[simmonmt]

The Children's Television Act didn't have anything to do with it? My understanding is that that's what brought in the E/I programming that fills (filled? it's been a few years since I looked) the space Saturday morning cartoons used to occupy on the broadcast networks. I've no doubt the other things the author lists contributed too, but it's surprising to either see E/I omitted or to learn that it had no noticeable causal effect.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regulations_on_children%27s_te...

[cogman10]

From what I recall in the 90s (and this is just my own memory). I remember enjoying the cartoons even with the E/I regulations. None of the cartoons I got were really the GI Joe style advert cartoons.

But what I also remember is that the broadcast networks over the years started reducing the number of cartoons they broadcast. I remember watching cartoons until like noon in the heyday. By the end of our broadcast cartoons, they were strictly a 1-to-2-hour event.

I suspect that part of the reason for that is cartoons became a lot less lucrative with advert requirements.

It wasn't until my parents got satellite TV (which got a LOT cheaper over my childhood. The old behemoth dishes were a sight to behold) that I experienced cartoons more like the GI Joe period. Cartoon network, nick, disney all had hours of unregulated cartoon nonsense with hours of kid targeted commercials.

And, by then, Saturday morning was dead as a cartoon time. Why wake up early for cartoons when you could simply turn on the cartoon channel?

[reactordev]

Prior to Cartoon Network, and computer animation, there was:

    Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
    X-Men
    Doug
    David The Gnome
    Care-bears
    My little pony
    Hello Kitty
    He-Man
    Garfield
    The Littles
    Duck Tales
    Thundercats
    Simpsons

Today we have:

    Family Guy
    Bobs Burgers
    South Park
    King of the Hill
    Simpsons

3D animation took over and if you can do 3D, why make it look like a cartoon?

obviously there’s more… but just pointing out the shift away from cartoon.

[giantrobot]

I was surprised as well. It seems the CTA really helped kill kids programming on broadcast stations. In the LA market there was Saturday and Sunday morning cartoons. By 2000 both NBC and CBS (IIRC) had stopped Saturday morning programming and ABC's entertaining content had been replaced by E/I dreck.

[qingcharles]

Everyone here is shitting on E/I, but I really enjoyed a lot of that programming. It still goes out regularly on broadcast TV.

[jghn]

This is interesting. Even as an adult I was always a big fan of Saturday morning cartoons. And I have a very distinct memory of somewhere around 1999-2001 that fading out of existence and being replaced by the sort of schlock you describe.