Shaturday Morning Cartoons

The Shaturday crew is back and in the studio with special guest Caitlin McGurk of the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum. This time, we take a look at Saturday morning preview specials from 1984, starring "Weird Al" Yankovic, Alfonso Ribeiro, Scrappy Doo, and an orangutan! Plus, George cooks up a Shaturday Shuper Chereal Quiz and we pay tribute to Cinnamon Toast Crunch. It's a laugh-busting season premiere!

It's Shaturday and we're watching one of our most requested series, 1983's "Mister T," with special guest Jen Lemasters, co-owner of Chicago's Bric-A-Brac Records and a bona fide Mr. T fanatic. Jen shows off her impressive T memorabilia collection in a game called "Genuine or Jibber Jabber," Nick wears glasses, George reveals a Mr. T memory that scarred him, Joe identifies what makes Mr. T so great, and Marty shows up dressed for the occasion. Plus, UFOs, gymnastics, and a robot Mr. T! This episode has it all.

Joe, Nick and Caitlin are in the office to watch the robotic (robonic?) versions of Moe, Larry and Curly in Hannah-Barbera's mercifully short Robonic Stooges (1977), featuring a title that confused the hell out of everyone.

This week, Joe, Nick, George and special guest Roy Miles ( / hoodland ) put on their magical shoes and their Hammer pants to watch 1991's MC Hammer-based cartoon, "Hammerman." Plus, Roy shows off his rare Hammerman merch collection, we delve into Joe's history as "the rap kid" at his small town Wisconsin school, George digs up a Hammer 1-900 number commercial, and Nick serves up a game called 2 Legit or Sh*t. Then, stick around after the credits as Roy points out a celebrity he spotted while watching the Saturday morning cartoon previews in our season 2 premiere episode!

It's October and that means it's time for spooky animation on Shaturday Morning Cartoons. First up, 1993's Tales From the Cryptkeeper! Joining Joe, Nick and George this week is Laura Wimbels, the co-host of the Big Bad B-Movie Show, who tells horrible tales of musty libraries and eBay auctions that got away. George serves up a game called "Guess the Twist," Nick channels the Cryptkeeper, and Joe fleshes out his Three Stooges dream with the help of Rhys from Australia.

Scooby-Doo was a massive hit when it aired in 1969. And you know what happens when there's a massive hit...RIP-OFFs! Joe, Nick, George and Lunchmeat's Josh delve into the world of Scooby-Doo rip-offs and find out what it's like to be a meddling kid.

It's Halloween month here at Shaturday HQ and this week we cue up the 1970 cult classic, "Groovie Goolies," featuring a castle full of monsters who play in a band and spout bad puns. The fellas are joined by long-time colleague and pal, Keith "Sabrina" Garcia of the Sie Film Center in Denver (http://denverfilm.org). Plus, the whole crew plays a round of the "Scary Band Name Game."

It's Halloween season so the Shaturday gang decided to pop in the most genuinely scary Halloween primetime animated program intended for kids, "Garfield's Halloween Adventure." Plus Caitlin shows off rare Garfield-related photos and George hosts his most ambitious game show to date.

In this spooky episode, Nick, Joe, and George welcome Skip Elsheimer from A.V. Geeks to show off monster cereal commercials featuring Count Chocula, Frankenberry, Boo Berry and friends! Plus, a PSA about how sugary cereals manipulate kids, and the final installment of George's game show, Mask Me Another. Offer void in Wisconsin.

All aboard the USA Cartoon Express! The Shaturday crew welcomes Nick's sister, Jessica Rausch, to re-live their "latchkey kid" days watching the long-running cable animation block after school. The featured presentation is 1981's Trollkins: a truly forgettable combination of The Smurfs and the Dukes of Hazzard. Plus, George digs up commercials featuring famous actors before they were famous, Joe asks Jessica what annoys Nick, and the whole gang plays a round of the USA Cartoon Express game, Mainstay or Stowaway!

