I just completed the podcast Every Saturday Morning [2018-2019] (so far).
What I like about this is that, although I don’t consider myself any kind of connoisseur of animation (or is it cartoons? - see, I don’t even know the correct verbiage) I find this podcast more relatable than I had presumed, and I think many others would as well).
This is because many (millions) of us were born in the 60’s-90’s and woke up every single Saturday morning to watch cartoons.
Host Adam Fair (Big Gay Dork / Adam Fair Land) and Dusty Griffin, go through each year, and each of the 3-4 major networks (of the aforementioned time period). Each episode they speak of one year’s worth of Saturday morning shows, all from the same network.
After each network of that same year is covered, both hosts rate which show they would prefer to watch, each half hour, of any given Saturday, from that specific year.
They then roll the dice, randomly go to a different year, and then repeat the process. What is also relatable, is that, even if you weren’t born in that decade, you probably know of many of the shows that were on during that time period.
Maybe your parents, or children, or niece, watched it, so you know about it. I, for example, grew up in the 80’s, but I also saw many reruns of 60’s and 70’s cartoons, but even if I didn’t see the reruns, there were also the countless reboots.
You’ll also most likely be reminded of many shows you completely forgot about.
And the shows that you haven’t heard of are usually interesting as well (some are outstandingly bonkers) and are often relatable in some way, be it the voice actor, artist, writer, etc. that you’ve heard of elsewhere.
Speaking of which, both hosts also mention fun facts, and talk a lot about the voice actors, artists, writers and others involved in the “making of” these shows, and I was surprised with how many of them I had actually heard about before.
If you’re even a casual fan of movies from the time period mentioned above, then you might find this interesting.
Something else I enjoy is how each show is critiqued. They judge the writing, art and everything, like an Ebert and Roper for cartoons (except unfortunately they are really nice to each other).
They watch at least a piece of an episode, if not much more, and then talk about the silly and outdated plots, and other interesting/completely absurd, and totally forgotten, moments.
They are qualified nerds that know cartoons (unique in itself) and although they speak of children’s television, with a child-like open mind, they approach their critiques in more of a professional manner, in that, they are usually looking at every element.
Most of us haven’t seen our childhood favorite cartoons and forget that through our adult eyes we would probably perceive them differently now. It’s very interesting to revisit a mostly forgotten, kid-related topic, from a different angle.
If you are obsessed with cartoons then check this out, but if you’re just a casual fan then maybe check it out too. Adam has a very unique and convincing opinion on things, and it might take you down a section of memory lane you haven’t visited before...
