Saturday Morning Cartoon: 07 good or not

[Sonic777]

I wonder if saturday morning cartoons are good or not.
My favorite channel to watch kids WB because it has
some of my favorite shows like leigon of superheros
and the batman.

[DrSpengler]

While American cartoons don't exist in the volume that they used to, there are still quite a few quality ones on the airwaves, and of course, a bit less crap.

As far as Nick goes, I have a guilty pleasure in Kappa Mikey, though I hear its not very popular. I've tried giving Shuriken School a chance, but I'm just not feeling it. It's kinda creepy listening toMaurice LaMarche play a 10 year old boy and constantly hitting on characters voiced by 10 year old girls.

For Cartoon Network, Class of 3000 has some solid writing in the humor department and a great cast of voice actors. I just change the channel when they get to the musical segment (the LAST thing I want to hear is Tom Kenny rapping).

My Gym Partner is a Monkey isn't exactly high-quality material, but I would qualify it as funnier than Fosters. I'll watch it when nothing else is on, but that's about it.

And let us not forget Ben 10, which I enjoy quite a bit. It's got some great continuity and a fun premise, but the continuity isn't serious. You can miss several episodes and still jump in relatively fine.

As far as Disney goes, I didn't dig Super Robot Monkey Team at first until I saw some of the darker episodes. And let me tell you, that show could get REALLY friggin dark. It finally won me over for good when they introduced a psychotic janitor voiced by Jeffrey Combs. Awesome. Along with Megas XLR, it's cancellation is a travesty.

Yin Yang Yo is...okay. No great shakes, but at least it has the self-awareness to make fun of its own trite leassons its forced to teach at the end of every episode. Also, it's the only kids show I've seen since Fantastic Four that uses the term "this/it/you suck(s)" freely without restraint. Not a reason to like the show, but it surprised me.

Pucca...is strange. When it was a webtoon you only watched maybe a couple minute-long shorts at a time, and it was cute. But a half hour of a little girl molesting the crap out of some dude is just...creepy.

[LogicDonny]

I pretty much only watch a bit of the turtles on saturday morning and just watch regular tv like movies, etc.. i did check out the batman and that cartoon where Superman is a kid.

I miss the old days of samurai jack and Justice League.

[Peanut]

I miss the old days of samurai jack

I have not liked a cartoon, or indeed even watched any new cartoons, since Samurai Jack got canned. Talk about heart breaking.

[Time Mistress]

The Batman, Avatar, and Kim Possible are all worthy of watching. Not much else is currently, though Nick's Skyland shows some promise (only seen one ep so far though).

[Ecto Jedi]

Thruthfully, the only Saturday morning cartoon I watch (albeit sporadically) is TMNT. Do the majority of networks even have a Saturday morning cartoon lineup anymore? All I ever see is Fox's 4Kids. Or am I just not looking...

[Spitfire]

In my opinion cartoons died in the 90's. The last season of Batman:TAS*Or The New Adventures Of Batman* was Fast Forward status.

But in the 90's we had some great shows on the air. And to my surprise DC has put out some quality programs despite how lame I find 90% of their heroes to be. I haven't watched The Batman yet but he looks like a 12 year old and from what I've seen the animation style looks like Teen Titians. I hate that crap.

But that's just Batman. We had Justice League, Batman Beyond, X-men, Spider-man*Stock footage battles woo*, The Tick. We had guns in cartoons and blood as well. G movies should have been PG and PG movies should have been PG-13*No way TMNT 1 would have been PG now, or even made for that matter* It was great...

Now we get watered down, kinda dark storylines, no blood, laser blasters because guns are to real, and board line anime style animation even in our American cartoons. Screw that crap.

And Samurai Jack was awesome, I need to watch that show again and decide if I want to buy it. I only remember the first season. I don't think I saw the finial season. I remember he used to get all cut up and I think bleed alot. It was cool. Now they don't really even show cuts on people.

[Ecto Jedi]

Now we get watered down, kinda dark storylines, no blood, laser blasters because guns are to real, and board line anime style animation even in our American cartoons. Screw that crap.

The real kicker for me was seeing the new G.I. Joe Sigma Six series getting the Japan treatment. Goddammit, it's G. I. Joe! It should never, ever be done anime-style. Ugh...

[Toonami Tom]

I used to only watch TMNT on 4Kids. I started watching The Batman last weekend on KidsWB. It's good.

