What Will Our Children Watch?

There's no denying that television before the turning of the century was great for kids. There was a massive array of shows for all age groups to choose from. Some were educational and others packed with entertainment. No matter what time a child got out of bed in the morning or finished his homework at night, there was something great to watch on television.

Saturday mornings was a popular event for children each week. The shows were always exciting and what better way to keep kids from sleeping the day away than putting their favorite programs on at the break of dawn. I know I was always up and watching!

During my childhood show-watching days of the 80's and 90's, there were endless programs to watch, on all kinds of channels. Saturday morning cartoons with He-man and Smurfs. The child-centered Nickelodeon offered shows all day long. Whether you were a young kid enjoying playtime with Rugrats or a preteen learning to deal with life and school with Doug, there was always something to watch. The shows were appropriate and appealing for all ages. All That even offered the live sketch comedy adults loved in Saturday Night Live and Mad TV, but without the vulgar language and themes.

Many of these programs have made it to the big screen so that kids of today can enjoy what we treasured so much back then. Series like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Transformers, and Ghostbusters were classics for children of my generation and now they're even more enjoyable as big Hollywood movies. Comic heroes, like Superman, Batman, and the X-men, had their own cartoons back then and have had multiple movies to follow.

Some shows have played for decades, because they are so loved by their viewers. Programs such as Flintstones, Winnie the Pooh, and Scooby-Doo are family classics that are still a top choice today. Other long running shows also offer education. Looney Tunes is not only very much fun to watch, it exposes children to classic literature and music. Schoolhouse Rock! did a phenomenal job mixing fun music and teaching of each and every school subject.