TV isn’t as Awesomely Bad as it Used to Be
By: Keith
When we 30 something’s were kids we had our own obsessions, Knight Rider, Dukes of Hazard, Jem (Oh, wait, never mind on that one), A-Team, and a bunch of other cool stuff. But, there weren’t many cartoon movies that I can remember getting hooked on. They seemed to be all Disney creations that girls liked but I didn’t. These days though there are many big budget cartoon movies, and it occurred to me that for kids today one milestone worth remembering is the first Pixar movie they get addicted to. My eldest son watched Finding Nemo over and over again for months when it came out on DVD. My nephew had Toy Story. And my niece had Toy Story 2. Alan was similarly addicted to Cars. Perhaps kids in the 2-4 age range these days will get hooked on How to Train Your Dragon. Where our generation had lots of memorable TV cartoons, kids these days have childhood memories of Pixar movies. There isn’t anything wrong with it, but I want to know if any other parents have noticed the same thing.
Not Just Movies
Our family doesn’t watch TV (and I’m not saying that in a snobby sort of way) so I don’t know what sorts of shows are on these days apart from what I rent on Netflix. My twin sister has some kids who I know are into Thomas the Train and Bob the Builder. When they grow up they’ll remember those phases. My observation for older kids though is that when they get into high school and college they will not have the moments where students in the common rooms start reminiscing about TV viewing interests. The 80′s, as far as I could tell, was loaded with a never ending supply of really bad cartoons and kid shows, the kinds which, in retrospect, we should have been embarrassed to watch but weren’t. I mentioned before about The A-Team and Knight Rider, Transformers and Voltron. There were dozens of equally quirky and experimental shows back then that we devoured and which are indelibly etched in our minds.
I don’t see many really far out kooky shows on TV anymore (the last of the greats was Ren and Stimpy). There are plenty of shows (probably twice as many as in the 80′s), but they aren’t of the so-bad-they’re-awesome variety. They simply aren’t memorable like the weird 80′s ones are to us older folks. My hypothesis on why that is has to do with studio budgets. I don’t think there is as much leeway as there used to be for experimentation. Thus, I think kids today will find common experiences not in TV shows and cartoon, but in big budget, high quality, cartoon movies and, as they age, online content (viral videos).
Not a Matter of Quality
I am by no means suggesting that kids’ shows and cartoons these days aren’t good. In fact, I think they’re much better than what we had as kids. I just don’t think they’re memorable in the same way. I think political correctness, the corporate culture, and advertising constraints have pretty much taken the edge out of cartoons. Cartoons like Captain Caveman are not timeless like Tom and Jerry, but they were memorable for the era in which they played. That’s my opinion, but what do you think? Do Kim Possible and Ben 10 stack up to Thundercats and Voltron? Are they timeless like the Looney Tunes, or even memorable like Voltron? Are they so good that they’re not?
The Quiz:
Here’s an 80′s cartoons quiz From Mental Floss. I got 58%.
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In my limited experience with kid’s cartoons and shows I have to agree. Transformers, Voltron, GI Joe and Mask defined my childhood and I just don’t see that today. It could be budgets or the pressure of making a show like that a consistent success for marketing tie-ins in the ADD afflicted world our kids are growing up in. I’m thankful for the Pixar stuff though.
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My brother and I were recently discussing this very topic. I couldn’t put my finger on why I (we) felt that our cartoons were better than any since but he put it best by saying that cartoons in our day were largely made for adults and we needed to stretch to get it and it’s true. I think there is also a huge lack of imagination, probably due to political correctness, thus all the remakes which weren’t all that great the first time around. When’s the last time that Disney had a white hero? Of course, Warner Bros did a bit of a tricky thing by making a French skunk, a stuttering pig, a Mexican rat…
Mom: That’s true too. The cartoons that are intended for adults these days (Family Guy comes to mind) are just base; they don’t have subtlety or wit, just crude humor. When the Simpsons first came out in the 80′s it was witty and smart like some of the older ones, but that’s the last one I can remember that fit that mold.
Clearly, you have not watched Phineas and Ferb. It’s awesome. You should check it out.
As for wonderfully “bad” kids TV these days, my daughter watches a couple of shows on Sprout – Kipper and Calliou – which aren’t as violent as the ones your referenced, but are weirdly awful in their own ways.
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Paradox: You’re right, I haven’t seen Phineas and Ferb. I think I might have seen it once, but I wasn’t paying close attention. perhaps I’ll have to give it another chance
The shows from the 80′s were awesome! I grew up in French Canada so I probably watched shows that you never heard of, but for sure, they were memorable.
I guess one of the major difference between yesterday’s shows and today’s is that today, cartoons are way more commercial. Every single character is turned into a huge money maker. You can find about just anything with Dora, Barney, Cars, and princes, for instance.
Laurie: That is an excellent point. It seems characters aren’t conceived unless a studio thinks they can make major bucks on licencing. And to do that they can’t be edgy character, they have to be marketable.
Totally agree!
I agree. A friend and I were just saying the same thing the other day. Cartoons now are definitely tamer
Despite the fact that they are so overtly commercial, I have to say that I love Dora the Explorer and Go Diego Go though. My ex is Puerto Rican and I teach Spanish at a woman’s college in Western Massachusetts, and our kids really respond to seeing Latino, bilingual cartoon characters. Dora, just like Kim Possible, is also a great female role model for young girls who are spunky and adventurous. That might be due to our climate of political correctness but at least they have a redeeming value.
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