[Sonic777]

Samurai Jack was cool.But aku was never final defeat in the end.It would have been cool to see that happen.

[Spitfire]

The real kicker for me was seeing the new G.I. Joe Sigma Six series getting the Japan treatment. Goddammit, it's G. I. Joe! It should never, ever be done anime-style. Ugh...

Yeah that's a kick in the nuts, too see the most American of TV programs done like an anime.

[Ra]

Yeah that's a kick in the nuts, too see the most American of TV programs done like an anime.
I blame Pokemon. Really. None of this Western Anime crap came out before Pokemon. Once Pokemon was popular, I noticed seeing more and more anime-influenced cartoons coming out until...yeah, you get the picture.

There are hardly any 07 cartoons I think are worth watching. All I ever watch now is reruns of 2k3 TMNT, "Codename: Kids Next Door", "The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy", "Justice League (Unlimited)", some "Kim Possible", and "The Batman". Also not to mention reruns of "X-Men Evolution", "Superman: The Animated Series", "Batman: The Animated Series", and, if it ever pops up, "Samurai Jack".

Stuff like "Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends" I watch on occasion, but I try to avoid "Camp Lazlo", "My Gym Partner is a Monkey", and "Squirrel Boy" at all costs. In my view, most of the new cartoons of today are just rubbish. How I wish I was a kid back in the 80's and 90's...

[Spitfire]

Being in the 5th grade when Poke'mon hit let me tell you something, blame Dragon Ball Z. I don't know about you guys but at my school when DBZ hit it was the **** all the way until 8th grade, and even then it was still the ****.

Now it's just ****, but the point is after DBZ I saw a new wave of anime being brought onto our airwaves. Toonami started with just DBZ and then American shows. Slowly it turned into all anime. I think it still is. And they used to show Outlaw Star and Cowboy Bebop in the evenings at like midnight or 1 AM. Those shows were good.

Now all they show is crap. Not that anime is any goo to begin with but it's just to popular. And I don't know about where you guys live but where I live the population is mostly Asian. The Asian population is in fact larger then all the other races combined. This could be why, in my area at least, anime is so stupidly popular.

I went out with a girl who liked anime. I had to watch the most god awful crap I've ever been submitted to. And she dragged me to a convention...ugh. She got mad because all I did was make fun of how crappy peoples costumes were, or how utterly retarded some of them looked.

Anyways most studios out source for animation so that style carries over. And being as how anime is popular why not rip it off. Anime has good animation for the most part, but the story telling is just crap. So you mix the two and you think you have gold...if it's not broke don't fix it. Please...

[Ra]

Ah yes, Dragon Ball Z...that has to be blamed for the current state of cartoons too...As much as I love everything up to the end of the Frieza Saga, I'm afraid this and Pokemon inspired all of the animation companies to say "Hey! That's pretty popular! Let's try and copy their style..."

Please, when can we see good old fashioned western animation again?! *moans*

[LogicDonny]

The ocean group dub of Dragonball z was my favorite..

I miss dragonball z, it was years and years before they finally finished the series like 7 years ?

sailor moon, pokemon, dragon ball z.

I rather watch them in uncut than censored.

The 80's and 90's sure has some great animation..

Look no furtuher, we still got some prime-time animation on so at least we get something good.

[ThirdMarioBro]

I gave up animation after the Jap invasion. Adult Swim and the Simpsons are about all I've got left. It was all anime kid pandering and other sh*t.

[ZariusTwo]

Too bad Youtube does'nt have the classic M.A.S.K episode "Assault On Liberty", which involves the twin towers (creepy sight indeed to see Miles Mayhem in the building...makes you wonder)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYW4z6M9q2o&mode=related&search=

Found more from the most criminally underrated animated series ever.

[Krang]

Yes, the animation inudstry is starting to recover from the cancerous incursion of Jap crap anime importing...even if some of the shows are a little slow in proving it.
Despite your use of anime as a scapegoat, the "animation industry" was already on the decline in the mid 90's, which was before anime became commonplace in the US. While I agree that it's stupid when American cartoons copy Japanese stylizations, I don't think they would be any better off today if it weren't for anime importing. In fact, Saturday morning cartoons were pretty much gone already in the early 90s due to completely unrelated factors, so I don't see the point of bringing up your dislike of anime in this thread in the first place.

