Okay, more than likely this is gonna be a long topic. There are few things I know more about than this history of Saturday morning cartoons during the '90s, so why not put this otherwise useless knowledge to use.

To me, the '90s are the most fascinating decade of any when it comes to SMC's. Clearly, it was a transitional period. As early as the mid and late '80s, cable had already started to damage the dominance that the three major broadcast networks had enjoyed for decades, but the '90s was when cable networks like Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network and the Disney Channel really started to reach their zeniths from a viewership standpoint. As SMC ratings continued to decline over the decade, government regulations would also become a factor later during the decade as well. By 2000, SMC's had already declined considerably from where they were just five years before.

Let's take a look back, season by season, and track the changes on Saturday mornings that occurred over the course of the '90s.

1990-91

During the first full season of '90s Saturday morning cartoons, the SMC business was still doing quite well. Disney was still largely a pay channel, and Nickelodeon had not yet begun to produce their own cartoons, meaning that the overwhelming majority of new animated content could only be seen on the broadcast networks. At this time, the three major broadcast networks, ABC, CBS and NBC, all still aired full SMC lineups for around 6 hours. Also this season, Fox Kids made it's debut, meaning their were actually four networks airing full SMC content at the time. The top shows included, TMNT, Garfield, The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3 and The New Kids on the Block animated series. As a side note, even though the Children's Television Act of 1990 was passed this year, relaxed regulations meant that it had essentially no impact on the programming of the major broadcast networks.

1991-92

This proved to be another huge year for SMC's, as the Fox Kids lineup continued to grow, and TMNT continued to garner huge ratings for CBS. Also, Darkwing Duck made it's debut on ABC that fall, beginning a lengthy relationship between ABC and Disney on Saturday mornings. The Children's Television Act of 1990 continued to be mostly ignored by the networks. Ultimately, this would prove to be the final season where all three major broadcast networks aired SMC programming. Top shows included TMNT, Garfield, Darkwing Duck and the short lived Super Mario World TV series.

1992-93

This season would prove to be a turning point for SMC's, as NBC became the first major network to considerably trim it's SMC content. Due to declining ratings, perhaps partially because of the debut of Nicktoons the previous fall, NBC decided to air a special Saturday version of the Today show, and reduce it's SMC programming to just two hours, almost all teen shows like Saved by the Bell and California Dreams. The other networks, meanwhile, continued their dedications to SMC's. Fox Kids debuted two of it's more iconic '90s shows, Dog City and Eek! The Cat, while CBS debuted a Little Mermaid animated series. The top shows included TMNT, Garfield, Darkwing Duck and Eek! The Cat.

1993-94

This season was yet another turning point for SMC's, as the dominance CBS had enjoyed ratings wise for several years began to drop. This was mostly due to the decrease of TMNT's ratings during 1993, as the TMNT III movie flopped, and the TMNT fad as a whole began to peter out. Meanwhile, ABC and Fox were on the rise. ABC debuted the Sonic SatAM, perhaps the most iconic of all '90s SMC's, while Fox added Mighty Morphin Power Rangers to it's Saturday morning lineup just as the show was beginning to take off. X-Men was added to the Fox lineup as well, further increasing it's ratings. NBC officially began to refer to it's late morning teen lineup as TNBC as Saved by the Bell started it's New Class series. Top shows included MMPR, X-Men, Sonic SatAM and TMNT.

1994-95

This would prove to be the season where Fox Kids fully established it's mid '90s dominance. With a lineup that included MMPR, The Tick, X-Men, Spider-Man, Where on Earth is Carmen Sandiego and more Fox was truly at it's apex on Saturday mornings. CBS, meanwhile, retooled it's lineup to deal with the declining TMNT ratings, debuting a slate of new shows including Aladdin, and moving TMNT to the 10:30 time slot. ReBoot also made it's debut on ABC this season, though that show would not truly take off until it was added to the Toonami lineup years later. Top shows included MMPR, Sonic SatAM, Spider-Man and X-Men.

1995-96

By this season, cable ratings had begun to increasingly affect SMC's. Nickelodeon was it's the peak of it's Golden Age, while Cartoon Network and the Disney Channel were increasingly becoming available to cable customers. Still, SMC's remained a huge force. And a new network joined the fold this season, with the new WB Network debuting it's Saturday morning lineup. CBS also debut the popular Timon and Pumbaa animated series, even as it cancelled the long running favorite Garfield. ABC also cancelled Sonic SatAM, a move that would hurt their ratings this season. Fox remained the dominant force, continuing with largely the same lineup from the previous season. Top shows included MMPR, Timon and Pumbaa, Spider-Man and X-Men.

