Are the Disney Channel and Nickelodean ruining children's sense of humor?

[HiddenInPlainView]

This past weekend my fiance's nine year old niece spent the weekend with us. We watched a bunch of old kid movies from our childhoods with her. We watched Gostbusters, Beetlejuice, The Goonies, Adventures In Babysitting, Harry and the Hendersons, and Howard the Duck. While we were cracking up, our niece was just sitting there quietly. Then we started watching ICarly, The Suite Life of Zak and Cody, and something called Bucket and Skinner's Epic Adventure. She was cracking up through all of these shows, but i noticed it was every time the laugh track played when she laughed. These shows may be the epitome of stupid, but the kids love them. And i honestly feel that it is only because they are being told to laugh. Has anyone else experienced this?

 

[Nate DaMac]

Uh, no? You ever just consider that most of the movies you just listed are things that generally appeal to boys? Not to mention, the girl is fucking 9 years old dude. Of course you're going to laugh, you certainly have a better understanding of what's going on having grown up during the time when these movies were released. She's going to understand what's going on during iCarly because she grew up in a world where the things being discussed are prominent.

This notion that children shows are worse today than they were when we were young is laughable. Seriously, don't you remember parents saying the same shit about the stuff we watched? They say the same thing about music too, hell, just look at the Old school wrestling fans. Everyone thinks that their generation's version of something is better than the next, but the truth is, you're too blind to see the truth. You grew up with these shows, they were a part of your childhood. These new shows are directed at children and they will be a part of theirs.

Any time I see adults shit on Kid's shows I just have to laugh. Of course you think they're not funny, you're not a child.

 

[Daniel]

Well, Nate got it perfectly. To the point where I can't really add to that point. What I will do is pick up your criticism of laughter tracks.

Laughter tracks exist for no other reason than to help make the audience laugh. It's a human reaction - you hear laughter and you are more inclined to laugh. It's why if you go to see stand-up you laugh out loud more than if you saw the same thing on TV. You're laughing with other people. It provides a communal experience.

 

[wrestlingfan]

Also another point of the laugh track is to indicate something was meant to be a joke, Again the girl is 9 years old so she could still be differiating in between which is funny and which is not.

 

[MattyB]

I wouldn't say ruining their sense of humor, but really just making them stupid all around now I have a 11 year old brother and a niece and nephew who are 5 and 4, when ever I get stuck with my niece and nephew they enjoy watching shows like adventure time now I don't know if anyone has watched this show but its on one of my top 5 worst cartoon shows along with Flapjack and Chowder. We need good good cartoons back not the crap thats on tv now.

 

[Paralyzer Z]

Meh I personally used to watch some of these shows and found them amusing until recently. Disney has always been known for being cheesy as well as nickelodeon to a lesser extent. But nate or sandy or whatever Tue hell his/her name is, hit the nail on the head. Im far to mature for cheap laughter now and the kids that watch these shows will be two. They will shit on the shows there offsprings watch just as parents of today's world do. And that's the truth (reference to r truth)

 

[Nate DaMac]

I wouldn't say ruining their sense of humor, but really just making them stupid all around now I have a 11 year old brother and a niece and nephew who are 5 and 4, when ever I get stuck with my niece and nephew they enjoy watching shows like adventure time now I don't know if anyone has watched this show but its on one of my top 5 worst cartoon shows along with Flapjack and Chowder. We need good good cartoons back not the crap thats on tv now.

Really dude? You're not supposed to think these shows are good, they're directed at little kids. My son watches shit like Calliou and Kipper, both shows that I think are dumb as hell. But you know what? My son is 3 fucking years old, he's in the demographic that these shows are aimed at. If you actually enjoyed these shows, I'd be a little concerned.

Seriously, go back and watch the shit you were into when you were 4 or 5 years old. If you seriously think that it's any better than the shit kids watch now then you may need some help. I wouldn't worry about the shows affecting their intelligence any more than our shows did. It didn't prevent the OP from misspelling Nickelodeon or you from leaving out the apostrophe on "that's."

 

[MattyB]

Really dude? You're not supposed to think these shows are good, they're directed at little kids. My son watches shit like Calliou and Kipper, both shows that I think are dumb as hell. But you know what? My son is 3 fucking years old, he's in the demographic that these shows are aimed at. If you actually enjoyed these shows, I'd be a little concerned.

Seriously, go back and watch the shit you were into when you were 4 or 5 years old. If you seriously think that it's any better than the shit kids watch now then you may need some help. I wouldn't worry about the shows affecting their intelligence any more than our shows did. It didn't prevent the OP from misspelling Nickelodeon or you from leaving out the apostrophe on "that's."

