OT: Do You Remember the USA "Cartoon Express"?

[musicradio77]

I remember back when I was a kid, I usually to love the USA "Cartoon Express". It was a 2-hour block of all the great cartoons that I remember from back in the 80's. They usually aired such great classics including in no particular order:

1. "Scooby Doo"
2. "Woody Woodpecker" :woody:
3. "Yogi Bear"
4. "Jem"
5. "Speed Racer"
6. "He-Man and the Masters of the Universe"
7. "She-Ra and the Princess of Power"
8. "Shirt Tales"
9. "Get-a-Long Gang"
10. "Pound Puppies"
11. "Rainbow Brite"
12. "My Little Pony"
13. "Turbo Teen"
14. "Pebbles & Bam Bam"
15. "Dyno-Mutt the Dog Wonder"
16. "Slimer & the Real Ghostbusters"
17. "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles"
18. "G.I. Joe"
19. "The Flintstones Comedy Show"
20. "Pac-Man"
21. "Dinosaucers"
22. "Denver, the Last Dinosaur"
23. "Space Stars"
24. "Beverly Hills Teens"
25. "Mogila Gorliia"
26. "Huckelberry Hound"
27. "Wally Gator"
28. "Space Ace/Dragon Slayer"
29. "Mr. T"
30. "Thundar, the Barbarian"
31. "Pixie & Dixie"
32. "Hulk Hogan's Rock 'n' Wrestling"
33. "The Adventures of Super Mario Bros. 3"
34. "Mighty Mouse" (reruns of classic Terrytoons shorts) :mighty:

All of the cartoons that I remember from a long time ago was on USA. "Cartoon Express" ran from 1983 until it finally lasted in 1996 when USA pulled the plug for running classic cartoons from the "Cartoon Express". Has anybody remember it? please post about the "Cartoon Express".

[Much2animated]

Well, I remember the Cartoon Express, but didn't watch it much. It was more of a time killer than anything. It was certainly always something to look forward to. It was from back in the day when all the superstations had a cartoon block. TBS, WGN and other. TBS used to have BIG blocks of toons..

[gilligan fanati]

musicradio you got this from sitcomsonline didn't you. Well I remember Alivin and the Chipmunks being on it I think and I remember watching Christmas marathons of shows on it but my memories are from the later years of it

[musicradio77]

musicradio you got this from sitcomsonline didn't you. Well I remember Alivin and the Chipmunks being on it I think and I remember watching Christmas marathons of shows on it but my memories are from the later years of it

I've seen my post because the thread about the "Cartoon Express" on Sitcoms Online's "Cartoons/Animated Series" board has been started almost 5 years ago. I was trying to comment about my memories about the "Cartoon Express".:)

[mbaker]

I remember the 'USA Cartoon Express'. It was basically a dumping ground for Hanna-Barbera's lesser known shows in the days before Ted Turner aquired the entire studio library, and start up Cartoon Network.

[gilligan fanati]

I've seen my post because the thread about the "Cartoon Express" on Sitcoms Online's "Cartoons/Animated Series" board has been started almost 5 years ago. I was trying to comment about my memories about the "Cartoon Express".:)

oh realy 5 years thats a long time

[Marty26]

I remember watching it when I was a kid. It kind of went downhill around 1993 or so when USA decided to start airing these low budget in-house cartoons like Problem Child (which was admittedly funny, but a little too obnoxious for my liking) and Itsy Bitsy Spider. I think it's already been off the air for at least ten years.

[The Silver Fox]

USa Cartoon express i member that show, it started fall of 82, and ran till spring 97, over 10 yrs, in the end they were showing some poorly done version of sonic (not the good version ABC showed till 94), as well as many inhouse toons that were rushed into production, sorta that metality seen on CN now.

i member seeing inch high, SPort Billy (anyone know of any details of this show, i was not an HB toon, i am guess it was filmations or another studio), Devlin, Flinstones hour that had a toon version of Jeanie and the Partage family, as well as pebbles and bambam, cause that version aired some of the first toon videos, aka later known as hbtv, or Dtv. They arrived replacing Colipie(sp) series as it orginally ran, and then when USA CE started its run, that show was revamped, but still showed the foregn toons, that Pinwheel showed. They also later showed alot of the HB toons, some filmations, for a while they ran Fat albert, The Tom and Jerry Comedy hour (this version ran in the later 80's).

