"On with the show. This is it!"

When I was a kid I loved Underdog. I recall jumping down the stairs emulating the canine superhero. Or maybe it was Batman. Whatever. I have always loved cartoons. Not as some serious art form mind you, but simply as an escape from reality. Pure mindlessness. Innocuous mindlessness. Anyway, if asked for my favorite cartoon, I'd have to say Loony Toons. Now I know that the Toons represent more than one cartoon but I'm playing a loophole here Dear Reader. Memories of afternoons after school watching Batman, Gilligan's Island and Loony Toons have fuzzy golden auras about them. Batman always left me hanging, forcing me to wait and to tune in the next day to the same bat channel at the same bat time. Unless it was Friday. Then I was screwed. The castaways were never going to get off the island, until years after the series ended and exploitive Rescued from Gilligan's Island made for TV movies were aired. But Loony Toons were always reliable. Six or eight or how ever many minutes they run, and they were done. Bite-size morsels of kiddie culture between which snacks could be retrieved from the kitchen. Mom-permitting. And Saturday mornings! Hoo-boy! Hours of cartoons. Hours and hours of cartoons. Well, only maybe four hours. Hey, I was a kid. At some point, I can't remember the year, but I do remember the benchmark, cartoons began to decline. Beginning with Hong Kong Phooey. Don't get me wrong. I did watch Hong Kong Phooey. It was just that cartoons were beginning to be just a bit unbelieveable. Maybe I was growing up. I don't know. The slope got steeper, and more slippery, degenerating through Speed Racer, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Power Rangers. I feel like my son has been somehow cheated. We did find some common animated ground with Ren and Stimpy, Beavis and Butthead and South Park, but it's not the same as "Baseball Bugs." Today, I am left speechless by the likes of Super Robot Monkey Team Hyper Force Go. Don't believe me? Click and see for yourself. We have watched it a couple times. Not for entertainment per se, but as we might view a freak show. Oh well. I still have my memories of the 90-minute long Bugs Bunny-Road Runner Show, with all of the Loony Toons characters parading across the stage doing the opening number. And a bowl of cereal.