FOX Kids created a need in kids for more programming aimed directly at them.

Problems for cartoons on broadcast networks stemmed from what began as "promoting to the next show" on FOX. Promoting to the next show transformed into a churning desire in children to see more programming. As Gaither explains, “Kids would watch Power Rangers, then they would flip all over the dial trying to find more content just for them. Nickelodeon benefited because they had Double Dare and other live-action shows. They had a branding voice: ‘This is yours. It doesn’t belong to your parents.’ Consequently, kids found cable in a huge, huge way. Today, ‘Saturday morning cartoons’ is a phrase that emotionally means nothing to anyone under the age of twenty-five.”

Brian O’Neal, former manager and vice president of children’s programming at CBS, concurs with NBC’s Gaither: “The competition from Cartoon Network and Nick changed the programming paradigm for the broadcast networks. It eroded our audience base. Kids discovered that they did not have to settle for programming one day a week. There were shows for them seven days a week.” O’Neal also elaborated how even the most successful children’s programming could never compete with programming for adults: “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, at the height of its success, was never even comparable to the average primetime show. One hour of primetime generated the same profit as the entire Saturday morning lineup. As a network, where are you going to put more of your resources to drive your ratings? You’re not even going to allocate [children’s programming] in your budget.” Since cable TV can program to specific verticals every hour every day, there is no longer any financial reason to keep cartoons and children’s programming on broadcast networks.

It’s the Children that Changed – Not the Cartoons
“As cable TV started to rise, the 'tween psychology became real,” comments Gaither. “Kids over the age of eight started splitting off into very different groups. Some boys were into animation and others were not. Girls have always been sketchy over the age of six with animation. Live-action became more popular. You are always better off as a network if you have a mixture of both live-action and cartoons. I know Discovery Kids’ plan: they wanted a mixture of animation, reality series and live-action to reflect the breadth and complexity of kids today. It’s hard to find a kid who likes just animation anymore. Kids have evolved. You don’t have many boys watching cartoons when they’re thirteen. That’s not happening anymore. They are evolving emotionally faster. Lizzie McGuire is a live-action Ally McBeal for kids on The Disney Channel and it’s a huge hit with girls, and boys oddly enough.”

Brian O'Neal (left), formerly of CBS, watched as kids turned to cable for shows anytime during the week. Shows like Lizzie McGuire appeal to the new niche of 'tweeners. Courtesy of Disney.

Primetime family programming is also an endangered species due to the same proliferation of cable TV. Successful family shows like Full House and Family Matters no longer have a place on broadcast networks because of channels like Nickelodeon and ABC Family. The absence of primetime family programming also hinders Saturday morning cartoons on broadcast networks because there is no way to promote programming on Friday night for Saturday morning. Right now, only ABC’s Wonderful World of Disney on Sunday evenings promotes programming on Saturday mornings, and as O’Neal points out, “There is no way you can expect a child to remember to watch a show all the way from Sunday night until Saturday morning. No child will remember that.”

The Fiscal Future of Saturday Morning Cartoons
The final problem with Saturday morning cartoons is their incipient decrease in quality over the last decade, attributable in part to a decrease in advertisement revenue. While individuals at FOX Kids and Walt Disney TV Animation do not agree that there has been a decrease in quality, O’Neal confirms that there is no question that production costs have increased while revenue from advertisements has decreased. This relationship has placed animation studios in a catch 22. Everyone in the industry will insist that good stories denote high quality shows, yet can shows hire experienced, quality writers when low budgets are such a commodity?