In my opinion cartoons died in the 90's. The last season of Batman:TAS*Or The New Adventures Of Batman* was Fast Forward status.

But in the 90's we had some great shows on the air.
I agree. I can't think of too many cartoons from the mid-90's or later that were worth watching, in my opinion. The only exceptions I can think of are ones that began earlier and were still going (like TMNT) and ones by Warner Bros. (like Pinky and the Brain, Animaniacs, Batman, Justice League, etc.).

Now it's just ****, but the point is after DBZ I saw a new wave of anime being brought onto our airwaves. Toonami started with just DBZ and then American shows. Slowly it turned into all anime. I think it still is. And they used to show Outlaw Star and Cowboy Bebop in the evenings at like midnight or 1 AM. Those shows were good.
And that was just one programming block on one station. I wouldn't exactly call that excessive. Besides, with Toonami reduced to once a week and TechTV merged with G4, there's far less anime on TV now than there was in the early 2000's.

Now all they show is crap. Not that anime is any goo to begin with but it's just to popular.
By saying that anime is not "any good to begin with," you're admitting to being biased against all anime without any consideration for things like genres, production companies, etc. That's like saying that all movies are crap just because you happened to see a few bad ones.

And I don't know about where you guys live but where I live the population is mostly Asian. The Asian population is in fact larger then all the other races combined. This could be why, in my area at least, anime is so stupidly popular.
Err... that's rather ignorant and stereotypical to blame Asians for the popularity of anime, which is supposedly such a bad thing. And I fail to see how the populations of Asian countries are relevant to this topic at all.

I went out with a girl who liked anime. I had to watch the most god awful crap I've ever been submitted to.
I doubt she made you watch every single anime series in existence, so maybe you should consider that you just saw a few series that you didn't like (or, possibly, that you were so biased against anime that you had subconsciously decided to hate each series before even seeing them). But whatever you saw certainly doesn't represent anime as a whole.

Anime has good animation for the most part, but the story telling is just crap.
If you don't want to watch anime, that's your choice, but please avoid using baseless generalizations to support your decision.

[Mr._Mutant_Man]

The only cartoons I've really seen on Saturday mornings lately have been Legion and The Batman. This is partially because nothing else interests me, and also because of the fact that my Fridays are typically spent staying up really late the night before....playing video games and occasionally drinking beer (and maybe once every so often when the planets are aligned I go out).

[ZariusTwo]

Despite your use of anime as a scapegoat, the "animation industry" was already on the decline in the mid 90's, which was before anime became commonplace in the US. While I agree that it's stupid when American cartoons copy Japanese stylizations, I don't think they would be any better off today if it weren't for anime importing. In fact, Saturday morning cartoons were pretty much gone already in the early 90s due to completely unrelated factors, so I don't see the point of bringing up your dislike of anime in this thread in the first place.

You say I dislike anime, yet take ONE look at my avatar. Go on, take a look...

I don't dislike anime at all, present anime maybe, but not the genre completly, I hate what DEPENDING on it has done to American innovation.

[Spitfire]

And that was just one programming block on one station. I wouldn't exactly call that excessive. Besides, with Toonami reduced to once a week and TechTV merged with G4, there's far less anime on TV now than there was in the early 2000's.
They show it at night as well, your right the flow of it is thinner but with downloading people just DL it all the time and watch it that way. That's what my X and all her friends did.

By saying that anime is not "any good to begin with," you're admitting to being biased against all anime without any consideration for things like genres, production companies, etc. That's like saying that all movies are crap just because you happened to see a few bad ones.
Your right that does sound biased. I guess I should add I watched, and loved, most anime up until my Freshmen year of high school when I started getting into music more, and movies as well. I saw anime as a downgraded version of American programing. There's exceptions to everything but for the most part I don't like it at all. If I don't like the majority of it then I say something like I did. So I mis-rep'd myself there. *Points to avy* That's from an anime.

Err... that's rather ignorant and stereotypical to blame Asians for the popularity of anime, which is supposedly such a bad thing. And I fail to see how the populations of Asian countries are relevant to this topic at all.
I'm not blaming anyone just stating it's popular in my area because of the high amount of Asian people. I'm naturally friends with alot of Asian people, and dated a few. I've only met one who doesn't like anime. Meaning if other peoples areas are like mine too then maybe that's why there was such a rise in anime popularity. Maybe stereotypical but it's the truth. And I know other races enjoy it as well. Hell I saw more white people at the convention then anything.

