"Smurfs" (NBC, 1981-1989)

Tom: I was really excited when the "Smurfs" started, I don't know why. But at one point it went to 90 minutes, and it was just impossible to get through. It was like this giant roadblock in the middle of Saturday morning. I really disliked the "Smurfs" when that happened.
Matt: Yeah, when that went to an hour and a half I wanted to blow my head off.
Alex: I can remember collecting all the dolls. The show, I was never really interested in.
Corey: I was, but I was also really young, so it was like, "Oh, cool, blue people running around."
Douglas: I just remember finding it being very easy to watch because you always knew what a character was about because of their name. "This is Baker Smurf." "Well, what are his hopes and dreams?" "He's Baker Smurf." "Well, does he have any regrets about his past?" "He's f------ Baker Smurf, that's it." As a kid, that was easy to understand.
Tom: So as a child, you were comforted by the Communist lifestyle, where your profession was thrust upon you, and you didn't ask questions.

"The Jetsons" (ABC, 1962-1963; syndication, 1985-1987)

Tom: "The Jetsons" rocked. Though nothing they said would happen in that show -- like the flying cars -- has happened.
Douglas: I thought a lot of that stuff was great. Like the automatic shower: You walk in and, two seconds later, you're ready for the day.
Alex: I still think about that.
Douglas: And they had a robot.
Alex: That was our skit: "I, Robot" with the robot from "The Jetsons."
Matt: "The Jetsons," for me, was just kind of there. I hate characters in TV shows that are stupid. Tom's going to kill me for saying this but I found Inspector Gadget to be irritating because I couldn't understand how he could be so stupid but still get the glory. That makes me so angry. And I had the same problem with George Jetson.

"The Flintstones" (ABC, 1960-1966) 

Matt: "The Flintstones," I always enjoyed. It reminded me of "The Honeymooners," which I kind of watched.
Douglas: The funny thing about "The Flintstones" is that when you watch it now, you realize how things have changed. Like there's an episode with The Kissing Bandit. And then, it was like, "ha ha," nobody really cared. But now, that would be a crime, that would be a terrible sex crime.
Alex: I think our skit supplanted my memories of that show.
Douglas: Except that our sketch was more a parody of their Fruity Pebbles commercials.

"Transformers" (syndication, 1984-1987)

Tom: When "Transformers" came out, I think I was old enough to realize that it was on a different level than the crap I'd seen before. They had continuing stories and, OK, not a lot of character development, but it had more than most cartoons.
Douglas: Yeah, when you watch the original animated movie [1986's "Transformers: The Movie"], it really holds up because the characters have depth to their personalities.
Tom: And it's depth that was just an inch deep, but we were so starved for any sort of character development ...
Douglas: Right, compared to three hours earlier, when you were watching the "Smurfs," this was like the Marianas Trench.

"Fat Albert and the Cosby Kids" (CBS, 1972-1984)

Matt: We haven't touched that yet.
Douglas: Well, because we don't want to go with the obvious joke of Fat Albert having a heart attack.
Alex: It is funny, though, that it was really the first urban ... I mean, now you have so much urban stuff, but it was different at the time.
Tom: It was also such a depressing show. They hung out at a junkyard, some poor kid wore a hat over his face, I did not want to hang out with them. They had fun when they were jamming, but even their instruments were made out of junk.
Corey: It was good music, though. That was the one thing I remember, the music.