Arlene Klasky was the reason the Rugrats 'jumped the shark'

[nighthawk2727]

If any of you were a fan of Rugrats back in the day you will notice a stark contrast between the first 65 episodes and the rest of the series.

The initial 3 seasons were influenced in-part by the writer Paul Germain. He was the driving force behind the scenes for the first 65 episodes. He wanted the babies to be intellectual and wanted to develop the personalities and emotions of all of the characters in a way that could be enjoyed by adults and kids alike.

One of Paul Germains creations was the character Angelica. He thought there needed to be a bully in the show to serve as the main antagonist. In the first 3 seasons Angelica was a spoiled, clever, ruthless, and cruel girl. Her personality caused her to eclipse most of the shows other characters and become one of the Rugrats most popular assets.

Unfortunately Arlene Klasky intensely disliked Angelica. She thought she was too cruel and a bully. Constant battles behind the scenes ensued between the writers (particularly Paul Germain) and Arlene Klasky.

Arlene Klasky wanted the show to become more dumbed down. She thought the babies were too intelligent and she wanted Angelica to become more "safe" (aka nice). Many times she was quoted to have been undermining the writers saying "Would I want my children to watch this?". The writers inserted Didi's obsessive Dr. Lipschitz studies as a parody of Arlenes dislike of anything remotely risque.

Although the details behind Germains departure will forever remain unknown, he and his writers were let go after the production of the first 65 episodes. A lot of sources cite that he was fired by Klasky over creative differences in how the show should be approached. Germain wanted a more intellectual show that could be watched by adults and children, and Klasky wanted it to be more of a childrens show.

Anything in season 4 onward was void of any Germain influence. You can easily notice there is more babytalk/mispronunciations, poop jokes, Angelica is far more tame/nice, and the subtle adult humor was stripped out of the show entirely.

If you find yourself wondering why the newer seasons of Rugrats seem like something targeted toward a preschooler, Arlene Klasky was the driving force behind the changes.

I'm disappointed in Ms Klasky for multiple reasons. She disliked the intellectuality of the show and wanted to see it removed, she disliked Angelica despite her popularity, and when the show was a massive success during the first 3 seasons she neglected to attribute any of that popularity to Germain's influence. I don't even think she mentions him at all when talking about the show. She basically took all of the credit.

Article with information regarding the Germain/Klasky dispute:
http://imgur.com/a/KnXrx/

Did you guys notice the huge changes between the first 3 seasons and rest of them? I am sad and will admit I dislike Arlene Klasky for ruining the series.

 

[Eclipse Dragon]

I didn't notice any major changes, but I was two years old so...
I thought the change in Angelica was more of a character progression, from being a spoiled brat to a slightly less spoiled brat, growing up, getting more mature ext ext, just as I had been growing up myself[footnote]although I wasn't a spoiled brat, my parents can vouch[/footnote]. I had no idea it was because of creative differences on the team, so that's interesting.

I imagine if I went back and re-watched it, I would really notice the difference, but I'm not so sure I want to.

 

[Queen Michael]

I do like intellectuality in kids' shows. It's like the strange references in Karl Gerhard songs. Even when you don't get it, you kind of do. On the other hand, I always did think Angelica was too mean.

 

[nighthawk2727]

During the intro if the episode title is in red, it was part of the Germain era. If it was blue it was after the Germain era.

You can easily tell the difference between the two. The post-Germain era everything was extremely cutesy and watered down.

As for being too mean, she became kind of a dull character and lost a lot of the humor and spark she had when Germain left. She was popular because she -was- mean.

 

[Fox12]

I honestly can't remember. Did Germaine leave before or after the movie, because I rather liked that film, and at the time found it rather dark for rugrats. I did notice a tonal shift aftert the film, though. I vaguely remember liking the All Grown Up spinoff as well, since I found it more interesting. It struck the Perfect cord between Angelica being a brat, and Angelica being a decent human being. Her heart was in the right place, and she became more interesting.

I'm tempted to go watch it again, but I'd probably just stop and go watch hey Arnold again. You want an intelligent children's show? Helgas mom is a depressed alcoholic whose trapped in an unhappy marriage after getting pregnant as a young woman, Arnold discovers the true meaning of Christmas by learning about the horrors of Vietnam, and the characters discover the cruelties of human nature through the treatment of birdman. There's a lot of subtle character development at play in that show.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

The only change I ever noticed was in the style, which improved. Never felt like there was a shark to jump in the first place, unless we're counting the addition of Tommy's lil bro after the first movie, and Chucky's dad getting married after the second.

 

[VanQ]

I was pretty young at the time and me and my siblings all loved the shit out of Rugrats. My sister esecially loved Angelica to death. We all stopped watching at the same time because the show just started to seem boring. Whether we just grew out of it or it just happened to be when you claim the writer changed I don't know, I couldn't possibly remember. But going back as an adult, you can notice the differences between the first few seasons and the later ones. Especially "All grown up" which was a travesty against the universe itself and all those involved will likely have a special place reserved in Satan's lavatory after they die.

Angelica was certainly a conniving little brat but that was what made her a good character. Spongebob wouldn't be nearly as much fun if he didn't make the anti-gay crowd freak the fuck out because of subtle nuances in his behaviour. Ren and Stimpy was toilet humour but it was toilet humour all for all ages. Hell, Hey Arnold was the Peanuts of the 90s and managed to have all sorts of positive messages about race and family.

That aside, I still enjoy a lot of the older Nickelodeon stuff. The best thing about Nick was the shows had enough to enjoy as a kid and the writers slipped in stuff to please the parents and older siblings watching as well. They continued this trend even as far as shows like Spongebob, though Nick's more recent shows seem to have foregone that entirely. The other thing that childrens cartoons have become lately is a whole lot less gender neutral. I remember my brother and sister and I all enjoying Rugrats and The Wild Thornberries together. Nowadays it's Little Charmers for the girls and Ben 10 for the boys.

Unfortunately, I truly think that the source of the problem is that a lot of adults are in the habit of treating children like idiots. They are not. They're just small adults with less life experiences than adults have. Treat them as such and they'll grow up smarter and wiser. Talk to them as an equal, they won't always understand but it will give them the chance to ask questions, answer those questions and you'll enrich their minds in ways they otherwise wouldn't be enriched. And that's the main issue I have with childrens' shows these days, they don't respect children, they assume they're idiots and do nothing to make the children think "What does that mean?" "Why did they do that?" And it's sad. Because while I can sit down and enjoy season 1 of Rugrats as an adult, I can't sit down and enjoy Monsters vs Aliens.

 

[nighthawk2727]

Germain left before the first movie.

Its interesting you mention Hey Arnold. Germain was one of the writers for Hey Arnold and Recess after he was let go from Rugrats.

The show eventually did get boring because they stripped out a lot of the emotions and character development. They literally dumbed down the series because Klasky thought they were too smart for babies. Soon it had the intelligence of a "poopyyyyyyyyyyyyy" joke from Dil every other episode.

I agree, the USA seems to think children are completely stupid. My jaw drops at the contrast between American and Japanese tv shows targeted towards children. Lets just say there is a reason Asians are regarded as the brightest race in the world.