The Kid Show Crisis

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Permalink Reply by ProLevelGeek on December 22, 2008 at 1:23am

My brother just got off the TV.....sweet!

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Permalink Reply by JumboShrimp on December 22, 2008 at 3:48pm

iCarly, Mighty B!, I'm with you, I CANT TAKE IT!!!!!!!!!!

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Permalink Reply by ProLevelGeek on December 22, 2008 at 4:44pm

The only reason Mighty B is in my opinion, decent is the voice acting. iCarly on the other hand, has a bunch of random jokes. I can't laugh once at that show. There was one thing on that show I kinda found brutal where one of the characters throws an apple at a boy's face and the fake crowd is laughing their asses off.

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Permalink Reply by ProLevelGeek on December 22, 2008 at 4:44pm

Cartoon Network is the only channel that has good kid shows, even though I don't watch it any more.

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Permalink Reply by Madness Mark on December 23, 2008 at 7:40pm

You're sure you don't mean Boomerang?

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Permalink Reply by ProLevelGeek on December 23, 2008 at 10:19pm

I really don't watch much TV. I never really watched Boomerang when I was a kid. CN has some pretty decent shows. I especially enjoyed Ed, Edd n Eddy when I was a kid. I like it's surreal material and the voice acting. There is a show that is very similar to Spongebob called Flapjack. I've seen my brother watch it. It think it's pretty good. The problem is with the Nickelodeon shows. My brother was watching some show about some clothing agency where some of the employye's are teenagers who act like 8 year olds. Like every other show.

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Permalink Reply by Madness Mark on December 23, 2008 at 8:08pm

I think the problem with these shows is that we've sorta degenerated back to the 1980's formula of making children's programming.

See, back in the 80's, most cartoons were made on the basis of marketing a toy (Transformers, He-Man, etc.)

Most people who grew up during the 90's will tell you that was the golden age of kid's cartoons mainly because the majority of them bridged the age gap.

Now, in this decade, networks have degenerated to repetition of successfully marketed shows hoping for lightning to strike twice.

In terms of big network children's programming, you'll notice that throughout the decade 4Kids has almost completely saturated the networks with anime that has big merchandising campaigns (i.e. video games, collectible card games).

In terms of cable network, Spongebob has become the basis for cartoons which isn't really bad but it really doesn't bring anything new to the table when you're constantly copying the same formula.

As for live-action kids shows, it's all about fresh faces that appeal to the MTV tween crowd and never about the content. Even such horribly sitcom-like shows back in the 90's like Keenan and Kel at least had appealing characters.

As this decade draws to a close, it can be summed up as a period of trial and error. We've seen how anime has failed the Saturday morning market and almost been completely obliterated by it. We've seen a million Spongebob rip-offs that never really stuck. We've watched more appealing-to-kids-and-adults cartoons like Invader Zim and Justice League get the shaft due to lack interest from the network (you can now add Spectacular Spider-Man to that list). We've also seen such horrible ideas get the green light like Loonatics.

So, to be a kid right now, these shows suck. Yeah, the kids love them now, but would they really be going back to watch these shows years from now out of more than just nostalgia?

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Permalink Reply by ProLevelGeek on December 23, 2008 at 10:27pm

You have a good point. I think Spongebob has a very original sense of humor and style. There are parts of Spongebob where I laugh my ass off. I like your point on the live-action shows. I just can't stand it. I heard that the show Drake & Josh was cancelled and they just had that Christmas movie and new episodes. I thought Josh peck was over that. He is in general a great actor. He was great in the old days of Drake & Josh, but he's playing these more mature roles. Such as his terrific performance in Mean Creek (which was before Drake & Josh) and The Wackness. But he's playing a more mellow character in Drake & Josh. He should just give up that show Even Stevens on the Disney Channel. I really don't remember that show besides it being the best one on Disney Channel. Shia LaBeouf is one of my favorite actor and he's playing in more mature roles such as Disturbia and A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints, two of his best roles.

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Permalink Reply by Chig Champa on December 23, 2008 at 10:28pm

The problems with kid's shows these days is that you're not ten years old anymore.
Have you ever gone back and watched those old cartoons you loved as a kid? They fucking suck.
The only reason you loved them back then is because you were a dumbass child, and the only reason you love them now is because of nostalgia.

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Permalink Reply by ProLevelGeek on December 25, 2008 at 1:06am

I just can't believe they laugh at that shit.

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Permalink Reply by Iffy on December 25, 2008 at 2:57am

I can't believe I used to laugh at shit like this.

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Permalink Reply by ProLevelGeek on December 25, 2008 at 3:35pm

I don't even know if I laughed at any of it. I was just so bored.

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