A Reason To Wake Up

"It's Saturday Morning, And who's gonna play with me? Six in the morning, baby I got a long, long day ahead of me" The Eels from "Saturday Morning"

There was a bit of a flare up during the evening meal that led to my being tethered down when the nurse came in with my dose of tranquility. I had to requests. One that she itch my nose, the other to turn on Fox News so I could get my fix of hysterical laughter. She wouldn't touch me and turned on some cartoon program about a third world girl and her mentally challenged dog. Hell would've felt like a vacation in paradise.

When I was a wee lad, freshly out of diapers, off the teet, and starting to form my own opinions, I watched cartoons at an addiction level. There was no 12 step program for this affliction, I had to deal with it mano-e-mano. But I couldn't quit. It was too marvelous of a time to be a connoisseur of the celluloid. The animated treats were complimented by a morning bowl of ultra sweet dry cereal that magically turned the milk chocolate by the time the overly processed flakes were consumed. Yet, that cereal would not have been as sweet without the cartoons.

There was Josie rocking with her Pussycats, Penelope Pitstop was dealing with her Perils, a dog became a Superhero (UnderDog was there to save the day) and a dog that knew Kung Foo (Hong Kong Phooey was the one way before Neo). And those weren't even my favorites. There was teams. Tom and Jerry, Rocky and Bullwinkle, Heckle and Jeckle, Beany and Cecil, and Dastardly and Mutley. There was Tom Slick, SuperChicken, Dudley DoRight, Casper the Ghost and Popeye the Sailor. Classics like Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Woody Woodpecker and Felix the Cat. I loved them all.

I loved Magilla Gorilla, Grape Ape, the Laff-o-lympics, George of the Jungle, Tennessee Tuxedo, Chilly Willy, The Pink Panther, the Superfriends, the Flintstones, the Jetsons and of course Scooby Doo.

In between the main events we were educated by Time for Timer and the legendary School House Rock. Who can forget The Preamble, Elbow Room, Mother Necessity, The Three Ring Government, I'm Just a Bill, A Noun is a Person, Place of Thing, Lolly Lolly get your Adverbs Here, Unpack Your Adjectives, Conjunction Junction, 3 is the Magic Number, My Hero Zer0 (which was so sad), Ready or Not Here I Come, Telegraph Line and my personal favorite Interplanetary Janet. And those are just the one's I remember.

Right after cartoons, we were spoiled by the drug addled minds of the grown up shows. The live action fare. The World of Sid and Marty Kroft. Oh my God, if you tried to air these shows now you'd be put on a child endangerment watch. Sigmund the Sea Monster, HR Puffinstuff, The Lost Saucer, Electro Woman and Dyno Girl, Dr. "fucking" Shrinker, Wonder Bug the talking dune buggy, Shazam, the Bugallo's, Lidsville and the grand champion of them all The Land Of The Lost. It's amazing we all don't sit around in drug fueled comas.

The point is I watched a lot of TV.

What were your favorites? Did I miss some, I know I did?

Dixie Cup of Love : The Scooby Gang!