Great piece. I remember watching Saturday morning cartoons every week in the '80s and had forgotten a lot of the names of the shows until I read your list. Those advertisements you added in the post really brought back memories. I remember Smurfs and He-Man the best, but Hulk Hogans Rock-N-Wrestling had the most impact on me and was the reason I actually started watching pro wrestling way back then. I watched that cartoon for a few weeks before I decided to see what actual pro wrestling was like. I actually wrote about that cartoon when I introduced my substack in the very first post.
Thank you so much! and right on, I need to check out your first post on HH Rock n Wrestling for sure! That was one of my favorite cartoons. I was a huge fan of wrestling by then, especially after the Hulkster beat The Iron Sheik in earl y '84 -- by mid '85 the cartoon dropped and I was addicted!
Thanks for reading and enjoying your posts! Cheers!!
A couple of days ago and I was going through a box of mid-80s era wrestling magazines (looking for my WrestleMania 2 program I had) and came across a sticker magazine for Hulk Hogan’s Rock-N-Wrestling that I forgot I ever had. The stickers had to be bought separately and were sold as mystery packs as I recall. The stickers got pasted into the magazine to illustrate the story in there. My magazine is about a quarter full. It’s a pretty cool ‘80s era wrestling item. I’m going to be posting the cover of it soon and maybe one of the more filled in pages.
I look forward to reading your post about it. I just posted an image of the front and back cover of the sticker album in notes. I can send you the images if you want for your piece, as well as a few other images from the album. The back inside cover in particular is a full page ad on how to order stickers. It's pretty cool looking with the cartoon drawings in black and white of Hogan, Snuka, JYD, Nikolai, The Iron Sheik, and Piper.
💔💔 I would do almost anything to feel all of this again. I miss the Saturdays that I would stay with my cousin and we would wake up in a tent in his living room. With not a parent in site we’d help ourselves to cereal and spend the majority or the morning overindulging in everything kid. I actually feel sad for our kids because they don’t know how fun life truly can be. This was great article dude! Thanks for reminding us of how great it all was!
I'm right there with you bro! It's an absolute tragedy that Saturday mornings were not protected for kids. Like you, I feel for the younger generation about this stuff. At least when we were growing up there was a transitionary period for older cartoons too, so we appreciated older toons like the Hanna Barbera stuff. This generation has no clue who Space Ghost, Snagglepuss, or Captain Caveman are, and that makes me cry inside.
Thank you for always reading and being my fellow bro in nostalgia!
I miss this so much. If it's one thing that I wish kids these days could live through were our saturday mornings.
Although, growing up Vietnamese, my breakfast was a bowl of white rice, soy sauce with viet sausage cut into it hahaha. I would eat that while watching my shows.
Totally agree... I wish this so much for all kids today. I try my best to let the kiddos have the cereal they want on Saturday mornings and I pull up Tom & Jerry and Scooby Doo, and they love it so much. I think it's all up to parents. It takes a little more effort, but it's worth it.
I'll tell you what, that dish sounds amazing!! I love Vietnamese food!!
I forgot about Total, lol... yeah, that was one of those cereals I'd find on top of the fridge from time to time thanks to my dad, yuck! BUT.... if it was a last resort, I would pour sugar over it!! LOL
An equal issue: the disappearance of late night movie blocs, especially monster movie blocs on Friday and Saturday nights. The CBS Late Night Movie, loaded with Hammer and Ray Harryhausen films, was just as important a ritual as the subsequent Saturday morning in the early 1970s. A few independent stations tried to keep it going into the 1980s, but they pretty much died in 1989 when infomercials took over and TV stations could make more off running prepaid Ron Popeil ads as opposed to Godzilla marathons. Sure, you can pretty much find those movies on any number of streaming services, as well as a lot of films that never would have made it (any late-night TV cut of “Lifeforce” or “From Beyond” would have been 15 minutes long), but most of the fun was letting friends know about that night’s movie and, if they couldn’t come over right then to watch with you, compare notes the next day.
