Saturday morning cartoons

We all know about the Green movement that has pushed its way into every facet of our lives. And though its been around for a few years, some folks believe this thinking of greener living, which equals the lack of oceanfront property in the middle of Iowa, is a brand new concept. This couldn't be further from the truth!

The fact is, there have been surges of environmentally-conscious thought in every decade since Earth Day was conceived back in 1970. The biggest surge came in the early '70s when Woodsy Owl told us to "Give a hoot -- don't pollute' and a crying Native American lamented over the trash thrown out of moving cars. This thinking even permeated the safe haven of Saturday morning cartoons during this time, thanks in no part to a bunch of washed-up Hanna-Barbera characters in a flying, wooden ark.

Pee Wee Herman is returning to the national consciousness with the stage show that made him famous, but could "TV" be the word of the day?

The Pee Wee Herman Show is kicking off with a huge, sold-out stage show, a new version of the original stage show that served as a launching pad for the Saturday morning TV (AHHHHHH!) show, Pee Wee's Playhouse. The show starts a run on Jan. 17, 2010 at Los Angeles' Club Nokia. The producers had to move the show to a bigger club so they could accommodate the large number of ticket holders who stormed the box office when seats went on sale.

Given the buzz and heavy interest in this new stage show and the character's return from the depths of popular culture, could a TV (AHHHHHHH!) version -- either for kids or adults -- be far behind?

SciFiWire has a list of 10 Saturday morning TV series that inspired movies and the list seems to be, to say the least, a bit skewed. To begin, the title is misleading. Most of the examples they use rose to fame as something else before they were even shown on television. And once shown, they weren't necessarily on Saturday mornings.

Popeye started as a comic strip and then cartoon shorts shown at theaters. The Addams Family started as a comic strip in The New Yorker then a somewhat unique sitcom.

Here are the new TV DVDs, in stores tomorrow.

I'm not usually a big fan of these DVD box sets that take one genre and give you a variety of various series episodes (such as the sets that have a bunch of TV westerns in them). But the Saturday Morning Cartoon sets look like fun. The 1960s set includes The Flintstones, The Jetsons, Top Cat, Secret Squirrel, Atom Ant, and Quick Draw McGraw, while the 1970s set includes Josie & The Pussycats, Speed Buggy, the Batman/Tarzan Adventure Hour, and Hong Kong Phooey. OK, the 60s set is much better than the 70s set. And the 70s set for some reason also includes The Jetsons, which is odd (it ran in 1962). Still, both sets look good.

• The Closer - Season 4
• Designing Women - Season 1
• Gangland - Season 3
• Gunsmoke - Season 3, Vol. 2
• Jeeves & Wooster - Complete Series