In what universe are today's kids' shows too "sugarcoated"?

[CensoredAlso]

Fat Albert is an excellent example of an innocent yet hard hitting kids show.

There was a kids show in the '80s called Today's Special, which did an episode about Alcoholism. And it wasn't just your standard "say no to drugs" episode either. The alcoholic (played by Fraggle Rock's Doc btw!) makes one of puppet characters keep his secret and gets increasing angry and verbally abusive with her throughout the episode. He genuniely apologizes in the end and swears he will get some help, but the characters sadly know it's not always that easy.

To be honest, I can't imagine most kids shows today putting out such a mature and insightful product, despite their increase in edge and attitude. They don't seem to realize that it's ultimately the storytelling, and nothing else, that makes a good show.

I understand what you mean about budget constraints and how they were churning out cartoons like an assembley line, mainly in the '70s. I agree that that was true in many cases. But it's also true that there were just as many shows that were genuninely creative and moral (despite and sometimes because of budget constraints).

And yes, maybe their "genuine intent" was making money. It is a show business; that has always be true and continues to be true today. In this society, you need to make money to get by. But the corruption of the business does not take away from the product itself. The world is not a perfect place, but it would be a lot darker if such kids shows had never existed.

 

[Ilikemuppets]

It's the extent that they go to make money somtimes, you know. But I agree that there was a grater amount of children's programming that did a lot more good twenty years ago they available today.

 

[wwfpooh]

And even into the 90's, shows were made for kids and adults, such as Animaniacs! for one. It not only had the standard Warner humor such as anvil-dropping, but it also subtlely told off-collar, potty humor style jokes (geared towards adults), but not by making them blatant ala those of the "MTV" generation in using swears and semi-nudity to get over (like the rest of the jokes done in bad taste, which would include the stuff in Family Guy), but moreover by making the jokes seem innocent, but still have that slight edge to it (especially in the rarely-used Minerva segments [and Minerva was canned because some depraved fans wanted smut of her, believe it or not]).

 

[Drtooth]

I feel the 90's saw a real revolution, and we must all agree to thank Nicktoons for that. Ren and Stimpy, Doug, Rugrats (but especially Ren and Stimpy) showed that cartoons can have an edge to them, and they can be created by someone. Even with Tiny Toons, which led to Animaniacs, they were doing slightly bolder things. I mean, Tiny toons once made a smug joke about Terrytoons, and I didn't get it until I was much older. In the Episode "who Bopped Bugs Bunny?" the entire episode had to do with the fact "Knighty Knight Bugs" was nominated for an Oscar, as well as some cartoon featuiring Sydney the Elephant, which lost to the Bugs cartoon. The parody was pretty apt. These are pretty much the worst cartoons Terrytones had produced. Sydney (renamed Sappy Stanley) was portrayed as a bitter type that happened to be beloved by the French- a play on Jerry Lewis.

I feel that a lot of current cartoons can really get into obscure "Bullwinkle" type references (Jimmy Neutron's Dog is named after the person who invented Rocket Fuel- Goddard).

But when it comes to crap like Backyardigans and Dora the Explora, there's little educational value in them IMO. They really talk down to kids in these shows.

 

[Beauregard]

In what universe are today's kids' shows too "sugarcoasted"

The Zeblonion Megaverse, Many Parsex Distent From All Known Reality (And Reality TV Shows)

 

[wwfpooh]

But when it comes to crap like Backyardigans and Dora the Explora, there's little educational value in them IMO. They really talk down to kids in these shows.

And too bad the Mouse suffered the same fate with the current Clubhouse incarnation. The thing is...because it IS Mickey Mouse and company that now use the Dora formula, people are more apt to be nice to the Mouse, as opposed to how they are when cracking down on Dora, because Mick is a timeless icon, whereas Dora isn't.

 

[Drtooth]

And too bad the Mouse suffered the same fate with the current Clubhouse incarnation. The thing is...because it IS Mickey Mouse and company that now use the Dora formula, people are more apt to be nice to the Mouse, as opposed to how they are when cracking down on Dora, because Mick is a timeless icon, whereas Dora isn't.

Only good thing about that show? Ludwig VonDrake is in it. I'm disappointed with all the Mickey's Clubhouse merchandise they can't make a Ludwig figure or bean bag or something. Talk about your under appreciated Disney characters.

Only one to get it worse is Gyro Gearloose. He only appeared in animated form in Ducktales and for a brief 1 second cameo in Sports Goofy.

 

[wwfpooh]

Well, Gyro is underappreciated no doubt, but to turn a beloved icon into something they aren't (like Corporate Disney did for its own Mouse and Classic Media's Underdog) is a travesty in of itself, IMO.

 

[CensoredAlso]

I agree, I think it's much worse to distort a character. If you're going to do that, you might as well not use the character at all, in my opinion.

 

[wwfpooh]

I agree, I think it's much worse to distort a character. If you're going to do that, you might as well not use the character at all, in my opinion.

But sadly, all corporations have done it. Disney did it with Mickey as aformentioned, Sega did it with Sonic, Classic Media allowed it to happen with Underdog, etc. I mean...what's next? Team Henson allowing it to occur with The Muppets, Fraggles, or what have you? I certainly hope that is not the case.