Children's TV now

[KHCast]

Okay so This is going to be long so I'd get something to eat. So as we all know children's tv has gone down massively in the past years. Are biggest criminals:Disney channel, Cartoon network and Nickalodeon. Each of these channels have their goods but each also have there bads. Their bad's are so massive that I have to break up each one since they all share a big part of why kids tv is going down. First I will say this. these channels aren't even being aimed at the right age. More and more they become more mature for kids. And that needs to stop. Onto the first victim. if you have anything to add please do.

Disney channel: Disney has feel recently almost everywhere but one of the areas where it got hit most was disney channel. Let me say this it's not all bad. we got phineas and ferb.

Problem:Disney channel is trying to become the disney mtv for teens. That's really it. They got way to many Comedy/drama/love shows that focus on Female singers divas and really it's all blending in. That's so raven was great. I liked the show. The original suite life of zack and cody was pushing it but i accepted it. Then came hannah montanna. God. this show has got to be the poster boy(or girl) For disney channels fall. It's like the 06 of disney channel if you will. the big problem was because how popular she became after they finished that series it had grown a huge fanbase and made tons of money. So disney channel began offering more shows with teen singers like selena gomez. The drama in these shows is just so unrealistic and terrible. With this trend i could go on disney and my role would be a singer who likes a girl but takes 3 seasons to actually ask the person only for them to say "I just want to be friends."What i liked on disney channel was a balance of shows like these with cartoons like kim possible lilo and stitch or the proud family.

What they can do: I'd say Disney XD is doing better in terms of shows but because of budget issues there it really doesn't sell for disney. If they can put those shows on Disney channel then that will be a start. They also need to cut it with the teenage singers. Most of them are annoying. So random.(it's like the disney version of the amanda show.) was actually a good move by ditching the whole sonny with a chance"OMG she's going out with who?!" And focused on comedy.my baby sitters a vampire Was also a pretty good show imo. To make it short less sing and drama and more balancing between age groups. and actually find out what people want.

Nickelodeon: Holy shit. Nick is just amazing when it comes to stupidity.

Problem: Nick has basically been trying to copy disney channel in terms of marketing towards young adults. it's gone so bad that it's become more sing sing sing than disney. Being more innapropriate also doesn't sell nick. At least disney knows limits. And to make it worse they are literally driving shows like spongebob into the ground. Nick's biggest offender when it comes to horrible comedy is icarly which is actually something i can't believe kids watch and admire. their comedy sound like something i would see a movie making fun of. Their cartoons just aren't as enjoying as they used to.

What they can do: while it's not amazing shows like the troop actually tried to be different from what was "IN" and that pretty much got scrapped. That was a okay show i would have enjoyed to watch a little more. Try not copying other channels and try finding some inspiration for your own shows. maybe add a nostalgia time where it shows older shows like rugrats or angry beavers. Newer shows like avatar would be nice. You got dragon ball(crapy version i know) put that on the channel. I know nicktoons has that covered but not a lot of people go there. putting it where most of the kids watch nick is going to benefit. Also nick Stop trying to rely on the music to help. Maybe try making some original cartoons that take inspiration from your past. one or two real life comedy shows are okay (like bucket and skinner)but that's it.

Cartoon network:...... That's all i will say to introduce this. i posted my thoughts on this somewhere else so i'll c&p it.

Problem:Okay what happened here CN. you got some good shows(Regular show,adventure time and Gumball. Yes i said Gumball.) But compare them to shows back a few year Like Code lyoko. God i loved that show. It was one of those rare times for me when i am enjoying a cartoon now.(or in this case anime.)Epic,Funny and just downright enjoyable for anyone.(in my opinion at least. that new show thundercats i haven't seen yet but it looks epic.) What happened to the Cartoon of cartoon network. I don't know what Cartoon network is anymore. We got dumb reality shows like Dude what would happen, hole in the wall, destroy build destroy. Hey remember that rip off of cash cab but with a rollercoaster? Or that ghost hunters for kids show. Yea hilariously like 4 or 5 episodes in they got cancelled. Wonder why? And What about Toonami. where are the shows for the anime fans? I can't tell what is with the place now. You got the serious dark shows and the horrible cartoons like Johnny test and sidekicks.(Don't even get me started on mad!) Everything in the middle varies. The sad thing is almost half of these shows on the network good or bad will get scrapped soon.

