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Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Do You Remember? USA Cartoon Express

I, like many other children of the 80's, loved watching cartoons after school and on Saturday mornings. One of my favorite channels to catch Saturday morning cartoons was the USA Network with The Cartoon Express.
The initial lineup was comprised mostly from the Hanna-Barbera library. Well-known properties like Scooby-Doo, Huckleberry Hound, Yogi Bear, Space Ghost, The Smurfs, and Jonny Quest, sharing space with lesser-known properties like Wheelie and the Chopper Bunch, Inch High, Private Eye, Dynomutt, Dog Wonder, and countless others, as well as numerous spinoffs of The Flintstones such as The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show. By the end of the 1980s, a more diverse lineup of cartoons aired on the Cartoon Express, including G.I. Joe, Transformers, The Real Ghostbusters, Jem, Robotech, and Alvin and the Chipmunks. The narrator was Keith Olbermann, who around that time was also doing sports on New York's old WBBR radio. In 1990, Turner Broadcasting purchased Hanna-Barbera, and launched Cartoon Network, two years later, thus taking a chunk of Cartoon Express programming with it. The only Hanna-Barbera shows on the Cartoon Express were The Smurfs which didn't leave the Express until 1994, and Scooby Doo, which didn't leave the Express until 1995. In 1994, Cartoon Express switched tracks, started airing on the morning, introduced numerous original series: Itsy Bitsy Spider, and Problem Child (based on the film franchise), didn't catch on with viewers. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles became the new marquee series on the block. USA later briefly acquired the broadcast rights to Terrytoons shorts like Deputy Dawg and Mighty Mouse, and DC Comics related cartoons such as Superfriends. In 1996, USA Network revamped the final two hours of Cartoon Express as USA Action Extreme Team with the launch of shows based on the Street Fighter II, and Mortal Kombat video game franchises and Savage Dragon comic book franchise. After the original series and TMNT left the air, the block was turned into a morning-only all-action block, with programs like Mighty Max, Sailor Moon, Street Sharks, and Gargoyles as the primary shows. In 1998, the Cartoon Express pulled into its last stop, when USA Networks had ended animation blocks on most of its outlets, including the Cartoon Quest and also Syfy's The Animation Station, ending franchises that had been a staple of the network for 14 years. Below is the list of cartoons that ran on The Cartoon Express:

Hanna-Barbera


The Biskitts

Buford and the Galloping Ghost

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kids

Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels

Challenge of the GoBots

Clue Club

Devlin

Dynomutt, Dog Wonder

The Flintstones

The Flintstone Comedy Hour

Goober and the Ghost Chasers

The Great Grape Ape Show

Help!... It's the Hair Bear Bunch!

Hong Kong Phooey

Huckleberry Hound and Friends

Inch High, Private Eye

Jabberjaw

Jana of the Jungle

Laff-A-Lympics

Magilla Gorilla/Quick Draw McGraw/Wally Gator/Loopy De Loop

The New Fred and Barney Show

Pac-Man

Paw Paws

The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show

The Roman Holidays

Scooby-Doo and its various spin-offs

Shirt Tales

The Skatebirds

The Smurfs

Snorks

Space Ghost and Dino Boy (minus the Dino Boy segments)

Space Stars (minus the Astro and the Space Mutts segments)

Speed Buggy

Valley of the Dinosaurs

Wheelie and the Chopper Bunch

Yogi's Gang

Yogi's Space Race

Young Samson & Goliath

Other series

Hudson the Polar Bear, the conductor and unofficial host of USA Cartoon Express.

Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog

The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3

Battle of the Planets

Cadillacs and Dinosaurs

The Chipmunks Go to the Movies

C.O.P.S.

Dennis the Menace

Denver the Last Dinosaur

Dinosaucers

Dragon's Lair

Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids

G.I. Joe

He-Man and the Masters of the Universe

Hulk Hogan's Rock 'n' Wrestling

Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors

Jem

Mister T

The Real Ghostbusters

She-Ra: Princess of Power

Sonic the Hedgehog

The Superman Batman Adventures (featuring various Filmation-produced shorts, plus various SuperFriends shorts)

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Turbo Teen

Voltron

The Woody Woodpecker Show

USA Cartoon Express original series

The Itsy Bitsy Spider

Problem Child

Shorts

In a Minute

Monster Bash

USA Network Kids Club

3 comments:

  1. I remember just about all those cartoons. I remember sitting in my parents bed room sitting on there bed eating cereal and watching all those great shows back then. Today's youth really doesn't get what we got. The stuff they give to todays kids is nothing like what it used to be, and I truly missed that.

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  2. I think it is time to bring all of that back <3 :)

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  3. I will never will forget these great cartoons I grew up watching. Waking up early so I never miss an episode. Sad they don't make good cartoons anymore. I would love to get my hands on all these cartoons if I could like a mega CD collection. I just hate to see these go away and never be seen again.

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