I was out shopping all weekend (and I survived) and when doing so I pause quite often and just people watch. It got me thinking of how the youth of today are sure different than yesterday.

It made me think of the types of TV shows I watched for entertainment back then. Especially the cartoons when I was younger....let's compare for example the main one's I watched back then to the average diet of cartoon's today's youth watche's.

Me:
Captain Caveman, Scooby Doo, Looney Toons, Flintstones, Grape Ape, Speed Buggy, and of course Rocky and Bullwinkle, and Underdog. There were more but you get the point.

Today:
South Park, The Simpson's, King of The Hill, Drawn Together, Futurama, Beavis and Butthead, etc. etc. There are others but you get my point.

Today's cartoon's are just crap compared to yesterday's. I have a pretty good sense of humor most of the time and most of the time I find these show's just plain in bad taste and not funny. They poke fun at things that are real issues and make lite of something that is a really serious problem. It is no wonder quite a bit of today's youth act as poorly as they do....look at the role models they are growing up with!

I am just venting now...I better say good day before I go Postal!!!

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BTW..."Captain Caveman" was da bomb!

I dunno. Rocky and Bullwinkle was a great cartoon. Still love it, but...

If you look at how "clean" the cartoons are, your set is probably better. But if you look at wit, the three I list below are on par, if not better than, the set you list above.

I gotta say South Park, Simpsons and Futurama are excellent in their own way. South Park is a bit tough for it's style, and subject matter. Highly recommended for open minded adults. Their exploration of some tough subject matter is just as artful as it gets in animation.

Probably not ok for all kids (many kids). (I didn't let my kids watch, until they could bring me a solid reason why --that has taken to age 14 on average, so far.)

I would rate the Simpsons and Futurama as totally great for kids, IMHO. Both of these feature my favorite kind of presentation, a multi-level one that does not distract from any audience level. You will find rocket scientists and 8 year olds both laughing at Futureama together, each groking their content target with ease. This is not easy to do, not only does this cartoon do it, it does it with style!

Looney Tunes did this well, though it did not span as wide of a gap as Futurama did. They are similar in that kids of today will go back and watch old episodes and enjoy them almost as if they were totally new, just as we did with Looney Tunes.

In a way they are, because they were just not yet ready for the full presentation!

The difference you see today, IMHO? Parents. They are working their ass off, are less involved, etc... Where you see parents manage to get involved, there are not these kinds of problems with kids, no matter what cartoon they are watching!

Gotta disagree with you.

I would rather have my kids hear:

"Eh...What's up Doc"

Instead of:

"Bite My Rusty Metal Ass"


My kid's can watch those when they have there own place. That's my house rule!

Yes you can overcome problem's these will introduce if you are involved but I prefer not to introduce this into my home!

Agree to Disagree with you on this one man!
I say better off not to allow than to allow and overcome what they introduce! Our kid's grow up to fast anyway without throwing adult oriented cartoon's at them as well!

http://home.nc.rr.com/tuco/looney/lists.html

I enjoy this site. It's full of great info on the Loony Tunes.

No worries on that score. I just really like cartoons!

Well there are a few looney toons right here on PDXRADIO (hand up)! LOL

http://www.archive.org/download/Whats_Opera_Doc/Whats_Opera_Doc_512k.mp4

"What's Opera Doc?" - Public Domain Copy, from Archive.org.

I believe that the newer cartoons listed on the original post were not intended to be children's entertainment. When The Simpsons first went on the air, some people were a bit confused about the show, and I remember a newspaper story explaining that this show had been intended to be "adult" entertainment, despite the cartoon format. It was compared to The Flintstones, which originally ran in prime time and had a similar intent (The Flintstones was originally sponsored by Winston Cigarettes, to boot).

The success of The Simpsons led to the production of other new cartoons listed with the intended audience being young adults. Southpark, Beavis and Butthead, and King of the Hill, to a lesser extent, were very popular with college students shortly after their debut.

I don't have anything against TV cartoons being used as a vehicle for satire (The Simpsons, Southpark, King of the Hill, American Dad, etc). I just don't think that parents should allow their kids to watch these shows before they are old enough (13-ish?). On a related note, though, I do think that it is over the top that almost every show on Fox's Sunday night lineup that comes on following The Simpsons has a "Viewer Discretion" disclaimer message.

Sorry, didn't see your post. Was digging for this copy of what I consider to be the greatest cartoon of all time. Saw it at an early age on KPTV. Never forgot it.

Yep. Most of us have all got our nuttiness!

Dark, I think part of our difference here is age of kids! I didn't let them watch any of these until they were older. We also went through a broadcast TV only phase. (This annoyed them to no end! They will still talk about it.)

That is what an involved parent should do. Unfortuneately with the busy lifestyles of many DI (dual income) parents they sometimes do not take the time to police their television. And some of these shows air at times before I get home from work. IMHO thses cartonns should have a PG-13 or NC-17 rating on them. Maybe some do but as I do not watch them I am not sure that they already don't have those. It is hard to setup locks on the Sat as my youngest and oldest are 6 years apart. I wish that the Sat had a station logging option for parents to be able to monitor what there kids have been tuning into. I trust my kids and they know our preference's in our home not to watch these types of cartoon's in our home or elsewhere.

Okay I'll jump in with some thoughts. You guys have made some excellent points.

As a look back on some of the cartoons I grew up watching, we're talking the classics, Bugs, Road Runner, ect...As a kid it was mindless entertainment that killed a Saturday morning after a long week at school. But now when I watch those same cartoons their subtle violence and problem solving skills appall me. As Alfredo mentioned, when you put adult content into animation I think we sometimes automatically assume its kid friendly. Remember the movie “Roger Rabbit?”

