Rating: 
Summary: Socio-economic underpinnings of late boomer media culture.
Review: It's scary that this knowledge--not just information--is available because its subject became the blueprint for today's media exploitation and educational theory (yikes!). Quentin Tarantino said this book is "beyond essential," but don't let that deter you. Very well written and documented, it is perfect edutainment.
Rating:
Summary: A Fun & Irreverent Trip Down Memory Lane
Review: My own Saturday mornings came rushing back to me as I read this book. It offers a fresh and irreverent perspective not only on the cartoons themselves, but on the whole subject of Saturday morning. Refreshing too is the authors' point of view that children are smart enough to assess the images they see on TV. I enjoyed it and highly recommend it.
Rating: 
Summary: Bad. Just plain bad. Avoid.
Review: The Burke brothers have turned in what amounts to less of a book and more of a college thesis paper and one that deserves a bad grade. I can't believe anyone could take the rich subject of Saturday Morning pop culture and cartoons and make it all so boring. In fact Timothy Burke is credited as the author of another book with the title "Lifebuoy Men, Lux Women: Commodification, Consumption and Cleanliness in Modern Zimbabwe." Yikes! From the author of the above comes a delightful book on cartoons? The information is inaccurate in some cases and the attempts at humor are sad. I was so disappointed I returned the book.
Rating:
Summary: A lovely fun and groovy book.
Review: The times that were awakened when i read this book made me a little sad for the good days of my childhood. Somehow i was always able to get up at 5 AM on a saturday for cartoons and wait patiently for the image of an american flag accompanied by the star spangled banner and then in some ways even worse, having to sit through davey and goliath so that i could enjoy the superfriends. It seems like the brothers burke were sitting right behind me everyone of those mornings and their great book was more like having a good nostalgic conversation rather than a read. You cant go wrong with this book read it and activate your wonder twin powers!
Rating: 
Summary: Good for Fun, Bad for Facts
Review: This book has many positive and negative points to it. Let's start off with what's good about it. The authors write with a clear understanding and love for animation. The book isn't a cold text book on Saturday Morning traditions or television shows. They commnet on obscure shows and remind the reader of the reasons why they watched some shows. In the book, there is a loose history of how cartoons migrated to Saturdays, with subtle mentions of struggles between advertisers, networks, and parental groups, also reflective looks on "Generation X" and their love of animation. They even post comments sent to them from internet newsgroups from people recalling their own love and rituals of Saturday mornings. Lots of inside information told in a real fun way.Now on to the bad parts...First off, I will state there is a very clear bias in the writing. The authors make their opinions clear when they write about programs they didn't like. What's worse is that they don't give reasons for them. Their mentality sends the message: "you had to be there to know," which means there is a stark learning curve to this text. The only saving grace, is that the authors admit their bias on the first page. Right from the start you know its going to be an opinionated retrospective look back. The lack of photos in the book is also annoying, especially considering their text on Sid and Marty Kroff's programs, describing the visuals as trippy. The medium of television is very visual, and not being able to make a cartoon character's face with its name, makes looking back 30 years a little tough. The book takes little time to break things into generas or eras. It covers the overall collective of Saturday morning and picks out the most memorible shows and comments on them. This book is great for the casual reader, but serverly lacking for historic or animation enthusiasts. If you do pick it up, read it for fun, not for research.
Rating: 
Summary: Authors couldn't get past themselves...
Review: This book was fun in that it brought back a few memories about what was available on Saturday mornings in the 70's and 80's. However, the authors tended to dismiss the value of anything they didn't watch, or didn't understand.
Davey and Goliath, the Filmation live action shows, Schoolhouse Rock and even Mr. Rodgers took the brunt of the author's disdain.
The book contains some good show descriptions, but be warned, the authors may trash some of your favorite shows if they didn't like them. It really took a lot of the fun out of the book for me. I didn't finish reading the last chapters because the authors couldn't keep their slanted opinions (and politics) out of it.
Ok for a walk down memory lane, but if you want more of an unbiased reference, look elsewhere.
Rating:
Summary: Only fair...
Review: This book was only fair at best. It had only a few pictures (mostly of board games and toys) and little worthwhile information. It's basically a collection of the authors' opinions, thoughts, and memories on the topic, which meant little to me since I value my own opinions and memories much more. It's almost like the authors didn't seek, want, and/or have permission to write this book from the people who created the shows they discuss. The authors give us their thoughts instead of the thoughts of the thoughts of those who really matter... the people who created or were involved with the shows. I was hoping for a trip down memory lane; this book took a detour very early on and never got back on track.
Rating:
Summary: Only fair...
Review: This book was only fair at best. It had only a few pictures (mostly of board games and toys) and little worthwhile information. It's basically a collection of the authors' opinions, thoughts, and memories on the topic, which meant little to me since I value my own opinions and memories much more. It's almost like the authors didn't seek, want, and/or have permission to write this book from the people who created the shows they discuss. The authors give us their thoughts instead of the thoughts of the thoughts of those who really matter... the people who created or were involved with the shows. I was hoping for a trip down memory lane; this book took a detour very early on and never got back on track.
Rating: 
Summary: The mouths move, the bodies and scenery don't!
Review: This is an excellent critical analysis of one of the few common experiences for U.S. children born between 1960 and 1980. These cartoons weren't very good, but they were ours(...)! Most of the target audience doesn't relate to the entire period examined in this book, so I find the development of Saturday morning fare useful. There are lots of insightful comments from some of the original producers, although the tone alternates from studious to wickedly sarcastic. Recommended.
Rating:
Summary: The mouths move, the bodies and scenery don't!
Review: This is an excellent critical analysis of one of the few common experiences for U.S. children born between 1960 and 1980. These cartoons weren't very good, but they were ours(...)! Most of the target audience doesn't relate to the entire period examined in this book, so I find the development of Saturday morning fare useful. There are lots of insightful comments from some of the original producers, although the tone alternates from studious to wickedly sarcastic. Recommended.
| 