Rumer had it before CN started USA was the one going to spin off Cartoon express to a network in the mid 80s. showing hb, terry, filmations, and many of the other toon libaries you dont' see now.

i checked on the net, there is no list that has all the toons that aired on the block, Scooby doo did only air a few years on CE, if memory is right only 4 yrs, 83 to 7, may be only 3 but info is sketchy at best.

Some of the shows they did show were not bad, they did show alot of the saturday morning line up toons from the past, such as clue club, scooby doo, odd ball couple, flinstones, jetsons, and many others, but it could take a while to get the complete list from 82 to 97.

I wish you luck, go out there and find it :)

[Daff Doc]

The only animation I remember from USA was stuff like street fighter, savage dragon, and mortal kombat which are shows I don't care for. Live on :woody: :chilly: :andy: :rabbit:, :betty: :huey: :audrey: :buzzy:, and :mighty: :gandy:!

[mbaker]

From what i remember, 'The Flintstones', and 'Scooby-Doo' were not part of USA's 'Cartoon Express'. Just some of their spinoff shows. I also don't remember seeing the 'Terytoon' shorts on USA, so i may have missed out on them.

[BloodyChamp]

!!!!~SHERA~!!!!


I don't know if the same show I watched came on USA but the Saturday morning broadcast TV show, along with He-Man, were the ultimate when I was little. I also freaked out when the two of them appeared on each other's shows every now and then. That was mind boggling to me as a child.


...I saw that "shera" was in the list of the start of this therad byw. :D

[The Silver Fox]

From what i remember, 'The Flintstones', and 'Scooby-Doo' were not part of USA's 'Cartoon Express'. Just some of their spinoff shows. I also don't remember seeing the 'Terytoon' shorts on USA, so i may have missed out on them.

those 2 only played 1 season, after TBS took both shows off in a rotaion, from 85 to 7 i beleave.

in the early years they had a 5 hr toon block on Sunday morning, started 7 am Central time and ran till 12 PM. and you were right they did play the spin off series on CE, but they did show the orginals when that rotation was going thru.

does anyone member the 4 diffent openings that CE used, the last was the one that had sonic riding the amtrak style CE train.

[Prism]

Oh I remember USA Cartoon Express allright! Some weren't all that good but there were a few good toons like Count Duckula,Denver the Last Dinosaur and a few others.

[LooneyLover81]

Count me in.

Here's a link to a video of the very first USA Cartoon Express opening bumper seen from 1982-88:

http://www.retrojunk.com/details_commercial/3632

[Geezil]

[...]I also don't remember seeing the 'Terrytoon' shorts on USA, so i may have missed out on them.

Oh, they were there at the very end of the Cartoon Express era. Only those half-hours were, IIRC, about 95% Deputy Dawg and 5% Heckle & Jeckle, to the exclusion of literally all the rest of the Terrytoons gang. Even that mouse in the cape and tights.

[EDIT: Yes, I do realize this is a two-year-old thread, if after the fact. So who's perfect?] ;)

[Studio Toledo]

USa Cartoon express i member that show, it started fall of 82, and ran till spring 97, over 10 yrs, in the end they were showing some poorly done version of sonic (not the good version ABC showed till 94), as well as many inhouse toons that were rushed into production, sorta that metality seen on CN now.
Not to mention the dub of Sailor Moon most have probably forgotten by now.

i member seeing inch high, SPort Billy (anyone know of any details of this show, i was not an HB toon, i am guess it was filmations or another studio),
It was Filmation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sport_Billy)....