I doubt she made you watch every single anime series in existence, so maybe you should consider that you just saw a few series that you didn't like (or, possibly, that you were so biased against anime that you had subconsciously decided to hate each series before even seeing them). But whatever you saw certainly doesn't represent anime as a whole.
No your right I didn't see every series. I just saw alot, and alot of what was considered cream of the crop. If those are bad I can assume the whole genre isn't much better. Like I said exceptions sure but I was starting to see a pattern in anime. I give everything a chance atleast once. Even new anime series. I just end up hating most so now I only bother trying them if someone wants to show it to me.

Let's see I had to watch...Naurto, Bleach, DearS, Marmalade Boy*Ugh*, Inuyasha, Elfen Laid*Which was supposed to be one of the best*...that's not to mention the countless ones I saw with names I don't remember or we saw at the convention she dragged me to.


If you don't want to watch anime, that's your choice, but please avoid using baseless generalizations to support your decision.
Well I'm sorry about that, I was on the warpath there. I really didn't mean to offend anyone, I got a little over excited there.

[Krang]

You say I dislike anime, yet take ONE look at my avatar. Go on, take a look...

I don't dislike anime at all, present anime maybe, but not the genre completly, I hate what DEPENDING on it has done to American innovation.
Yes, you have an anime avatar. But that could just mean that you found the video that that is from funny. It says much less about your opinion of anime in general than a comment comparing it to cancer... :ohwell:

But if you say that you don't dislike it despite your earlier comments, then I stand corrected. I still don't agree that there was all that much innovation going on in American animation in the first place during the time period when anime became popular, though...

They show it at night as well, your right the flow of it is thinner but with downloading people just DL it all the time and watch it that way. That's what my X and all her friends did.
My point was that I don't think anime is pushing American cartoons off the air or anything.

Your right that does sound biased. I guess I should add I watched, and loved, most anime up until my Freshmen year of high school when I started getting into music more, and movies as well. I saw anime as a downgraded version of American programing. There's exceptions to everything but for the most part I don't like it at all. If I don't like the majority of it then I say something like I did. So I mis-rep'd myself there. *Points to avy* That's from an anime.

[...]

No your right I didn't see every series. I just saw alot, and alot of what was considered cream of the crop. If those are bad I can assume the whole genre isn't much better. Like I said exceptions sure but I was starting to see a pattern in anime. I give everything a chance atleast once. Even new anime series. I just end up hating most so now I only bother trying them if someone wants to show it to me.

Let's see I had to watch...Naurto, Bleach, DearS, Marmalade Boy*Ugh*, Inuyasha, Elfen Laid*Which was supposed to be one of the best*...that's not to mention the countless ones I saw with names I don't remember or we saw at the convention she dragged me to.
Although I don't think it's fair to lump anime all into one category since there are many different genres within it, you're welcome to dislike it if that's your choice. I just get a little annoyed when people apply generalizations to anime as a whole.

As an example, two of my favorite series, Yakitate!! Japan and Monster, are complete opposites. The first is a goofy comedy full of puns and parodies, and the second is a serious drama with realistic character designs and settings. As you can see, not all series are comparable, and things that apply to one often don't apply to another.

Besides, seeing what some people consider to be the best is far from being a reliable way to judge anime as a whole. Of the series that you listed, I've only seen the first two, and both of them have some problems (Bleach moreso than Naruto, in my opinion). The rest don't interest me. If I were to come up with a list of anime that I would consider the cream of the crop, it would be completely different, and the same goes for anyone else you ask. It's all a matter of opinion.

Well I'm sorry about that, I was on the warpath there. I really didn't mean to offend anyone, I got a little over excited there.
Don't worry, I'm not offended, I'm just trying to clear some things up.

[That Matt Guy]

I think most cartoons have been terrible for the past 10 years or so. It might just be because I'm getting old and think everything that's new isn't as good as the stuff I grew up with. Plus only like what, 2 channels show maybe 3 hours of cartoons on Saturday mornings now? There was so much more on in the 80s and early 90s.

[Drtooth]

Here's what I have to say. Why aren't cartoons good anymore? You need only look at cable. Networks devoted to running cartoons at most or all hours of the day are unfairly competition to networks that run cartoons a few hours a week.

