Saturday Morning Memories: Richie Rich

By Kevin Hunsperger

@kevinhunsperger & @my123cents on Twitter
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In the 70s and 80s Hanna-Barbera ruled Saturday morning television. Besides original creations like The Flintstones, Scooby-Doo and Yogi Bear, the duo brought Richie Rich from pages of a comic book to the small screen. Richie's tv persona was more grownup from his comic book days. 

Many times outrageously rich characters are portrayed as evil or at least usually in the role of the bad guy. Look at Mister Burns on The Simpsons,  "The Million Dollar Man" Ted DiBiase and Scrooge McDuck for examples. But I guess Uncle Scrooge wasn't evil, just grumpy. There's probably a deeper social commentary for this trend, but I'm not going there. 

Richie broke that rude and rich stereotype. He was a wholesome, happy kid always trying to help those who needed it. Even when that little jerk Reggie was trying to pull one over on the family, Richie never tried to hurt his nemesis. He and his dog Dollar (who had dollar signs instead of spots on his fur) saved the day in the course of about 15 minutes. Although not officially a super hero, he kind of was. His super power was money and a sense of knowing the difference between right and wrong.

Besides Dollar, Richie's girlfriend Gloria and robot maid Irona joined the zillionaire boy on his adventures. Irona more often than not helped ensure Richie and his friends stayed safe. She was a Transformer before being a Transformer was cool.

Richie Rich was a part of Saturday mornings for four years, with just over 100 cartoons airing. In the mid-90s the cartoon was given the big screen treatment with Macaulay Culkin starring in the title role. Disclaimer, I only saw bits and pieces of it, so I'm not going to pass judgment. There's also a live action TV show on Netflix now. I didn't know this until I starting writing this post.

A few years ago when my kids were younger they started watching the Richie Rich reruns in syndication. They liked it too, which was priceless for this nostalgic dad.

Saturday Morning Memories: Hulk Hogan's Rock 'n' Wrestling

By Kevin Hunsperger

@kevinhunsperger & @my123cents on Twitter
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Growing up a wrestling fan, you can imagine the excitement I felt in 1985 when it was announced Hulk Hogan, Andre the Giant and the Junkyard Dog would be joining the Saturday morning lineup on CBS. I was going into 7th grade and probably should have been outgrowing the cartoon phase of life, but reality check, I'm a 43 year old man with a collection of new Smurf toys, Simpsons t-shirts and wrestling pajamas...

Hulk Hogan's Rock 'n' Wrestling was only on two seasons, producing 25 episodes. The cartoons were cheesy like everything was in the 80s. The Hulkster and a handful of other WWF good guys would have misadventures with "Rowdy" Roddy Piper and a group of bad guys. Women's wrestling was going through a rebirth at the time and Wendi Richter and The Fabulous Moolah were animated as well.

The series usually featured two shorts with a real life "skit" sandwiched in between. Years after it ended, I found it interesting to learn that Brad Garrett of Everybody Loves Raymond fame voiced Hogan and James Avery who played Uncle Phil on The Fresh Prince of Bell Air was the voice of JYD.

More than 30 years later, WWE has returned to the animation world with Camp WWE. I admit it's my new guilty pleasure. And eventually I'll check out the Scooby Doo and Flintstones crossovers with WWE Superstars too.

Saturday Morning Memories: The Smurfs

By Kevin Hunsperger

@kevinhunsperger & @my123cents on Twitter
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I still remember the summer before going into the third grade (it was 1981).  I was looking at the comics section in the Sunday newspaper and found a full page color ad for the upcoming Saturday morning cartoon lineup on NBC.  One of the new shows was called The Smurfs.  I don't know what it was, but at that moment I connected with the little blue people staring back at me from the paper.

