Taking cartoons away one broadcast at a time...

When I was growing up, cartoons were the staple on Saturday mornings. I don't even remember what I used to watch. Probably Garfield, Animaniacs, Duck Tales, and Tail Spin. Gem when I was lucky. All was fine and dandy until the local news decided to bring the morning broadcast in on Saturdays too. I remember thinking "Is there breaking news? When are the cartoons coming back on?" But alas, the Saturday morning cartoons were forever gone. Now mind you this was probably when I was still in elementary school.

About two weeks ago, I was watching tv and a commercial came on notifying the public that the local morning broadcast was "now on Saturdays!" This started at the beginning of the year. Where has Maine been? I thought everyone did that now. These news anchors had it good for too long. Now they have to get up early on Saturdays to tell little kids that the race for governor has about a billion candidates. What am I talking about - kids are watching Cartoon Network and Disney Channel. They're the ones who have it easy. I'm the one who had to suffer with no cable. I love you, Mom and Dad! Really, I do.

The other thing that the local news doesn't have is a traffic report. Can you believe it? Despite Portland being Maine's largest city, they still don't have a need for a traffic reporter. They have it on the radio stations in the morning, but it's pointless. There's never anything to report. When Good Morning America cuts away to the local broadcast, the weatherman takes his time and the anchors get that extra "feel good story" in before handing it back to Robin Roberts and George Stephanopolous. Not a car crash in sight. Incredible.