By Dez FaFara (DevilDriver)
What the fuck happened to Saturday morning kids TV, otherwise known as Saturday cartoons?
Honestly, have I grown out of rolling out of bed on a morning, putting on comfy clothes, warm socks, a robe and going downstairs to get a bowl of Capt’n Crunch and putting on Scooby Doo?
No. I have not.
I also might add that when I do have these occasional mid-life mornings, there isn’t shit to watch! I don’t mind dating myself, I’m not 20 and I’m damn thankful I’m not. When I grew up, we had it all on TV, man. Granted, there was no South Park, which I love, but the shows were bad-ass.
Tom and Jerry? They came way before Itchy and Scratchy. Less blood, twice as funny. Scooby Doo? Friends and their dog chase ghouls and ghosts? Hell yes, count me in!
When I was real young, we had a tripped out, no doubt drug-induced show called H.R. Pufnstuf that was just eye candy: people in costumes, dressed like a dragon, a witch, talking mushrooms, talking trees and actually watching it now, stoned off good California bud. It’s even better than when I was a kid. Actually, all of Sid and Marty Kroft’s shows were killer.
We had Saturday morning and early afternoon horror shows, where they would play all the original Universal horror movies – Dracula, Wolfman –, as well those crazy ‘70s horror thrillers. We had Night Gallery, too. Now, that show would scare the piss out of you even at 11:30 in the morning. During each episode, a story of a painting would come to life and some psycho event would unfold.
Star Trek had an animated series that used all the original voices and had stellar (sorry for the pun ) story lines, as well as animation. Land of the Lost was my all-time favorite. I loved the Sleestak and was addicted to the shows with Enoch the Sleestak time traveler.
Bugs Bunny. Daffy Duck. Felix the Cat. They were all so bad-ass. Watching the Road Runner outfox the Coyote was the best and of course everything that blew up had ‘Acme’ written on it.
Hokey shit like Isis or Shazam? I watched them, but only on my second bowl of cereal or if there was nothing else on. But Rocky and Bullwinkle were just amazing, going on their adventures through time.
Luckily, there is Cartoon Network and Boomerang; it’s a blessing on a rainy cold Saturday. Anyway, the point of this blog is to say DON’T GROW UP! Remember to keep sacred those things that brought you joy when you were young, because life goes by too quick and has too many woes to not embrace memories of youth that brought you comfort.
** View Dez’s Hail to the Tour Bus Driver blog here.
** Vew Dez’s Redheads Rule All blog here.
** View Dez’s Hate Humans, Love Dogs blog here.
** DevilDriver’s new album, Beast, is out now on Roadrunner Records. Click here to order.