I hear ya on that one! I loved those blocs also, and there were martial arts blocs as well that I really miss... Kung Fu Theatre as an example. You're right, infomercials definitely contributed to the death of these blocs (money talks). Some of my favorite memories was watching Godzilla marathons... also Gumby lol - all of these programs connected us. What we watched over the weekend or the night before was the talk at school for sure. Remember when V the series came out? That's all my friends and I would talk about... we also believed a few of our teachers were lizard people 🤣🤣
We have lived parallel lives, John. In my side of the universe everything was the same… except my mom was a hippie and we only got what she thought was health cereal like Musli.
I’m not sure, but I think you may have missed a few. I know these aren’t all from the 80s but that’s when I watched them.
Here are some I remember enjoying, in no particular order:
Spider-Man (1967), The New Adventures of Mighty Mouse & Heckle and Jeckle, Mighty Mouse the New Adventures, The Mighty Heroes, Underdog, Godzilla, Fat Albert, The Pink Panther, Rocky and Bullwinkle (I didn’t really get it), Starblazers, G-Force, All Looney Toons cartoons (naturally), All Hanna-Barbera cartoons (way too many to list- all pretty great!), Tom and Jerry, Popeye, Rubik the Amazing Cube, The Fonz and the Happy Days Gang, Thundarr the Barbarian, Voltron, Johnny Quest, Danger Mouse, ALF Tales (an ALF spinoff), Star Wars: Ewoks, and Richie Rich.
Also there were some non-cartoon shows I watched too: The Krofft Supershow, Land of the Lost, The Muppet Show, The Banana Splits, H.R. Puffinstuff, The Great Space Coaster, The Krofft Superstar Hour, Today’s Special, New Zoo Revue, and The Bugaloos.
In my book a provide a more exhaustive list, which inncludes transplants from the 60s and 70s, as well as the important cartooons from the 90s. I completely forgot about Rubik, so thank you for that! 😁 I loved The Muppet Show also!! We really had it great! Cheers!!
I went through different phases with cereals. I loved Count Chocula for a while, then Lucky Charms, Fruity Pebbles, and later Frosted Mini Wheats. (That one lasted a LONG time!) It was always special to cook up some Coco Wheats though! My era was the early 1970s. I mostly remember Sigmund and the Sea Monsters and Land of the Lost - not cartoons although I must have watched them before that!
All the cereals you mention have been some of my faves during different times in my life, and believe me, I still take down frosted mini wheats... well, the Trader Joes kind, lol... Frosted Shredded Bite Size Wheats! Haven't had Coco Wheats in forever! I never watched sigmund and the sea monsters but know of it, and I caught a few episodes of land of the lost as reruns. Great times!
My parents barely ever let me have truly sugary cereal. To this day I fantasize about eating a big bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch (which I can no longer eat due to some darn food sensitivities I developed). If I could have a big bowl of that while lounging on the couch and watching Nickelodeon’s originals Doug cartoon, that would be the life.
Doug was so good! That cartoon lasted nearly ten years. It was one of the first three original Nicktoons (Rugrats +The Ren & Stimpy Show)... loved all of them! I also love Cinnamon Toast Crunch!! I wish you could try "French Toast Crunch" it's amazing!! Honey Comb might be a safe bet. I don't think they put too much craziness into that cereal. Thanks so much for reading and commenting ;)
I, too, had to endure my share of Rainbow Brite, and I got to learn all about how truly, truly outrageous Jem was. Small price to pay for the good stuff, though.
😂🤣😆 Definitely a small price to pay, although by the time The Care Bears or My Little Pony came on I needed a break and used that time to organize my garbage pail kids cards!!
Great piece. I remember watching Saturday morning cartoons every week in the '80s and had forgotten a lot of the names of the shows until I read your list. Those advertisements you added in the post really brought back memories. I remember Smurfs and He-Man the best, but Hulk Hogans Rock-N-Wrestling had the most impact on me and was the reason I actually started watching pro wrestling way back then. I watched that cartoon for a few weeks before I decided to see what actual pro wrestling was like. I actually wrote about that cartoon when I introduced my substack in the very first post.
