Saturday Morning Fever: Growing up with Cartoon Culture

by Timothy Burke, Kevin Burke

Hey Hey Hey, You're Gonna Have A Good Time!

It's predawn Saturday morning. You and your brother are the first ones up, gathering pillows and blankets and the TV warms up to the weekly Farm Report. Then, just as the sugar cereal kicks in, you begin your descent into the happy-spazzy TV world of Space Ghost, Sigmund and the Sea Monsters, Hong Kong Phooey, The Herculoids, and for the hard-core Saturday morning junkie, live-action shows like Jason of Star Command.
Little did you know that this cherished world was also the battleground where greedy toy advertisers, network flacks, cutthroat cartoon companies, opportunistic politicians, and concerned parents struggled for the attention-deficit souls of America's youth.
Brothers Tim and Kevin Burke bring us a loving, insightful, and hilarious examination of all aspects of Saturday morning television. Tune in and get ready for some fun.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Tv, Humor, Pop Culture

247 pages, Paperback

First published December 15, 1998

About the author

Timothy Burke is a professor in History.

Reviews

[M. Chandler · Rating 3 out of 5]

As an animation junkie who grew up during the prime years of 'Saturday morning cartoons', I've been meaning to read this book for years. I finally found a copy, and I've discovered that this isn't the book I should have been looking for.

The brothers who wrote this book wrote a highly personalized and opinionated screed about Saturday morning cartoons, mostly from the seventies. It was interesting and nostalgic reading, and I agree with many of their stances on child-oriented programming, but all the same this was not the book for me. Ironically, I discovered the book that I should have been looking for in this book's introduction: Saturday Morning TV, by Gary Grossman.

[Kevin · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book takes a little too long getting to the meat of the matter...the particular cartoons themselves. Before you get to read about the origins of Scooby Doo, Fred Flintstone, and Superfriends, there are several chapters of filler talking about the general history of Sat. morning toons. This might be good, but the author's attempts at humor are dry in a bad way, and it feels like walking up hill waiting to hear about particular shows. If you see it at the library, don't read it from start to finish, just go straight to the chapters on your fave toons.

[Bill Doughty · Rating 2 out of 5]

A book about Saturday morning television and the culture surrounding should be right up my alley, but I was disappointed. The authors couldn't decide if they wanted to sound hip or academic, so they attempt a style that tries to be both, but is actually neither. Some decent info inside, though, so that bumps it up to 2 star territory, but there's a better book waiting to be written on this subject.

[Chris Dean · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well done and well researched. Didn't realize many of the facts presented in this (no superheroes in the early 70s for example). Very informative for a fun era for those who grew up during the "golden era" and what ended up happening

[Ralphz · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was great for the memories, but I wasn’t on board with the opinions.

For those of us who grew up in the Saturday morning cartoon sweet spot of the late ’60s and early ’70s, there is some great information here.

The first throes of the consumer culture spreading to the little Boomers, the cereal wars, the toy wars, the wars over content, etc., are portrayed here. And always, people with their agendas, always worried about “the kids.”

But for us, it was about Scooby-Doo and Wacky Races and H.R. Pufnstuf. Weird shows, fun songs, kinetic energy, all leaving you with a warm Saturday morning feeling until you fell back asleep as the baseball games started.

This book rekindles memories of cartoons I had forgotten about (The Herculoids, Shazzan!, Groovie Goolies) and the fun I had.

The issue for me is the way the defensive authors attack anyone who they perceive isn't on their side regarding cartoons. Yeah nobody thought that they were High Art, but the critics’ attacks don't, in my view, warrant counter-attacks, especially after all these years.

And the little boxed asides in each chapter were more distracting than humorous.

[Stephen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm a huge cartoon nerd, so I figured this book would be pure indulgence. For much of the book, it's a well researched history with lots of obscure references here and there, which was informative and at times entertaining. It took a while to get to the cartoons themselves, but I appreciated the background on the void that was pre-cartoon Saturday mornings.

After an indulgence of cartoons from the mid-to-late 60s and early 70s, the author just seems less interested in the sheer volume and variety of animation coming out afterward. Obviously past his childhood prime, but quite topical considering the subject. If you're looking for a focus on the late 70s, 80s and 90s, this book won't speak a lot to them, instead focusing on a few serials again and again (I entirely realize this wasn't the focus of the book, just that it seems this part was most glossed over). He recoups for some mid-90s series that were more relevant for his current students, but it still felt uninspired after the highlights of the early 70s..

Enjoyable, but wish it would have been more.

[David Ward · Rating 2 out of 5]

Saturday Morning Fever: Growing up with Cartoon Culture by Timothy Burke (St. Martin's Griffin 1999) (791.4575). This book sounds like a lot more fun than it turns out to be! After several chapters of reciting the history of Saturday morning cartoons, the author turns to descriptions of the cartoons themselves. Sadly, he swings and misses badly. After reading this, I simply cannot understand how an author can describe the great old cartoons of the sixties and seventies and completely fail to convey the pleasure these great little features provided. There's got to be a (much) better book on the subject available. I just haven't found it yet. My rating: 5/10, finished 4/29/16.

[Beau · Rating 3 out of 5]

More opinionated then I thought it would be. Half the book was about the cartoons and programs themselves with interesting bits of info on the shows then the other half was an opinionated rant about political correctness and culture wars. Not what I was looking for in that regard. The authors seemed to contradict themselves throughout the book saying firstly that these cartoons are cartoons and that's it. Get over it. Then in the end they spend pages ranting about how political correctness should have been more prevailant in the shows themselves.

They're cartoons, get over it.

[Freddie Miller · Rating 1 out of 5]

Checked the book out of my local library. It wasn't exactly what I expected. The book takes way too long to get to the meat and bones of the subject matter, the cartoons themselves and it feels too politically preachy in several places. It was like attending a concert by a nostalgia act and having to stand through long lectures on political issues after each and every song. Hey man, I'm just here for the toons.

[Stewart Tame · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun book! Among other things, it's a nice stroll down memory lane as I was a big fan of Saturday morning cartoons growing up. Some of the information is a bit dated--the book was published back in 1999--but their thesis is sound. If anything, the lack of societal collapse since the kids who grew up watching cartoons during the '70s and'80s came of age drives home their point even more with each passing year. Despite the concerns of parental groups at the time, the kids turned out just fine.

[Ed · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a blast from the (not so distant) past...remembering mornings spent in front of the TV. Low production values, incredibly unrealistic plots, the same handful of episodes in constant rotation...such things don't matter to kids.

[John · Rating 2 out of 5]

Some parts ok, others not that great.

[Kyle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting stories to a point, but there was quite a few factual errors.