I couldn't wait for September to roll around and learn more about the Smurfs.  It didn't take long for eight year old Kevin to become addicted.  Six months later when I turned nine I had a Smurf themed birthday party which included an ice cream cake with a Smurf artistically added to the top.  Gifts included Smurf t-shirts, ColorForms and stuffed animals. I had dozens of the little rubber figures by then too.  Hardee's had released a series of Smurf glasses a couple years later and I had them all. Again I was addicted.

I watched their many adventures week after week and even forced down several bowls of Smurf Berry Crunch cereal (I wasn't crazy about the cereal).  Clumsy was without a doubt my favorite. But I also loved Papa Smurf, Brainy and Smurfette.  I cheered when they overcame the underhanded tactics of Gargamel, Azrael and Hogatha.  Somehow they escaped danger in both episodes that aired each Saturday morning.

The one episode that stands out to me the most aired on Halloween 1981.  The Purple Smurfs told the story of a how the happy blue Smurfs turned angry and purple after a bug bite spread like wildfire.  It was a zombie apocalypse of Smurfy proportions.  Just as it seemed as if the end was in sight for the Smurfs, the day was saved and everyone returned to the happy Smurfy selves. 

Even into adulthood I held onto those Smurfy memories.  I kept my collection of toys and even added to them after graduating college, scoping out yard sales, flea markets and thrift stores.  Then in 2011, the tiny characters overtook the big screen.  New merchandise was released and I added to my already out of control collection.

Rest in Peace: Saturday Morning Cartoons

Some of the classics
Courtesy: Bluebuddies.com

By Kevin Hunsperger
@kevinhunsperger & @my123cents on Twitter

As a kid growing up in St. Louis, we had five TV channels.  ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, and an independent station; KPLR.  Eventually Fox was thrown into the mix, but before the days of cable, that was all we had.  And we had to get up and walk to the TV to change the channel.  Barbaric I know.

One of my fondest memories as a kid was waking up early on Saturday mornings (something that seemed so easy compared to getting up for school), pouring a big bowl of sugar coated cereal, and zoning out in front of the boob tube.  My brother and I would watch hours of cartoons in the early morning hours each week.

The Smurfs were always my favorite.  I remember very well when the tiny blue creatures debuted on NBC back in 1981.  I was in the third grade and embraced the characters like I'd never done before.  More than 30 years later,  I still love them.  

The competitors

There were countless other classic cartoons that we grew up watching.  Hanna-Barbera cartoons never failed to entertain.  I was hooked on Scooby Doo, so much so, that I told people I wanted to be him when I grew up.  The actual dog, not the guy who voiced him or the one who drew him, but the real Scooby Doo.  I was seven though, so give me a break.  Yogi Bear, Hong Kong Phooey, and the Laff-a-Lympics were just a few of the other memorable programming produced by this dynamic duo.  I would get lost in the talking bears, dogs, and even sharks that appeared on my screen every week.  Eventually my love of wrestling got animated with Hulk Hogan's Rock N Wrestling Cartoon too.  I was in heaven.

Other than a few syndicated Warner Brothers cartoons and Fat Albert in the afternoons, I don't remember there being a whole lot of other animated choices during the week.  That's what made Saturday mornings so special.  Then as cable and satellite got popular, all kids networks popped up and new cartoons were produced.  Cartoon Network was born, showing those classics from the 60's, 70's, and 80's.  Eventually new (less cool) shows came about, and those vintage shows ended up on another new network, Boomerang. 

The point is, no one has to wait for cartoons anymore.  You can watch Spongebob Square Pants, Adventure Time, or Phineas and Ferb anytime you want.  It seems at any given hour of the day or night you can flip through the hundreds of channels and find something animated on the TV.  The novelty wore off, and then the networks started replacing cartoons with news programming and live action content. 

I recently read that NBC and CBS stopped airing cartoons in the 90's.  ABC dropped the animation in 2004.  Most recently, the last broadcast network to air cartoons was the CW.  On October 4, 2014, they pulled the plug too.  Now for the first time in decades, none of the "regular" TV channels air cartoons on Saturday mornings.  It's the end of an era, one that I truly do miss.