I miss the good old days when I could turn on the television and a reality show would not be on every channel and all the “adult” shows came on later. The good old days were when cartoons ruled the stations.
When I was a child, Sunday through Friday my mother had to literally pull me out of bed so I could get dressed and ready for the day. I would drag my feet from the bed to the shower, to the kitchen and to the car. On Saturdays, I was the first person to wake up in the house.
I would go to bed early Friday night and set my alarm clock for 7:30 a.m. Once that alarm sounded I would get right out of bed and head to the family room.
I did not hit snooze or think to myself “five more minutes,” I would just head straight for the television. The first of my series of Saturday morning cartoons was about to come on.
Missing an episode of “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” was like missing an episode of “America’s Next Top Model.”
Now I sleep in late on Saturdays because I have no real reason to wake up anymore. There are some decent cartoons like “Batman” and “Xiaolin Showdown.”
They have even made decent attempts to recreate classics like “Tom and Jerry” and “Justice League” but it’s just not the same.
Those weren’t the only cartoons to look forward to during the week. Monday through Friday we had after school cartoons that this generation knows nothing about.
Stations like Nickelodeon and the Disney Channel play shows dedicated to children during the day, but those are television shows. They are not the same as the crazy antics of a cartoon.
Everyday after school I would head straight for the television and make sure to grab the remote. If anyone tried to change the channel, there would be a fight. It did not even matter who it was, everyone knew better than to take me away from my cartoons.
Now when I turn on the TV at 3 p.m. “Maury” or a courtroom show is on. When did all of the after school cartoons go off air?
There are still children around and I am sure they would love to come home to some laughs rather than watch another quest to find the baby’s daddy on another talk show. I know that I would prefer to watch “Animaniacs” over any of those shows.
I would look forward to seeing so many shows at least one day of the week. We had “Bobby’s World,” “Pinky and the Brain,” “DuckTales,” “Tale Spin,” “Chip ‘n Dale Rescue Rangers,” and so many others. Now they have shows like “Johnny Quest” and “Yu-Gi-Oh!” and other shows that deal with fighting with cards. It breaks my heart that this generation has to deal with this.
My generation even had the luxury of having old school cartoons televised on basic channels. We were able to watch “The Flintstones,” “Scooby-Doo,” “Looney Tunes” and “Tom and Jerry.” This generation has to settle for the faux versions of “Tom and Jerry” and “Scooby-Doo,” thinking that these shows are completely new concepts.
I may be 19, tired and too busy for my own good, but I would wake up at 6:30 a.m. if there were still some good cartoons to watch. Sadly, this generation must suffer and so shall I.
Sher Porter, a sophomore journalism major, is news editor of the Campus Times. She can be reached by e-mail at sporter4@ulv.edu.