If you're like Joe, Nick, George and Caitlin, you've spent every waking moment toiling over what Beetle Bailey’s voice sounds like. Well today you’ll get your answer with this Saturday morning deep cut featuring all the hit comic strip characters from the 1972 funny pages.

This week, the Shaturday crew gets warm and fuzzy and cues up a Thanksgiving episode of The Care Bears Family from 1986. Grams Bear's got a new attitude, Tenderheart Bear sings a melancholy dirge, George relates it all to the Russian proletariat. Plus, Joe's pajamas are too small and Caitlin's nightgown is huge! Stick around for the hit game show, "Declare the Bear," and discover some Care Bears you never knew existed.

This week, the Shaturday crew welcomes Joe and Nick's childhood friend/voracious Heathcliff reader, Tom Jacobson, to watch a 1984 episode of Heathcliff & The Catillac Cats. Plus, Joe tells the legend of "The Get Out Tape," we watch Cliff Richard's stage adaptation of "Heathcliffe," and George cues up some commercials featuring orange cats. You should realize he can win it with you!

It's Shaturday and we've got a hankerin' for a hunk of PSAs! Nick is serving up a whole slew of educational shorts that aired during cartoons in the 70s, 80s and 90s, covering everything from reading to dental health to medical uses for South American ants. We've got celebrities ranging from Richard Moll to Scatman Crothers, and from Captain Lou Albano to Cap'n O.G. Readmore! Plus, Joe shows off some Super Globetrotters fan art, Caitlin shows off an indecent Ziggy shirt on Rambo, and George explains that PSAs teach us nothing. Remember, kids: If you do drugs, you'll go to hell before you die!

The Shaturday crew curls up with a piping cold bowl of cereal and watches the rarely revered Inspector Gadget Christmas Special. Plus George quizzes the gang with cyborg-based trivia and Caitlin brags about owning a beeper.

This week, the Shaturday crew is joined by art director and paleo artist Rebecca Dart, who helps separate dino-fact from dino-fiction in a Christmas episode of "Dinosaucers." Plus, commercials for recalled toys and a game based on those Shopasaurus t-shirts from the 80s. Merry Dinosaur Day to all!

You’ll probably want to postpone opening gifts and spend Christmas morning with your four favorite Shaturday Palz because they’re going to watch the non-shatty, award-winner, “Ziggy’s Gift.” Plus there are so many Christmas miracles happening in this episode it’ll make your damn head spin.

They’re b…ACK!!! The Shaturday Palz return to wish you and your romantic partner(s) a happy Valentine’s Day with another non-shatty holiday special, “Cathy’s Valentine.” If you’ve ever dieted, dated, worked, or been in a family, you’ll point at the screen and say, “Yep.” Plus some truly inexplicable but totally real valentines. Your diet starts tomorrow!

Without giving too much away, Poochie is a cute dog who writes an advice column in her owner's newspaper and Dic made one episode for this character and promptly called it quits. Buckle up for a real shatty one!

Just when the Earth needs the most defending, the Shaturday Gang watches “Defenders of the Earth”. Can a comic strip supergroup and a kid named Rick stop an invasion by evil ice robots? Probably! Plus: fun mugs, cool cups, and a shocking game of Flash, Flesh, or Flush. It’s the most shenshational Shaturday you’ve ever sheen!

Veteran voice actor Doug Stone - Matt Trakker of “M.A.S.K.” - joins the Shaturday Gang to set the record straight about IMDB’s undercounts, Frank Welker’s limo, and Metal Gear Solid’s Psycho Mantis. See transforming vehicles, superpowered helmets, and nonstop exposition, all at a cartoon Mardi Gras. Then explore the limits of M.A.S.K. merchandising… if there are any. You’ll positively S.H.A.T. yourself!

