I don't know.
Golden age from the 1930s to 1950's we get Loony Toons and Disney. But there is also woody the woodpecker, and other less than good shows.
Sure, but overall it's still quality to it. Even the shoestring budget stuff like Popeye.
The mass produced Hanna Barbera era also has good ones in, or at least I think Topcat was good. And there Wacky Races came from that era.
Of the Hanna-Barbera stable... The Flintstones is the only one I can watch as a adult and the only one I liked as a kid/teenager.. At least the first few seasons. It goes downhill after that. TopCat ? ..Eghh. Was more of a fan of Catch the pigeon then Wacky races. Besides that most of the Hanna Barbera stable was utter shit at least in my opinion. Well, birdman I kind of strangely liked. and revisiting now I still do but that's mostly due to Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law.
But that is also the age of Japanese Anime. Maya the Bee for example.
Didn't watch much of that. It wasn't really on Dutch TV. Besides some nonsensical
Gundam show, Dragon ball, Sailor moon, Samurai pizza cats, and Teknoman , perhaps some others. From those I watched only samurai pizza cats and Teknoman and didn't go ought of my way to do so either.
It's in my 20's that i kind of started to watch more Japanese animation partially thanks to a friend who had a collection. But I'm not generally impressed. Votoms the original main series. And the side OVA. " The last of the red shoulders." Is what charmed me. Mellowlink is also fine. Area 88 OVA and few other. Heck I even like the Original Mobile Suit Gundam before they replaced the staff with aliens who can't write dialogue for shit or characters for that matter. To be honest that's something every Japanese animation suffers from.
Oh, yes! And speed racer. Holly hell is that cartoon unintentionally funny.
In the 1980's as a kid, I enjoyed Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears, I would have no problem introducing that show to a younger viewer. or the Smurfs. 1990s; we got Johnny Bravo, Dexter's Laboratory, and Cow and Chicken. Or that French show, "cat and the cockroaches". 2000's well it is hard to argue that My Little Pony was good. And now, well in the 2010s, people say good things about Gravity Falls.
My point is that good shows get re-runs. But in each era, there was just as much crap as there is today.
Well, Dutch TV in the 90's during day time had plenty of uncovered tits and asses on TV as
@Damar can vouch for. Wrestling and actual contact sports. Dutch caravan and backwards racing. A lot of serials like Cheers, Wings, Colombo, Honeymooners and other shows. And plenty of fucking movies. As a kid/teenager perhaps and probably I found that more appealing.
That's not to say I didn't watch cartoons. Smurfs and Pokémon I remember watching along with some weird cartoon with a black person with a flying locomotive. But most of that was mostly because I was up at 6 in the morning and nothing else was on besides the news and original Star trek. Which I came to like.
I don't remember anything really appealing to me animation wise in the 90's besides Batman and The Tick. Both cartoons frankly still hold up to this day. And the only thing I remember about Dexter and Cow and Chicken was that it was the only thing kept one of my female friends little brother busy. While I was exploring his sister.