Devlin, Flinstones hour that had a toon version of Jeanie and the Partage family, as well as pebbles and bambam, cause that version aired some of the first toon videos, aka later known as hbtv, or Dtv.
You probably mean "Jeannie" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKvFe8c5btE) and "Partridge Family 2200 A.D." (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ceb7UkoPnA) (god the last one was insipid)

They arrived replacing Colipie(sp) series as it orginally ran, and then when USA CE started its run, that show was revamped, but still showed the foregn toons, that Pinwheel showed.
Those foreign cartoons were typically shown on USA's "Calliope" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKvpggqr9nI).

Also, I miss not seeing the finest from Eastern Europe I used to grew up on like the "mole" cartoons from Czechoslovakia they used to show on Pinhweel.

They also later showed alot of the HB toons, some filmations, for a while they ran Fat albert, The Tom and Jerry Comedy hour (this version ran in the later 80's).
Don't forget this classic syndication gem (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dddm5bQeKvg) of 1981-86!

Rumer had it before CN started USA was the one going to spin off Cartoon express to a network in the mid 80s. showing hb, terry, filmations, and many of the other toon libaries you dont' see now.
Never heard that one.

i checked on the net, there is no list that has all the toons that aired on the block, Scooby doo did only air a few years on CE, if memory is right only 4 yrs, 83 to 7, may be only 3 but info is sketchy at best.

Some of the shows they did show were not bad, they did show alot of the saturday morning line up toons from the past, such as clue club, scooby doo, odd ball couple, flinstones, jetsons, and many others, but it could take a while to get the complete list from 82 to 97.

I wish you luck, go out there and find it :)
Pretty much they showed stuff I hardly ever saw via terrestiral TV in my neck of the woods, so I thank USA for bothering to show 'em there.

[Studio Toledo]

Count me in.

Here's a link to a video of the very first USA Cartoon Express opening bumper seen from 1982-88:

http://www.retrojunk.com/details_commercial/3632

I don't remember thsi being the FIRST bumper personally. I can remember when my cable company bothered to pick up USA Network back in '85 (so I missed out on it's glory days between 1981-84 when they used to get away with more on Night Flight (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_Flight_%28TV_series%29) than later on). An earlier intro/bumper sequences I remember seeing on there didn't used to show Yogi and Boo-Boo racing up to catch the train at the end, but rather just showed the animation as it is. I think it was changed in '86 or so to accommodate the H-B cartoons that came in, but I can't remember what the Cartoon Express was during it's infancy since my cable company never had it before '84.

[Cartman]

I remember Cartoon Express. That is where I was introduced to the Hanna Barbara characters like Yogi Bear, Huckleberry Hound, Quickdraw MaGraw, and Pixie/Dixie. I also remember some of those other shows that I wasn't interested in like Jem and He-Man.

Now let's close this thread as it is two years old.

[Snowpeck II]

From what i remember, 'The Flintstones', and 'Scooby-Doo' were not part of USA's 'Cartoon Express'. Just some of their spinoff shows. I also don't remember seeing the 'Terytoon' shorts on USA, so i may have missed out on them.

I got cable in 1993 and at that time they were running "The Scooby Doo Show" and "Scooby and Scrappy".


Greg

[Jon Cooke]

Count me in.

Here's a link to a video of the very first USA Cartoon Express opening bumper seen from 1982-88:

http://www.retrojunk.com/details_commercial/3632







Wow, it's hard to believe there was once a time when USA would devote time to airing stuff like The Roman Holidays.

I don't really have any memories of watching Cartoon Express, by the time I got cable most of my cartoon watching was on TNT, TBS and Nickelodeon. (Have any of TNT's "Wild World of Shorts" bumpers shown up on YouTube yet?? How about TBS' "Tom & Jerry's Funhouse"?)

[Studio Toledo]

Wow, it's hard to believe there was once a time when USA would devote time to airing stuff like The Roman Holidays.
You should've been there!

I don't really have any memories of watching Cartoon Express, by the time I got cable most of my cartoon watching was on TNT, TBS and Nickelodeon. (Have any of TNT's "Wild World of Shorts" bumpers shown up on YouTube yet?? How about TBS' "Tom & Jerry's Funhouse"?)
I guess I should feel wasted then, my folks had cable since they moved into their house in the early 70's. I just had more a cable company that couldn't expand itself too easy with the limited configuration they had at the time (using dual-line cables instead of one, the A/B switcher was a common device in our town because of that).

