I've thought about this as well -- it seems the old cartoons I used to watch appear "smarter" than the cartoons they're putting out today.  I mean smarter in the sense that they use more vocabulary, the storylines are deeper, etc.  Of course they've also taken a lot out of newer cartoons too, like no smoking or gun references. It could be a small factor, but when you have cartoons that have to be financed by ads, you have to make the cartoons appeal to EVERYONE -- even the dumb kids.  So, I understand how we got to where we got.  All about the Benjamins.