Betty White, VCRs, oldies stations—What is it about these things that we cling to? We connect with them on some odd personal level in our childhood and then POOF! we’re twenty-something and Youtubing that Sugar Ray song or old Hey Arnold episode when Helga had the fruit and gum statue dedicated to “football head.”
What’s wrong with Ryan Seacrest’s America’s Top 40? Why do we still air Casey Kasem’s from over 30 years ago?
Do these childhood fossils fill some gaping nostalgic chasm? Let’s face it! Everyone has that day they wish Uncle Rico’s crystals could throw them back to three when the front porch was the edge of the world and politics was just another channel to change.
Turns out, a few episodes of Friends are Uncle Rico’s true crystals to escaping back to the 90s: the color-infested decade that brought us Will Smith rap. Anyone remember Scooby-Doo? Remember? Have you picked up a TV Guide lately? (Is that still a thing?) Scoob’s still surfing the channels! Like, ZOINKS! How did they pull that off? The guys that created Scoob and the gang (Hanna-Barbera) have long since passed on! So, who’s keeping it going? We are.
If you think the folks at Z107.7 are playing the music they like, you will be shocked to hear they have scanners that tell them what amount of people is listening to what song. If the Greater St. Louis area simultaneously stopped listening to Kesha’s “Timber” for two days straight, we’d put Kesha back to work for a while… We are fascinated by what we no longer have, but fortunately, because of nostalgic artists who happen to be brilliant, these cartoons thrive still today. That’s right! The generation to come will gawk at the screen for Scooby-Doo, too. Who knows? Maybe even the generation after.
And if television programmers nix it one day—Well, I’ll be grateful I held onto that VCR.
TOON CUBE -- an animated walk with Ian Sullivan 