The Weirding TV: Saturday Morning Playlist

Growing up, Saturday morning was the day for one reason: Saturday Morning Cartoons. That phrase deserves elite text because it was a frigging institution of America's youth; Saturday Morning Cartoons were wildly popular and everyone across the country knew Saturday morning TV was reserved for kids. I have never understood why the networks replaced them with news magazines and political pundits. I don't even completely get replacing them with paid programs; everyone I know changes channels when a paid program comes on.

We could discuss Cartoon Network and the like, but a significant portion of the populace still doesn't have cable/satellite, so I'm sure the market is still there. What I want to note instead is the sociological impact that removing Saturday Morning Cartoons has had:

As I said, Saturday Morning Cartoons were a frigging institution, man! Every kid you knew watched Saturday Morning Cartoons and you would be safe in assuming that all the kids you didn't know watched Saturday Morning Cartoons, as well. Not only did everyone know who the Smurfs were, they knew that The Snorks came on right before them, etc. Limited though our choices were, they developed cultural touchstones no later generation has, at least not to as great an extent. This is why there will never be another Michael Jackson, much less another Smurfs.

Since this is a nerd-site, I wanted to stay true to that and show-off my limited talents as a TV programmer, but I also wanted to introduce some of you to some fare I know you'll dig and show the rest of you where to find some of these cultural touchstones we haven't even thought of for 20+ years. There are several reasons for doing this aside from nostalgia and plain old, silly fun, but I also think programming playlists like this have a future; think of it as Oprah's Book Club without the books. Or Oprah.

So, this is Weirding TV: a collection of programming playlists usually developed around larger themes (in this case, Saturday Morning Cartoons), though not always. This isn't meant to be taken too seriously, but I encourage everyone to get involved; watch the programs in the order they're given and then comment on them: Which had you forgotten about? Which are stupid? Which would you drop and with what would you replace it? And so on.

The rules are simple:

• Watch only one episode of the show each week, in chronological order - starting with the first episode of the first season (the Pilot) or the oldest one available - then watch only one episode (in chronological order) from the next show, etc., until you reach the end of the list. ¹ You aren't required to watch every show in precise chronological order, but there is a reason for putting them in an order in the first place, so I'd appreciate it if you did.
• The playlist will remain the same for several months, giving everyone a chance to see several of the episodes of the series included. I'll change the playlist around the same time the major networks do. The Saturday Afternoon Movie will change every week; I'll simply include a link to the playlist and announce that week's afternoon movie.
• Discuss. What shows do you like/hate and why? What would you change - drop/add shows, change the order of the playlist - and why? What shows would you like to see?
• The shows have to be legally available online, even if you need a subscription to access them. Netflix, Hulu, and other sites qualify; KaZaa, LimeWire, and other, peer-to-peer programs and the like, are not.
• NO SPOILERS!
  Nothing's stopping you from watching as many episodes of a show as you like whenever you want, but the whole thing is an experiment which I hope leads to interesting discussions - we don't want to leave anyone out or rob them of their enjoyment of the shows and discussion.
• Obviously, you can create and share your own playlists, but part of this process includes discussing and implementing the changes you suggest (dropping/adding programs, changing the order of the queue, etc.), so please focus your ideas on changing The Weirding TV playlist instead of offering alternate playlists of your own. Anyone can throw together a playlist of their favorite shows and post it on his blog, but that is not the point in doing this. I'm sure your list is better than mine and so on and so forth, but you should know I am doing this for a reason - a very good reason which would excite the living shit out of you, if I told you what it was (but I won't) - and not just for shits and giggles.
  

The Weirding TV
Saturday Morning Cartoons

• Rocky & Bullwinkle - any episode
  
• Robotech - Macross first
• Thundercats
• Astonishing X-Men

Saturday Afternoon Movie

• MST3K: Monster A-Go-Go
  

That isn't much, but I figured it was enough to get us going and see how the project shapes-up while not being so much that it turns people off right away. There is a specific reason I am doing this, about which I will post more in upcoming weeks, but know that it is for more than just killing time. Even cooler, I am going to bring you some nifty extras related to the shows in the playlists as we go along.

So grab a bowl of cereal, plop-down in front of your monitor, and bug-out to The Weirding TV!

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1. Because the eligibility of individual shows and episodes is always changing, we're posting links to the shows' general page(s). Some shows lacked continuity, so "Any episode" can be watched. Each week, I'll list the Saturday Afternoon Movie.

© C Harris Lynn, 2010