ABC’s Awesome Saturday Morning Cartoon PSAs

Saturdays_on_ABC_smallMost of us remember waking up as kids on Saturday morning around 6am just to watch cartoons.  It was a ritual.  I did it, and I loved it.  There were so many good cartoons when I was a kid.  But it wasn’t just cartoons shows I remember from my early Saturday morning viewings, I remember fun and musical public service announcements that would air during commercial breaks.  We’ve all seen them.  They have colorful characters, clever songs and wind up teaching us about our government, good eating habits or proper hygeine.  The most remembered and visible of these public service announcements were the Schoolhouse Rock shorts. Airing on the ABC network, Schoolhouse Rock taught kids the Preamble to the Constitution, how your nervous system works and how a bill becomes a law. But ABC produced more than just the Schoolhouse Rock shorts. ABC produced scores of other cartoon PSAs with catchy tunes and fun mascots that taught kids about healthy eating and how to get a job. Many times these PSAs are lumped into Schoolhouse Rock when we think back on them, but they were separately produced with different voice actors.

Let’s look at some of the other awesome cartoon PSAs produced by ABC in the ’70s and ’80s.  You will probably remember most of these, if not, your welcome for putting songs about nutty snack mix into your head for the next 12 hours.

timer1timer_fridge1
Time for Timer – ABC starting producing these “Timer” commercials in the early ’70s. These are probably the most remembered shorts next to Schoolhouse Rock as they played well into the 1990s.  I actually didn’t realize this little guy’s name was Timer, even though I’ve seen the clips a thousand times and at the beginning of every one he says, “Time for Timer!”.  I’m not even sure I knew what that meant.  Now, I get it.  Timer was supposed to represent a person’s “biological clock”.  He carried around a giant stopwatch that went off whenever something was about to happen in the body (hunger, sleepiness, etc).  None of the Timer shorts have titles, they are known by their catchy songs.  His most famous is probably “Hanker for a Hunka Cheese!”.  Another favorite of mine is “Sunshine on a Stick” where Timer teaches us how to make ice pops using orange juice. I remember actually doing this several times.  I also love the “Eat Breakfast” short because the song is catchy (it actually reminds me of the songs in a Rankin-Bass Christmas Special).  There’s also “U Are What U Eat” which features cool animation of the “factory” in your body. Timer was so popular that he actually made an appearance on Family Guy.

bod_squadyuckmouth1
ABC Bod Squad – Bod Squad shorts were also produced in the early ’70s and, like Timer, played well into the ’90s. Also like Timer, the Bod Squad promoted healthy eating and good hygiene.  Their most famous short would probably be “Yuck Mouth” sung by Scatman Crothers who also did “Nutty Gritty”.  Watch “Nutty Gritty” and I defy you to get the song out of your head for the rest of the day. You are welcome. Also check out “The Munchies” which warns of the dangers of eating when you aren’t hungry. According to “The Munchies” PSA, if you gain weight, you should build a ship in a bottle, as it’ll get you back in shape. I’m serious, the kid in the PSA builds a ship in a bottle to work off excess weight from the munchies. It’s awesome. Speaking of, it’s interesting with all of these cartoon PSAs playing throughout our childhoods we still have the overwhelming obesity epidemic that we do. We didn’t listen to our childhood PSAs, people!!!

zach_ofall_trades1zack_ofall_trades2
Zack of All Trades – I had completely forgotten about this group of PSAs until I started researching this article. Zach is a cool guy with his first initial stitched to his sweater who apparently lives in the radio as he floats out on a stream of music when he’s needed. The songs for this PSA had the best arrangements and are the jazziest on this list. Watching these YouTube videos I forgot how good these songs are. Name Game, is probably my favorite. The song is an interpretation of the song, Name Game, and tells kids how their interests can translate into real world jobs. Future Blob is also very catchy and tells kids how to prepare for the future. Jack and Jill has Zach telling his friends, Jack and Jill, they can’t be shifty layabouts all day, they have to prepare and get jobs.  Before this article, I would have said Timer is my favorite, but Zach has made a strong case for himself being my new BFF. If “Nutty Gritty” is still in your head, listen to “Name Game” a few times, it’ll be replaced.

Here are a few other ABC PSAs that were produced in the same vein as “The Bod Squad” but weren’t identified as being a part of any PSA group title. Click the images to see the PSA on YouTube.

thechopper
The Chopper
– One of my favs. Great song and I love that the title character is a Fonzi wannabe. Watch as Fonzi-Chopper tells us to exercise our “choppers” by eating “good, hard food”. It’s a classic. Question, where the hell did Chopper find that gi-normous celery stick at the end!? It’s bigger than he is! And is the nut and tomato standing next to Chopper going to let him chomp down on their celery friend? Where’s the love?

drown_food1
Don’t Drown Your Food
– Staring Louis the Lifeguard, saving food items from drowning in condiments. I know this one was popular, but it’s not one of my favorites, probably because I DO drown my food in mayo, salt, ketchup and goop.

saturdae1
Make a Saturdae
– I totally remember thinking this one was lame when it aired. Pineapple, banana and whipped cream is not the same as ice cream and chocolate sauce. Besides, look at the picture above of a Saturdae and I dare you to tell me it doesn’t look like a penis.

