I worked at a comic shop for 4 years, we pride ourselves on having a good "Kids/all ages" section of stuff that was more in line with what kids saw on TV; Justice League, The Avengers, Young Justice, Batman Brave and the Bold, avatar the last Airbender, adventure time, etc. That shop sounds like they need to stock better.
As a child, I thought Dungeons and Dragons, X-Men, Spider Man (the 90s version), and the DCAU series (Batman, Superman, etc.) were really fantastic cartoon series. I've seen some of them since then, and they still hold up really well.
Most of the comic book and related shows today, including Marvel's, seem comparatively unwatchable and immature. They are definitely not designed to be for anyone but the youngest children. Young Justice is a notable exception.
Almost all cartoons aimed at kids hope to make money on related merchandise. A lot of animated shows were cancelled because while the ratings were good, they skewed toward older teens and adults that didn't buy toys. Two that come to mind are "Young Justice" and the original "Teen Titans". Cartoon Network specifically made "Teen Titans Go!" to skew younger.
This isn't a new thing, they killed off most of the Transformers in the 80s movie so they could introduce a new line of characters/toys.
And that's why only let my kids watch my kid friendly curated collection:
Gummi Bears, DuckTales, Conan the Adventurer, Darkwing Duck, The Legend of Prince Valiant, Talespin, Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers, Defenders of the Earth, He-Man, Tintin, Dungeons and Dragons, Captain Planet, Batman The Animated Series, Avatar and Korra.
>TV for kids just sucks these days. The audience isn't kids, it's grandparents who imagine that their grandkids will be entertained by it.
I am curious about what you mean by 'TV for kids'.
It seems to me that 'kid shows' have been pretty good since the early nineties (Ducktales, Animaniacs, Gargoyles, the DC Animated universe cartoons). More recently: Kim Possible, Spectacular Spider-Man, Samurai Jack, Sym-Bionic Titan, Transformers Animated, the Avengers and Young Justice have been phenomenal with respect to writing, voice acting and animation. This is one area where I'm a little envious of kids these days.
I grew up with cartoons made to sell toys. They get shows made to tell (good) stories.
> And maybe there's more a percentage of "childish things" enjoyed now
At some point we have to adjust the scales and say that since so many adults are enjoying "childish" activities and media that those things are just for adults now, and maybe always have been if there wasn't so much shame around it. Adults enjoy Bluey more than their kids do. Craig of The Creek and Gumball are some of my friend's favorites. Ted Lasso took all the formulas from children's media but put them in adult situations and it won like every award. Marvel is now more a hit with adults than kids.
> I don't know what happened to cartoons, but nothing seems to be interesting that's also geared towards children these days
I don't disagree entirely, but there are still some gems today that are enjoyable for kids and adults. Speaking of Looney Tunes, the new "The Looney Tunes Show" is pretty great. And there are some things on Cartoon Network that are passable, like Adventure Time and reruns of other niche shows from the past 10 years.
I think the options are fewer, or the ocean of content is vaster, so it seems like there's nothing there when there is.
Archie, Donald Duck, Mickey Mouse, Asterix, Tintin... Old comics, from the 1980's or earlier are pretty safe. These days the audience is 15+ guys. Soft porn and hardcore violence. Why would he take his 7 year old daughter and 5 year old son to look at that?
For kids that young seeing is believing. My nephew at 6 watched Star Wars over Christmas. You explain that it isn't real, they are actors in a play, playing characters - he's been in several plays himself - and then later on he says 'but it must be real, because how could they make a whole planet?'.
When she gets older, if you let her watch Cartoon Network, there's quite a bit of content with zero educational or moral value. In fact, the latest incarnation of Teen Titans seems to be written by people my age (40) _for_ people my age. With tons of references to 80s culture that the kids would never get.
> I sometimes wonder where the equivalent items for other generations are…
My kids watch shows like Steven Universe and Adventure Time, and those often remind me of C&H in that they can be enjoyed on multiple levels. and often mix some pretty deep insight in with the entertainment.
In the US it's trying very hard to appear kid/family friendly. To the point where the Disney+ versions of PG movies and many TV shows have extra censorship (you can look around online for lists of content that's been bowdlerized on Disney+)
Taking off my nostalgia-colored glasses, every cartoon I remember watching as a kid pushed merchandise in some form or another, even if it was only the licensed character figures and graphic tee-shirts.
It has been a long while since I have seen Woody Woodpecker, Chilly Willy, or Tom and Jerry in stores, though. I hated The Flintstones and The Jetsons, and never watched reruns of them. By the time we got GI Joe, MASK, Jem, Strawberry Shortcake, My Little Pony, He-Man, Care Bears, Thundercats, Voltron, etc. they were just wall-to-wall toy ad. That saturation ad-bombing backed off as cable TV ramped up, because then you could get Disney Channel and Nickelodeon.
Classic Looney Tunes; Tiny Toon Adventures; The Real Ghostbusters; Robotech; Animaniacs; Batman: the Animated Series; Rugrats; Doug; Hey, Arnold!; Rocko's Modern Life; CatDog; Ed, Edd, and Eddy; Dexter's Laboratory; Cow and Chicken; I Am Weasel; Ren and Stimpy; Powerpuff Girls; Freakazoid; Spongebob Squarepants; Avatar: the Last Airbender; Ducktales; Rescue Rangers; Adventures of the Gummi Bears; TaleSpin; Darkwing Duck; Goof Troop; Phineas and Ferb; Gravity Falls; The Proud Family; Kim Possible; Star vs. the Forces of Evil; Homestar Runner; Wallace and Gromit.
In the UK they blame the audience changing. In the 80's kids 4-14 watched childrens tv. Now its more 4-9 years old. The older kids are gone to playing video games, internetting, reading Harry Potter? So its Peppa Pigg or Smallville with no audience left inbetween.
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