Saturday Morning promos and bumpers from the 1990s

Once again dipping our toes into past Saturay morning waters, here are some promo clips and bumpers from the 1990s and ABC. This is for all of you "Generation Y" readers out there who were too young to remember the 1980s, my beloved decade of choice. I want to offer my readers options. If I can find a decent schedule, I will use a 90s season for a Saturday Morning Recreated post in the future. If you have a schedule, please send it to me at phillyradiogeek@gmail.com. Thanks!

Here are some fun claymation-type bumpers for ABC in the early 90s (perhaps late 80s, so excuse me if I'm cheating here a little bit).




Here are bumpers using characters from, once again, a claymation-esque series called Bump in the Night, which I never heard of until searching for stuff for this post. Interesting, if a bit creepy.



Here is the intro to ABC's One Saturday Morning lineup, which was very successful for the network--thank you, corporate synergy! This lineup continued into the early 2000s. I loved Recess and got a kick out of Pepper Ann.



Again, if you're a child of the 1990s, let me know what you'd like to see. Thanks!

Saturday Matinee: Crimson GHost, Part 11

See it...now!


Watch 11. DOUBLE MURDER in Entertainment  |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

Saturday Matinee: Crimson Ghost, Part 10

On to that other Saturday feature at this blog, here is part 10 of the Crimson Ghost!


Watch 10.THE TRAP THAT FAILED in Entertainment  |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com


Watch 1950s RETRO DRIVE-IN INTERMISSION TRAILER in Movies  |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

Saturday Morning Recreated: CBS, Fall 1979

Here we go once again, stepping into the Wayback machine to take a look at kids TV of Saturday mornings past. Last time we looked at ABC in the Fall of 1979; now let's take a look at the competition at the same time. Here is CBS's Saturday morning lineup for the Fall of 1979!




First up at 8am ET is the Mighty Mouse/Heckle and Jeckle Show. This was not the first nor the last time Mighty Mouse would adorn CBS's Saturday morning lineup. The first time was in the mid-60s with his original cartoons made by TerryToons years earlier. This time around, CBS presented new cartoons made by the famous Filmation studios, which along with Hanna-Barbera was responsible for most animation featured on Saturday mornings. Here is a brief clip of Mighty Mouse; I couldn't find the new Heckle and Jeckle cartoons anywhere.



Well, that looks like it sucked.

Next up at 9am ET is an alltime Saturday morning classic: The Bugs Bunny/Roadrunner Show. Although Warner Brothers cartoons were packaged in a thousand ways all over television during this era, this, to me and my generation, was the supreme showcase. It aired for a whopping 90 minutes! I couldn't find the intro with the classic theme song, but I do have the theme with a still of the intro here.



Here is a cartoon likely to be seen on this show, and probably my favorite Warner Bros. cartoon ever, "Rabbit Seasoning."

Bugs bunny - Rabbit Seasoning
Uploaded by gorotred

Also part of this hour, as the title states, was the Roadrunner, who also had his own theme song:



Here is the Roadrunner and Wile E. Coyote, Genius, in "Hook, Line, and Stinker."



At 10:30am is the All-New Popeye Hour, a show that had a surprisingly long run for CBS. As the title states, these were newly produced cartoons and not airings of the classic theatrical ones. Like some other cartoons at the time, these had little life lessons sprinkled throughout the hour. Here is the show intro and sample lesson.





Speaking of lessons, now is a good time for some interstititial programming, and if it's CBS, it must mean In The News. These were 2-minute segments presenting recent news stories to younger viewers in a clear, capsulized way. They were written and narrated by CBS newsman Christopher Glenn, who passed away in 2006. Several other Internet bloggers have described the segment as a drag on the schedule, but I loved them! Here is one example (which is really from December 1976/January 1977, but please allow me some slack).



At 11:30am is CBS Saturday morning stalwart Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids.



Wow, it's 12 noon and were not finished yet. I lvoed when networks had expanded lineups like this. Way to go, CBS!

At noon is the live action series Jason of Star Command, which I vaguely remember seeing but I can't tell you anything about the premise. Here is the intro. I couldn't find full episodes online, but the series is available on DVD.



