TV: In particular...Cartoons: What has changed?

[Vault101]

personally I think we need more shows like AVATAR the last airbender...

 

[Soviet Heavy]

personally I think we need more shows like AVATAR the last airbender...

Or the Clone Wars. Say what you will about the writing quality, but that show is extremely violent by today's standards to cartoons.

 

[Ectoplasmicz]

Its a struggle to find anything i really like, and i tend to go back to watching things like courage, ed, edd & eddy, dexters lab etc.

Im trying to think of current shows i really enjoy but all that come to mind is adventure time. mind you adventure time is brilliant.

 

[Nigh Invulnerable]

It's all about those rosy glasses you're wearing. This just in: Sturgeon's Law is and has always been in effect concerning cartoons and pretty much everything else. If you are unfamiliar with Sturgeon's Law, it's basically that 90% of everything is crap.

 

[Theron Julius]

Nickelodeon sucks for the most part. The majority of it is live action (read as: shit) or at least was when I stopped watching it. Someone can correct me if there actually is something good at this point on the main Nickelodeon channel. If you have anything bigger than basic cable you're probably getting the other Nickelodeon channels, one of which (Nicktoons I think it's called) actually has some good stuff like Iron Man: Armored Adventures and they regularly show reruns of Avatar, which is probably one of the greatest animated shows ever made.

Disney channel has always sucked, although I'll attribute that to taste. People have told me that Phineas and Ferb is good, but I could never get past how strange the character's heads were shaped.

Cartoon Network is the only one I regularly watch. Sure they have some live action (again read as: shit), but they also have Adventure Time and The Regular Show, which are probably my favorite shows of all time right behind Avatar. They both do this perfect balancing act of childishness and innuendo that is just genius. They keeps themselves open to virtually all audiences while staying genuinely entertaining. Also I've heard that the Star Wars: Clone Wars series is pretty good. I only watched the first few episodes, but I can testify that those were pretty god damn good. Can't really attest to its current quality though.

Also there's My Little Pony. I don't actively watch it, but I know plenty of people who would die gladly in its name. The times I have watched it, it was genuinely funny and doesn't bash you over the head with girly themes like you think it would. It's sort of similar to Adventure Time and The Regular Show in its ability to appeal to wide audiences, though it doesn't teeter on the edge of censorship like they do.

To be honest I was born after the "golden age" of cartoons that supposedly occurred in the 90s. I started watching cartoons in the early 2000s, so my fondest memories are of Invader Zim, Faily Odd Parents, Dexter's Lab, The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, and Megas XLR.

 

[Scarim Coral]

How many cartoons on CN today actually have merchandise anyway. How would shows like Chowder even be marketable? HOW IS THIS STUFF MAKING MONEY? I honestly want to know how it's possible for shows like that make money. Does anyone here know? Or do we just blame kids that don't know any better?

Kids these days clearly have no idea what decent programming is, having grown up in an era of poorly written sitcoms on Disney, terrible cartoons on CN (Friday nights excluded), and more poorly written sitcoms and Spongebob on Nickelodeon. That's just...sad.

Well for one thing sticking a character face onto a lunchbox or pencil case count as merchandise from the market department.

Also I must ask you this, do you think we were any better when we were kid ourselves? Consider the fact we had cartoon show about a muscule clad men (He-men) were one of the character name is Fisto, a show that was just one big advertisement (TMNT and Transformers) and when violences were still a ok (Tom & Jerry) and more. I think not.

Sure as much as I dislike some of the kid shows these day but as long the kid themselves are enjoying the show itself then it shouldn't matter what we think (well within reason like they try to please the older audiences like Batman).

Afterall at the end of the day that show target audience is the kids (most of the time).

 

[Zhadramekel]

Less good natured violence. More cartoon talking ponies.

 

[Illesdan]

I canceled my cable subscription last month (along with my landline phone; but that's ANOTHER topic...) because there just isn't anything worth watching. I enjoy 'Phineas and Ferb' but my friend's 3 year old daughter is quickly tiring me on the show. I'm not an anime fan, not for lack of trying, I just don't get it, so that pretty much gets rid of 75% of the other cartoons shown out there.

I bought the first season of 'The Muppet Show' and have watched that so much I think I'm close to wearing out the DVDs. I have a sinking feeling I'm going to be buying more stuff I grew up watching when I was a kid over trying to find anything worthwhile on tv.

I haven't decided if I'm buying 'Freakazoid!' or the first season of 'Garfield and Friends'....

 

[Screamarie]

There still not as bad as nick or disney.
Disneys basically given up on new cartoons
and nick has only had some stupid looking butch hartman cartoons or spongebob for the past goddamn 10 years and thats literally it.

Disney doesn't have cartoon in their name. I think ditching cartoons on the CARTOON network is still the bigger offense.

Since when was Cartoon Network ditching cartoons? I watch it almost all day and all they show is animated series. Yes, they've had a few live-action movies, Scooby-Doo, Ben 10, Level Up. There was that one series where they tried to do live-action (can't remember the name of it to save my life) but even that had cartoons in it. Otherwise though it's all cartoons, Ben 10, Scaredy Squirrel, Almost Naked Animals, Looney Tunes Show, Regular Show, Adventure Time, Generator Rex...you get my point.

As for the topic, nostalgia is definetely a part. What generation hasn't heard "This was better in my day!" from their parents and grandparents? But I also don't think it's as bad as you think. Yes, tastes have changed, that's why nickelodeon has turned more to pre-teen/teen entertainment. Same with disney (though it would be nice if they're live-action stuff was actually funny -_-). Though something to keep in mind is that Nick and Disney have moved most of their cartoons over to other television channels..."pretty sneaky, sis!" They're pretty much saying "You want cartoons? Well we have cartoons! Just pay us extra arm every month and you'll get cartoons."

And yes, overprotective parents are getting their way, but that doesn't mean the smart is going out of all programs. Part of it may be that kids today are just interested in something different than what we were. I'm getting lots of wierd and kooky stuff, especially when you look at things like Regular Show, that could just be what's selling. Also, they're may be a transitional thing going on. I can't do the math, but the animators that we grew up with were probably aware of and maybe watched cartoons original intent, adult entertainment. Betty Boop dresses like she does for a reason.

Last but not least, I think another part of the reason is that maybe animators aren't catering to provide for the parents and the children at the same time. I remember being a kid and every now and again watching cartoons and having my parents laugh and me look at them like "what's so funny? He was just talking, he didn't get smashed in the head with an anvil yet!" It could be because they're more focused on engaging the children, or because parents aren't watching TV with their kids as much anymore (I'm not saying everyone is a bad parent, just that it may be possible that in a time where having both a working dad and mom isn't sure to pay the bills anymore you don't have a lot of time to sit and watch spongebob), maybe both, who knows?