As a kid, I always looked forward to Saturday morning cartoons. My family had the most basic cable package, consisting of less than twenty channels. These did not include popular children's channels such as Nickelodeon or Disney Channel. One morning a week, cartoons would appear on my television screen and I would wake up early, excited and engrossed in the storylines. As times have changed and more research has been done, opinions on the effects of cartoons have changed. Several medical organizations came together in 2000 to submit a joint statement to Congress expressing that "viewing violence in entertainment may lead to an increase in aggressive attitudes, values, and behaviors, particularly among children" (Wilson , 2008, p. Today there are correlations between aggressive cartoons and aggressive behavior in children. Results have also been obtained in favor of educational television programs, but we still need to discern what is considered educational. I chose to review two cartoons that I watched growing up; Arthur from PBS and Pokémon from Cartoon Network. I watched the first two episodes of each program and drew my conclusions from these observations. In this article, I provide a basic summary of each television program and evaluate some of their basic characteristics such as the age group targeted, the promotion of pro- or anti-social behavior, as well as the themes and cultural and of gender. I then analyze these aspects in their effect on early childhood development, whether positive or negative. Arthur is a cartoon based on the Arthur books by Marc Brown about an 8-year-old aardvark in third grade and the lessons he learns from his family. , friends and community. According to Common Sense Media, Arthur is recommended for ages 5 and up and embodies po...... middle of paper ......okémon - TV Review. (nd). Common Sense Media. Retrieved April 22, 2014 from http://www.commonsensemedia.org/tv-reviews/pokemonRathus, S. (2011). Childhood and adolescence: journeys in development (4th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Cengage Learning. Thakkar, RR, Garrison, MM, & Christakis, DA (2006). A systematic review of the effects of television viewing in infants and preschool children. Pediatrics, 118(5), 2025-2031. Accessed April 22, 2014, from http://dx.doi.org/10.1542/peds.2006-1307Vasquez, V. (2003). What Pokémon can teach us about learning and literacy. Language Arts, 18(2), 118-125. Retrieved April 22, 2014 from http://www.curriculum.org/secretariat/files/Nov29Pokemon.pdfWilson, B. (2008). Aggression, fear and altruism of the media and children. Children's Futures, 18(1), 87-118. Accessed April 22, 2014 from http://dx.doi.org/10.1353/foc.0.0005