1980's Saturday Morning Historical Preservation Society

The Tarzan/Lone Ranger/Zorro Adventure Hour from Filmation has been mentioned here before, but for continuity sake let's bring it up again.

Filmation had a ton of 15-minute adventure cartoons featuring Tarzan that they kept running and re-running with various new cartoons all through the 1970's and well into the early 1980's. This show was officially called an "Adventure Hour", although it rarely went hast 30 minutes per scheduled episode. For 1980 and 1981, the Tarzan cartoons were packaged with brand new Lone Ranger and Zorro cartoons as part of a bait-n-switch scam that I've never ever forgiven them for; I'd tune in hoping to see a new Lone Ranger cartoon and ALWAYS get an episode of either Tarzan and Zorro, or just a double-dose of Tarzan re-runs :(

They are why I have trust issues.

The ABC Weekend Special was a weekly 30-minute anthology TV series for children that aired Saturday mornings on ABC from 1977 to 1997. It featured a wide variety of stories that were both live-action and animated, so it totally counts as a Saturday Morning Cartoon in my opinion.

Many people confuse The ABC Weekend Specials with the ABC Afterschool Specials, so let's get this straight right now - Similar to the ABC Afterschool Special that had started five years previous, the ABC Weekend Special differed in that it was primarily aimed at younger viewers following ABC's Saturday Morning cartoon lineup, whereas the ABC Afterschool Special was known for its somewhat more serious, and often dramatic storylines dealing with issues concerning a slightly older teen and pre-teen audience.

Basically, if it felt like you were supposed to learn something about life and/or adolescents from it? It was an ABC Afterschool Special.

Unfortunately, to further complicate matters, they took a bunch of the ABC Afterschool Specials that had been aimed at slightly younger audiences and re-packaged them into episodes of The ABC Weekend Specials.

The ABC Weekend Specials were a huge downer to me, as they signified the End Of The Cartoons. Oh sure, I could probably flip around the dial a bit and find some syndicated cartoons, or over on ABC they always had re-runs of Jonny Quest and The Jetsons if there wasn't a sporting event of any kind that they could air. The ABC Weekend Special meant I had to go get dressed :(

The Flintstones Comedy Show (not to be confused with the Flintstones Comedy HOUR of 1973) was on the air Saturday mornings from 9am till 10:30 (AN HOUR AND A HALF?!?!?) on your local NBC affiliate in 1980. This revival of the classic Hanna-Barbera stone-age family featured six different segments: The Flintstone Family Adventures (standard Flintstones stories featuring the Flinstones & the Rubbles doing late-70's/early-80's stuff), Bedrock Cops (Fred and Barney are now police officers assisted by the Shmoo as a trainee under the direction of Sgt. Boulder), Pebbles, Dino and Bamm-Bamm (Teenage Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm solving mysteries with Dino, in the tried-and-true HB Scooby-Doo formula), Captain Caveman (a prequel to the 1970's "Captain Cave-Man & The Teen-Angels" cartoon that showed Captain Caveman in his natural stone-age setting), Dino and Cavemouse (The Flintstones version of Tom & Jerry), and The Frankenstones (a hybrid of The Addams Family, The Munsters and The Flintstones).

My biggest complaint about this cartoon was that it seemed to be on ALL MORNING LONG. Flintstones were okay in small doses, but 90 MINUTES??? Three different half-hour time slots where I could have been seeing ANYTHING ELSE??? Nope, that's too much.

(Also aired in a much shorter 30-minute version at 8:00 in 1981/1982, and then as "The Flintstone Funnies" from 1982 till 1984 - check out the hilariously inept re-working of the intro!)

(Cross Posted from Tumblr)

THE TOM & JERRY COMEDY SHOW - If you tuned in to your local CBS affiliate at 8:30 in the morning on Saturday in 1980, you would have witnessed this cartoon. Mercifully, there was only one season of this particular Tom & Jerry cartoon. Much like the Mighty Mouse and Heckle & Jekyl cartoons of this age, this was a modern attempt to make new cartoons with classic characters while following the guidelines presented by Concerned Parent Groups. Gone were the wacky slapstick violent antics and instead we had a series of situational comedies. Just dreadful :( This show technically had two seasons, but the second season was nothing but reruns.

Here's another one of those "How did I never hear about this cartoon" cartoons that pop up during my research every once in a while. From what I've heard, it's basically a female Richie Rich cartoon. So HOORAY! Go ahead and leave a few kind words for Goldie Gold and/or Action Jack in the comments below, and if you're so inclined you may even want to go and vote for them in our Best Cartoon of 1982 Poll!

Heathcliff's second appearance on this site, this time teamed-up with Marmaduke! The next time you see Heathcliff on our web site will be when we hit the Syndicated Cartoons in a few months! Leave a few kind words or memories of Heathcliff and/or Marmaduke in the comments below, and don't forget to go and vote in our Best of 1982 Poll!

Shirt Tales *almost* suffered from TMIS (Too Many Idea Syndrome), but I think it came out okay. (1) Adorable talking animals that (2) Wear magic message-conveying shirts so they can (3) Fight crime from their (4) Super-Secret High-Tech Headquarters which they have to keep (5) Secret in the middle of Central Park from (6) A nosy park Ranger.

But it all works :)

Leave your memories, stories and kind words about Shirt Tales in the comments below, and if this was a favorite of yours? Be sure to go and vote for it in our Best Cartoon of 1982 Poll!

The Gary Coleman Show, AKA "Adventures of The Guardian Angel", aka "The Kid With The Broken Halo: The Animated Series". Based on the Gary Coleman made-for-tv movie "The Kid With The Broken Halo", I'm kind of suprised that more people haven't voted for this one! Leave a few kind words in the comments below for the dearly departed Mr. Coleman, and if this was one of your favorites go ahead and vote for it in our Best Cartoon of 1982 Poll! Seriously... the reruns of the Lone Ranger Cartoon are getting more votes than Gary Coleman over there! How is that even right?!?!?b

DON'T PASS THIS UP JUST BECAUSE IT HAS SCRAPPY-DOO IN IT!!! This intro is one of the few glimpses of "The Puppy's Adventures" that you'll be able to find on the Internet! It is a low-down dirty SHAME that The Puppy's Adventures got lumped in with Scooby and his crew :( No laugh track, no wacky antics, just a puppy and a rag-tag crew of dogs on a journey to find the Puppy's owner.

IT WAS EPIC!

Do you remember this cartoon? Share your thoughts, memories, and other comments in the comments section below. And if it was one of your favorites be sure to go and vote for it in our Best Cartoon of 1982 Poll!

Please remember, this poll only includes those cartoons that were new or drastically changed in the year mentioned in the poll title. Occasionally it may be necessary to cary a show over to the next year if there is no more room in the poll and/or the cartoon had greater success in the the later years.

[Poll #1765890]

A few notes regarding this poll:

• The Lone Ranger cartoon was actually a part of the Tarzan/Lone Ranger/Zorro Hour where they showed reruns of 1970's cartoons.
  
• Don't let the inclusion of Scrappy-Doo deter yu from voting for the very excellent Scooby & Scrappy-Doo Puppy Hour... the other cartoons that were included under the banner of "Puppy" were excellent!
  
• I had never in my entire life heard of Goldie Gold & Action Jack. I feel ashamed :(