Schoolhouse Rock Rocks!
Hello. My name is Lori, and I was raised on the glory that was television of the late ‘70s and early ‘80s. I know in today’s world it is much less socially acceptable to plop your kid in front of the TV with their Apple Jacks and Tang; but I’m here today to tell the tale of Saturday mornings with Superfriends, Smurfs, and the mother of all cartoons, Schoolhouse Rock. Mom says I learned to read by watching Sesame Street and The...
Get on Board! The Great Space Coaster
If you took The Muppet Show, The Electric Company, H.R. Pufnstuf, and Fraggle Rock and mixed them all together in an 80s blender, it might look a little something like this (see the video below). Do you still know all the words to that theme song? I do. The Great Space Coaster ran in syndication from 1981 through 1986. It was a children’s show featuring both puppets and people — the main character of the show was a GIANT puppet,...
The 80s Most Famous Feline – Garfield
Think of 80s icons that were so famous, so totally popular, that you know them by just one name. For instance: Madonna, Sting, and Bono. Now think of cartoon cats of the 80s who were so famous they went by just one name – I bet only one comes to mind: this guy here. Garfield was so insanely popular in the 1980s that it was rare to attend a sleepover party where one or all attendees were not accompanied by the fat, orange, big eyed...
Saturday Morning Cartoons
In the ‘80s, we lived for the weekend – we could listen to our boom boxes, go roller skating, go to the video store to rent movies, and hang out at the food court at the mall to pick up boys. But think further back – way back to when you were younger. What did you spend your weekend doing? Riding your bike? Trading baseball cards? Sure. But, I bet I know how your weekend started on Saturday. I bet you were doing the same thing I was....
80s Cartoons – 25 Totally Rad Intros
Saturday mornings in the 80s meant one thing: cartoons. Millions of American kids got up, fixed a bowl of cereal, and plopped down in front of the TV for a morning of animated bliss. By the power of Grayskull, I declare this montage of 25 80s cartoon intros totally rad. (Speaking of He-Man, he may have been the most powerful man in the universe, but that is still no excuse for the little-lord-fauntleroy hair cut he sported...
Monchhichis
My husband, like me, is a child of the 80s. I asked him if he remembered Monchhichis, thinking that surely he’d have no idea what I was talking about. But NO! He immediately burst into that commercial jingle. You totally know the first couple of lines at least: Monchhichi, Monchhichi, Oh so soft and cuddly! With a thumb in her mouth she’s really neat. Fun to wiggle his little feet. Yah yah yah yah yah Happy happy monchhichi! I love...
80s My Little Pony and Today’s Bronies
By Julie Anderson Eighties girls will totally remember My Little Ponies, those hugely popular plastic horse figurines. The first herd of candy-colored toy horses was created in 1981. My Pretty Ponies were significantly bigger than My Little Ponies and were nowhere near as popular. In 1983, Hasbro’s My Little Ponies hit the jackpot with the elementary-age girl crowd. They were perfectly sized for little hands and little purses. We...
Time for Timer!
By Julie Anderson Saturday mornings – ahhhhh! Back in the 80s, we didn’t have, like, entire television channels devoted to cartoons, much less Netflix and Hulu to give us cartoons on demand. Puh-leeze. We had a few precious hours of cartoon time once a week on network TV, and, man, did we love them. With a captive audience of roughly a bazillion-and-a-half American kids, health minded network execs decided to impart some useful...
Top 5 Cartoon Characters You Shouldn’t Loan Money To
By Ryan Zimmerman Ryan, back again. . . . Today’s Top 5 are cartoon characters you don’t want to lend money to. I know they aren’t all strictly 80s, but hey, I remember them being on in the 80s, so that counts! 5. He-Man I have the POWER! While the guy may be cool, have a sword and ride a huge cat around, there are still a few things that worry me. For one, the guy has to talk himself into being strong. He can’t just be “Adam,” he has...
Top 5 Cartoons of the 80s
By Ryan Zimmerman Ryan here, and back with an all new Top 5 this week: 5. He-Man: Masters of the Universe He-Man was THE Man (say “THE” with the long “e” . . . sounds way cooler). He had the power of Grayskull and used his HE-roics to take on Skeletor and his evil empire. When he wasn’t roided up, he was just Adam–boring old Adam. At least Adam wore pants, and not a He-Mana Hammock, but I digress. He also had a twin...
The Smurfs, 1981-1989
The little blue creatures known as the Smurfs first appeared in October of 1958, the creation of Belgian cartoonist Pierre Culliford (known as Peyo). However, it would take the 1980’s Saturday morning cartoon to launch them into stardom and cartoon history. The Hanna-Barbera cartoon ran on NBC Saturday morning cartoons from 1981 to 1989 and are a permanent part of 80s pop culture. I was a huge Smurfs fan much to the dismay of my...