Here's something TNT did show back in those glory days I didn't realize the orgins thereof in them, but apparently they were a series of little stingers called "Clap" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMEkY9KgpSo) that were originally produced for the French channel FR3.

[Marty26]

I remember watching it back in the early-90s. Shows like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Scooby-Doo, etc. They also tried their hand at several crappy low-budget cartoons like Itsy Bitsy Spider and Problem Child (which made the movie's Junior into one of the most unlikable protagonists ever). I also remember these one minute shorts they'd air during commercials called Monster Bash.

[doctoon]

I remember watching Roman Holidays, Inch High, Sport Billy, Devlin, Jabberjaw, Clue Club, Wheelie, Captain Caveman (and Nugget Nose), Butch Cassidy, Pebbles and Bamm Bamm, Flintstone Comedy Show, The New Fred and Barney Show, and Sealab 2020 on the USA Cartoon Express. It bugged me that the network wouldn't always show the opening and closing sequences.

[MarkTheShark]

I don't remember thsi being the FIRST bumper personally. I can remember when my cable company bothered to pick up USA Network back in '85 (so I missed out on it's glory days between 1981-84 when they used to get away with more on Night Flight (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_Flight_%28TV_series%29) than later on). An earlier intro/bumper sequences I remember seeing on there didn't used to show Yogi and Boo-Boo racing up to catch the train at the end, but rather just showed the animation as it is. I think it was changed in '86 or so to accommodate the H-B cartoons that came in, but I can't remember what the Cartoon Express was during it's infancy since my cable company never had it before '84.

I liked "Night Flight." Just about anything could show up there, and often did. Some time in the mid-1980s, I saw clips of the early M-G-M Three Stooges short "Nertsery Rhymes" and that oddball short with Curly and two other guys, "Roast-Beef And Movies," on "Night Flight." The "Nertsery Rhymes" clip had narration over some parts and a superimposed address to write to the show (what for, I don't remember). It was the first time I had seen any footagge of the Stooges' M-G-M shorts. Nick At Nite's "Turkey TV" was kind of similar, in that they'd throw in odd clips of just about anything in there. It was interesting.

The Cartoon Express intro with Yogi and Boo Boo on a handcar was used specifically to introduce "Yogi Bear" on USA Cartoon Express. Other times, they wouldn't appear in the segment. As has been discussed here before, the show USA aired under the "Yogi Bear" title was actually the "Huckleberry Hound" show with the "Yogi Bear" opening (including a brief trace of a Kellogg's logo before a quick freeze-frame) and a mid-1960s "Huckleberry Hound" closing. On a few occasions, they did air some interstitials, some of which were edited to eliminate Hokey Wolf. Most of the cartoons had the long theatrical-style credits.

The "Cartoon Express" intro was changed during the summer of 1988, to feature shots of various characters from various shows. This is also when the "Yogi Bear" half-hours were re-compiled (the "Yogi Bear" opening was removed, the Yogi Bear cartoon was replaced with either a Snagglepuss, Hokey Wolf or Yakky Doodle, and Huckleberry Hound was now always the first cartoon in the half-hour). They also started calling the show "Huckleberry Hound And Friends."

This is just from memory, off the top of my head...here's what I remember seeing on Cartoon Express:

Yogi Bear (aka Huckleberry Hound And Friends)
Magilla Gorilla And Friends (this ad-hoc show featured some combination of Magilla Gorilla, Quick Draw McGraw, Wally Gator and/or Loopy De Loop)
Pebbles And Bamm Bamm/The Flintstone Comedy Show (aka The Flintstone Comedy Hour, cut into half-hours; 1972 version)/The New Fred And Barney Show (these were rotated as part of a Flintstones-related shows package)
Young Samson
Space Kidettes (USA's version did not include any Total TV cartoons)
Hong Kong Phooey
Jabberjaw
Great Grape Ape
Dynomutt
Roman Holidays
Where's Huddles
Hair Bear Bunch
Space Ghost/Frankenstein Jr. (1970s version)
Devlin (?)
Wheelie And The Chopper Bunch (?)

