Rating: 
Summary: Great Book, With One Glaring Muistake/Omission
Review: "Saturday Morning Fever" is a great book for those Gen-Xers who fondly remember the cartoons and live-shows from Saturday morning that sub-conciously defined their generation. The authors hit-the-nail on the head numerous times, which makes most of the book a fun and head-nodding "yeah" experience.The one mistake/omission the authors have made though, is their treatment of Art Clokey's "Davy And Goliath" and their complete omission of "Gumby". The author's must have never really watched "Davy And Goliath" because if they had, they would have found in it, every element that they loved from all of the other "Saturday Morning" TV shows. Yes, "Davey And Goliath" was a bit "preachy" at times, but at least its messages were wrapped within the context of the story, and not just tacked on at the end (i.e. Aquaman pontificating on "Bicycle Safety" from the "Superfriends"). If you could get by the preachy-ness, "Davy And Goliath" could be as campy and outrageously funny as any other show from Saturday Morning. The show contained the greatest "dis" of all time: Davey's Father once said to Davy "Davy, I'm not mad at you, I'm mad at myself for trusting you". Read it again. It sears with "dis-ness". That is a line that has become valued comedic currency in my own life. Other than this complaint though, the book is highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Great Book, With One Glaring Muistake/Omission
Review: "Saturday Morning Fever" is a great book for those Gen-Xers who fondly remember the cartoons and live-shows from Saturday morning that sub-conciously defined their generation. The authors hit-the-nail on the head numerous times, which makes most of the book a fun and head-nodding "yeah" experience. The one mistake/omission the authors have made though, is their treatment of Art Clokey's "Davy And Goliath" and their complete omission of "Gumby". The author's must have never really watched "Davy And Goliath" because if they had, they would have found in it, every element that they loved from all of the other "Saturday Morning" TV shows. Yes, "Davey And Goliath" was a bit "preachy" at times, but at least its messages were wrapped within the context of the story, and not just tacked on at the end (i.e. Aquaman pontificating on "Bicycle Safety" from the "Superfriends"). If you could get by the preachy-ness, "Davy And Goliath" could be as campy and outrageously funny as any other show from Saturday Morning. The show contained the greatest "dis" of all time: Davey's Father once said to Davy "Davy, I'm not mad at you, I'm mad at myself for trusting you". Read it again. It sears with "dis-ness". That is a line that has become valued comedic currency in my own life. Other than this complaint though, the book is highly recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: Damn Good Book
Review: A completely fun, irresposible-yet-academic analysis of American popular culture through the ubiquitous medium of television and, more specifically, Saturday Morning television. Not at all a dry or dreary book, but not a slipshod quasi-coffee table concoction either. Really intelligent reading and entertaining at the same time.
Rating: 
Summary: Frustratingly bad. Neither funny or informative. Painful.
Review: A very disappointing effort, SATURDAY MORNING FEVER is neither a good source of information on the subject of Saturday Morning cartoons (especially the 70s era), nor is it an entertaining trip down memory lane for those of us who remember those shows so well. This is frustrating, because the book does touch on interesting subjects, such as the success (and set-back to the industry) of Hanna-Barbara's dreadful cheap-o animation. Unfortunately, the book is scattershot and sometimes inaccurate in it's coverage of the subject. (For example, the authors are incorrect as to why the REN & STIMPY show was taken from it's creator.) Worse still, the book tries to take on a "irreverant" tone and style, and ends up being more annoying than anything else. The final nail in this coffin in the form of a book is their own attempts at original humor; an excerpt: "CARTOON ANIMALS WE'D LIKE TO SEE: WOOGUMS THE NAKED MOLE RAT - You can't help but love an animated character that looks like a gopher with multiple skin graphs." Ouch. What does this have to do with Saturday Morning Cartoons or with being funny? In the case of this book, and has nothing to do with either.
Rating:
Summary: no photos! no photos! no photos!
Review: For a book which is to remind us all of our innocent days of eating Cap'n Crunch in front of the TV set on Saturday morning for hours, this thing is lousy. The text is an easy enough read, intelligent with some valid points. But the photographs (the very few in here) are awful. Didn't the authors and the publisher understand that this type of book demands nostalgic images from the past to help the book along? What were they thinking?--obviously not of book sales.
Rating: 
Summary: More than meets the eye!
Review: I echo the majority of reviews here. The lack of photos for a book chronicling and analyzing such a VISUAL medium is odd: though I would guess that the licensing costs (or whatever these fees may be called) would have been prohibitive. The strength is the authors' discussion of some of the less famous citizens of Saturday Morning: Hong Kong Phooey, the menagerie of Sid & Marty Krofft, Wacky Racers, etc... Strikingly absent from the book are any significant references to The Pink Panther and Aardvark, a LONG-standing Saturday morning staple on, I believe, ABC affiliated stations and, perhaps worse, only a passing mention of The Transformers. The book discusses He-Man at some length, despite that it was a toy tie-in and was a weekday syndicated show. Transformers fits this same criteria, was more than just a 1/2 hour commercial for some product but was, in fact, a carefully craftyed sci-fi series that continues, IN-CONINUITY, with Beast Machines/Beast Wars TODAY! Shame... otherwise, a "fun" book though I think I will check-out the text the authors' claim to be a definitive overview of the genre': Saturday Morning TV.
Rating:
Summary: More than meets the eye!
Review: I echo the majority of reviews here. The lack of photos for a book chronicling and analyzing such a VISUAL medium is odd: though I would guess that the licensing costs (or whatever these fees may be called) would have been prohibitive. The strength is the authors' discussion of some of the less famous citizens of Saturday Morning: Hong Kong Phooey, the menagerie of Sid & Marty Krofft, Wacky Racers, etc... Strikingly absent from the book are any significant references to The Pink Panther and Aardvark, a LONG-standing Saturday morning staple on, I believe, ABC affiliated stations and, perhaps worse, only a passing mention of The Transformers. The book discusses He-Man at some length, despite that it was a toy tie-in and was a weekday syndicated show. Transformers fits this same criteria, was more than just a 1/2 hour commercial for some product but was, in fact, a carefully craftyed sci-fi series that continues, IN-CONINUITY, with Beast Machines/Beast Wars TODAY! Shame... otherwise, a "fun" book though I think I will check-out the text the authors' claim to be a definitive overview of the genre': Saturday Morning TV.
Rating:
Summary: Great Memories But Dispointed.
Review: I enjoyed the refreshing of warm memories through this book. But I was very disapointed with the lack of photos used. There's no way you cover a topic such as this and not include a sufficient amount of photos to go with the memories.
Rating:
Summary: Uneven, but a trip down memory lane...
Review: I just finished the book, and I wanted to echo what several others have said here. The Burkes do their best work when recalling the shows, in the chapter called "The Shows Themselves." Their riffing on Scooby Doo and the rest made me laugh out loud. Where things seem to fall apart is in the completely unfunny sidebars, and the pseudo-sober history lesson at the beginning.
Rating:
Summary: A sweet, sugary spoonful of cartoon fun.
Review: In "Saturday Morning Fever," the brothers Burke expertly tap into the collective cartoon mind of the twenty-something generation. Was Smurfette as promiscious as she seemed? Was there really a show with a talking flute? Unfortunately, the answer to both is yes. And Kevin and Timothy Burke have many more answers to share.
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