Those were some of my favorites, are there any others you remember?

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87 Responses to “ABC’s Awesome Saturday Morning Cartoon PSAs”

  1. Your former freakin' neighbor Says:

    I remember “Don’t drown your food” because I totally drown mine. It says somethign about the 80’s that a national capaign against the overuse of condiments was even made. Now we get “your parents are destroying the planet” PSAs.

    ALso, that wasn’t whipped cream on the “saturday” it was cottage cheese…. and it was *&^%ing disgusting.

    • You know, Mike, I just watched the YouTube video again and it says yogurt. However, that doesn’t look like yogurt on the video. Which makes this whole phallic imagery even more jarring…and gross.

  2. Your former freakin' neighbor Says:

    I stand corrected. But knowing the 80’s, it was that bland unflavored unsweetened yogurt. Still Horrible.

  3. I missed all these since I grew up in the early 90s but they do look like fun!

  4. I did wake up early on Saturday mornings to watch cartoons. I do remember Schoolhouse Rocks 🙂

  5. I have been a reader for a long time, but am a first time commenter. I just wanted to say great post!

  6. I would like to know if these PSA’s are available on DVD. If so, could someone please tell me how I can get them? I remember watching them as a child growing up in the 70’s, and want to share the experience with my children.

  7. I remember some of these fairly well, a pity ABC doesn’t seem to run them any more. Well, not during Mighty Morphin Power Rangers at 6am, at any rate. 😛

    The one I remember most? Hankerin’ for a hunka cheese.

    Personally? I think there should be more PSAs for adults; I think they probably need them just as much or more than kids these days, especially if they’re going to go nuts on Ronald McDonald because they can’t discipline their kids, y’know?

  8. Joseph Tages Says:

    Thanks for this wonderful post. I’d been looking for info on these lesser known PSAs from my youth but couldn’t remember their names for the life of me. For some time, I thought I’d dreamed up stuff like the Bod Squad! It’s really too bad they’re not run on TV anymore. Thanks again for a great read!

  9. Unfortunatly, these were a failure. They encouraged kids to eat healthy snacks but we have the fattest generation ever that grew up watching them. Maybe its because timer himself was obese? Doesnt look like he ate alot of raw veggies.

  10. […] So, those are some of my favorite 80s-90s milk commercials. If you grew up in the 80s, I know you remember some of those. If you enjoyed them, check out my article 6 Awesome Saturday Morning PSAs. […]

  11. Thanks for all the great memories. I loved school house rock. The songs were great! I remember one where a rich cattle rancher found some rustlers and decided to string them up because it would teach them a lesson. Then he had a dream that he was before God and God forgave him because it would teach him a lesson. I’d love to show that one to my kids! Any idea where it is?

  12. One not mentioned here starts with a kid chomps his plate of food in one bite (to a Jaws-sounding riff, no less). Don’t know the name but I’m pretty sure about the lyrics went like this:

    Hey man, what’s the rush? / Slow down, don’t gulp / enjoy the taste / You can pay in pounds / for all that haste / Don’t swallow whole, just chew each bite / And then your food will digest right / Chew, chew, chew, chew / that’s it, nice n’ easy, chew chew chew chew / Slow food

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  23. love being a kid in the 70’s saturday morning was the best!
    even before school it was hard to leave the house….i don’t know how many time i faked being sick to stay home and watch cartoons then again the after school cartoons start over til the news started.
    Todays cartoon two thumbs down…..thank God for cable so we could watch them old programs. Kids these days don’t give it unless theres blood, shooting,killing,robberies.Technology made us forget, bonding, family time, game night, sleep over, camp outs
    everyone is in a hurry so many things to do and not enough time. And thats when people spoke to family, neighbors and knew when
    someone was sick,hard timing and would help out, but today i send you a text or maybe you’ll see my comment on facebook and see how i’m feeling today.

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  68. On a semi-related note, does anyone remember a 1970s PSA about a lion who was king of a city where everyone dressed up like lions to fit in. When he wanted a census taken, a sheep showed up with an abacus. The lion says, “the only thing that counts is being a lion.” And the sheep says, “the only thing that counts is ME!” Then the hook is “Be proud of what you are. Be yourself.”

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