What happened to cartoons?

[traceur_]

I think any cartoon that calls cartoon network home is dead and unbelievably bad, it makes me want to thoroughly beat the writers while wielding a five year old child. There is no humour in any of them, the only one's that can be good are the MA rated ones i.e family guy, drawn together, south park. You can't make a show truly funny without adult humour. Incidentally my favourite show is drawn together.

 

[Sacman]

well the reason cartoons are generally bad is because they (and I just found this out not to long ago) have to have a moral(I think I spelled that wrong but I don't kare) they can't be all action or all comedy because some TV channels (like cartoon network) won't air it if it doesn't have a moral. not to mention if they do air it whinning over protective mothers will just complain until it's taken down thats what happened to toonami well until it got stuck with only Naruto and God knows an entire program can't subside on Naruto for long. so now I look to Japan and the internet for my cartoon entertainment.

oh and my favorite cartoon is Ed, Edd, and Eddy.

 

[Fatalis67]

Every cartoon now has to have a "SUPER AWESOME LIFE LESSON FOR KIDS!!!" in every episode. All the good shows like Rockos Modern Life, Ren & Stimpy, and more get cancelled and are reran at midnight every so often.

 

[Mumorpuger]

what happened to cartoons? why are all of the new ones(except a select few) terrible. what ever happened to shows like the angry beavers and rugrats? G.I Joe and thunder cats? what seperates the new cartoons from the old. what were your favorite old cartoons?

One of the big problems with the cartoons I grew up with and came to love was that they were solely created to push toys on the market- G.I. Joe was the biggest culprit.

 

[Sacman]

I know. I loved Pinky and the Brain,everything has been downhill fromthere.

pinky and the brain and the whole animaniacs crew, i miss them all so much. There are 1 or new good ones but i think cartoons and cartoonists are scared to try some thing new. Sponegebob became hugely popular because its complete idiotic crew so now every other cartoon as some sort of idiotic crew or cast to try and make it as big as SpongeBob so we are in a never ending loop of idiocy

That is an interesting theory, I never got why people liked Sponge Bob, it is one of those shows that actually makes you more dumb.

I don't think cartoons make people Dumb I prefer to blame rap music (especially that Bullshit excuse for music that is played in america all it does is copy a crappy rock song from the 80's and change the words to shit thats supposed to get stuck in your head for days like subliminal messaging) and the no child left behind act.

 

[Ben66]

I don't think it's a deal with nostalgia-tinted glasses. It's the the quality of television...er, the quality of EVERYTHING becoming lower as everyone becomes stupider.

I personally think Hanna-Barbarra is to blame for all of this. Say what you will about Flintstones and Jetsons being a product of those eras in television history, but they were utterly crappy back then too. What's worse is that the lazy (though admittidely neccessary at the time) animation techniques were praised as innovative, not because they explored new ground in animation, but because they just saved money.

One more off-topic rant about The Flintstones: Flintstones was lauded as the first prime-time animated sitcom for adults. I'm 18 years old, watched some episodes of the early Flintstones, they were horrible. Between the cringe-worthy characters and dialogue, and the stupid rock/dinosaur puns, it was embarrassing to watch.

Anyway, HB may have tainted cartoons forever, because they were the culprit in not just ripping off live-action sitcoms, but eventually ripping off themselves.

Captain Cavemen and the Teen Angels: A group of teenagers team up with a comic-relief character, usually an out of place talking creature or normally inanimate object, to solve hilarious and sometimes scary mysteries. Doubling as a band is optional.

In that one show they shamelessly rip off of Flintstones, Scooby-Doo/Speed-Buggy/Josie & the Pussycats, and even just transplant Captain Caveman into it.

Cut to the 90's, we start seeing some unique stuff again. Rocko's Modern Life had some consistant clever humor on everyday life (and some obvious sex innuendo), Cartoon Network started coming out with some clever cartoons, and of course let's not forget Batman: The Animated Series.

Cut to the 2000's, everything starts falling apart again. Cartoons are ripping off each other, animation is getting lazier DESPITE the fact computers should in theory be making it easier to make amazing stuff...

Like I said, just the general decline of society is what's causing all of this. Though there are still some good shows out there going against the odds.

 

[Finbark]

What happened to them? They were all brutally murdered, chopped up into tiny, unidentifiable pieces then thrown into the National Nickelodeon River. That's what happened.

 

[IxionIndustries]

They were kidnapped by Disney Channel, taken to Never-Neverland, and brutally (baby-safe) in the (nothing to see here!)
Nickelodeon just swallowed cartoons, and regurgitated them into it's trademark green slime..
Cartoon Network.. well.. their just old and senile, like the grandparent who left off to go to the insane asylum.
However, T.V. has become shit lately. I mean, if you really think about the commercials they have nowadays, you'd already have thrown your t.v. set out the window.

 

[dalek sec]

I'm chaulking it up to the "every episode must have a friggin life moral" cramped into it group of whiny over protective parents who want to shield their little brat from anything that isn't friendly or soft.