1996-97

This was the season that witnessed another major shift. The FCC strengthened the Children's Television Act of 1990, which had been largely ignored by the networks during the previous 6 years. Thought it would take a few years for the consequences to become clear, this would prove a major blow to SMC's heading towards the '00s. Fox's SMC dominance was also entering a transitional period during this season, as the popularity of MMPR began to diminish with the debut of the Zeo series. ABC proved to be the big mover this season, debuting a slate of new shows such as Jungle Cubs, Brand Spanking New Doug and the Mighty Ducks animated series that would move them back to the lead ratings wise. CBS, meanwhile, continued to struggle, as Timon and Pumbaa's ratings decline from the previous season, and it lacked any other major hits. CBS also cancelled TMNT at the beginning of this season. Top shows included Brand Spanking New Doug, Street Sharks, Mighty Ducks and MMPR.

1997-98

Perhaps the most pivotal season of SMC's of the entire decade. CBS, under pressure from the FCC and with low ratings, followed the lead of NBC five years before and trimmed it's Saturday morning lineup, adding a Saturday morning news program, and mostly filling the later morning lineup with educational programming. ABC, meanwhile, decided to go all out with the debut of OSM, which was seen at the time as something of a last stand for SMC dominance over cable. Facing the onslaught of OSM's popularity, Fox took a huge hit this season, particularly as the Power Ranger fad was bottoming out thanks to the unpopularity of the new Turbo series. Top shows included, Recess, Pepper Ann, Brand Spanking New Doug and MMPR.

1998-99

This season, the last full '90s SMC season, saw the continued dominance of ABC and OSM. CBS continued to air mostly news and educational programming, while Fox continued to drop ratings wise. Kids WB! began to gain ratings steam this season, and officially emerged as a competitor to ABC's dominance. During the second half of this season, Pokemon on Kids WB! began to explode. Challenges from Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network, each of which had bolstered their own Saturday morning lineups, continued to decrease SMC ratings across the board, though OSM remained a huge ratings success overall. Top shows included, Recess, Pokemon, Pepper Ann and Brand Spanking New Doug.

I read the entire post, and I would say that this is a great analysis for SMCs. I agree that despite the decline of them, they were still dominant considering that Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, and the Disney Channel didn't have its own cartoons for some time. Yeah, Nick had a few when it began its own toons, but they didn't take over the channel until at least when Spongebob premiered. For CN, they weren't dominating the scene until the Powerhouse era was in full force. Before that, it was all Hanna-Barbera cartoons shown throughout the network. While it's correct that DC was still a premium channel, they also didn't have their own toons for the channel unless one counts the Disney Afternoon and OSM rerunning the shows on there.

With that said, I first began watching the SMCs right when the 1995-96 season started and stopped watching them after the 2002-03 year. So, I was able to watch half of the 90s seasons and it was a blast! :)

Great and detailed analysis! What are your opinions of the 1999-2002 period? If you could go in depth for those years that would be great, because I feel like that was the official 'last stand' for SMC's influence as they still showed shows exclusive for SMC blocks making them a viable competitor to cable. I think SMC blcocks started to take a massive dip in influence during the early-mid 00's.

My favourite time for cartoons was the 70s and earlier........ (To me they were much better)

I read the entire post, and I would say that this is a great analysis for SMCs. I agree that despite the decline of them, they were still dominant considering that Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, and the Disney Channel didn't have its own cartoons for some time. Yeah, Nick had a few when it began its own toons, but they didn't take over the channel until at least when Spongebob premiered. For CN, they weren't dominating the scene until the Powerhouse era was in full force. Before that, it was all Hanna-Barbera cartoons shown throughout the network. While it's correct that DC was still a premium channel, they also didn't have their own toons for the channel unless one counts the Disney Afternoon and OSM rerunning the shows on there.

With that said, I first began watching the SMCs right when the 1995-96 season started and stopped watching them after the 2002-03 year. So, I was able to watch half of the 90s seasons and it was a blast! :)


Yeah, that's a good point. Even as Cartoon Network and the Disney Channel grew during the mid '90s, they still didn't have much when it came to original animated programming. The Disney Channel didn't have any that I know of until the '00s, and Cartoon Network didn't debut the first Cartoon Cartoons until the late '90s. Nickelodeon was the only network that had it's own original animated programming during the time, so that was probably a big part of why SMC's continued to garner huge ratings through the mid '90s.


Great and detailed analysis! What are your opinions of the 1999-2002 period? If you could go in depth for those years that would be great, because I feel like that was the official 'last stand' for SMC's influence as they still showed shows exclusive for SMC blocks making them a viable competitor to cable. I think SMC blcocks started to take a massive dip in influence during the early-mid 00's.


Yeah, that's true. The period between 1999 and 2002 was truly when SMC's started to get consistently beat out ratings wise by cable. Honestly, I don't know quite as much about SMC's during this period because I stopped watching them quite as much around 1999.

