This is "I Saw It Advertised One Day," a feature where I take a look at old comic book advertisements that interested me for whatever reason.

Today, we're going to take a look at about as complete of a collection of 1980s Saturday Morning Cartoons comic book ads as we can (do note that by the late 1980s, the networks mostly stopped doing comic book ads for their cartoons. I found some non-comic book ads just for the sake of completion, and even then we're one or two ads shy of having every year. We come about as far as humanly possible, though!

Anyhow, two things we need to establish before I start listing the ads. One, for many years, the big three networks (ABC, CBS and NBC) would air brand-new children's programming on Saturday mornings. They haven't done this for years, so there are some of you who might not even be familiar with the concept. Two, for pretty much just as long as they would do this, they would advertise for their new lineups in the Fall of the year with a big ad in various comic books, mostly Marvel and DC, but really any comic book that had any sort of market share.

So, over the next three pages, we're going to take a look at the evolution of Saturday Morning cartoons throughout the 1980s.

1980

As the decade began, ABC was known for two major things in their Saturday morning cartoons. One, they continued to have the Super Friends, who were sort of like "old faithful" for them by this point in time. Secondly, this year both saw the debut of Thundarr the Barbarian (basically a Kamandi riff) and the first example of ABC just turning their popular prime time series into cartoon shows with the debut of Fonz and the Happy Days Gang (which some people think was originally meant to be a Doctor Who cartoon series).

CBS was mostly rocking the Looney Tunes action in 1980. Note, though, that they tried to adapt their smash hit news magazine show, 60 Minutes, to a kid-oriented version...

NBC had some Looney Tunes, as well, in Daffy Duck, but they were mostly about reliable old Hanna-Barbera programs in Flintstones and the Jetsons...

1981

ABC stayed mostly the same, which is likely why they didn't seem to spring for a color ad (Laverne and Shirley got their own cartoon, as well, which isn't noted in the ad)...

CBS also mostly stayed the same, but it is an interesting statement about the era that 1980 was still a time when you could say, "Hey, kids, want to watch Tarzan and Zorro cartoons?" and still get a, "Sure, I guess, if we're already on CBS from watching Looney Tunes!"

The two big additions for NBC was the Smurfs and Spider-Man and his Amazing Friends, which would both stick around for a number of years (Spidey didn't have a bunch of new episodes produced, but reruns would remain popular).

1982

ABC's big move in 1982 was to cash in on the burgeoning video game crazy by making a Pac-Man cartoon (plus, now Mork and Mindy have joined Laverne, Shirley and the Fonz as all sharing a cartoon hour)...

CBS still mostly relied on their tried and true Looney Tunes cartoons, but they also tried the "How could this NOT work?" idea of doing a Gilligan's Island-themed science fiction series. The world was not yet ready for you, Gilligan's Planet...

Now NBC was the one mostly standing pat, choosing to go with a black and white ad, as they only added the Hulk to their lineup...

Plus, of course, Gary Coleman's cartoon series about him as an angel. They get that Diff'rent Strokes had been on the air for three years at this point, right? "I'm telling you, this Gary Coleman guy is going to be huge! How do I know this? His hit sitcom is going into Season 4! So just trust my gut instincts!"

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1983

Cashing in on early 1980s fads worked with Pac-Man, so ABC doubled down with Rubik's Cube, as well!

Plus, it's mother-effin' Menudo, people! This is not a drill!!!

CBS decided to try to get in on the video game market, as well, with Q*Bert, Donkey Kong and more! Plus, they decided to cash in on the red-hot early 1980s demand for Confederate Flag-themed racing cars with a cartoon based on the Dukes of Hazzard...

It's interesting that NBC continued to rock Flinstones cartoons, but they were way overshadowed by their new additions, like Mister freakin' T and Alvin and the Chipmunks, both ended up sticking around for a while (this series of Alvin and the Chipmunks was disturbingly long lasting)...

1984

ABC abruptly pulled out of comic book ads around this time, so I had to get this ad from a TV Guide. Will ABC's big bet on Wolfman Jack for their children's programming pay off?

There were few things that kids loved more in 1984 that Richard Pryor, so CBS cashed in on that with a Richard Pryor cartoon series and even got the very kid-friendly comedic actor to do the ad for the new season, which saw the debut of the soon-to-be-long-running Muppet Babies!

NBC was starting to rock out some elaborate as heck Saturday Morning cartoon ads, starting with this year's ad, which saw a Peacock take a pair of kids on a crazy journey through NBC's lineup (which mostly remained the same)...

1985

ABC tried to trick people into thinking that they gave a crap about the health of America's youth with some Mary Lou Retton programming, along with the big coup of debuting the new Star Wars show, Droids (it bombed, but no one knew that at the time)!

Hulk Hogan shows up on CBS in 1985...

I don't recall Muppet Babies being re-named Muppet Babies and Monsters. What's up with that?

NBC remained consistent once more, as they must have been doing real well at the time. They add the Gummi Bears to the mix, as well, plus Punky Brewster, because why not? Are you going to stop them? I didn't think so.

1986

ABC's ads are getting so rough by 1986 that it's basically just a print out of their shows without any copy...

CBS turns Saturday Mornings over to Pee-Wee Herman, which works out well for them for a number of years...

NBC keeps chugging along with mostly the same programming, although Michael J. Fox is so hot right now that they make sure to spotlight him for NBC's insipid "One to Grow On" bits. Can you believe they were specifically advertising their PSAs in their yearly ads? "Hey kids, you're in for a treat! Michael J. Fox is going to tell you not to be a little jerk five times throughout the day!"

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1987

I've officially lost ABC at this point.

CBS is holding steady with their programming, including a second season of Teen Wolf, which would do pretty well for them....

NBC debuts Alf, who becomes a huge part of their Saturday mornings. Plus, Alvin runs into a homeless man that he thinks is Don Johnson...

1988

Outside of Pee-Wee and the Muppet Babies, CBS revamps their whole lineup, including a new Superman series that was really good but only lasted a year...

NBC could only be bothered to advertise an ill-conceived attempt to turn Martin Short's Ed Grimley into a cartoon star...

1989

Luckily, for the final year, all three networks are here with ads (although ABC is from TV Guide again and CBS is also a TV Guide ad)!

ABC knows that kids were all about Bronson Pinchot in 1989, so they had him introduce their new Saturday Morning lineup, which involved stealing the Gummi Bears from their arch-rivals, NBC...

CBS once more dropped everything non-Pee-Wee and Muppet Babies and tried again...

Finally, the last one of the classic 1980s comic book ads came out, with the Nintendo-themed Captain N sharing space with John Candy, Karate Kid and Alvin and the Chipmunks and the Smurfs just refusing to die...

The Smurfs had been on NBC for almost the entire decade! Amazing.

That was fun. Maybe I'll do the 1970s in the future!

Be sure to drop me a line at brianc@cbr.com if you have ideas for future installments of "I Saw It Advertised One Day"!!