Thank you so much! and right on, I need to check out your first post on HH Rock n Wrestling for sure! That was one of my favorite cartoons. I was a huge fan of wrestling by then, especially after the Hulkster beat The Iron Sheik in earl y '84 -- by mid '85 the cartoon dropped and I was addicted!
Thanks for reading and enjoying your posts! Cheers!!
A couple of days ago and I was going through a box of mid-80s era wrestling magazines (looking for my WrestleMania 2 program I had) and came across a sticker magazine for Hulk Hogan’s Rock-N-Wrestling that I forgot I ever had. The stickers had to be bought separately and were sold as mystery packs as I recall. The stickers got pasted into the magazine to illustrate the story in there. My magazine is about a quarter full. It’s a pretty cool ‘80s era wrestling item. I’m going to be posting the cover of it soon and maybe one of the more filled in pages.
https://open.substack.com/pub/russellfranklin/p/hulkamania-is-real?r=3xcsb6&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
Right on, looking forward to seeing the stickers!! Our exchange has inspired me to do a short spotlight for the cartoon this weekend! :)
I look forward to reading your post about it. I just posted an image of the front and back cover of the sticker album in notes. I can send you the images if you want for your piece, as well as a few other images from the album. The back inside cover in particular is a full page ad on how to order stickers. It's pretty cool looking with the cartoon drawings in black and white of Hogan, Snuka, JYD, Nikolai, The Iron Sheik, and Piper.
Right on! Gonna check out your notes now!
💔💔 I would do almost anything to feel all of this again. I miss the Saturdays that I would stay with my cousin and we would wake up in a tent in his living room. With not a parent in site we’d help ourselves to cereal and spend the majority or the morning overindulging in everything kid. I actually feel sad for our kids because they don’t know how fun life truly can be. This was great article dude! Thanks for reminding us of how great it all was!
I'm right there with you bro! It's an absolute tragedy that Saturday mornings were not protected for kids. Like you, I feel for the younger generation about this stuff. At least when we were growing up there was a transitionary period for older cartoons too, so we appreciated older toons like the Hanna Barbera stuff. This generation has no clue who Space Ghost, Snagglepuss, or Captain Caveman are, and that makes me cry inside.
Thank you for always reading and being my fellow bro in nostalgia!
Personally, I don't think it's ever too late to introduce them to Brak Sings! lol
I miss this so much. If it's one thing that I wish kids these days could live through were our saturday mornings.
Although, growing up Vietnamese, my breakfast was a bowl of white rice, soy sauce with viet sausage cut into it hahaha. I would eat that while watching my shows.
Totally agree... I wish this so much for all kids today. I try my best to let the kiddos have the cereal they want on Saturday mornings and I pull up Tom & Jerry and Scooby Doo, and they love it so much. I think it's all up to parents. It takes a little more effort, but it's worth it.
I'll tell you what, that dish sounds amazing!! I love Vietnamese food!!
That’s so awesome that you do that for them! Such a brilliant idea. Worth it for them to experience that.
Haha it’s such a simple dish. Comfort food for when you don’t wanna cook. Oooo what are some of your fave dishes??
We had to eat Total, which was slimey.
I like Lucky Charms and Booberry.
I forgot about Total, lol... yeah, that was one of those cereals I'd find on top of the fridge from time to time thanks to my dad, yuck! BUT.... if it was a last resort, I would pour sugar over it!! LOL
I pity the fool that didn’t eat their T’s
🤣🤣🤣
An equal issue: the disappearance of late night movie blocs, especially monster movie blocs on Friday and Saturday nights. The CBS Late Night Movie, loaded with Hammer and Ray Harryhausen films, was just as important a ritual as the subsequent Saturday morning in the early 1970s. A few independent stations tried to keep it going into the 1980s, but they pretty much died in 1989 when infomercials took over and TV stations could make more off running prepaid Ron Popeil ads as opposed to Godzilla marathons. Sure, you can pretty much find those movies on any number of streaming services, as well as a lot of films that never would have made it (any late-night TV cut of “Lifeforce” or “From Beyond” would have been 15 minutes long), but most of the fun was letting friends know about that night’s movie and, if they couldn’t come over right then to watch with you, compare notes the next day.