You could probably speak to this a bit better than me, because you probably watched SMC's during the early '00s much more than I did, but didn't Kids WB surpass ABC and Fox during this period to become the highest rated network on Saturday morning? That's the main thing I remember about the Y2K era is that the ABC lineup was getting a bit stale by that point, and that Kids WB was the hot brand. Fox also added several more action cartoons to their lineup around this period as well, likely as a way to compete against Toonami and Kids WB.

Even as Cartoon Network and the Disney Channel grew during the mid '90s, they still didn't have much when it came to original animated programming. The Disney Channel didn't have any that I know of until the '00s, and Cartoon Network didn't debut the first Cartoon Cartoons until the late '90s. Nickelodeon was the only network that had it's own original animated programming during the time, so that was probably a big part of why SMC's continued to garner huge ratings through the mid '90s.
Yeah, that's true. The period between 1999 and 2002 was truly when SMC's started to get consistently beat out ratings wise by cable. Honestly, I don't know quite as much about SMC's during this period because I stopped watching them quite as much around 1999.


The period from roughly 1997 (with the launch of OSM & Kids WB's Golden Age beginning) upto about 2002 (with the end of OSM's & Fox Kids runs, & Kids WB's Golden Age ending) was probably the only time in children's programming history that the SMC's blocks & The Big Three Children's Networks (Nick, Disney, CN) had a equidistant amount of original animated programming. OSM had originals like Pepper Ann, Recess, and House of Mouse. Kids WB had Pinky & The Brain, Batman Beyond, and Pokemon. Fox Kids had Transformers: Beast Wars, Digimon, and MedaBots. Of course do we even need to mention the original programming going on the Big Three at the time? It was the slow decline of SMC's influence on children as cable became more readily available to most people. However even so, many kids still tuned into the SMC blocks in the late 90's/early 00's as they still showed programs that were exclusive to their blocks. Let alone to the fact that you still had millions of children (like yours truly ;)) that lived in families that still didn't make the full transition.

There was a major shift (arguably bigger than any shift in the 90's) during the 2002-2003 Year where most SMC blocks by this point were merely just reruns of shows from their respective cable networks, thus signaling an end to objectively have SMC blocks when the programs weren't originals. When you look back from this period from Late 2002 through Mid 2006 (I'll call this the Bronze Age of SMCs) you saw that the only major SMC blocks that showed original animated programming that wasn't from cable nor educational was Kids WB, and for a while Fox BOX, but that ended when Fox BOX was changed to 4Kids TV which became mainly just english dubbed anime reruns or USA premieres. Kids WB (which by the mid 00's had a lot of anime themselves) still retained some animated originals like Jackie Chan & The Mummy, but they too eventually started just showing CN reruns like Teen Titans.

This IMO was when SMCs were truly heading down south, hence why I feel the 1997-2002 period was the 'last hurrah' when SMC's were a viable opponent to cable networks, despite steadily losing popularity & ratings. However, by the mid 2000's, if you weren't Kids WB (or MAYBE Fox BOX) you practically didn't exist to most kids my age.

My favourite time for cartoons was the 70s and earlier........ (To me they were much better)


I prefer the later 70's and early 80's.

Don't forget that the '90s (and mid-late '80s) was also the peak of daily syndicated, 65-episode cartoons like the first three seasons of TMNT, Tiny Toon Adventures, the first couple seasons of Animaniacs, the Disney Afternoon shows, the numerous "Hasbro 30-minute toy commercial" shows like He-Man, Transformers G1 and Beast Wars, GI Joe (including the DiC version), and even VR Troopers. Even HBO had shows like Fraggle Rock and Babar the Elephant to add into the variety. Of course, Nickelodeon/Cartoon Network/The Disney Channel was still cool in those early days to watch the classics and/or imports, like Beetlejuice, Count Duckula, Danger Mouse, Walt-era Disney, and many Hanna-Barbera shows during Checkerboard-era Cartoon Network that featured many SMCs from the 1960s, '70s, and early '80s, making the 1990s perhaps the best decade to grow up and experience the best that kids' TV had to offer.

And who couldn't forget those bumpers? CBS's Fido Dido for the 1990-93 seasons, its Action Zone bumpers for the 1994-97 seasons, NBC's Klasky-Csupoish bumpers for the 1990-91 season, ABC's "After These Messages" with Claymation in the late '80s/early '90s, followed by an army for the 1996-97 season, along with FOX Kids' "Will B. Right Back" in the mid-'90s. It's a shame all of today's kids have is sleek CGI animation and lame PC plots and never the grittiness and wittiness that Boomers through Millenials grew up on with kids TV.

