Saturday has always been "that day". It just feels different than any other day of the week and not simply because it's the weekend or that most people are off from work/school, but it just has that certain feel to it. The feeling of relaxation and the general vibe of a fun day. I suspect this has a lot to do with how most Saturday mornings started for the majority of children growing up in America.
I know how it started for me: I would wake up early (the only day of the week I actually wanted to wake up early), fix myself a bowl of cereal (unless my mom was already up making breakfast) and sit on the living room floor and watch cartoon after cartoon until noon - when either Godzilla or some Kung Fu flick would come on.
Alas, that era has come to an end and Saturday mornings are no longer what they used to be. Flip around the channels nowadays and you're bound to see infomercials for products ranging from exercise equipment to money management software. A few cartoons are sprinkled throughout the morning, but not enough to warrant any serious excitement. To anyone who's not familiar with the old program schedule this may seem insignificant, but Saturday morning cartoons were such a big part of childhood and have created such lasting vivid memories that recently a couple of co-workers and I sat around reminiscing about those days and trying hard to name every cartoon that we'd ever seen. Everyone had a personal anecdote to tell relating to a particular episode or line of dialogue from their favorite 'toon. There were smiles all around... until everyone realized the same thing: most of our children will never be able to share those same experiences. Not because those same cartoons aren't on anymore (they are), but because Saturday morning cartoons were like an event. Sure, there were cartoons on television every other day of the week (except Sunday), but Saturday mornings were reserved for the "special" cartoons. Either the brand new shows or the hour-long episodes or even the 'toons that came on way too early during the week to catch. We only had seven channels but sometimes there were so many good cartoons on at the same time, that I often had to make what seemed like a life or death decision between two favorites. If for some reason I missed an episode, I knew it could be weeks before it was shown again.
Today's kids will never know the same feeling. Between cable/satellite TV, the internet and DVD's it's now possible to see every episode of every cartoon ever made, so in terms of 'toon watching, Saturday morning is no different from Wednesday afternoon, which is really every kid's dream. Today's kids have got it made and will probably never understand all the fuss about Saturday mornings, but regardless, Saturday is still the best day of the week.
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