What they can do: I like how they show the old shows in the mornings but they really just need to draw inspiration from them in order to come up with new stuff. Hell even look for inspiration from stuff on nick like spongebob.(although that's starting to go downhill, even though most episodes i laugh at...Poor squidward.)

Again if you want to add anything to the problems or solutions please say something. I might have not hit on everything.

[ChikaBoing]

I haven't watched TV in General in a very long time.

[Emperor Robrainiac]

Here's something I posted in the Johnny Test topic.

Tastes change through generation. Back in the 90s people called our cartoons "gross-out trash." Nowadays, we see cartoons as lazily written and not taking enough risks to get crap past the radar.

Very funny you mention that, since nobody in any generation ever admits to acting like the parents of the last generation. To think, years from now, people will be hating on cartoons playing and saying stuff like "We want Johnny test back!"

Edited August 27, 2011 by the ORIGINAL recolor

[Johnny Boy]

Disney Channel: Haven't watched in a couple of years. But every now and then I see my sister watching it, needless to say Disney Channel can now be called the "Teeny Bopper Bullcrap Channel" because live action sitcoms are all they show now! Before Disney Channel was balanced between live action (That's So Raven, Even Stevens,etc.) and animation (Kim Possible, Proud Family,etc). Now Disney channel is overrun with horribly done sitcoms and as of now Fish Hooks and P&F are the only animated shows (P&F being the only good one). And don't get me started on how they turned Toon Disney into Disney XD. Smh.

Nickelodeon: I barely even watch Nick anymore so I don't have a proper opinion on this one. I might start watching it again when that new avatar cartoon comes out.

Cartoon Network: I'm gonna be honest, I really think Cartoon Network is slowly becoming watchable again. With shows such as Adventure Time, Thundercats and MAD, Cartoon Network is becoming "the best place for cartoons" once again in my eyes. But the live action shows have got to go. It's called "Cartoon" Network for a reason people.

[Ferno]

All I want CN to do is bring back Toonami, or an equivalent of Toonami with a different name.

Then all will be forgiven.

[Kuzu]

All I want CN to do is bring back Toonami, or an equivalent of Toonami with a different name.

Then all will be forgiven.

[T-Min]

CN is definitely heading in the right direction with Adventure Time, Regular Show and the new Thundercats series (have yet to give Gumball a good try). I also haven't seen any "Total Drama X" shows there lately (eff flash animation). They still have a few dumb shows, but hey, underneath the nostalgia they always did, and speaking of nostalgia, they've even been able to fit some of the old greats into their schedule. They just need to get rid of the crappy reality and game shows. It IS "Cartoon" Network, after all, not "Nickelodeon Wannabe Network".

The only remedy for Nick's and Disney's problems are to quit with the stupid tween-oriented sitcoms and poorly-written cartoons and actually get some good shows on there. But I doubt that will happen, really.

[Nepenthe]

I stopped watching the big three kids' channels for a few years outside of Adult Swim and Nick @ Nite (which needs to bring back Fresh Prince yesterday). The phasing out of cartoon shows was the first strike: No more Disney Afternoon, Nicktoons, or Acme Hour. All of the interesting blocks were gone, replaced by this tween shit that was slowly becoming more and more derivative of itself somehow. CN apparently stayed out of that for the longest but inevitably gave in with uninteresting shows like Destroy, Build, Destroy! which was the second strike, primarily because it's asinine that a channel dedicated to cartoons would have regular live-action programming. Forget Toonami's cancellation; that was selling out of the highest order.

The final strike occurred during my animation class, wherein my animation instructor revealed he tried to pitch a show to CN but was literally denied because they don't like showing anything that's inherently moral and thoughtful. It kinda floored the class, but it inherently made me understood why- even though I may have found humor in things like Chowder- I never became an outright fan or loyalist of most of CN's output after Cartoon Cartoons died. Nothing sticks with me.

I feel old talking like that, but it's how I feel nonetheless. These channels won't be the same again and I doubt I'll ever go back to watching them regularly, but the re-airing of classic Looney Tunes shorts did make me nod my head in respect at CN. I think Nick went back to doing some old Nicktoons stuff on weekends as well. All Disney has to do is air a traditionally animated film in a prime-time slot and I'll feel a bit better.

[SHAX Hedgefox]

"You damn kids these days with your shows! Back in my day, cartoons were cheap cash-ins on toys that contained incredibly mslow animation and featured lazy storylines. And we durn well LIKED IT!"

