Is there anything wrong with adults watching children's TV?

[MeDiCo_BrUjO]

I like Doraemon....


(back in the closet)

[RabidDog]

Watch what the KIds watch, and you will see that enviro issues etc and other "issues" are getting aired. I think KIds are being programmed /habituated /exposed to various ways of thinking that are generally "different" to the mainstream population.

[Xylob the Destroyer]

...I think KIds are being programmed /habituated /exposed to various ways of thinking that are generally "different" to the mainstream population.

This tactic only works if the parents are not doing their job as parents -- you know, actual parenting...
What I'm saying is, this tactic is working VERY well here in the US where the television actually is the parent in most households.

[ViRaL1]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but weren't cartoons originally for adults anyway? I think it wasn't until later that they started gearing animated shorts toward children. There are some shows that are clearly geared toward small children (and possibly the slow-witted), but your average 'cartoon' is geared more toward a more mature audience.

[lordsmurf]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but weren't cartoons originally for adults anyway? I think it wasn't until later that they started gearing animated shorts toward children. There are some shows that are clearly geared toward small children (and possibly the slow-witted), but your average 'cartoon' is geared more toward a more mature audience.

You're not wrong. Comics and cartoons were both made for adults. Kids just happened to like them too. Somewhere in the 1970s or so, people started to find such things as "kids only". The Flintstones was a popular adult animated show when it originally aired.

[MeDiCo_BrUjO]

The Flintstones was a popular adult animated show when it originally aired.

The Flintstones were The Simpson's of their time.

[vhelp]

Personally, there were two main shows (that come to mind) and that I loved watching:

A -- Clarisa Explains it All!
B -- Danger Mouse

Back in the mid 90's, Nic used to air these around 5pm or so. I used rush back home from a
busy days work (or when I was working in the yard all day) to CEA and start my routine. I
was like a child or something back then. It was fun.. learning how she would explain it all
She (the show) reminded me (as I think about it, now) how how youtube is. And in a way, the
show was a rough draft or experimental youtube of its time.

Back then, I was always in a lot of trouble, car/dmv/bus/employment and so on, that when
watching this show, it helped me make it through some of those rough times. Anyway.. I even
named my cat after her !!

They (Nic) took DM off the air several years ago. I never got around to recording them for
future archival purposes. So, I missed that boat. Now, I cruz youtube for whatever I can
find and D/L. ( I also look around for another cartoon favorite, "Underdog" ) I'm not interested
in the quality aspects though that would be automatically considered, but for what my limited
needs are, YT is enough -- for the sentamental/nastagic experiences.

Yeah, around that time, Nic used to have there greate Block Party Summer specials. They were
great. Monster mondays, Lucy tuesdays, bewitch be-wednesdays, Jeany thirsdays, and last,
Karter fridays. And a few other variations every sumer. These shows came on at 8pm and
lasted till 11pm. I think the first two years they doubled them off, by playing the same skit
around 2am onward. When I was out of work (see above rough times) I used watch both
skits. So, in a way, these shows helped me out of some rough times. But, "The Monsters"
was my all time favorite. Then, I also loved, "Jeanne" because I grew up watching these
shows when they first came on tv.

Where has the time gone..

Those are some of my nastalgia shows.

-vhelp 4735

[Xylob the Destroyer]

All of Danger Mouse has been released on DVD now.
I got it from Netflix because I loved it so much as a kid when Nick showed it.
I couldn't even watch all of the first disc. It sucks that bad...
I don't know why I liked it so much as a child!

[Jumbo_Holden]

It is true then that 'years gone by' Nick (US) used to air imported UK cartoons. They only started to make/produce there own later on in the 1990's....I read that on wikipedia but didn't take it as gospel.

Oh and this is my current wallpaper on my computer at the office, and my co-workers give it and me funny looks every day. (NOTE: Family Guy, American Dad, Futurama tiny cults here average brit never heard of them and you're average brit will go cartoons = kids. They don't know those are adult orientated)



My current office wallpaper

[zzyzzx]

[budz]

I'm waiting on Hanna Barbera to release, "The Banana Splits" on dvd. They don't make cartoons like they used to. I'm a big Warner Bros. fan which I had the "Looney Tunes" on laserdisc. I got some of the volumes now on dvd. My niece thinks the cartoons from the 60's, 70's & 80's are so cool. She's only 6 yrs old and she'll sit and watch the looney tunes along with her dad. Cartoons are for adults and children. Nuff said!

