The Titans toon might offer me and my kids a few laughs. This new Batman show looks like a complete dud to me. Whats so wrong with having a show of substance? Something you can actually invest in? Something that can appeal to all ages? Something that actually satisfies and engages? something like JLU and YJ? After they forced JLU off the air theyve done nothing but dumb everything down and show nothing but mosty heartless crap. I never expected to see anything like the quality I saw in YJ again... and of course its dead as soon as it began.
Cartoon Network shows that premiered after the end of JLU that are actually pretty damn good, and which both satisfy and engage myself and my kids, which are not dumbed down, and which are most certainly not heartless crap:
Batman: The Brave and the Bold Adventure Time The Looney Tunes Show Regular Show
My kids (16 and 7) both like JLU a lot, but they both would much rather watch any of the shows I listed than GL or YJ. I even tried to get them to watch, but they just weren’t interested. On Saturday morning, my 7-year-old watches TMNT instead (another good show), while my 16-year-old plays computer games.
I'll give you adventure time is fun and has some sweet underlying sentiments. Bbatb was also enjoyable for what it was. Even loony toons ive watcged. They each appealed to young and old in their own way but in a different way than I'm thinking of. Regular show I enjoy ok but don't think it's for kids. It's geared for gollege students IMO. Some eps have even angered me they directed supposedly at kids. I want something with a degree of continuity and character development etc.
Well, all four shows do have some degree of continuity and character development—particularly Adventure Time—but I take your meaning. And that’s fine. I enjoy continuity-heavy shows as well as continuity-light shows, though I don’t think one type is necessarily better than the other. A good show is a good show in my book.
As for Regular Show, no cartoons are geared for college students. Okay, the Adult Swim shows and probably some anime shows are geared towards college students, but Regular Show only gives the appearance of being geared towards college students so that middle school and high school kids will think it’s cool. Seriously. My 7-year-old likes it more than my 16-year-old (though it’s not her favorite show), and a lot of her school friends like it as much as she does. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard them imitate the “yeah-yah” and “ooooooooohhhh” from the show (complete with the accompanying gestures). Out of curiosity, what parts of the show do you think are inappropriate for kids? Personally, I don’t remember seeing anything in the show that’s any worse than what’s in YJ. Any bad behavior of the characters is, by the end of the episode, shown to be bad behavior, and a large percentage of the episodes are basically morality plays—a little crazy, even a little surreal at times, but still morality plays.
I agree both types of shows have a place and each can be thoroughly enjoyable and good. At the end of the day quality is quality. I've just seen and tired of the trend of moving away from the "long form" approach. They seem so against it. They won't let anything breath or grow anymore. Of course that goes for all media now sadly. Although off topic, my 7 year old likes regular show a lot too. I didn't mean literally aimed at college age, just the demo I see its tone, humor and references having the most resonance. As for an example of what i consider an poor message to send to kids, i actually saw tonight. Specifically the characters addressed the lack of importance of a high school diploma. That its just a piece of paper that doesn't matter and being smart sucks and then proceeded to toast being stupid.
I agree both types of shows have a place and each can be thoroughly enjoyable and good. At the end of the day quality is quality. I've just seen and tired of the trend of moving away from the "long form" approach. They seem so against it. They won't let anything breath or grow anymore. Of course that goes for all media now sadly. Although off topic, my 7 year old likes regular show a lot too. I didn't mean literally aimed at college age, just the demo I see its tone, humor and references having the most resonance. As for an example of what i consider an poor message to send to kids, i actually saw tonight. Specifically the characters addressed the lack of importance of a high school diploma. That its just a piece of paper that doesn't matter and being smart sucks and then proceeded to toast being stupid.
Well, I can’t speak to that episode, as I don’t remember having seen that particular scene, but did the show later make a point of showing the fact that those same characters (I assume it’s Mordecai and Rigby who are making the toast) are in a dead-end job, they’re always broke, they have to share a computer with the rest of the house-mates, they hate physical labor their job requires, or anything like that as they have in other episodes? That’s usually what happens in the show. For example, the episode where Mordecai and Rigby are fed up with Benson’s strict rules and leave the house. They end up in a dimension with no rules and realize how chaotic and unlivable the place is, so they end up going back to the house, Benson realizes he can be too strict at times, and M and R realize rules are necessary. I like the moral of this one because it isn’t a blanket statement of, “You must always follow the rules, no matter what.” Instead it’s, “Rules are an important cornerstone of a stable society, but they should be questioned and discussed to make sure they are the truly for the betterment of the society.” Maybe I’m reading more into it than was actually intended, but I do think that’s more or less what they were shooting for.
As for the tone, to me it’s kind of like Stan Lee and the early days of Marvel. Stan made out like he was hip, he traveled around college campuses, and gave the appearance he “got” that generation and was writing for them. And, yeah, he earned quite a few college-aged readers, but the readership that really turned on to Marvel in droves were the teenagers—the real target audience. Rather than giving up comics because they were “for kids” as most kids their age did at the time, they could say, “Hey, these comics are for college kids, so it’s okay if I read them.” That’s basically the impression I get from Regular Show. And like most of those early Marvel stories, I don’t think Regular Show will hold up very well with age. It’s a bit too much of its time.
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I want something with a degree of continuity and character development etc.
As for Regular Show, no cartoons are geared for college students. Okay, the Adult Swim shows and probably some anime shows are geared towards college students, but Regular Show only gives the appearance of being geared towards college students so that middle school and high school kids will think it’s cool. Seriously. My 7-year-old likes it more than my 16-year-old (though it’s not her favorite show), and a lot of her school friends like it as much as she does. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard them imitate the “yeah-yah” and “ooooooooohhhh” from the show (complete with the accompanying gestures). Out of curiosity, what parts of the show do you think are inappropriate for kids? Personally, I don’t remember seeing anything in the show that’s any worse than what’s in YJ. Any bad behavior of the characters is, by the end of the episode, shown to be bad behavior, and a large percentage of the episodes are basically morality plays—a little crazy, even a little surreal at times, but still morality plays.
Although off topic, my 7 year old likes regular show a lot too. I didn't mean literally aimed at college age, just the demo I see its tone, humor and references having the most resonance.
As for an example of what i consider an poor message to send to kids, i actually saw tonight. Specifically the characters addressed the lack of importance of a high school diploma. That its just a piece of paper that doesn't matter and being smart sucks and then proceeded to toast being stupid.
As for the tone, to me it’s kind of like Stan Lee and the early days of Marvel. Stan made out like he was hip, he traveled around college campuses, and gave the appearance he “got” that generation and was writing for them. And, yeah, he earned quite a few college-aged readers, but the readership that really turned on to Marvel in droves were the teenagers—the real target audience. Rather than giving up comics because they were “for kids” as most kids their age did at the time, they could say, “Hey, these comics are for college kids, so it’s okay if I read them.” That’s basically the impression I get from Regular Show. And like most of those early Marvel stories, I don’t think Regular Show will hold up very well with age. It’s a bit too much of its time.