I'm a Closet Cartoon Watcher

I grew up in the 50's and 60's, the heyday of television.  When I was teaching, kids were incredulous that I remembered life before TV.  We got our first TV when I was five in 1955.  There wasn't much programming in the early '50's.  That quickly changed.  Between 1955 and 1970, American life revolved around TV.  Since there were only three channels plus maybe one local channel that ran bad local programming, every 10 year old I knew had memorized the exact line up of the TV shows every single night of the week, well, up to bedtime anyway.

Families developed tastes.  For example, my family watched "Have Gun Will Travel" while Drake's did not.  Everybody watched Andy Griffith, Bonanza and Ed Sullivan.  All kids watched cartoons after school.  I was a traditionalist as a kid; I only really WATCHED the old Hollywood cartoons that would appear on the local channel's kiddie show. The most famous of these kiddie shows, Bozo, got syndicated, but usually each town of any size had their own desperate actor who would assume a persona, do pratfalls, interview sweaty, snotty, scout troops on bleachers watching the program live, and introduce old cartoons. And then there was Saturday morning:  All cartoons, all the time up until about 11 am.  Now that was living:  Parents asleep, bowl of Sugar Pops, and sitting 12" from the glowing TV. 

My first cartoon love affair, which continues to this day, was with Scooby Doo.  As the age of 25, I would leisurely arise on Saturday morning to drink coffee and smoke endless cigarettes while being entranced by Freddie, Daphne, Velma and Shaggy.  Scooby was only of passing interest since his speech impediment annoyed me.  At age 40 I got to come out of the closet and watch cartoons with my five year old daughter.  She liked Scooby, but was much more enthralled with the sappy Care Bears.  We both agreed that Winnie the Pooh and The Blustery Day was high art.  She fell away from cartoons quickly, so I had to go back into the closet.

My favorites over the next 20 years were:  Dexter's Laboratory, the PowerPuff Girls, Spongebob Squarepants, ScoobyDoo Kids, and Jimmy Neutron. I watched all of them by myself with both Drake and Sarah rolling their eyes when they saw me glued to the dancing figures.  I no longer get to watch while smoking - a great pleasure lost to the realities of health.  I only drink coffee infrequently, but can still find time to sit down with my healthful glass of water (boring), and tune in.  In some ways it's easier to find cartoons due to Nicktoons, Cartoon Network, and Boom, but also harder to find ones I  REALLY like.  In the old days, man, you could count on cartoons at 3:30pm every day like teatime is to the British.  Somehow, the constant availability has diluted the pleasure.

Tuning in the other day, I was electrified to find a NEW cartoon series that I really, really liked.  My favorite Jimmy Neutron character - the one will all the laugh lines - had been given his own series.  WOW!  This is like winning a mini-lottery.  So, FYI:  Planet Sheen is on Nicktoons, but you have to search for it since it floats around.  You'll have to excuse me; I just found the Jetson's on Boom.  Cripes, is George really THAT dumb?