1984: CBS SATURDAY MORNING ADVERT

From 1984: the annual Fall Kid-Vid plug from CBS, as seen in multiple US comics.

This was clearly a year where video games (and Role Playing games) held sway with SATURDAY SUPERCADE, POLE POSITION and DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS. 

Younger kids were catered for by the Emmy-grabbing MUPPET BABIES and THE GET ALONG GANG (Conform.  Conform.  Conform). 

PRYOR'S PLACE, starring Richard Pryor, never crossed the Atlantic.  Surely a surprising choice for a Saturday morning TV star, coming only four years after the potty-mouthed multi-award winning comedian and actor had set himself alight whilst freebasing cocaine. 

1979: NBC SATURDAY MORNING ANIMATION ADVERT

From 1979: Something to keep you from doing the work you should be doing... a NBC ad for their Fall 1979 Saturday Morning Kid-Vid line-up, tarted-up as a quiz and a chance to join the Saturday Morning Peacock Club. 

1980: ABC's FALL 1980 SATURDAY MORNING SCHEDULE

Another US Fall Kid-Vid advert, this time hyping ABC's autumn 1980 offering.  As always, at least several of which crossed the Atlantic shortly thereafter.

The BBC snaffled-up the time-travelling FONZ AND THE HAPPY DAYS GANG, initially for Saturday mornings.  They also acquired HEATHCLIFF and - shudder -  SCOOBY AND SCRAPPY DOO (I distinctly remember the feeling of excitement when the BBC promoted the return of my favourite cartoon... and the crushing sense of disappointment when that first Scrappy-centric episode aired.  TV had betrayed me).  

PLASTIC MAN, based on the also-ran DC character, aired on ITV.  But it was hard to care (and we gave him a very politically incorrect alternative name).

I could be wrong, but I don't remember THUNDARR THE BARBARIAN showing-up in the UK at all.  Can that be right?

1978: NBC'S FALL SATURDAY MORNING SCHEDULE AD

Have you got the "Saturday morning fever"?  

Here's a one-page ad, published in US comics dated December 1978 (hence the timelessly topical reference) hyping NBC's Fall Saturday morning schedule.  

For British viewers, of a certain age, there's several familiar 'toons on show here.  Most notably the infamous FANTASTIC FOUR animated series which, notoriously, dispensed with the Human Torch in favour of H.E.R.B.I.E, Jack Kirby's specifically-created appeasement to the Star Wars Generation.  To set the record straight, Johnny Storm wasn't dumped because Saturday Morning Mandarins feared a nationwide craze for self-immolation imitation.  Marvel had already done a big TV deal with Universal (which spawned TV interpretations of THE INCREDIBLE HULK, DOCTOR STRANGE and CAPTAIN AMERICA) which placed the Torch off-limits (gawd knows how they would have pulled the human fireball off with creaky seventies telly technology).

Telly's tame reinterpretation of GODZILLA became a BBC ONE fave over here.

I think Hanna Barbera's YOGI'S SPACE RACE also crossed the Atlantic although I can't recall any details.  This was clearly the year of Star Wars if even Jellystone Park's most famous resident was suddenly improbably propelled into the void.

JAMA OF THE JUNGLE, paired with the great green stomper, rings no bells.

1980: CBS FALL SATURDAY MORNING SCHEDULE AD

This is a double-page (centre-spread) ad from November 1980 (which, because of the way comics were dated back-in-the-day, would have been seen in August and September) plugging the delights of CBS' Fall Saturday Morning schedule.

For Brits (of a certain age), there's several very familiar shows in the line-up, notably Hanna-Barbera's DRAK PACK and Filmation's TARZAN, LORD OF THE JUNGLE (here partnered with the less memorable LONE RANGER).

1983: ABC FALL SATURDAY MORNING SCHEDULE

Here's an advert hyping ABC's Fall 1983 SATURDAY MORNING KID-VID schedule.  It's pretty underwhelming stuff, bookended by two outings of SCOOBY DOO (unfortunately partnered by the loathsome Scrappy).

Several of these shows crossed the Atlantic: PAC-MAN was part of TV-am's early-morning schedules whilst THE PUPPY'S NEW ADVENTURES aired in the BBC.

The ad appeared in Marvel Comics.

1982: CBS STARCADE: SATURDAY MORNING FALL SCHEDULE PRINT ADVERT

I think - it's safe-to-say - that the CBS 1982-83 Saturday Morning schedule was not a vintage year for animation fans.  Looking at the above two-page ad, which ran across the centre pages of Marvel's December 1982 titles, the only things that standout are the vintage Warner Brothers shows.

I don't think any of the other illustrated shows (including two early entries from Marvel Productions) even crossed the Atlantic.  I'm fairly sure that BLACKSTAR did make the crossing but - possibly - not for several years.  By which point, it was easily (but - it seems - incorrectly) dismissed as a MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE wannabe.  The show had actually aired the previous season and these were reruns and - presumably - highly vulnerable to pre-emption's by local stations with weekend sports coverage.  

1984: NBC SATURDAY MORNING TV PRINT ADVERT

Here's an example of what used to be an annual tradition: the appearance of adverts hawking the US Fall Saturday Morning schedules on the three US networks, published in US comic books.

For British readers, these were early indicators of what we *might* see on UK screens over the following few years. The BBC and ITV had strict limits on the amount of imported cartoons they could show so - if the shows crossed the Atlantic at all - it might be more than a year before they hit British screens.

At this time, the networks and Saturday mornings were still the main place to find kid-vid.  Cable was starting to make inroads but their children's offering was often limited or restarted to off-network reruns.    Weekday afternoons were generally given over to shows aimed at adults (soaps, audience shows and gameshows) although syndicators were starting to make inroads with off-network (and often toy-related) fare like HE-MAN AND THE MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE, THE TRANSFORMERS, G.I. JOE and numerous wannabes.  

Someone slap me if I'm wrong but I don't think any of the traditional broadcast networks offer a kids schedule on Saturdays anymore. 24-7 (or thereabouts) cable has made it a redundant (and far less commercially viable) proposition. 

This particular ad is from Marvel comics dated December 1984.  Thanks to the three-months-ahead cover dates used on comics at the time, this would have gone on sale September/ October time... just in time for the start of the new season.  By the time sea freight copies reached British newsagents it probably WAS December!

NBC was the top-rated network in both primetime and Saturday morning at this point (thanks to the runaway success of - of all things - THE SMURFS) so the big spending network splashed out for the centre pages of Marvel's December editions.  This originally appeared as a double-page spread but my scanner isn't large enough so I've chopped it into two single pages.