The Shaturday crew celebrates St. Patrick's Day with The Real Ghostbusters - not a fake Ghostbuster in the bunch! We trace the confusing animated history of Ghostbusters for TV, cue up some ghostly commercials, and play the Frank Welker-based game show, "Slimer, Nibbler or Glomer?," all in time for the mayor's St. Patrick's Day Eve dinner,

Acclaimed voice actor Katie Leigh joins the Shaturday gang to watch “Richie Rich” as late stage capitalism’s pride and joy battles his evil(?) twin. But first, we talk about Katie’s storied career - "Dungeons & Dragons", "Muppet Babies", "My Little Pony" - and so much more: Hear Katie reveal where voice actors hang out! Listen to Nick practice his ‘kooky professor’ character! Glare as Joe badmouths the Peanuts gang! Giggle while George struggles to operate Zoom! It’s another shocking peek behind the cartoon curtain.

Listen up, Dweebs. It's time for a t-shirt based cartoon from 1989 about a rude dog named Rude Dog. Join Rude Joe and the Dweebs (Caitlin McGurk, George and Nick) as they learn about the differences between cats and dogs and play a game called "How Rude!" Plus, George cues up some commercials from the fall of 1989, including a Keebler elf playing a potato peeler as a guitar!

The Shaturday gang wakes up with a vitamin-fortified bowl of senseless violence for the series finale of 1988’s animated “Robocop” series. Is it a warning of a cybernetic dystopia, a blistering critique of privatization, or a half-hour commercial for new action figures? Yes! Then thrill to other toys and cartoons that were unconscionably repurposed from R-rated movies. Dead or alive, you’re watching with us!

Hold on to your tentacles! The Shaturday kids get their psyches snapped by the Lovecraftian nightmare that is the syndicated 1986 series, “Inhumanoids”. Then, the gang investigates obscure monster toys pulled from previously unexplored merchandising dimensions. If you’re a fan of zombies, mech suits, colossal undead subterranean creatures, or quiche, this freaky toon of cosmic doom is just for you. Check the fluid level in your brain, chowderhead!

Professional voice actor and semi-professional Full House enthusiast Jason Griffith joins the Shaturday crew to watch the Alvin and the Chipmunks Easter special on VHS, featuring an original Easter song, a tense courtroom scene, and...the N-word? Plus, we name the chipmunk we most identify with, play a game called "Munk or Bunk," cue up some commercials featuring performing animals, and slow down the chipmunks into hardcore sludge rock.

It's Shaturday morning and Joe, Nick, George and Caitlin McGurk from the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library are "raisin hell" with 1988's 2-D animated The California Raisin Show. We dive deep into the inexplicable craze that began with a TV commercial for raisins, led a series of collectible figurines from Hardee's, and ended with, among other things, California Raisin ear muffs. Plus, more Claymation commercials by Will Vinton, a slideshow of the weirdest raisin merch ever produced, and a stunning revelation about Caitlin's favorite candy bar!

Welcome to Lazer Tag Academy, recruits! In no time, you'll be lazering your way through time with your friends even though you're supposed to paint an entire house!

This Shaturday morning, Joe, Nick, George and music video director/artist/puppetteer Roy Miles cue up the 1990 Kid 'N Play cartoon, featuring a dog with a mohawk, a distracting soundtrack, and numerous animation mistakes! Plus, commercials featuring black action figures and a game called Place That Apostrophe.

Writer/performer Charlie Sanders joins the Shaturday Gang to watch Power Masters, our most obscure ‘toon yet. Watch as a model train company tries to cash in on the late 80s toy craze with calamitous results. Cringe as we fail to make sense of a three-episode series that doesn’t even have an imdb page. Meet Death Gold, Professor Doc, and huge watermarks. Plus: not one but two quizzes, as well as commercials for other forgotten toys. It’s the most fun you won’t remember!

In what is easily the most ambitious Shaturday of all time, the Shaturday gang creates their own cartoon with the help of comic book writer/illustrator, Cookie Madison and professional voice over actor, Jason Griffith and guest starring an illustrated Timothee Chalumet. Fwam!