At 12:30pm is Tarzan and the Super Seven. This hourlong program by Filmation was only one of several ways these individual components were packaged on the network. The seven in question were Tarzan himself;





Batman (with Robin, Batgirl, and yes, Batmite!);


Watch The New Adventures of Batman (1977) - Intro & credits in Animation View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

and the five members of the Freedom Force.



The voices for Batman and Robin were none other than Adam West and Burt Ward. Perfect! Funny, I vividly remember Tarzan and the Freedom Force, but I never saw this version of Batman until a couple of years later in syndicated reruns.

Lastly at 1:30pm, CBS presented 30 Minutes, a news program aimed at young adults (translates as "teenagers") loosely patterned after 60 Minutes. I never knew it existed until I saw this comic book ad.

All in all, not a bad lineup at all. Mighty Mouse is definitely the weak link here, but otherwise an entirely enjoyable, watchable morning.

See you soon!

Jerry Lewis Typewriter Bit

In honor of legendary comedian Jerry Lewis's birthday this past Monday, here is one of his most famous comedy bits. From his film Who's Minding the Store?, here is Jerry using a typewriter--of sorts. Thanks to Odd Todd (www.oddtodd.com) for this one!

Saturday Morning Recreated: ABC, Fall 1979

One of the blogs you'll see in my blog list is the Saturday Morning blog (http://saturdaymorn.blogspot.com/). This is an awesome sight run by Kliph Nesteroff, also owner of the Classic Television Showbiz and Generation Exploitation blogs. He has posted some cool and often forgotten cartoons of the 50s through the 70s. One feature he carried for awhile was Saturday Morning Recreated, in which he would attempt to present all of one network's Saturday morning lineup via clips from video sharing sites such as YouTube.

With permission from Kliph himself, I'd like to take over the reins on this great feature and present further installments here. To do that, I needed the same source material that Kliph used to determine the lineups: comic book ads. For years, networks would advertise their new Saturday morning lineups in comic books (that's where the audience was), and they're a great window into Saturday mornings past.

For these ads, I thank Shawn Robare of Branded in the 80s, a great site for all things 80s pop culture. They are now linked at right. Shawn has entire articles dedicated to these ads. Check them out here: http://www.brandedinthe80s.com/index.php?post_category=Saturday%20Morning%20Cartoon%20Ads . One of these days I'll learn how to hyperlink.

For this first installment, let's check out ABC, Saturday morning lineup from the Fall of 1979!

This ad doesn't have the exact times, but it's likely that the lineup began at 8am ET. The ad uses arrows to show which program leads into which.

First up at 8am is the Super Friends, which by 1979 had been a big hit for ABC for a few years. As this ad mentions the Legion of Doom, the team of super villians bent on conquering the world, the incarnation of the show this season is likely Challenge of the Super Friends. Here it is!


Watch The Time Trap in Super Friends View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

Up next at 9am is the Plastic Man Comedy/Adventure Show, featuring the titular hero (albeit a relatively obscure one) headlining his own series. Here is Plas in "The Horrible Half Ape!"


Watch Plastic Man - 1x03 - The Horrible Half-Ape in Plastic Man View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

Plastic Man shared this hour with several other features. Here is Mightyman and Yukk, the world's ugliest dog. Proceed with caution, as this is a bad cartoon.



This in turn was followed by Rickety Rocket, which is the first cartoon in this lineup I have absolutely no recollection of, but here's the intro.



The Plastic Man hour was concluded with Fangface, a comedic take on the werewolf concept. I enjoyed this one as a kid, but shake my head in disbelief at this now.

Before the next show, it's time for Schoolhouse Rock! ABC relied heavily on this and other short programming and PSAs between programs. Let's go with a classic--"Conjunction Junction!"



Up next at 10am is Spider-Woman, another cartoon based, like Plastic Man, on a relatively obscure comic book character. This was Marvel Comics' first production from its own animation studios, followed by Spider-Man and the Hulk on NBC in the early 80s. Here, Spider-Man guest stars in "Pyramids of Terror." Please excuse the non-English subtitles.




