The Most Annoying Kids Shows

[beatnikchick300]

I've only watched promos of Sam and Cat on Nick and I abosolutely cannot stand Ariana Grande's voice! It's so annoying when she talks. How'd she even get past the audition? Like most of us, I can't stand any of the live action shows on Nick and Disney Channel, none of those shows are funny!

Ms. Grande doesn't even sound like that in real life; her actual speaking voice is totally normal. I don't know why she talks that way as Cat (I think she sounds like a female version of Stuart from MadTV; even though that sketch was funny, his voice did get grating after a while). But hey, there are plenty of other valid things about that show to hate (my youngest brother loves that, Victorious, and iCarly; I tease him by saying he only likes it because he thinks the girls on those shows are cute). I honestly hate all 3 of those shows, because, like I said before, with TUFF Puppy, all the characters are either stupid or total jerks, and aren't funny, they're just annoying. And Miranda Cosgrove can't act to save her life (she's so freaking wooden she could have been carved out of the desk I'm sitting at right now).

 

[scooterfan360]

Know what was annoying? The totally radical Club Mario show. i heard of everything mario how come i never heard of this ?

Wow. That is so something a 40 year old out of touch dude would create. And not only that, as much as I liked the Mario and Zelda cartoons, the best part of the show was the live action Mario Bros. Plumbing segments. The awkwardly placed C list celebrities, the amazing chemistry between Captain Lou and Danny Welles... so much better than that embarrassing attempt to be hip.

 

[scooterfan360]

That's almost like KENAN AND KEL: Kel wasn't completely stupid in the first couple of seasons, but rather, was a little on the absent-minded side, and lacked common sense... then in the last couple of seasons, he becomes such a braindead moron, you wonder why Kenan bothers to put up with him.

i know right and kel always messed things up for kenan

 

[CensoredAlso]

I LOVED this thing back when it was on. I was the right age when it was on. Haven't seen the thing in years, but somehow it seems like the show Alice's Adventures in Wonderland was the spiritual sequel to Zoobilee Zoo.

OK update, I recently decided to go back and check out Zoobilee Zoo. You know what, it holds up! The performers had such a tremendous sweetness about them, yet also manage to sneak in the occasional snark here and there. You could tell there was some brains behind the writing. I think I liked the Bill der Beaver guy (yay puns!) most. The kind of character kids might not notice initially, but as you get older you realize he was the sharpest character on the show, lol. Talkatoo also, I'm always glad when female characters are funny and not just "the girl." Plus, there's Ben Vereen who clearly thinks he's still in Pippin. I keep waiting for him to start singing, "Join Us!" Lol

I did get an Adventures in Wonderland vibe, just a little more rough around the edges (it pays to be Disney ). But you know there was definitely a notable shift in design styles from the '80s to the '90s in general. Zoobilee Zoo is from 1986, and everything has this sort of moody, atmospheric look to it. You could tell there were actual artists behind the scenes trying to entertain themselves, not just pander to demographics (not unlike Fraggle Rock's designs). Don't get me wrong, Adventures in Wonderland is creative too, but everything there has that "we need to be perfect!" Disney sheen.

Just compare how the sky and ground look on the two shows. Zoobilee Zoo's sky is a dark, muted purple, with the occasional trippy pink highlights. The ground looks like a concrete floor. I'm reminded of those concrete/metal/wooden jungle gyms when I was a kid that always felt slightly dangerous, but you loved risking your life anyway, lol. When I think of '80s kids entertainment, I always think of that slightly edgy, almost melancholy vibe. They seemed to understand that childhood isn't all bright and cheery. There are uneasy, thoughtful moments too, and that was OK.

1992's Adventures in Wonderland has a much brighter blue sky, heck everything's a lot brighter, and the ground looks much more glossy and safe. It's like in the '90s, all the experimental artists were kicked out and replaced with a much more commercial aesthetic. Adults seemed to scramble and make sure everything was nice and safe for the youngins.

Even with the costumes, there are differences. Zoobilee Zoo's costumes are (again) muted colors, and everything's surprisingly baggy. Which actually kinda makes sense; these are animals with fur. In Adventures in Wonderland, everything's a lot (again) brighter and fitted better. Yes, that's clearly so the performers can move about effectively, but let's be honest, they also did it because it "looks" better.

Again, don't get me wrong, I love Adventures in Wonderland. The writing was probably a bit more polished on that show (again Disney ). But you have to give shows like Zoobilee Zoo credit for paving the way.

 

[Drtooth]

I'm actually glad that kid's programming is getting good and far less annoying that it was just a few years back. There's nothing I could add on the list, much as I could try... except I caught some of Team Umizumi (or whatever). I hate the fake Japanese sounding name, but they essentially still follow the lame Dora mode of pretending to be interactive. Less and less kid's entertainment is following this, and I'm quite proud of shows like Doc McStuffins and Sofia the first. But that dang Umizoomi. Really?!