[Anonymous4]

12

[Midzuki]

Jumbo_Holden wrote:

http://i26.tinypic.com/15s7hpu.jpg

Except for the South Park team, everything in that wallpaper sucks. :P

zzyzzx wrote:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v513/ncoded/Pedo.jpg

OK, you posted your moralist rant. Thanks for its worthlessness anyway. :P

[Anonymous4]

12

[lordsmurf]

All of Danger Mouse has been released on DVD now. I got it from Netflix because I loved it so much as a kid when Nick showed it. I couldn't even watch all of the first disc. It sucks that bad... I don't know why I liked it so much as a child!

I can say the same about live-action shows I watched as an adult. Even a movie like The Matrix is less entertaining on the repeat. This is one reason I don't understand how people can watch the same movie over and over again. There are some shows out there that I can "watch" while I do work on the computer, and find enjoyable, but if I sat and did nothing but stare at the show on screen, I'd think it sucks. Think back to childhood -- did you watch the show intently, or watch it while you played with toys, ate breakfast, played with siblings, etc? It may be the same case, where you liked it for the background, but your good memories of the show were more influenced by your foreground activities.

[usually_quiet]

Bringing a thread back from the dead...

No there is nothing wrong with adults watching children's programming. When I was a kid in the 1960's and 1970's, cartoons shown in primetime were entertainment the whole family could enjoy. My Dad would also watch Warner Brothers cartoons and Tom and Jerry on Saturday morning with us. Those are happy memories for me.

I don't watch live-action children's programming, but I still love animation. I don't care for things that are based on games sold to kids, or anything as adult-oriented as Family Guy or South Park. "Edgy" humor mostly leaves me cold. The only truly adult-oriented cartoons I watch on a regular basis are King of the Hill, and some popular anime series on Cartoon Network's adult swim.

[freebird73717]

I don't watch any of the childrens cartoons aired today but I do watch the old superhero cartoons of the 70's, 80's, and 90's. Yeah the 70's and 80's cartoons were pretty cheesy but I still enjoy them. I also like anime but then it's not for children anyway....

[gadgetguy]

I've lately grown interested in a fairly new animated show called "Jane and the Dragon" on the Qubo network. The drawing style is like it's drawn in colored pencils, but the animation, particularly the hair, is quite remarkable. The stories are well written and offer good messages without being heavy handed.

[Forum Troll]

I must admit that I enjoy watching "Lazy Town". Something about it is quirky that I find enjoyable. Plus it's not as mindless as the other so-called children's programming.

[Cole]

Some of the best television ever made has been for children; Gerry Anderson's puppet series: Stingray, Thunderbirds, Joe 90 and my personal favourite Captain Scarlett and the Mysterons.

A rather good CGI version of Captain Scarlet was made in the early 2000's but when premièred on British television was treated as an embarrassment by ITV and scattered across a puerile Saturday morning children's show.

Gerry Anderson is now trying to get a CGI version of Thunderbirds (please let's have something to wipe that awful Jonathan Frakes thing from our memories).

[asteroid]

I believe ANY TV or film is bad for your mind, especially for children. It can seriously degrade one's capability to absorb and process information.
Here is a quote from http://www.idloser.com/contents-idw.htm

"Our mind is our most prized possession and yet some people do not protect their minds from "junk food" and outright poison. As a result of that, their minds are in total disarray and cannot be utilized as "designed"
[...] How much a guy is addicted to TV is a very big giveaway regarding the state of his mind, his mental capacity, his drive and his ability and desire to succeed in life.
TV is a very serious poison for the mind, second only to computer games. But since above certain age people normally do not play computer games, TV is by far the single biggest source of mind poison for them."
[+++]

(Just an opinion, but I do know one family, who threw out their TV after their child was born. A man is a computer engineer, he certainly knows a few things about your brains' ability to process information)

Regards
asteroid

[gadgetguy]

I believe ANY TV or film is bad for your mind, especially for children. It can seriously degrade one's capability to absorb and process information.
Here is a quote from http://www.idloser.com/contents-idw.htm

"Our mind is our most prized possession and yet some people do not protect their minds from "junk food" and outright poison. As a result of that, their minds are in total disarray and cannot be utilized as "designed"
[...] How much a guy is addicted to TV is a very big giveaway regarding the state of his mind, his mental capacity, his drive and his ability and desire to succeed in life.
TV is a very serious poison for the mind, second only to computer games. But since above certain age people normally do not play computer games, TV is by far the single biggest source of mind poison for them."
[+++]

(Just an opinion, but I do know one family, who threw out their TV after their child was born. A man is a computer engineer, he certainly knows a few things about your brains' ability to process information)

Regards
asteroid

Poppycock. That assumes that all humans have the same capabilities in regards to absorbing information.
I've trained many technicians with a very low capacity to absorb the meaning of the written word, even though they can read (out loud) the text before them. Written instructions, even with hands on experimentation on the hardware, leaves them baffled. But put them in front of an instructional video, even without the hardware, and they are able to gain the knowledge required to accomplish the task.
Now don't misunderstand. I am not saying that video is superior to the written word, only that different brains are able to absorb information better via different formats and that a brain is not "rotting" just because the head it's in is watching TV.

