As a student, my Saturdays now involve a much deserved lie-in or waking up slightly delirious after a late Friday night out. However I will always remember those sweet days when I woke up early, ate cereal in front of the TV, watching SM:TV with Cat, Ant and Dec for a good two hours before the weekend properly began. Tragically, however, Saturday morning telly has now been taken over by cooking shows or reruns of This Morning.
Reflecting on the good old days makes me wonder: where have all the decent Saturday morning TV shows gone? You may say you’ve outgrown it but you can’t deny taking a sneak peak at some CBBC shows when you’re bored. Before Cat Deeley made it in Hollywood, she was on a wee show called SM:TV Live. There was something about SM:TV which kept you looking forward to the weekend. I loved all the sketches, from Wonkey Donkey to Chums (which was based on Friends, and where we were kept wondering whether Cat and Ant would be the next Ross and Rachel). Then there were the people who sent funky shaped packets of crisps which made me secretly want to carve my own weird looking snack just to get my name on telly.
Now if you think that Jedward are the craziest thing on TV today, then you probably don’t remember Mr Blobby, a grotesque pink monstrosity who wasn’t able to utter an intelligible word (like Jedward) but just spent most of the show splashing gunge at the audience.
It’s tragic that fun-filled, light hearted shows for the common child don’t exist anymore. Perhaps the final nail in the coffin was Dick and Dom in the Bungalow which encouraged a bunch of hyperactive fools to jump around screaming “bogeys” at the top of their lungs. It’s a sad but true fact there will never be children TV shows as good as