It’s six in the morning. A Saturday. I know what needs to be done.
I try to not wake my parents as I sneak down the hall in my Batman pajamas and dirty knee high socks. Destination: Kitchen.
I open the cupboard above the microwave and fish around for my favorite bowl, the one with the Ewoks on it. I find it, but its got something baked on it, something the dishwasher missed. I don’t care. I pick it off with my finger nail. It’s the only bowl I like.
A half filled box of Cap’n Crunch, and a new box of Fruity Pebbles are my choices. The box of Total bran flakes gets completely ignored. It is as if it is not even there. Just a void, empty and meaningless.
I choose both, and mix the bowl with two of the cereal industries finest creations. I accept nothing less than Vitamin D milk to complete the transaction, and I swiftly make my way downstairs with incredible balance and form.
My sister Wendi is already on the couch, wrapped up tightly in a red and white checkered blanket often used for picnics or fourth of July family fireworks displays. She says nothing…she is already watching The Super Friends.
I sit in my normal place, and watch as Lex Luther deploys his cloning ray gun, filling the world with Bizarros and Cheetahs, created from the average citizenry, hell bent on robbing Earth of its riches and hidden treasures, only to be thwarted in their plans yet again by a life saving move performed by Green Lantern.
I am led to believe in this episode that Aquaman can breath in space. I see it, but I don’t believe it.
It’s only 6:30am. Hours of cartoons still await me and my sister. My parents still sleep. They will likely sleep all the way through ScoobyDo and the Bugs Bunny Road Runner show. I figure we will see them somewhere in the middle act of Voltron.
Eventually I will find myself dressed, out doing chores, playing with friends, seeing a movie with my dad, waiting another week to do it all over again.
It was so simple. And so fast.
ah… life was more simple then wasn’t it? tho… i never got up that early… not even for cartoons.
I would leave the house by 10am and wouldn’t come home until dark. (except maybe for lunch)
Wow, makes me want to go back to being 8, playing Super Mario World, having futile cap-gun fights with the family across the street from my best friend at the time, and watching Sailormoon before school every day… only to have me run home afterwards for the original Power Rangers (you know, Jason, Kimblery, blah, blah, blah). Childhood.. those were the days. So different for each of us, but remarkably the same.
Ha! Wow…what inspired this one? Absolutely wonderful memories…and makes me sad that my son will never get to know the wonder of the Saturday Morning Cartoons (yes – that should be a proper noun) with today’s saturated TV.
just thinking…
I think I just shed a tear. That was beautiful.
I know what you mean, getin up early, eating, watching T.V., I remember that I loved watching Scooby Doo (by the way you spelt wrong, I dont care though just sayin, i’m bad at spelling). The T.V. shows just never got old, even the Re-runs of them.
Man you brought me back there… I was on my beanbag chair, in front of my TV in our living room, alone, with a bowl of Count Chocula in my lap. wow
Saturday morning cartoons used to be the best. They just don’t seem to have the same effect for me these days. Though my nephews and neices seem to be into the saturday morning cartoons they have nowadays. I sometimes watch the Pokemon with them, but it just isn’t the same. Guess I am just getting older.
You must have been living in my house! Are you like my long lost brother or something?
That was quite possible the best thought to come my way today. Thank you for reminding me that as I get older I’ll get to act younger and eventually relive this around 80-90 years old.
Saturday morning cartoons were one reason I turned off my Directv and put up an over the air antenna. With HDTV it was a no brainer.
Now my kids get up and watch Fox’s “For Kids TV” (my wife picks on the kids by calling it “Poor Kids TV”…they are not amused.)
The shows they play aren’t too bad…about on par with what we were watching most of the time…There is Beakman’s World, then Viva Pinata, followed by Chaotic and The new TMNT….about this time I get up and leave…but they stay and watch Dinosaur King and Pokemon…after that I make their butts get up and go outside and play the rest of the day.
very nice
Yeah, I miss the days when everything was simplier. Didn’t have to worry about bills, food, responsibilities…
Saturday Mornings FTW!
I remember watching Bugs Bunny/Road Runner show and it seemed to me like it was a 2-2 1/2 hour long show. It was really long. Of course, that was a long time ago…when you could blow up a coyote in the desert or drop an anvil on his head.
And cartoons ran from like 6:00 AM until 1:00 PM…
Now Saturday morning is time to sleep in. I must be getting old.
Very nice!!
Not only can Scott do a webcomic, 13 different podcasts, art work for anybody on the planet…but he can WRITE to!!
I remember those mornings…mine however sometimes had cold pizza for the food of choice. Disney Channel and Nick still don’t measure up to Bugs and the gang.
That’s what you used to do on Saturday mornings? Man, mine just looks bland in comparison:
11:59AM – After the parents bug me for the 3rd time to get out of bed, I crawl out of the covers and await the afternoon.
Ta-da. I lived a very wasted childhood.
And speaking of random tangents, is that a smilie face I see at the very, very bottom of the web-page??
5-6am climbing on the counters trying to get my bowl, peanut butter jar and big spoon so I could sit and watch my list of catroons. Then down to the park to make some money racing the other kids on the monkey bars.
Awww Saturday morning was the best. I’ve tried to reach that point of happiness again but todays cartoons are worse than watching the old ones. Although I do sit and watch a few of the newer ones from time to time. But nothing like the old Sat morning.
Now the best thing on a Saturday is going for sushi and working on my cars.
Deep Thoughts by Jack Handy
Poignant – very nice. See me after class re: fert.