Up next at 10:30am is the Scooby and Scrappy Doo show. As Scrappy Doo is so universally hated, I'll keep comment here to a minimum. While his inclusion in the show is certainly a classic "jump the shark" moment, he doesn't bother me as much as other people.



Time for Timer!



Rounding out the morning are two programs aimed at tweens and teens. The ABC Weekend Special was a series of adaptations, both animated and live action, of books aimed at middle and high school age viewers. Here is the intro and first few minutes of one installment from the 1979-1980 season.



Finally, the legendary American Bandstand. I had a really hard time getting a decent clip of this show, at least from the late 1970s, which really surprised me. Instead, here's a clip of some goofball harassing people with his dancing to the theme song. Will this do?



And that's what Saturday mornings were like on ABC in 1979-1980. An interesting lineup certainly, with it's highs and lows. Super Friends was and is a classic. I liked the Plastic Man cartoon when I was young, but it's aimed squarely at a very young intellect. The rest of the Plastic Man hour was simply not good. I never knew the Spider-Woman cartoon existed until a few years later when I saw it on VHS--not bad. As stated previously, Scooby Doo wasn't as good during the Scrappy years, but I didn't hate it like others did. The Weekend Special was, as are many anthology series, uneven, but had its good installments. American Bandstand is, or course, an iconic program.

This was a lot of fun! I hope you enjoyed this as much as I did. I must thank again Kliph Nesteroff of the Saturday Morning blog for the idea and Shawn Robare of Branded in the 80s for the ad scan. Check their sites out!

Saturday Matinee: Crimson Ghost, Part 9

On time!


Watch The Crimson Ghost Episode 9 in The Crimson Ghost  |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

Lex Luthor Bailout

From the comedy Web site Funny or Die, here is Jon Hamm (AMC's Mad Men) as Lex Luthor requesting a government bailout for LexCorp. Good stuff!

"Lex Luthor Bailout" with Jon Hamm - watch more funny videos

Watchmen Fake Saturday Morning Cartoon

I normally don't post twice the same day, but this was too good to hold on to. Here is a fake Saturday Morning cartoon version of the graphic novel and now hit movie Watchmen. The humor will be lost on you if you're not familiar with the story, but if you are, this is awesome!

I found this courtesy of the Comic By Comic blog. Check it out in the Blog List!

Saturday Matinee: Crimson Ghost, Part 8

The Saturday Matinee--late again! Once again, I'm very sorry for those of you loyally following this feature. I think considering my wacky posting schedule lately, I should put this feature in cold storage after the Crimson Ghost is completed until I get back on track. Please let me know if you like the Matinee. Thanks!


Watch The Crimson Ghost Episode 8 in The Crimson Ghost  |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

Watchmen Viral Marketing Videos

This Friday will mark the long-awaited release of the film Watchmen, based on the classic comic book miniseries by writer Alan Moore and artist Dave Gibbons (and blogged about by me back in January). The marketing team behind the film have created three videos and uploaded them to YouTube under the channel The New Frontiersman, named after a newspaper that appears in the story. These videos are made to appear as if they are actual footage from the past, and they are very well done. The first, a news clip about the character Dr. Manhatten, appeared in my previous Watchmen post. Here are the other two.

Don't support vigilantes! No sir-ee!




The second clip is from "VMN" from the 1980s, counting down the top five costumed heroes. I want my VMN!




Reviews are coming in already, and the film is doing well critically. If anyone sees the film, please feel free to post a (spoiler-free) review here! Leave a comment or email me at phillyradiogeek@gmail.com. Thanks!

Saturday Morning Commercials from the 1980s

A major snowstorm is hitting the Philadelphia area, so what better time to...blog about old TV commercials from 80s Saturday morning TV? OK, one thing has nothing to do with the other, but I need to flex my blogging muscles, as they've been getting stiff the last couple of weeks. The clips below tickled my fancy, and I hope they tickle yours too. There's no real theme to connect them, so I won't even comment on them. Just sit back and, if you were a kid in the 80s, enjoy! If you weren't a kid in the 80s, then none of this will likely mean anything to you.

If there are any requests you'd like to make as to what you'd like to see posted here, by all means, let me know at phillyradiogeek@gmail.com. Thanks!