I could go about blaming anime, sure... but we've got some pretty decent ones out of it, One Piece (though horribly slaughtered by 4Kids) Naruto, Shaman King (again, Slaughtered), and even Kirby. Sre, we had the endless trotting out of "OOH! It's Pokemon! Let's get some japanese Knockoff of that to make millions" Usually said infront of a huge stak of unsellable Duel Masters shizzy. But the truth is, these marketing execs making cartoons. Sure, they controlled cartoon production in the 80's, but we got some great ones out of that era. This time, everything either has to appeal to moronic 10 year old boys, or moronic 11 year old girls.

Look at CBS's pittiful All girls saturday morning line up. I used to love DIC animation. After all, they made Inspector Gadget, Heathcliff, All 3 major Mario cartoons, and Denis the Menace. But then they turn around with Sabrina reruns, Trollz (oh great, like we REALLy need a knockoff of Winx Club), and Horseland (which would only appeal to D.W. from Arthur.) YUCK!

NBC dropped out almost completly with it's "Qubo" Stuff... though I admit, I'm not a fan of religious based entertainment, but Veggietales is surprisingly watchable. ABC has ONLY Emperor's new School (which I enjoy) and Replacements (which has a good Fairly Oddparents sort of vibe).

WB... well, I think they made strides with Batman, and I LOVE the new Tom and Jerry show, but Legion just... well... it's a less entertaining version of Teen Titans. While I do admit making it pseudo anime style was pretty much a deviding line for fans, it did seem to have sharp writing, but more importantly interresting characters. Ball Boy and Brainiac 5 are a poor substitute for Beast Boy and Cyborg.

4Kids sucks outright. TMNT Fast Forward is okay, but that's just about the only show going for them. I don't hate Pinata as much as I used to. The horse and Bear are kinda funny tlo a very minimal extent... though the game must be more fun than this. But Yugioh reruns? Shows they don't really care.

With that said, I also wonder why people hold such high reguard for 1970's SatAM shows. I mean, I see the popularity level in the Sid and Morty Krofft things,m though I dislike them. B ut the only memorable cartoons from the era are Fat ALbert and (to a lesser extent) Hong Kong Phooey. Other than that, theatrical cartoon reruns were your best bet.

honestly, I would LOVE to see SatAM go back to the greatness of the mid to late 60's, where it meant something. I guess kids are spoiled that they can watch cartoons basically 24/7 (if they have cable anyway), they don't care about Sat AM's anymore.

[LogicDonny]

Here's what I have to say. Why aren't cartoons good anymore? You need only look at cable. Networks devoted to running cartoons at most or all hours of the day are unfairly competition to networks that run cartoons a few hours a week.

I could go about blaming anime, sure... but we've got some pretty decent ones out of it, One Piece (though horribly slaughtered by 4Kids) Naruto, Shaman King (again, Slaughtered), and even Kirby. Sre, we had the endless trotting out of "OOH! It's Pokemon! Let's get some japanese Knockoff of that to make millions" Usually said infront of a huge stak of unsellable Duel Masters shizzy. But the truth is, these marketing execs making cartoons. Sure, they controlled cartoon production in the 80's, but we got some great ones out of that era. This time, everything either has to appeal to moronic 10 year old boys, or moronic 11 year old girls.

Look at CBS's pittiful All girls saturday morning line up. I used to love DIC animation. After all, they made Inspector Gadget, Heathcliff, All 3 major Mario cartoons, and Denis the Menace. But then they turn around with Sabrina reruns, Trollz (oh great, like we REALLy need a knockoff of Winx Club), and Horseland (which would only appeal to D.W. from Arthur.) YUCK!

NBC dropped out almost completly with it's "Qubo" Stuff... though I admit, I'm not a fan of religious based entertainment, but Veggietales is surprisingly watchable. ABC has ONLY Emperor's new School (which I enjoy) and Replacements (which has a good Fairly Oddparents sort of vibe).

WB... well, I think they made strides with Batman, and I LOVE the new Tom and Jerry show, but Legion just... well... it's a less entertaining version of Teen Titans. While I do admit making it pseudo anime style was pretty much a deviding line for fans, it did seem to have sharp writing, but more importantly interresting characters. Ball Boy and Brainiac 5 are a poor substitute for Beast Boy and Cyborg.

