Remember Syndicated Cartoons?

[Zorak Masaki]

Besides cable, another reason for the fall of syndicated cartoons (at least afternoon ones) were news broadcasts. Around the late 90s/early 2000s, more stations started airing their news broadcasts at 5 or 5:30, and cartoons werent exactly the best "lead-in" (prior to that, the 5-6 hour was usually for reruns of live-action material), so more and more stations stopped putting cartoons in the afternoon slots.

 

[Parker-Shepherd]

There were some notable late 90s syndicated cartoons, like Extreme Ghostbusters, Robocop Alpha Commando, The Lionhearts, and Sonic Undergound. Sailor Moon and Pokemon also started in syndication. Archie's Weird Mysteries in 2000 was probably the last major one, and 2000 seemed to be the last year that syndicated cartoons were popular. Weekday morning/afternoon cartoons on broadcast TV at least lasted through the early part of the 2000s, with the death of UPN's One Too block being the death nell for weekday cartoons in general.

ABC's Saturday morning was eventually dropped too and so was Kids WB. I think 2006-2008 was when Saturday morning cartoons started to become less common on network TV.

The Hub and Cartoon Network still had Saturday line ups in the mid 2000s but that's about it.

Though some 90s cartoons are still syndicated on Cartoon Network & Disney's sister channels in other countries.

 

[PicardMan]

Besides cable, another reason for the fall of syndicated cartoons (at least afternoon ones) were news broadcasts. Around the late 90s/early 2000s, more stations started airing their news broadcasts at 5 or 5:30, and cartoons werent exactly the best "lead-in" (prior to that, the 5-6 hour was usually for reruns of live-action material), so more and more stations stopped putting cartoons in the afternoon slots.

Another thing I definitely remember, a great portion of the syndicated cartoons I mentioned in the previous posts were put in terrible timeslots, as my UPN affiliate aired Robocop Alpha Commando at 5:30 AM and Sonic Underground at 6 AM. Sailor Moon was aired on my local WB affiliate Sunday mornings when many kids were at church around 1998. The same WB affiliate also aired Pokemon and The Wacky World of Tex Avery around 8 AM weekdays when kids are in school in 1998. The late 90s and early 00s seem to only be remembered by the early risers. Just found a Sonic Underground promo and this WB affiliate also put it at 6, so my market was probably not an anomaly. Quite a reminder of those good old days of having to get up extra early to watch cartoons.

 

[PF9]

Some of the more popular modern cartoons actually have enough (100 or more) episodes to be seen in off-network local syndication. I'd like to see some of these cartoons, like MLP: FIM, and eventually, The Loud House, distributed to local stations in such a manner.

 

[Fone Bone]

Besides cable, another reason for the fall of syndicated cartoons (at least afternoon ones) were news broadcasts. Around the late 90s/early 2000s, more stations started airing their news broadcasts at 5 or 5:30, and cartoons werent exactly the best "lead-in" (prior to that, the 5-6 hour was usually for reruns of live-action material), so more and more stations stopped putting cartoons in the afternoon slots.

You think that's bad? I'm pretty sure that when all is said and done, for-profit news broadcasts will wind up being the downfall of Western civilization. Every single major problem currently effecting the world would not exist if news people did their jobs. I wouldn't mind the news killing off cartoons if news actually told us anything.

 

[Vuxovich]

I am sure Sonic Underground performed well in some markets.

 

[Dantheman]

Besides cable, another reason for the fall of syndicated cartoons (at least afternoon ones) were news broadcasts. Around the late 90s/early 2000s, more stations started airing their news broadcasts at 5 or 5:30, and cartoons werent exactly the best "lead-in" (prior to that, the 5-6 hour was usually for reruns of live-action material), so more and more stations stopped putting cartoons in the afternoon slots.

I remember when my local ABC station's lead-in to the 6 P.M. news was sitcoms like Night Court and Mad About You (that is, until they expanded it to 5:30, then 5).

 

[Jean74]

As a kid growing up in the 1980's remember Inspector Gadget there! Really my go to TV show after getting home from school.

 

[PicardMan]

Found a rare piece of history in my dusty VHS collection. Found a 1998 Kids' WB recording that included a promo for Zorro on WB 34 airing Sundays at 10:30 (what a lousy timeslot for churchgoing kids). I remember Sailor Moon aired adjacent to it, but was sad no Sailor Moon promo is on that particular tape.

 

[Rick Jones]

Found a rare piece of history in my dusty VHS collection. Found a 1998 Kids' WB recording that included a promo for Zorro on WB 34 airing Sundays at 10:30 (what a lousy timeslot for churchgoing kids). I remember Sailor Moon aired adjacent to it, but was sad no Sailor Moon promo is on that particular tape.

I remember really liking the look of that show for some reason back then.

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