 

[CensoredAlso]

I'm actually glad that kid's programming is getting good and far less annoying that it was just a few years back.

The only current kid's show I catch with any regularly nowadays is Rescue Bots. And that's definitely an A+. It's what G1 might have been if Hasbro had giving a little more attention to the writing instead of the toyline.

 

[Drtooth]

The problem with G1 is what I call 1980's cartoon syndrome. It had some great episodes (some of the best ones were written by someone who HATED writing for the series), and then it had the other episodes that were written rushed to fill out the 65 episode requirements. Same problem I have with the original Turtles series. You have Cowabunga Shredhead one day and Mr. Ogg goes to Town another. very inconsistent.

But Rescue Bots has what most Pre-School, Kindergarten, to First grade shows should have. The series is toned down considerably from it's older kid counterpart, Prime (which is in the same continuity... nice little fridge horror there), but not to the point where it's insulting or doofy. People are regularly in danger, sometimes life and death, and there's a great load of action without having to be violent or extremely nerve wracking, and the humor couldn't be any sharper. Overall, it's a great show for the little ones that doesn't insult their intelligence and it feels like a real cartoon series, rather than one made for educational purposes.

I also want to give a positive shout out to Peppa Pig. I managed to catch some of that (usually out of context) flipping through the channels, and it's... well, it's British. Very, very British. But in the sly humor British sort of way. I'm glad we're moving to something like that and less Dora crap. And Peg + Cat is also something that should be checked out. It manages to talk to the audience, but not in a pseudo-interactive way. And that has some very sly humor as well. I was pretty surprised by that one.

 

[mr3urious]

The problem with G1 is what I call 1980's cartoon syndrome. It had some great episodes (some of the best ones were written by someone who HATED writing for the series), and then it had the other episodes that were written rushed to fill out the 65 episode requirements. Same problem I have with the original Turtles series. You have Cowabunga Shredhead one day and Mr. Ogg goes to Town another. very inconsistent.

The Big Book of Stock Plots (TM) strikes again!

But Rescue Bots has what most Pre-School, Kindergarten, to First grade shows should have. The series is toned down considerably from it's older kid counterpart, Prime (which is in the same continuity... nice little fridge horror there), but not to the point where it's insulting or doofy. People are regularly in danger, sometimes life and death, and there's a great load of action without having to be violent or extremely nerve wracking, and the humor couldn't be any sharper. Overall, it's a great show for the little ones that doesn't insult their intelligence and it feels like a real cartoon series, rather than one made for educational purposes.

The human cast is also really good (especially the LeVar Burton-voiced scientist), and their focus is about 50/50 with the Bots.

I also want to give a positive shout out to Peppa Pig. I managed to catch some of that (usually out of context) flipping through the channels, and it's... well, it's British. Very, very British. But in the sly humor British sort of way. I'm glad we're moving to something like that and less Dora crap. And Peg + Cat is also something that should be checked out. It manages to talk to the audience, but not in a pseudo-interactive way. And that has some very sly humor as well. I was pretty surprised by that one.

The new Peter Rabbit series is also surprisingly watchable. They did add a girl rabbit specifically for that series, but so far she doesn't come across as bland or insulting.

 

[CensoredAlso]

The problem with G1 is what I call 1980's cartoon syndrome. It had some great episodes (some of the best ones were written by someone who HATED writing for the series), and then it had the other episodes that were written rushed to fill out the 65 episode requirements.

Sure, there are always filler episodes; they can't all be "Fire in the Sky."

But in general, the writing for G1 was always a bit too spare. It's like they'd concentrate more on getting the plot done in a hurry than giving the characters their moments (unless your name was Starscream--Megatron's personal Greek Chorus, lol).

Rescue Bots knows the most important thing isn't the plot. Who cares what the latest contrived disaster is? The most important thing is giving each character an established personality quirk and making sure they all have their moment to shine. It's formulaic TV at its finest.

 

[Drtooth]

The Big Book of Stock Plots (TM) strikes again!

Especially with David Wise who tended to reuse plotlines for He-Man, Transformers and TMNT. Also known as Day of the Machines, Kremzeek!, and The Big Zapp Attack, respectively. But yeah. There's a difference between writing a year's worth of 13 episodes or having to cram in 65 episodes. it's completely forgivable, but you have great episodes next to rushed out, unsatisfying (or unwatchable) ones. I honestly don't get why the last season of Transformers G1 gets so much hate, since (discounting some dumb episodes like Carnage in C Minor) they had some pretty strong concepts and storylines (especially Call of the Primatives) to compensate for the lack of big name characters they killed off to sell more characters. Especially compared to some of the stock plots from the 65 episode season 2.