yes, all the way into my mouth. I. quickly spit it out and tried my best to. smash this thing into oblivion, but. saliva only made him stronger, I guess, as he evaded me with ease and flew off. into the warm summer night sky. I think. about this far too often and wouldn't. doubt if it only added to my ongoing. anxiety. He had mentioned at the. beginning that uh we help with anxiety.

for Buck. So, uh and that his wife. appreciates that. So, uh part of the reason for Buck's anxiety. might be recounting this roach story. For real? Again, thank you guys for the. years of joy, knowledge, and laughs. May. your mouths be free. of Periplaneta Americana. for forever and longer. Nice. Thanks, Buck. That was a good. email. Yeah, good writer. I can imagine. Yeah, I can imagine that there are some. people out there listening that are. like, "What does he mean a flying. cockroach?". Yes, indeed, there are flying. cockroaches. We call them palmetto bugs.

and they're giant and they're flying and. they're cockroaches. And apparently, if. you're Buck and you got your mouth open, a Milano-sized cookie cockroach is going. to find its way right into that gaping. hole. Horrific. Uh I think I already said thanks again, Buck, but that was such a good email, it's worth saying again. So, thanks. again, Buck. And if you want to be like. Buck and send us an email, send it off. to stuffpodcast@iheartradio.com. Stuff You Should Know is a production of. iHeartRadio. For more podcasts by.

iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen. to your favorite shows. [Music].