Those of you who followed my antics at TV Squad know I took on an ambitious project: chronicling the era of Saturday morning programming from 1965 to the end of the 20th Century. For those of you who didn’t follow me on TV Squad, uh, see the above sentence. Beginning last year I chronicled a year’s worth of programming providing video, some background on each series, and what show(s) started trends that would continue for years. By the time I left TV Squad I had covered a decade’s worth of superheroes, musical groups, and mystery-solving dogs.
Thing is, I couldn’t let my series go. Face it, Saturday mornings are at the center of many our fondest childhood memories. That’s why I thought it was time to bring my retrospectives right here on CliqueClackKids. So, over the next few weeks and months, look for these Saturday morning posts, beginning with the year 1976.
In the meantime, rather than rehashing everything that took place between 1965 and 1975 let me give you some of the highlights of the first ten years of original Saturday morning programming.
While the networks offered Saturday morning fare between 1960 and 1964, in the form of older cartoons and live-action series, the era of original programming didn’t begin until 1965. Three cartoons – Atom Ant, Secret Squirrel and The Beatles- were introduced to pajama-clad viewers while simultaneously establishing some future trends. For instance, Atom Ant ushered in an era of superhero cartoons, while The Beatles would be a predecessor of the animated rock band programs premiering a few years later. Meanwhile, Hanna-Barbera, who had two original cartoons made just for Saturday morning, cemented itself as a major player for the next two decades.
By 1966 the era of Saturday morning cartoons was in full swing, with a slew of science-fiction and superhero shows filling the schedule. Over the next two seasons this trend would continue as more and more animated super-beings were introduced. By 1967iconic characters like Space Ghost, Superman, The Herculoids, The Fantastic Four, and Spider-Man would grace our television screens. In addition, viewers would be introduced to a new animation studio – Filmation. Over the next several years this upstart company would match, and even surpass, the success of Hanna-Barbera.
Everything was going just swimmingly, and then the adults stepped in. They weren’t too fond of the violence they were seeing in the programs their children were watching and they let the networks know in spades. Fearing a huge loss of revenue so soon, the networks scaled back on the science fiction and superheroes during the 1968-69 season (though, they did introduce animated versions of Batman and Robin during this time) and turned their attentions toward a different audience.
Clacked by Richard Keller 
on Apr 23, 2009 @ 10:00 EST5EDT