4Kids sucks outright. TMNT Fast Forward is okay, but that's just about the only show going for them. I don't hate Pinata as much as I used to. The horse and Bear are kinda funny tlo a very minimal extent... though the game must be more fun than this. But Yugioh reruns? Shows they don't really care.

With that said, I also wonder why people hold such high reguard for 1970's SatAM shows. I mean, I see the popularity level in the Sid and Morty Krofft things,m though I dislike them. B ut the only memorable cartoons from the era are Fat ALbert and (to a lesser extent) Hong Kong Phooey. Other than that, theatrical cartoon reruns were your best bet.

honestly, I would LOVE to see SatAM go back to the greatness of the mid to late 60's, where it meant something. I guess kids are spoiled that they can watch cartoons basically 24/7 (if they have cable anyway), they don't care about Sat AM's anymore.

I don't think it witll ever happen.. They have to edit the anime to sh*t is becuase the anime in japan tend to be overboard with things that won't be apporiate on american tv. We censored so much it's not even funny.

I rather watch anime uncut and uncensored.

They haven't even shown Neon Genesis Evangelion on tv yet. Lol good thing too. the anime on dvd is fantastic.

[Drtooth]

I wasn't talking about anime, mind you... I mean, the time when Saturday morning used to MEAN something. now it's just... just there. And barely at that.

In the 60's and even well into the 90's Sat AM started at 8 and ended, maybe at 1 or 2. ABC used to have the weekend special and stuff like that. But now, they can't show anything past noon. Even 11-11:30 is a stretch.

[Ecto Jedi]

I wasn't talking about anime, mind you... I mean, the time when Saturday morning used to MEAN something. now it's just... just there. And barely at that.

In the 60's and even well into the 90's Sat AM started at 8 and ended, maybe at 1 or 2. ABC used to have the weekend special and stuff like that. But now, they can't show anything past noon. Even 11-11:30 is a stretch.

Do all the major networks still have Saturday morning lineups? If so, how are they different from what 4Kids is offering?

[Jon]

Do all the major networks still have Saturday morning lineups? If so, how are they different from what 4Kids is offering?


Well....

NBC has Saturday Slumber Party -- a girl-centered block -- with series like Sabrina the Animated Series, Trollz, and Horseland

ABC still has the Disney line-up -- with the likes of The Replacements, That's So Raven, and Emperor's New School

CBS has Qubo -- a kiddie block -- with the likes of Babar, VeggieTales, and Jacob Two-Two.

[Ecto Jedi]

Well....

NBC has Saturday Slumber Party -- a girl-centered block -- with series like Sabrina the Animated Series, Trollz, and Horseland

ABC still has the Disney line-up -- with the likes of The Replacements, That's So Raven, and Emperor's New School

CBS has Qubo -- a kiddie block -- with the likes of Babar, VeggieTales, and Jacob Two-Two.

Oh, I see, I see. Is the ABC lineup still called "One Saturday Morning"? I used to watch that quite a bit back in the day.

[Jon]

Oh, I see, I see. Is the ABC lineup still called "One Saturday Morning"? I used to watch that quite a bit back in the day.


Yeah. Though did mix-up a little, noting NBC and CBS wrongly (should be otherway-round with CBS having Slumber Party and NBC having Qubo).
--Dang, still do that at times, even after so long from the network change-over.

As for 1 Saturday Morning, don't think it's called that anymore (though, haven't watched it for some time).

[Drtooth]

Oh, I see, I see. Is the ABC lineup still called "One Saturday Morning"? I used to watch that quite a bit back in the day.

It's ABC kids, now.

And I will correct, NBC has the Qubo line up, and CBS has secret slumber party.

I will say that CBS has 2 original shows with mostly reruns of the others, but ABC and NBC have cable network reruns. And I think then it's just to fill the FCC requirement for children's programming, so they keep their license. 4Kids used to have original shows (and indeed they have a couple left) but it's pretty much reruns from that point forward.

Oddly enough, the best children's animated series I'd say is on tv at the moment is the PBS Cureous George series. Sharp writing, great voice acting, and perhaps the most beautiful TV animation I've seen since they cancelled Animaniacs. I didn't see the movie, but this series is great and getting great reviews from educators.

Other than that, syndication is dead, SatAm is on life support, and the cable companies are holding steady.