Yeah, and I would bet your parents would wish you would get up like that on a weekday.
Wow Scott that was great, makes me remember sitting in the lounge room with my brothers watching the early morning cartoons, we used to get The Gene Autry show, Astroboy, Looney Tunes and Starblazers to name a few.
For the record, Scott, 6 AM is *always* in the morning. PM is always in the afternoon or evening. That’s why we have AM and PM designations.
Yeah, hot button. It’s like people who don’t know the difference between “loose” and “lose,” or play Orcs and can’t pronounce “Ogre.”
jerk.
And I wish I could edit that, but I can’t, so let me add:
So much the same for me, but my first cartoons were on a 9-inch round black-and-white screen. Kukla, Fran, and Ollie, Howdy Doody (LIVE!), Beany and Cecil (the puppets, not the cartoons). I remember Gigantor, and Astro Boy, still in black and white but on a HUGE 19-inch set, and Popeye and Olive Oyl with Wimpy and Bluto, and the original Speed Racer.
Life was good.
The word you want is “curmudgeon.” I hope to live to see you get old and grumpy. Stay out of the cold dunk tank, durn it!
man.. good times..
you exacly described my weekends as a child, scott..
wish to be five again..
Ah, I never had such memories. It was more “Get up, sit at the computer, and play educational children’s games…”
Regardless, we all can relate to this. I’m touched Scott.
That was great Scott, thank you for that
. I got very into saturday morning cartoons… When “Spiderman and his Amazing Friends” would come on, I would jump from couch to couch, pretending to be Spiderman, lol. One winter morning, I tried to jump over our kerosene heater, that sit in the center of the living room… Ha, then is when I found out I wasn’t super at all, lol… I landed directly on it! After months of wearing a huge gauze pad over my belly, I have no scar to show for it 
. Oddly, I don’t remember the pain, just the panic in my parents eyes, lol
Equally as nice was the anticipation of the new cartoon season. I remember seeing the ads in the Archie comic books. The frantic channel switching to make certain I found the best show of a given hour was wonderful.
Saturday morning cartoons, grandmom’s house, and a variety of breakfast options — one of life’s great childhood memories.
Ahhhhhhhh, 8 was a good year.
I would also like to add: “Shazam!”
Fruity Pebbles, School House Rocks, Thundar The Barbarian. I’m 6 years old again. Thank you.
Don’t forget Defenders of the Earth =J I loved that show as a kid
My parents didn’t let us have sugar-filled cereal when we were little. (Given what caffeine does to me, it was probably a good thing.)
Pop Tarts and Schoolhouse Rock FTW!!!!!
I love your writing.
I’d love to read more of these. I could REALLY picture vividly what was going on. I’m saving this, I hope you don’t mind!
Reminds me a lot of me and my brother when we were small. Still enjoying my teens, got 2 more years left!
Gosh that brought back some great memories of my brother and I getting up early on Saturday Mornings to watch cartoons. I loved watching the superfriends, Bugs Bunny, Big Foot and Wildboy, etc. It is kind of sad that kids today will never get the feelings of joy and anticipation of waiting for Saturday morning.
You could (I don’t think you *should*, but you *could*) give up comics & podcasting and write for a living. Wow!
@ Mr. Fletcher – I was going to say Thundar the Barbarian as well, I loved that cartoon. There was a similar Hanna Barberra cartoon with a family that were like prehistoric super heroes. They had a triceratops that could shoot fireballs out of it’s horn. Anyone know the name of it?
@ScottC – I believe your are referring to The Herculoids. That was a great show too.
I smell a mid-life crisis coming up…
The best part is, Scott, that you have a whole childhood of awesome memories to inspire the parenting of your own kids. Too often I see people bemoaning the present and wishing for the past – instead I hope we can use our happy memories to give our kids that same feeling.
I mean, I had a little bit of giddy joy when I read your posts about you and Nick enjoying the Super Friends together, that is something I would treasure.
Oh god… draw but don’t write, please
Sounds like my house 1979 on a Saturday morning….it was such a wonderful time thanks to my parents we kept our innocence just a little longer…the world was still a magical place ahhh the innocence when you are still young..wish I could have kept that forever
Oooof 1979 on a Saturday Morning. I was destroying my dad’s recordplayer’s needle back then. He decided to get me one of my own very quickly and the rest is history.
This has brought me back.
Because of this story I’m going to my dad’s for coffee today.
@Viktel: I have the DVD set of School House Rock. (I can play Energy on the Piano. A good blues + bebop piece for soloing. I also like Lolly-lolly and, of course, I’m Just a Bill.
) Is that wrong? 
“Meeemorieeees” … *sigh* Yeah I remember those olden days. I consider myself lucky we had the extra cable channels that weren’t available for everybody here. Channels like BBC, Sky Channel and such featured series like G.I. Joe, Transformers, Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors, M.A.S.K. etc etc. I usually got up at around 06:00, got some cereal and then install myself in the couch for hours of cartoons when I was about 7 years old… Ah yes, the good old days. Although nowadays whenever I feel nostalgic and retro I just watch those cartoons again
Some people never grow up they say, I hope I am one of them.
There was a time period where my parents got rid of HBO. Apparently it was a money saving method, as all I had to watch was regular extended basic service. Sat morning cartoons on NBC, CBS, Fox… and then at one point. the USA channel with the “Carrtoooooooon Express!”. lol that just brings me back.
Shark and William can bite my left lower cheek.