In other words: Peoples tastes change over time. For instance, teenagers in the 90's probably thought that cartoons like Ren and Stimpy or Rocko's Modern Life were awful shows that relied on gross-out animation, like people have said, or contained terrible storylines or unlikeable characters. teenagers in the 80's probably thought that cartoons like Transformers or G.I Joe contained bland characters and were basically half-hour commercials for childrens toys. The children growing up with shows nowadays will probably think that cartoons nowadays were classics compared to whatever cartoons will be airing in the 2020's.

And you've also got to take into account nostalgia. Nostalgia can be a wonderful thing that makes people remember the fun they had as children watching childrens television, but it can also blind them and make them place newer shows in a worse light than they really are. Sure, television nowadays may seem worse, but that's because we're older and don't like the new stuff because it's not targeted towards us. There's also the fact that people tend to forget about the awful shows from their childhood and conveniently ignore newer shows that are actually quite good.

tl;dr, the nostalgia filter messes with peoples brains.

[Noir]

We grew up on stuff like Hey Arnold and All That and Johnny Bravo and whatever and we see this stuff like Johnny Test and Hannah Montana (or whatever's popular on Disney by now) and uh... fuck, I don't know anything airing on Nick but anyway, we see these and think "holy fried jesus christ on a stick, those poor kids have to WATCH this crap?" And the irony is that people who grew up watching He-Man and Inspector Gadget and the original Transformers series look at what we remember so fondly and think those shows were shit too.

I don't like anything airing on kid's channels right now except for The Regular Show but that's because, I dunno... I'm not a kid? They aren't made with me in mind, and so it's no wonder I'm not interested. The amusing thing is, even when watching The 90's Are All That I find myself thinking, "wow, were these shows always so dull and unfunny?" Rarely do I laugh for any reason besides the fact that it reminds me of when I was younger and found that sort of thing funny. Basically I have to get into the mindset of myself when I was a wee lad or the shows aren't even enjoyable.

Nostalgia's one hell of a drug.

[KHCast]

Yeah the nostalgia bug can play a huge role in stuff like this. we find one thing dear and precious to us and when they replace it with something like this younger kids like it but we find it just bad. It's a cycle that will most definitely continue for a long time. I find some of the shows fun but most just don't do it for me. Some people my age like those shows but that's them and their tastes. We just have to move on and let the next generation have their freedom to choose what they do and don't like.

(What i just said doesn't apply to fps fanboys)

[Ekaje]

I really can't say anything other than what others have already. It's nostalgia, though I am a bit sad about the dumping of most cartoons for live action teenage hijinks.

[SuperStingray]

I'm feeling the COMPLETE opposite way. While I feel Cartoon Network started to go downhill with Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi (seriously, why give an animated series to a band that no one knows shit about other than for writing the Team Titans theme?) and cemented that fall with gems like CN Real, Camp Lazlo and... ReAnimated, their catalog's gradually gotten better since Chowder. I haven't seen a new show since than that's not at least mildly entertaining. Nothing quite as classic as the Cartoon Cartoons, but I haven't payed attention to the channel this much since they stopped doing the original Fridays.

I might agree that Nick's old series don't have that charm anymore, (Spongebob, Fairly Odd Parents, etc.) but I love T.U.F.F. Puppy and I am fond of some other series like iCarly.

As for Disney, I'll agree on their rancid, cliched sitcoms, but their cartoons range from half-decent to hilarious. I've gotten great kicks out of Dave the Barbarian, Brandy and Mr. Whiskers and Phineas and Ferb. Most of that good stuff is on Disney XD, so... yeah, just fuck the regular channel.

But I think the best cartoons lately are the nostalgic comebacks like Thundercats, Transformers Prime- and I think My Little Pony speaks for itself. I don't think kids' programming is in the gutter- if anything, it's recovering from that.

EDIT: Oh yeah, I forgot about Johnny Test and Problem Solvers. Don't really care for either, but there's been worse shit in the 90s that we ignored, the only difference is that the internet is big now, so that even the shitty stuff becomes big as well. The generation who grew up on the same cartoons we did are finally getting a chance to write their own or put their visions into their favorite franchises, so while I can't say where in a new golden age, I'm not throwing out the possibility we're entering one in a few years from now.

Edited August 29, 2011 by SuperStingray