Man, What happened to kids shows nowadays?

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It seems like kids shows are specifically going down the tube. Even more specifically, the cartoons they show. I remember that I used to love watching Classic Nickelodeon and Classic Cartoon Network and I was given a treat by Hey Arnold!, Ed, Edd 'n Eddy, As Told By Ginger, Rugrats, Rocko's Modern Life, etc. and now it's all gone. There should be a cable TV network dedicated to old showings of classic reruns in more variety than TV Land (and what has become of it). Also, what ever happened when networked TV stations would show a variety of programs other than the local and network news. I remember I used to get up to watch this local kid's fitness program on our ABC affiliate. What happened to all this stuff?

Please don't forget Pinwheel on old Nickelodeon

I'm too young to remember.

You're not alone in feeling this way. I think a lot of people feel this way simply because they've grown up. They would have disliked current kids' television programs no matter their quality. You look back on the shows you liked as a kid because they were an integral part of your childhood.

And there are channels that play a lot of old television shows, such as Boomerang and Nicktoons. Not everybody has those channels, though.

The television distribution structures and juvenile cultural standards have both changed drastically since we were kids. For me, even some of those original shows of the Nicktoons boom were strange. I think you'll find that the tone of those shows has been carried into programming directed at the younger adult age bracket.

I do think kids shows today are crap. I think even long-running ones like Sesame Street have really taken a weird tone. And I don't understand the animations of a lot of kids' cartoons these days . . . sharp angles and weird dimensions.

Hear. Hear.

My fellow Australians: do any of you remember a*mazing?

All new cartoon shows these days look like bad anime ripoffs. It's nauseating.

I agree that many kids shows have dwindled in quality over the years. But I think it's because of parents having become increasingly afraid of violence and such. Many of the good cartoon series back then were usually sugarcoated with battles and nice effects along with truly scary villains. Shows back then were fun and just plain enjoyable.

Today, there are still some fun cartoon series around (like Chowder), but many of them just feel the same and chops along with no real story or the nice stuff from our time it all seems like this:

1. there the lame kids show made in Flash designed to teach kids Spanish or Chinese and has some really obvious morale that really are the parents' duty to teach their kids.

2. there's the freakish kids' show that comes stright from the bowels of hell itself (Yes, I mean Teletubbies... no way i'm gonna let my kids see tht crap)

3. the Pokemon ripoff whose sole purpose is to turn kids into mindless consumers. Toys have become something to collect rather than something to play with because of them.

4. the superhero remake cartoon. Now with reduced violence and more cuddlesomeness.

5. that respectable cartoons with good characters and a good story that quickly gets taken off the air again because of ranting parents

Take something like the 90's spiderman and batman cartoons. See what they contain. They usually never contain some weird morale on how to behave, they have a coherent story and awesomely scary villains, along with punches that really seemed to hurt. Seriously, kids down to the age of 3 (including myself) would watch the saturday morning block and gaze in the awesomeness of the drawing and the action.

Today, theres some morale stuck in every single goddamn episode, it's just not fun anymore. Thank God we have anime

Wow, so much.

Thoughts....

1. Kids shows were always used to try and sell goods, but I recall a time when they were at least showing some creative quality.

2. As TV is being written by the "next generation" of writers, a generation of people who basically never read a book are now coming up with scripts. No wonder why there is nothing new or creative in the latest works.

3. Lots of political clout to use TV to indoctrinate society. Kids are the leaders 40 years from now, and the messages packed into kids TV is scary at times.

Do your kids a favor. Don't have a TV in your home or basically keep it disconnected from any broadcast or cable input. Don't watch anything you haven't screened for quality.

I agree, actually. Today's kid's TV sucks big time.

Today's kids TV is NOTHING compared to the Golden era back in the 80's and the 90's. Who can ever forget some of the classic theme tunes such as Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors (Always sends chills down my spine) and M.A.S.K? (Personal fave, my kids will be raised on it).

The biggest insult was when SWAT Kats ended after 2 seasons, because it was deemed "too violent". Now if two vigilante jet pilots flying a jet and battling criminals such as a psychotic half cat/snake doctor and two robotic gangsters is deemed violent, then im a cave troll's uncle.

As for superhero toons, the days of Batman: the Animated Series, X Men and Spiderman are long gone. At least they were entertaining enough to keep us coming back for more.

of course not all of them... many of them had some merchandise (action figures etc) on the side, but that's about it, it was not there ONLY to sell something... many shows just feel that way now... just think about yu-gi-oh, beyblade and bakugan to mention a few.


or more importantly COMIC BOOKS. Just look at those superhero remake cartoons, they're usually some kind of alternate reality BS and rarely follow the comics at all.


I agree on those morales and messages they are really scary at times. That's whi I think it's better left to parents to raise their children than just placing them in front of the TV all the time. Even though my sister is quite lenient with what shows her two kids watch, there's still some times where she just says "WTF is this?"


They say a TV is required in order to be a part of the world, it isn't. I keep tabs on what I want to watch through the internet. not only because every american show is broadcast 1 or 2 seasons behind (because of subtitles), but also because TV rarely has anything else than reruns to offer. I get every show I want to see shoved down the phat pipe and served on a silver platter.
That's how I want my kids to choose their TV. By clicking on a link. TV is dying and the internet is the most important tool we have to teach our children to use, and if you know how to use the internet well, everything can be served on a silver platter.

With apologiez to parents out there, it doesn't seem like the same old "Our days were better" thing, today's kids and cartoon shows really do seem to suck. One of my theories goes to the political corectness of Hollywood for that. I once heard a comment on a YouTube of old-school Nickelodeon say that he showed his younger cousins tapes of old-school Nick, and even they are starting to wish they were born to see that good stuff. It's too sad.

Where is Animaniacs, and the good subtle humor that came with it and the other Warner Bros. animated shows?

I said the same thing about those cartoons when they were on. The fact that you're asking "what happened to kids shows nowadays?" means you're getting old!

Kids' shows have almost always been awful. You just grew up.

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