Yeah, that's a good point. Even as Cartoon Network and the Disney Channel grew during the mid-'90s, they still didn't have much when it came to original animated programming. The Disney Channel didn't have any that I know of until the '00s, and Cartoon Network didn't debut the first Cartoon Cartoons until the late '90s. Nickelodeon was the only network that had its own original animated programming during the time, so that was probably a big part of why SMC's continued to garner huge ratings through the mid-'90s.
Yeah, that's true CN didn't have its own animated programming until Dexter's Lab; however, even then, they didn't have many until at least 2000. By that year, there was Dexter's Lab, PPG, Courage, Johnny Bravo, Cow & Chicken, I am Weasel, Mike, Lu & Og, and Ed, Edd & Eddy. For DC, I think the first original animated programming was The Proud Family followed by Kim Possible. The rest would not come until much later. I agree that Nickelodeon was the only one that had its own at that time, but remember that most Nicktoons didn't premiere until after Hey Arnold. In 1996, Nick had Doug, Rugrats, R&S, Rocko, KaBlam and Real Monsters.

Despite that the Children's Television Act had already damaged SMCs, they were still persistent even up until the end of the 2002-03 year especially since they still had exclusives that one could not find on Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network or the Disney Channel.


The period from roughly 1997 (with the launch of OSM & Kids WB's Golden Age beginning) up to about 2002 (with the end of OSM's & Fox Kids runs, & Kids WB's Golden Age ending) was probably the only time in children's programming history that the SMC's blocks & The Big Three Children's Networks (Nick, Disney, CN) had an equidistant amount of original animated programming. OSM had originals like Pepper Ann, Recess, and House of Mouse. Kids WB had Pinky & The Brain, Batman Beyond, and Pokemon. Fox Kids had Transformers: Beast Wars, Digimon, and MedaBots. Of course, do we even need to mention the original programming going on the Big Three at the time? It was the slow decline of SMC's influence on children as cable became more readily available to most people. However, even so, many kids still tuned into the SMC blocks in the late 90's/early 00's as they still showed programs that were exclusive to their blocks. Let alone to the fact that you still had millions of children (like yours truly ;)) that lived in families that still didn't make the full transition.

There was a major shift (arguably bigger than any shift in the 90's) during the 2002-2003 Year where most SMC blocks by this point were merely just reruns of shows from their respective cable networks, thus signaling an end to objectively have SMC blocks when the programs weren't originals. When you look back from this period from Late 2002 through Mid 2006 (I'll call this the Bronze Age of SMCs) you saw that the only major SMC blocks that showed original animated programming that wasn't from cable nor educational was Kids WB, and for a while Fox BOX, but that ended when Fox BOX was changed to 4Kids TV which became mainly just English dubbed anime reruns or USA premieres. Kids WB (which by the mid 00's had a lot of anime themselves) still retained some animated originals like Jackie Chan & The Mummy, but they too eventually started just showing CN reruns like Teen Titans.

This IMO was when SMCs were truly heading down south, hence why I feel the 1997-2002 period was the 'last hurrah' when SMC's were a viable opponent to cable networks, despite steadily losing popularity & ratings. However, by the mid-2000's, if you weren't Kids WB (or MAYBE Fox BOX) you practically didn't exist to most kids my age.
Great analysis man! I agree that the late 90's/early 00's were a period that one could still tune into SMCs even though cable network were destroying the competition against them and that the former was already losing popularity due to ignoring the Children's Television Act at that time.

This video helps explain what led to the decline of Saturday Morning Cartoons within the last 20 years:

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This video helps explain what led to the decline of Saturday Morning Cartoons within the last 20 years:

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Thank You, I think the decline also pertains to the demographics.

Thank You, I think the decline also pertains to the demographics.


No problem, and you care to elaborate?

No problem, and you care to elaborate?


I mean kids grew up and they weren't interested in sitting in front of a television eating high sugared cereals anymore and I think technology that included cell phones and iPods, kids were more interested in that instead of Saturday cartoons.

Loved Sonic the Hedgehog and also ReBoot. I remember being very impressed by ReBoot with its CGI. I also had a subtle crush on Bob which I shortly grew out of. "I don't think so."
I also religiously watched Ninja Turtles (I was Donatello while my neighbor Elizabeth was Raphael), liked Darkwing Duck (my first childhood crush, my mom tells me, was Darkwing...), Bump in the Night, Mega Man, Dragon Warrior, Piggsburg Pigs, Captain N, and Super Mario World. My neighbor had to buy me a Yoshi stuffed doll after I saw a few episodes of Super Mario World. One of my earliest childhood memories.

Even though I was 19 going on 20, I liked watching the Rugrats in the mid 90s.

remember Rugrats  know I watched Doug