 

[The_Chief]

not an adult to all the people that say your tastes change as an adult. im 14, not an adult.

and yes i love chowder

 

[Deef]

The kids who enjoyed such cartoons are no longer kids.

 

[Souplex]

I have two theories.
It all went down the tubes due to Poke'mon's influence.
It was ruined by the Y2K bug.

 

[Nostalgia]

I had made a post about this similar topic once before. Let me dig it up, and edit it a bit.

It's not all rose-tinted glasses. I'm sure a lot of people biased towards the 90's, such as myself, would say that there is still some great cartoons out there.
The point people are trying to make is that while some shows in this decade can be great, most are mediocre or terrible, and devoid of any witty humor or bar-raising standard.

Nick is slowly shying away from their animated series, having seemingly more live-action shows than animated. Its collective shows are lackluster, and they show the same 4 shows (Oddparents, Spongebob, iCarly, Drake&Josh) almost exclusively throughout most of their primetime hours. They also seem to be giving major sponsoring to bands that aren't worth it and don't deserve any type of popularity they unfortunately get.

Back then, Nick did have its nicktoons that they showed regularly, but not to the same extremes. They had much more variety.
- Doug, Rugrats, Rocko, Ren and Stimpy, Hey Arnold, Angry Beavers, Ahh! Real Monsters, Kablam!, Zim, The Wild Thornberries.

Then you had shows targeted to their teen fan-base, which included mostly live-action shows.
- As Told By Ginger, Kenan and Kel, All That, The Amanda Show, Clarissa, Pete&Pete, Alex Mack, Are You Afraid of The Dark?

Also, there was Nick GAS that showed a load of game-shows.
- Hidden Temple, Double Dare, GUTS, Nick Arcade, Figure It Out, Get the Picture

Now, whether or not any of these were good to you, the point I'm trying to make is that there was so much more variety. Whether or not they got their deserved block is up for debate, but I remember watching a lot of shows extensively during their time alive. Nick seemed a lot more focused on their fan-base.
Do you see game-shows or any shows with an audience anymore?
While some shows were extremely corny like Figure It Out or The Amanda Show, kids, as well as their parents, actively got to participate in a lot of fun game-shows, and be close to some of the actors that have been giving them entertainment for the time they watched them.

What ever happened to that? Do they save all their energy for The Kids Choice Awards once a year?

I'd probably rant off on Cartoon Network, but I think I said enough. Besides, Cartoon Network hasn't really totally screwed itself over.
While it does have shows that show itself each day, it still shows more than Nick ever does, varying its schedule. Whether or not these cartoons are good or not, I'm not entirely sure. CN also supports its Boomerang channel that is constantly airing classic cartoons, as well as Adult Swim's night block. Toonami is a shadow of its former self though.
Nick might of had their Nicktoons channel, but it deviates far from what it was originally for, and last I checked, GAS was totally removed from my cable provider.

The more and more creators realize it, you don't have to put much effort in when making a cartoon anymore, and even less effort to ignore them altogether. It only becomes more apparent down the road.

 

[PatientGrasshopper]

I know. I loved Pinky and the Brain,everything has been downhill fromthere.

pinky and the brain and the whole animaniacs crew, i miss them all so much. There are 1 or new good ones but i think cartoons and cartoonists are scared to try some thing new. Sponegebob became hugely popular because its complete idiotic crew so now every other cartoon as some sort of idiotic crew or cast to try and make it as big as SpongeBob so we are in a never ending loop of idiocy

That is an interesting theory, I never got why people liked Sponge Bob, it is one of those shows that actually makes you more dumb.

I don't think cartoons make people Dumb I prefer to blame rap music (especially that Bullshit excuse for music that is played in america all it does is copy a crappy rock song from the 80's and change the words to shit thats supposed to get stuck in your head for days like subliminal messaging) and the no child left behind act.

Oh man, yes Rap is the worst. It is all anyone plays as far as "dance music" goes even though there is music that is much better to dance to. Rap isn't even really music because it lacks melody.

 

[Booze Zombie]

I miss Dexter's Laboratory, the old Ed,Edd 'n' Eddy episodes and Animaniacs... *Sigh*

 

[NoNameMcgee]

Cartoons used to appeal to both adults and kids, and sadly now they are made with just the kids in mind.

I love The Simpsons, and I love Spongebob Squarepants (sorry but I giggle like a schoolgirl at that one, its just good random fun, and its completely adorable) But other than those two all the cartoons still going don't appeal to me.

I love most of the ones already mentioned in this thread, and god I miss cartoons like Johnny Bravo and Dexter's Lab from the 90s too - and I love the really old cartoons even like Tom and Jerry. Nothing like that is made anymore though, time to buy some box sets and enjoy the classics, or move on.

As a big cartoon freak though its sad its come to be this way, and i'm not really sure why.

 

[EvilMaggot]

they are rerunning most of the loony toons and stuff here in denmark but i wake up to late to watch them