(I think in the mid-1980s, they were pretty much showing all the Hanna-Barbera shows which were not in syndication at the time...shows that only ran for one season or so, and didn't have enough episodes to promote on their own)

Later on, they added "Scooby Doo" and some other shows...my memory is kind of foggy once we get into the early 1990s, since by then Turner was involved and one by one, the Hanna-Barbera shows started to get relocated over there...

[Studio Toledo]

I liked "Night Flight." Just about anything could show up there, and often did. Some time in the mid-1980s, I saw clips of the early M-G-M Three Stooges short "Nertsery Rhymes" and that oddball short with Curly and two other guys, "Roast-Beef And Movies," on "Night Flight." The "Nertsery Rhymes" clip had narration over some parts and a superimposed address to write to the show (what for, I don't remember). It was the first time I had seen any footagge of the Stooges' M-G-M shorts.
Heh, never knew they did shorts for that studio (or have seen them either).

Nick At Nite's "Turkey TV" was kind of similar, in that they'd throw in odd clips of just about anything in there. It was interesting.
Technically, "Turkey Television" was aired during the regular Nickelodeon channel as opposed to the night broadcasts on Nick-At-Nite (let along the short first debuted a year before Nick-At-Nite first aired).

Nowadays some of the stuff shown on Turkey TV would come off look too easy for someone to do on his own computer using clips off Archive.org and all that, and often the results are like what used to be done by a few people 20 years ago as in the vids on Night Flight.

The Cartoon Express intro with Yogi and Boo Boo on a handcar was used specifically to introduce "Yogi Bear" on USA Cartoon Express. Other times, they wouldn't appear in the segment. As has been discussed here before, the show USA aired under the "Yogi Bear" title was actually the "Huckleberry Hound" show with the "Yogi Bear" opening (including a brief trace of a Kellogg's logo before a quick freeze-frame) and a mid-1960s "Huckleberry Hound" closing. On a few occasions, they did air some interstitials, some of which were edited to eliminate Hokey Wolf. Most of the cartoons had the long theatrical-style credits.
Used to seem so normal to me watching it that way, only to discover how different it was later on via Cartoon Network.

The "Cartoon Express" intro was changed during the summer of 1988, to feature shots of various characters from various shows. This is also when the "Yogi Bear" half-hours were re-compiled (the "Yogi Bear" opening was removed, the Yogi Bear cartoon was replaced with either a Snagglepuss, Hokey Wolf or Yakky Doodle, and Huckleberry Hound was now always the first cartoon in the half-hour). They also started calling the show "Huckleberry Hound And Friends."
I probably stopped paying attention to USA Network by that point.

This is just from memory, off the top of my head...here's what I remember seeing on Cartoon Express:

Yogi Bear (aka Huckleberry Hound And Friends)
Magilla Gorilla And Friends (this ad-hoc show featured some combination of Magilla Gorilla, Quick Draw McGraw, Wally Gator and/or Loopy De Loop)
Pebbles And Bamm Bamm/The Flintstone Comedy Show (aka The Flintstone Comedy Hour, cut into half-hours; 1972 version)/The New Fred And Barney Show (these were rotated as part of a Flintstones-related shows package)
Used to bugged me having to see that many Flintstone incarnations like that.

Young Samson
Space Kidettes (USA's version did not include any Total TV cartoons)
Hong Kong Phooey
Jabberjaw
Great Grape Ape
Dynomutt
Roman Holidays
Where's Huddles
Hair Bear Bunch
Space Ghost/Frankenstein Jr. (1970s version)
Devlin (?)
Wheelie And The Chopper Bunch (?)
Don't remember the last two, but can remember seeing Clue Club on USA as well.

(I think in the mid-1980s, they were pretty much showing all the Hanna-Barbera shows which were not in syndication at the time...shows that only ran for one season or so, and didn't have enough episodes to promote on their own)

Later on, they added "Scooby Doo" and some other shows...my memory is kind of foggy once we get into the early 1990s, since by then Turner was involved and one by one, the Hanna-Barbera shows started to get relocated over there...
That would at least by by the early 90's when that started to happen.

