Sure the post is going up Saturday night, but go with me on this.

Allow me to introduce you to Bear. Bear has always been his nickname and seems appropriate to use here. Instead of saying “my son” or “my kid” but to still keep a modicum of privacy until he’s old enough to decide. He’s five years old and doing great in school. He currently loves Pokemon more than anything else. Slightly less loves include super heroes, giant monsters, and YouTube shows.

My current work schedule has me home most Saturday mornings. Bear is supposed to let mom sleep in on these days, and wake me up instead. He neglected to do so today, which threw off my day, but this is about the majority of Saturdays.

Unlike when I was growing up, Saturday morning TV is vastly different for him. Over my childhood there were the three and later four major networks, channel 11 out of NYC, Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, and I feel I’m forgetting something. Cartoons in the morning, wrestling by noon, crazy movies later on. Shows came and went, times changed, but TV Guide was there to help.

However, Bear is growing up in a house that cut cable before he was born. Also, the network channels dumped Saturday morning cartoons years ago. With cable growing into hundreds of channels plus the Educational/Informative requirements it was easier to get rid of them and put on something cheaper. Even if we did have a cable box he’s not going to discover cartoons in the way I did. Depending on the channel but there’s a good chance Nickelodeon is playing a live action tween show or the same episode of Teen Titans Go for the hundredth time.

Thanks to algorithms and hoarding/collecting he can still have Saturday mornings. He will look through the DVD racks for his movies or my movies. Cartoons from all decades, and movies to match. What stuns me is how the YouTube algorithm has created a dedicated predictable favorite shows channel for him. We all know that certain channels have a new episode on specific days. Everything is just as terrible/wonderful as the shows of my childhood were. I do try to steer him towards things sometimes. Still waiting for Star Wars to grab hold. Saturdays are his call though. I learn things, I judge things, but most of all I learn about him. What he likes, what upsets him, what scares him, what Bear finds funny.

Over future Saturdays there will be talk of Godzilla, Ryan’s Toy Reviews, Lego cartoons, and all points in between. No wrestling though. Bear’s not having it. He actually calls it “booger wrestling”. Which I think is an insult.