We don’t even go to that crap on Saturday mornings around here. Unless is PBS. Our son used to get up to watch this one show on Saturday's and I finally sat in on it and asked him why he liked it so much. He really didn’t know. So I began to point out some of the behavior of the characters in the story line and how they treated other characters and how I was uncomfortable with him watching TV that used violence and being mean as a way to resolve conflict. He stopped watching.

We don’t watch the Simpson’s, South Park or Futurama (never heard of it anyway). Even if the kids were older I still think there is a need for responsibility when it comes to TV programming. PBS does that for me.

One of the benefits working from home (voice tracking a radio show…sorry couldn’t resist for those who hate voice tracking) is my wife and I are here 90 percent of the time. So we do know what our kids are watching at least here at the house. Dual income households I believe need to make an effort to know their kids. The responsibility is just too important. If you can live on one income and maybe a part-time home based business then I say do it for your kids sake. My wife and I have had many opportunities to work for really big money, however it would mean being away from our kids too much. Even as the kids get older we have come to enjoy the slower pace and smelling the roses and being there for our kids. Sorry – got that preachers mentality going again.

To summarize-I think some of the cartoons I watched as kid weren’t good either even though today they seem very tame.

I was a shift worker opposite of my wife when our children were little to eliminate the need for someone else raising our children. I had the morning with the kids. I was never so glad when they outgrew Barney and moved into loony toons and the like. If I ever hear that #$%@ing puprple dinosaur song again I think I ......well I shudder at the thought! I used to have daydreams of having my hands around his throat choking him....hey...what color does purple and blue make anyway? Anyway we survived and our kid's turned out pretty good!

Saturday mornings:
Sky King, My Friend flicka, Three stooges,
Bugs, Texas rangers.

Forgot all about Larry Mo and Curly.....Curly was "THE MAN"!
He cracks me up! ROFL

Don Knotts and Tim Conway were always good for a laugh along with the Carol Burnett Show!

Saturday night TV then:

All in the Family, M*A*S*H*, Mary Tyler Moore, Bob Newhart, Carol Burnett Show

Saturday night TV now:

nothing.

It's all drama and you can't watch anything without two dudes or dude'ets making out!!!! No offense but EEwwwwww! Even SNL pretty much suck's these day's! Gimme Gilligan, Carol Burnett, Hee Haw, Green Acre's, Beverly Hillbillies, etc, etc any day! And of course they could re-run the John Belushi SNL any time they want and I would be OK with that!

I remember Saturday night, as lots of westerns.,

Gunsmoke, Have Gun Will travel, Boots and Saddles,
Maverick, Sugarfoot etc.

Sunday , wonderful world of Disney, Ed Sullivan
and Sunday night Movie

Also Sat Morning Rin Tin Tin.
and Lone Ranger

Remember Wild Kingdom with Marlin Perkins that was always on just before disney? Always watched both! :~)

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Oh man....what about Alf Alpha, Spanky, and Buckwheat? The Little Rascal's......that was great TV!

And is anyone else as turned-off by the new "My Network TV" Tele-Novela crap they seem to be cranking out as I am??

Let's see: "Desire" (rather perjorative title I think Killing, sex, rather grotesque make-out scenes, sex, killing, badly dressed actor/actresses, did I mention sex?, poor/weak story line.......
Fashion House: See "Desire" above.
Watch Over Me: Again see "Desire" above.
Wicked, Wicked Games: At this point the pattern becomes obvious........

Look, TV execs, just because a certain genre is wildly popular or well-liked in one country (i.e. Telenovels in Mexico) doesn't necessarily mean they will be well-liked in another. Didja know Tokyo has an unscrambled 24-hour porno channel on regular, over the air television and apparently is wildly popular there? Wouldn't last a day in the States!

Is it just me or does TV nowdays just suck??

(Okay, now I am just soapboxing, but still.......)

Thankfully *MY* network (if I had one) wouldn't be showing CRAP. Maybe the occasional "South Park" but that's about as far as I might take it...............

Mine would be just all Sci-Fi stuff. Old "B" movies like "Spacehunter Adventures In The Forbidden Zone in 3D", Movies and their sequels like "Aliens" non-stop, old TV series like Space 1999, etc etc.

IMHO, a lot of TV sucks hard.

Still, it's not all bad. Just get a PVR and be choosey with your viewing time. I'm generally down to a few hours per week. I queue it up, then gorge on the good stuff, then that's it until the PVR grabs more!

I only watch what I want to watch and do not suffer through crap I don't want to....find something else to do with the time. Guess that's why I am in here so much.......just mostly crap on TV anymore! But when Stargate's and Battlestar Galactica are on I am MIA from everything else!

Darktemper~

That's how I usually feel, Saturnights 2000-2300p on channel 10...and Tuesnights when Monty Python's on.....

And if I can't be MIA from other activities during those times I thank the Lord I have a VCR......

There are times when you just need to say "No, This is my time, check back later!"

Man do you remember "Benny Hill"? Now there was good TV for you! LOL

Re: My time~ Couldn't agree more. There should be time when folks should just shut-out the rest of the world and focus on only one thing.

(Saying of which, my mind seems to only have around 2kHz bandwidth lately...highly selective by all means........ ;o)

I have heard of Benny Hill, but never really seen it........

If you like Monty then Benny will crack you up as well!

"I have heard of Benny Hill, but never really seen it........"

If you ask me, Jim Spagg had better programming.