[Jon Cooke]

(I think in the mid-1980s, they were pretty much showing all the Hanna-Barbera shows which were not in syndication at the time...shows that only ran for one season or so, and didn't have enough episodes to promote on their own)

I have vague memories of some H-B cartoons airing on The Family Channel in the early 1990s. I seem to recall Touche Turtle, Mumbley, and possibly Augie Doggie showing up on Family Channel around that time. Any idea what the block was called?

[Marty26]

I have vague memories of some H-B cartoons airing on The Family Channel in the early 1990s. I seem to recall Touche Turtle, Mumbley, and possibly Augie Doggie showing up on Family Channel around that time. Any idea what the block was called?

I think it was called "Fun Town." And yes, Auggie Doggy And Friends used to air on the Family Channel back in the early-90s. As did a lot of other H-B cartoons like Ricochet Rabbit and Quick Draw McGraw. And let's not forget how they aired the "New" Popeye cartoon series from the late-70s/early-80s.

[MarkTheShark]

I have vague memories of some H-B cartoons airing on The Family Channel in the early 1990s. I seem to recall Touche Turtle, Mumbley, and possibly Augie Doggie showing up on Family Channel around that time. Any idea what the block was called?

As I recall, "Fun Town" consisted of public domain cartoons, ALL of which were shorn of their opening and closing titles. Although..."Fun Town" may have been an umbrella title for the whole afternoon lineup, which did include other cartoons as well as "Batman." In fact, I believe that's correct, now that I'm thinking about it.

They showed "Roger Ramjet," as I recall. The first Hanna-Barbera oriented show was "Augie Doggie And Friends." Initially, the "friends" were Ricochet Rabbit and Droop-A-Long. I was trying to record them all at that time (1991?). It was frustrating because they would repeat certain ones before they ever showed certain other ones. Then much later (after I got all the Augie Doggies at least), then they added "Touche Turtle," and they would run two of those back-to-back without the opening song (those cartoons from the Wally/Touche/Lippy trilogy were shorter than most H-B cartoons of the time). Then they added "Snooper & Blabber."

THEN...they changed formats and expanded the show to one hour, and called it something else (and I don't remember what the new title was, but it was something generic like "Animal Fair" or something like that). At that time, they added "Lippy The Lion," "Ruff And Reddy," and I'm not sure what else if anything...possibly "Punkin Puss & Mushmouse" and/or "Yippie, Yappie & Yahooey," but it seems I don't think so. (The reason I mention those is because that was a weird time for the Hanna-Barbera library. I believe the Yogi Bear library--the original cartoons, the 1988 cartoons, "Yogi's Gang," "Yogi's Space Race" and "Galaxy Goof-Ups"--was airing on Nickelodeon. The rest of the cartoons which had been part of USA's holdings eventually ended up under Ted Turner and some of them were airing as part of "TNT Toons." (This included the cartoons originally part of the "Huck" and "Yogi" shows, plus Quick Draw McGraw, Magilla Gorilla, Wally Gator, and would probably have included Loopy De Loop, but I don't remember ever seeing Loopy on TNT. Yogi Bear for a while was not part of this, but was added to the mix after the Nick deal ended.) "Augie Doggie," "Snooper & Blabber," "Punkin Puss," "Ricochet Rabbit," and "Yippie, Yappie & Yahooey" had been part of the reformatted syndicated "Yogi Bear Show," but did not go to Nick with the rest of the Yogi Bear cartoons.

When "Ruff & Reddy," "Lippy The Lion," etc. started airing on The Family Channel, I didn't keep up with it...I should have, but I didn't. My reasoning at the time was that I had to record duplicate after duplicate just to get the Augie Doggie, Ricochet Rabbit and Touche Turtle cartoons I had by then, and now if I wanted "Ruff & Reddy" and "Lippy" I'd have to set a timer and record everything over and over and over and over and...