I hear ya on that one! I loved those blocs also, and there were martial arts blocs as well that I really miss... Kung Fu Theatre as an example. You're right, infomercials definitely contributed to the death of these blocs (money talks). Some of my favorite memories was watching Godzilla marathons... also Gumby lol - all of these programs connected us. What we watched over the weekend or the night before was the talk at school for sure. Remember when V the series came out? That's all my friends and I would talk about... we also believed a few of our teachers were lizard people 🤣🤣
We have lived parallel lives, John. In my side of the universe everything was the same… except my mom was a hippie and we only got what she thought was health cereal like Musli.
I’m not sure, but I think you may have missed a few. I know these aren’t all from the 80s but that’s when I watched them.
Here are some I remember enjoying, in no particular order:
Spider-Man (1967), The New Adventures of Mighty Mouse & Heckle and Jeckle, Mighty Mouse the New Adventures, The Mighty Heroes, Underdog, Godzilla, Fat Albert, The Pink Panther, Rocky and Bullwinkle (I didn’t really get it), Starblazers, G-Force, All Looney Toons cartoons (naturally), All Hanna-Barbera cartoons (way too many to list- all pretty great!), Tom and Jerry, Popeye, Rubik the Amazing Cube, The Fonz and the Happy Days Gang, Thundarr the Barbarian, Voltron, Johnny Quest, Danger Mouse, ALF Tales (an ALF spinoff), Star Wars: Ewoks, and Richie Rich.
Also there were some non-cartoon shows I watched too: The Krofft Supershow, Land of the Lost, The Muppet Show, The Banana Splits, H.R. Puffinstuff, The Great Space Coaster, The Krofft Superstar Hour, Today’s Special, New Zoo Revue, and The Bugaloos.
In my book a provide a more exhaustive list, which inncludes transplants from the 60s and 70s, as well as the important cartooons from the 90s. I completely forgot about Rubik, so thank you for that! 😁 I loved The Muppet Show also!! We really had it great! Cheers!!
I went through different phases with cereals. I loved Count Chocula for a while, then Lucky Charms, Fruity Pebbles, and later Frosted Mini Wheats. (That one lasted a LONG time!) It was always special to cook up some Coco Wheats though! My era was the early 1970s. I mostly remember Sigmund and the Sea Monsters and Land of the Lost - not cartoons although I must have watched them before that!
All the cereals you mention have been some of my faves during different times in my life, and believe me, I still take down frosted mini wheats... well, the Trader Joes kind, lol... Frosted Shredded Bite Size Wheats! Haven't had Coco Wheats in forever! I never watched sigmund and the sea monsters but know of it, and I caught a few episodes of land of the lost as reruns. Great times!
My parents barely ever let me have truly sugary cereal. To this day I fantasize about eating a big bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch (which I can no longer eat due to some darn food sensitivities I developed). If I could have a big bowl of that while lounging on the couch and watching Nickelodeon’s originals Doug cartoon, that would be the life.
Doug was so good! That cartoon lasted nearly ten years. It was one of the first three original Nicktoons (Rugrats +The Ren & Stimpy Show)... loved all of them! I also love Cinnamon Toast Crunch!! I wish you could try "French Toast Crunch" it's amazing!! Honey Comb might be a safe bet. I don't think they put too much craziness into that cereal. Thanks so much for reading and commenting ;)
I, too, had to endure my share of Rainbow Brite, and I got to learn all about how truly, truly outrageous Jem was. Small price to pay for the good stuff, though.
😂🤣😆 Definitely a small price to pay, although by the time The Care Bears or My Little Pony came on I needed a break and used that time to organize my garbage pail kids cards!!