When most of us were kids, we had less options for cartoons, and most of those options were built around over the air stations that only showed cartoons in the weekday afternoons or on Saturday mornings.

Nickelodeon's original cartoons didn't start until 1990. Cartoon Network didn't start until 1992, and their original programming really didn't take off until 1996. Disney Channel was a premium service primarily interested in rebroadcasting archive materials and low-performing original series.

Nowadays? If your kid has a regular cable plan, Disney has like three channels, Nick has three, CN has two, plus there's The Hub and whatever other channels. Add to this video games and the Internet, and it's really, really hard for a kids' show to pull good numbers whatever the quality. It has to be hyped into a sensation; junior appointment television.

Plus - since the viewer numbers are spread out and advertising rates are therefore lower - the shows must move merchandise for their owners. "Thundercats" was cancelled because it didn't sell enough toys. So was "Young Justice". Sounds bizarre, but these are the reasons given.