[lordsmurf]

I think my brain rots from too much reading. I need to watch tv to lose myself for a while, separate from the day of work. I'm pretty restless at night if I don't, brain didn't shut down.

[asteroid]

Thank you for the reply, guys,

I believe the only way to absorb large amounts of information, as well as complex subject-matter is from text.

You do not learn university-level material in a video format, there is simply not enough spoken words to carry all the information that is required to present the subject-matter in sufficient depth.

It is true that a video format can be a useful part of building a knowledge base, just as illustrations often help to visualize things, but the foundation of knowledge is the printed media.
Plenty of video materials are offered from the sources that peddle tutorials on various Internet get-rich-quick schemes. Those videos show the basics of how to operate various computer programs, essentially the same stuff you can find in the beginner computer books, that have plenty of illustrations.

There is a picture of a computer screen with a moving mouse pointer and a voice on the background "first you click this link, it opens a drop-down menu, then you click on that option", and so on.

I guess, the only customers for that kind of stuff are those who believe you can strike it rich on the Internet after learning how to click some links and buttons on a computer screen.

I have seen a very good AutoCad tutorial in a video format, I was quite impressed with it, a guy from our class in college bought it. But still, you could not use it effectively without first going through an AutoCad text book.

Regards:
asteroid

[gadgetguy]

I believe the only way to absorb large amounts of information, as well as complex subject-matter is from text.

Far be it from me to question another man's religion, but belief in something doesn't make it fact. I am curious to know what your basis for comparison is? What alternative methods were available to absorb the "large amounts of information" and what alternative formats were the "complex subject-matter" available in? My own example, while anecdotal, illustrates that some people were able to glean the information from the written text and others were not, but an alternative format allowed those that were not, to reach the same level of expertise required for the job.

[asteroid]

There is no argument that some people are unable to absorb info from a written text and thus the video could well be the only medium for them. Just one look at all those offerings in the area of getting-rich-quick on the Internet is enough to appreciate the market for this kind of stuff.
However, I just cannot see how a complex subject matter, which is in a book of some 1000pp can be presented in a video format.
Regarding training of technicians, at the places where I used to work there were R&D technicians, production technicians and the field-service ones. And yes, when the last two categories have to be trained on a new piece of eqiupment, a good part of it is visual, an engineer would explain the basics in a conference room, go through examples and everything they need to know could be relayed to them in a few hours.
But all those techs had a college education, where they had to work with books.
This could well be different in areas like nursing, a library in any nursing school has plenty of videos covering various items of patient care. But nursing is not math, not physics, not electronics and so on.

Regards: asteroid

[gadgetguy]

I believe ANY TV or film is bad for your mind, especially for children. It can seriously degrade one's capability to absorb and process information.

There is no argument that some people are unable to absorb info from a written text and thus the video could well be the only medium for them.

How can it be bad for the mind and degrade the capability to absorb and process information, and expand knowledge and abilities at the same time? I can agree that much of what's broadcast on our TV airwaves is indeed poison to the mind, but I object to and have argued against the sweeping statement that "ANY TV or film is bad for your mind".

However, I just cannot see how a complex subject matter, which is in a book of some 1000pp can be presented in a video format.

Nor can I, but if there is a way and someone watches it and gains the knowledge contained therein, how have they damaged their ability to absorb and process information?

Regarding training of technicians, at the places where I used to work there were R&D technicians, production technicians and the field-service ones. And yes, when the last two categories have to be trained on a new piece of eqiupment, a good part of it is visual, an engineer would explain the basics in a conference room, go through examples and everything they need to know could be relayed to them in a few hours.
But all those techs had a college education, where they had to work with books.
This could well be different in areas like nursing, a library in any nursing school has plenty of videos covering various items of patient care. But nursing is not math, not physics, not electronics and so on.

But all of this is beside the point, It's not my position that everything can and/or should be learned via video. Nowhere did I say that reading is a useless skill. But the ability to absorb and process information is not exclusive to one media format or sensory input and varies from person to person. Your suggestion that ANY use of one of those formats somehow damages that ability, is what I referred to as poppycock.

[M Bruner]

I don't usually watch them by myself, but when an episode of Davey and Goliath came on that I remembered from forty of so years ago, I sat right there and watched it to the end, and didn't care what anyone said.

[Milewski]

I am in love with cartoon channel, i feel there is problem in watching Children's TV.

[cristan]

Although this post has been ages since anyone posted here, I still would like to make a response to it. Nope there's nothing wrong for adults to watch childrens Tv. Its in the minds of the people.