Hate Jessie

[Drtooth]

Exactly what I'm talking about. It's all inorganic and even more prefabricated than a cartoon series based on a toy line. And the shows based on toylines are usually enjoyable, at least.

I never really cared much for family sitcoms (with certain exceptions) because all they do is harp on cloying cuteness and force morals down throats. Essentially, these are the same and all feel like they should belong in either TeeNBC's line up or 1980's TGIF. The thing that makes me laugh is how much of an utter failure the Jonahses were. They couldn't even get a sitcom for them that people actually watched.

Personally, the only one of these I even liked was Even Stevens. It had a nice Malcom in the Middle kind of vibe. Even Lizzie Maguire was watchable at some points.

 

[mspiggy101]

She wasn't "scary" back THEN. That was back when she was a clean popstar aimed at tweens. I don't really prefer the show either, its laugh track was as poorly done as the other Disney show. It wasn't very funny.

Well I know but now she looks like a crazy lady

 

[beatnikchick300]

Exactly what I'm talking about. It's all inorganic and even more prefabricated than a cartoon series based on a toy line. And the shows based on toylines are usually enjoyable, at least.

I never really cared much for family sitcoms (with certain exceptions) because all they do is harp on cloying cuteness and force morals down throats. Essentially, these are the same and all feel like they should belong in either TeeNBC's line up or 1980's TGIF. The thing that makes me laugh is how much of an utter failure the Jonahses were. They couldn't even get a sitcom for them that people actually watched.

Personally, the only one of these I even liked was Even Stevens. It had a nice Malcom in the Middle kind of vibe. Even Lizzie Maguire was watchable at some points.

I loved Even Stevens. It was similar to shows I used to like on early-mid '90s-era Nickelodeon (real kids dealing with real problems, like school, sibling rivalry, friendships, dating, etc.), and there was no annoying laugh track. But while Lizzie McGuire did have it's moments, there were some things about it that annoyed me as well. For one thing, is it me, or did Lizzie and Miranda have a awful lot of "you're-not-my--friend-anymore" moments for people who considered themselves "best friends"? Yeah, I know it's junior high, and the girls are a bit melodramatic (I'm sure I was no picnic myself ), but it seemed like a bit much at times. Also, it was great that they had a "be yourself" message in the show overall, but that became something of a Broken Aesop since there was a "nerd" on the show (as in he was unfashionable, liked school, and was a fan of Star Trek and Lord of the Rings), whose only purpose was to be ridiculed by the main characters (yeah, once in a while, they were nice to him, but still...). Another big thing that got me is how mean Lizzie and her little brother were to each other. Yeah, Ren and Louis had a pretty legendary sibling rivalry on Even Stevens, but it at least felt like they genuinely DID care about each other (Ren would stick up for Louis, and Louis would know if he was going to far in pranking Ren, and so forth). I never got that with Lizzie and her brother.

Okay, end of rant...

 

[Drtooth]

Lizzie was alright. Certainly better than the formulaic Lafftrakk kiddy coms they've had since. I don't see why they don't go back to the filmed program sitcom, like almost every sitcom on television now. It all resembles failed 1980's TGIF sitcoms. Weak concepts, bland characters, "gag laugh gag laugh" repetition...

Again, not a fan of family sitcoms.

 

[Bridget]

I have never been a fan of Jessie at all. It's actually my least favorite show after "Dog With A Blog" which has absolutely no moral to it at all. The show is just so -if you will- stupid, that it hurts. I mean I get the whole theory of it, but I think it's a little disrespectful at times. However, that's not unusual for a thoughtless Disney Channel show anyways.

 

[D'Snowth]

We're surprised shows today have no morals to them?

 

[Drtooth]

Rather have no morals than fake, plastic ones they say gritting through their teeth.

Morals work when they're organic. When they put them in kid's shows you either get something amazing like Fat Albert, Arthur, Doug... stuff like that. Or you wind up with Bratz (worst example I could think of). Something where the morals are forced on to get a TV EI rating to sell you toys. And not even in a fun Transformers/G.I. Joe/He-Man sort of way. The "just be yourself" message told by cute, vapid girls to other cute vapid girls while still leaving the "uggos" out in the cold.

What I really like is stealth morality. You can find that in essentially anything if you look hard enough.

 

[mr3urious]

Morals work when they're organic. When they put them in kid's shows you either get something amazing like Fat Albert, Arthur, Doug... stuff like that. Or you wind up with Bratz (worst example I could think of). Something where the morals are forced on to get a TV EI rating to sell you toys. And not even in a fun Transformers/G.I. Joe/He-Man sort of way. The "just be yourself" message told by cute, vapid girls to other cute vapid girls while still leaving the "uggos" out in the cold.

My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic was given the E/I label in its 1st season, but it was phased out after that. However, the various characters still write about what they've learned at the end of each episode.

 

[Drtooth]

The episode where Twilight goes absolutely insane trying to come up with a moral essentially lampshades that. I'd surmise that was the writers drawing from experience working on the show.

TV EI was so ill defined. The first year they implemented it, stations tried to make it apply to everything.

Yet, I always find feel good stories and morality in the strangest places. Even violent cartoon shows. Even violent Japanese cartoon shows.

 

[mr3urious]

TV EI was so ill defined. The first year they implemented it, stations tried to make it apply to everything.

Yeah, I remember hearing about that disaster. All we need are the rest of the loopholes closed so that stations can no longer use the requirements as an excuse to keep their license.