Bumpers: Disney Afternoon

I guess I'll file this as a bumper...

Back before Disney became the evil conglomerate that it is today, they provided kids with quality shows that didn't involve the caterwauling of nasal-voiced teenagers. The Disney Afternoon was a staple in the TV viewing habits of kids born in the 80s.

My Disney Afternoon programs of choice included The Gummi Bears, Duck Tales, Chip 'n Dale's Rescue Rangers, Tale Spin, Goof Troop, and once in awhile, Darkwing Duck. I tried to give Bonkers a chance, but that show was absolutely abysmal. The made more than one dig at it on Animaniacs for a good reason. Plus, unlike its predecessors, it didn't have an awesome theme song. Soon after, I abandoned The Disney Afternoon, due to the line-up changes and my impending puberty.

Here's the first intro, featuring characters from the original four (The Gummi Bears, Duck Tales, Chip 'n Dale's Rescue Rangers and Tale Spin), plus Darkwing Duck, whose show was in the works at the time:



Here's another version, with the addition of characters from Darkwing Duck, Goofy, Max, and (ugh) Bonkers:



There was apparently a soundtrack that was sold in stores (I'm going to have to scavenge the local used record stores now). Here's the full version of the Disney Afternoon theme. You gotta love the jazzy flute solo:

Bumper: Nickelodeon - What Time Is It?

If you thought that "Wacky Wild Kool-Aid Style" commercial I blogged about was a trip, you ain't seen nothing yet. This Nickelodeon bumper from 1990 is an amalgamation of various animated bumpers (yes, there are actually bumpers WITHIN bumpers in this one) and clips from Nick shows. It's a chaotic mess... and I love it. It definitely embodies the awesomeness that was once Nickelodeon.

Bumpers: HBO

During the short period that my parents actually paid to get HBO, I didn't really watch anything on the network, except for an occasional episode of Fraggle Rock. However, the awesome bumpers they used before the movies definitely piqued my interest, possibly even more than Fraggle Rock did.

This one from the 80s is probably among the most memorable. Yes, I'm talking about that awesome outer space one. They used this well into the 90s. To this day, I think that's the coolest thing ever. Plus, it's neat that HBO has kept the same logo after all these years. Most of the other cable networks have changed theirs at least once.

Bumpers: USA Cartoon Express

Believe it or not, there was actually a time when the USA network showed something besides Law and Order reruns. Once upon a time, there was a block known as Cartoon Express. I spent many Sunday mornings watching old Hanna-Barbera cartoons (though I usually ignored the weekday afternoon block). Cartoon Express produced possibly some of the best bumpers ever.

Here's a bumper featuring Slimer from The Real Ghostbusters:



Here's one featuring a bunch of Hanna-Barbera characters:

Bumpers: ABC Saturday Morning

The quality and quantity of Saturday morning cartoons has pretty much gone to hell. I wonder if the networks even do those "after these brief messages we'll be right back" bumpers anymore?

Somebody on Youtube managed to capture most of the claymation bumpers that aired on ABC in the late 80s and early 90s. My favorite was always the one in which the three singers switch heads. Enjoy!