Mushy cereal Saturday mornings

One of my fondest memories of childhood is watching television. We didn't have alot of channels back then (channels 6, 10, and 12 were pretty clear, while 22 was rather grainy depending on the rabbit ears) but there was plenty of cool stuff to occupy young minds.

Weekdays, I'd walk home from school for lunch, and catch the Flintstones with my sandwich. Saturday mornings were the treasure trove, with the NBC Fun Machine (although reception was pretty sad) and other American productions shown on CTV, and international productions on channel 2.

My absolute favorite was Goldorak; I loved the kinetic, wild action, even though I had no clue what was going on; a close second was the french translation of Battle of the Planets, mostly because of the flaming spaceship. Blue Falcon and Dynomutt were very cool, as well as the live action Batman episodes I'd occassionally catch. Scooby Doo was another favorite, since I've always enjoyed spooky stuff.

After school, I'd settle down to watch G.I. Joe and Transformers; again, I didn't really follow the plots, but admired the explosions and transforming robots. I find it interesting that these two properties still thrive today, showing that a strong concept can transcend its fad status to become a part of pop culture.

Kids programming today is extremely varied; genres have been sub-divided into their own channels, targeting different demographics. The stuff on the tube these days is flashy, desperate to be hip, and directed at short attention spans, a reflection of the audience. I'm sure that kids today enjoy whatever is shown on YTV, Teletoon, and the rest; I guess I appreciated programming more as a youth since there wasn't as much available. I doubt the quality was far superior to today's sophisticated 'toons, but I still find those old shows charming and appealling, and am grateful for my fond memories of them.