This was the Saturday morning cartoon lineup in 1980 — how many do you remember?
Images: ABC, NBC, CBS / Unce Upon a Geek
Pour yourself a big bowl of Donutz or Waffelos cereal, because it's 1980 and we're watching cartoons. The reign of Hanna-Barbera was still in full swing, though the Filmation studio gave them a run for their money.
The Saturday morning cartoon schedule included old (as in characters from the 1940s) favorites and some brand new faces. There were even some sitcom spin-offs.
Let's take a time warp back four decades and revisit the lineup. Which show is your favorite?
8AM
The New Adventures of Mighty Mouse and Heckle & Jeckle (CBS)
Super Friends (ABC)
The Godzilla/Dynomutt Hour (NBC)
Chatty magpies Heckle and Jeckle dated back to the end of World War II, but any Gen-Xer remembers watching them. Godzilla palled about with little Godzooky — and dragged along a lot of old reruns, including The Funky Phantom shorts that were nearly a decade old. You think we are oversaturated with superheroes today? They were nearly a prevalent back in 1980. Loads of DC heroes were packed into Super Friends, and there are more to be found below.
8:30AM
Fangface (ABC)
The Tom and Jerry Comedy Show (CBS)
The Godzilla/Dynomutt Hour (NBC)
Fangface was a good deal like Scooby-Doo, only imagine if Shaggy turned into a dog. In some ways it was a precursor to Teen Wolf. Elsewhere, old favorites Tom and Jerry found themselves in new creative hands. Once a series of Hanna-Barbera serials, the cat and mouse were now being produced by competitor Filmation, who looked to revive their slapstick roots.
9AM
The Flintstone Comedy Show (NBC)
The Fonz and the Happy Days Gang (ABC)
The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Show (CBS)
The Flintstones returned for all-new family adventures in 1980! There were new characters such as The Frankenstones and Cavemouse. Shmoo came along for the ride, too. Meanwhile, Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm teamed with Dino to solve mysteries in a very Fred and Daphne way. Aaaaayyyyy! The Fonz brought his pals Richie and Ralph along on new animated adventures. Henry Winkler, Ron Howard and Donny Most all voiced their original characters — but this was a far from hanging out at Arnold's. The teens traveled through time with girl from the future named Cupcake. And there was dog named Mr. Cool.
9:30, 10AM
The Richie Rich/Scooby-Doo Show (ABC)
The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Show (CBS)
The Flintstone Comedy Show (NBC)
There were plenty of familiar favorites bundled into these hourlong ensembles.
10:30AM
Scooby-Doo Classics (ABC)
The All New Popeye Hour (CBS)
Daffy Duck (NBC)
Sitcom actor Allan Melvin was perhaps best known as Sam the Butcher on The Brady Bunch, as well as work on Gomer Pyle and Andy Griffith. You might not think of him as a muscle-bound bully, but he indeed voiced Bluto in The All New Popeye Hour. Jo Anne Worley and Hal Smith also voiced characters on the sailor show.
11AM
Thundarr the Barbarian (ABC)
The All New Popeye Hour (CBS)
Batman and the Super 7 (NBC)
Thundarr the Barbarian felt like the first truly "Eighties" cartoon of the 1980s. With its muscular characters and magic, it set the mold for hits-to-come like He-Man and ThunderCats. Comic book legends Jack Kirby and Alex Toth worked on the preproduction art of the series, which gave it artistic credibility.
11:30AM
Drak Pack (CBS)
The Heathcliff and Dingbat Show (ABC)
Batman and the Super 7 (NBC)
Drak Jr., Frankie and Howler were descendants of classic Universal horro monsters. Together, they battled the wicked O.G.R.E. (The Organization for Generally Rotten Enterprises). The Drak Pack lasted just this single season in 1980. But we bet Hollywood tries to reboot this Hanna-Barbera toon sooner than later.
12PM
Plastic Man and Baby Plas (ABC)
Fat Albert (CBS)
Jonny Quest (NBC)
More DC Comics heroes! And with offspring, at that. Fat Albert felt like a holdover from the 1970s at this point, while Jonny Quest might have made Boomers feel nostalgic.
12:30PM
The Tarzan/Lone Ranger Adventure Hour (CBS)
The Jetsons (NBC)
Tarzan and the Lone Ranger had been entertaining kids for generations. The Jetsons, too, dated back nearly three decades at this point. It just goes to show you, classics never get old.
1PM
American Bandstand (ABC)
Dick Clark had been hosting this teen music show in some form for 30 years, as it began on local Philadelphia television in 1950. In 1980, he welcomed hot singers including John Cougar Mellencamp, Pat Benatar and Kim Carnes, as well as hip British bands like the Jam and Public Image Ltd.
Image: The Everett Collection
1:30PM
30 Minutes (CBS)
As the title suggests, this CBS news docuseries was essentially 60 Minutes for people half the age/size. Yes, they produced news for children in 1980. The journalists took viewers behind the scenes of MAD Magazine, investigated school safety and interviewed Shaun Cassidy. They also tackled juvenile imprisonment, addiction, vandalism, etc.