I was always more of a CITV kid as well. I started watching things like Telebugs (which no one remembers) and Car With A Heart (which even I barely remember), Mop & Smith too. Pob was disturbing though. Dogtanian was another one I remember playing in the school yard. I found the BBC, on the other hand (considering I was merely 4 or 5 at the time) rather patronising. Blue Peter was like more school and Newsround just looked like... news. Weekends were a different matter. I loved Going Live! and it always trumped whatever ITV were showing. I wasn't as into Live & Kicking. Firstly, I was gutted it had replaced Going Live! but I also didn't take to the characters, like that CGI cat head and, later, Sage & Onion. It still tended to be put on the TV in place of whatever ITV was showing though. I thought Zoe Ball and Jamie Theakston improved the show significantly and watched the show faithfully while they were on it. Then, SMTV took over, as just they left Live & Kicking and so, the family started watching ITV on Saturday Mornings. SMTV Live was the last great Saturday morning kids TV show.
As I got older in the 90s, the bias for CITV became less prominent and I got to appreciate things like Newsround. Stuff like the Queens Nose and Demon Headmaster were great for someone in their early teens. Still, I loved the cartoons on CITV. I felt CITV was at its best in the mid-late 90s, content-wise. We had plenty of good quality British animation coming through from Cosgrave Hall; the likes of Phantom Cat and Biker Penguins. Not as classic as Danger Mouse or Count Duckula, which was a few years earlier, but solid offerings, none the less. Fun House, Knightmare, Spatz, Harry's Mad etc added to the offering.
I thought the return to in-vision continuity on CITV in 1998 was a breath of fresh air. The studio looked good, as did the logo, titles and theme, whilst somehow referencing the previous logo. The presenters were fun and seemed to have good chemistry from the off. However, I think this was the beginning of the end, content-wise. Many great shows, including those I mentioned above, ended around then and weren't really replaced. I quite liked the Pokémon anime, it was kind of goofy and endearing but they seemed to rely on it way too much, as well as Digimon which was very similar. The Worst Witch was decent, as was My Parents Were Aliens but before long, the latter seemed to be the only original UK show running and it looked very tired towards the end. I wasn't really at the age anymore to watch such stuff religiously, but I'd turn the TV on, see My Parents Are Aliens and say to myself "Wow, that's still on?".
Theoretically, kids have never had it better in terms of TV content, which several dedicated channels. However, I look at the CITV channel and I'm not sure who really has/had it better.
Pokemon and Digimon similar? Definitely not. There's some major differences:
In Pokemon, evolutions are permanent. In Digimon, they're reversible. Also, Pokemon never evolve more than twice, Digimon have six evolutionary levels (Baby, In Training, the default form called Rookie, Champion, Ultimate, and Mega).
Pokemon have four moves. Digimon tend to only have one or two, which change upon digivolution.
A Pokemon trainer has up to six Pokemon. A Digidestined only has one Digimon.
In Pokemon, only Meowth can speak human language. Digimon speak properly.
Pokemon's villains, Team Rocket, are an ineffectual comic relief gang. Digimon's villains are more of a serious threat, and are replaced every dozen episodes.
There's three main human heroes in Pokemon, who would also interact with random people. In Digimon, there's seven, later eight heroes, but interaction with other humans is rare as they're stuck in the Digital World.
Pokemon is set on some alternate Earth where Pokemon exist instead of normal animals. Digimon's real world is far more realistic, with real place names used.
Ash Ketchum is aiming to win tournaments and can go home whenever he wants (he just chooses not to most of the time), whereas Tai Kamiya and his friends are fighting to save the world and get home.
Pretty much all they have in common is that they're mons shows from Japan that started within a year of each other!
As for My Parents Are Aliens, yeah, should've axed it a year earlier.