I do see where your coming from the shows are aimed at kids who have little to no attention span. But truthfully you cant tell me shows like Avatar and Chowder are the same. Would I pick Dragon Ball Z over any cartoon today yes I would because it had a story line to it that made it enjoyable to watch. I cant think of any cartoon today that has a story line where you must watch the episodes and recall on them to help you better understand what is going on in the story. I guess that's fine if that's what cartoon makers are trying to push not trying to make your kids think just laugh at semi funny jokes. Personally Id rather have my kids watch the stuff I used to watch because at least they would have to think through most of the episode rather then sit there and just laugh when someones pants fall down or a guy gets hit on the head. Now that's my opinion on the matter I'm not saying I'm right and your wrong I'm saying Id rather have shows back in the 90s than the stuff on today.

 

[Dagger Dias]

I think it is just an issue of generation gaps. Those channels seem dumb and no longer funny to us because we grew up. All of the movies and shows we grew up watching were unfunny to adults. They didn't understand them. The same thing is going on now only we are the ones thinking the shows are dumb. Do I think they are funny? Of course not. I am not part of their target demographic. It might still funny to the people in the demographic it was created for. Granted the use of canned laughter is something I have always found to be a huge insult to people's intelligence. If a show is funny enough it should not need it.

 

[wrestlingfan]

I do see where your coming from the shows are aimed at kids who have little to no attention span. But truthfully you cant tell me shows like Avatar and Chowder are the same. Would I pick Dragon Ball Z over any cartoon today yes I would because it had a story line to it that made it enjoyable to watch. I cant think of any cartoon today that has a story line where you must watch the episodes and recall on them to help you better understand what is going on in the story. I guess that's fine if that's what cartoon makers are trying to push not trying to make your kids think just laugh at semi funny jokes. Personally Id rather have my kids watch the stuff I used to watch because at least they would have to think through most of the episode rather then sit there and just laugh when someones pants fall down or a guy gets hit on the head. Now that's my opinion on the matter I'm not saying I'm right and your wrong I'm saying Id rather have shows back in the 90s than the stuff on today.

Well if your kids/nieces/nephews enjoy it then let them watch it, These are cartoons, they're simply made to make little kids laugh, Its not about making them more smart, If you try to push a kid to be smart at a young age, they usually grow up to be know-it-alls. I bet when you were a kid, your parents probably thought a lot of your shows were stupid. And you can't compare Dragon Ball Z, to cartoons, By your logic, I would say they're on the same level as cartoons of today in terms of relevancy, It's also Action & Adventure, not comedy.

 

[MattyB]

Well if your kids/nieces/nephews enjoy it then let them watch it, These are cartoons, they're simply made to make little kids laugh, Its not about making them more smart, If you try to push a kid to be smart at a young age, they usually grow up to be know-it-alls. I bet when you were a kid, your parents probably thought a lot of your shows were stupid. And you can't compare Dragon Ball Z, to cartoons, By your logic, I would say they're on the same level as cartoons of today in terms of relevancy, It's also Action & Adventure, not comedy.

Trust me I will never make my kids watch anything they dont like nor will I not let them watch something I dont like (to an extent), I guess personally I would love for my kids in the future to love the shows I loved growing up as a child, just because then I could watch the cartoons with them and not hate it as I do now watching it with my niece and nephew. And I could bring back all of my childhood memories watching DBZ, Avatar, Raw and so many other shows with my brother. By the way if my kids grew up to be know it alls that phase would last only a few minutes before I put them down a peg or two. And about dragon ball z I always grew up thinking of it as a cartoon because of how its anime like I thought Naruto and Pokemon to me are cartoons.

 

[wrestlingfan]

Trust me I will never make my kids watch anything they dont like nor will I not let them watch something I dont like (to an extent), I guess personally I would love for my kids in the future to love the shows I loved growing up as a child, just because then I could watch the cartoons with them and not hate it as I do now watching it with my niece and nephew. And I could bring back all of my childhood memories watching DBZ, Avatar, Raw and so many other shows with my brother. By the way if my kids grew up to be know it alls that phase would last only a few minutes before I put them down a peg or two. And about dragon ball z I always grew up thinking of it as a cartoon because of how its anime like I thought Naruto and Pokemon to me are cartoons.

Again it's not about what you like, If you want to watch cartoons you like do that in your own time, Let them watch what they want to watch. Also RAW is not a cartoon, its professional wrestling, Also considering how your age is 25, and the show Avatar: The Last Air bender has only been around since 2005, that's not your childhood, You were a teen. Also Dragon Ball Z, Naruto, pokemon, are all Anime, There's a difference in Animation and a Cartoon.

 

[Gabriiel07]

To me, the best program for a kid is a cartoon, probably because I grew up watching them, but I'm starting to get worried.
I noticed that cartoons are reducing in terms of quantity. Both Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network only has six original cartoons, and Cartoon Network never had live-action programming before 2007. I'm pretty sure they both had more cartoon when I was a kid.
In terms of quality, well I'm older now, but I still like cartoons like Tom and Jerry, old Spongebob episodes, Johnny Bravo, Ed, Edd and Eddy, and other old cartoons, I even look for videos in youtube to laugh at those great cartoons. Now, the only cartoons I think are good are Flapjack, Phineas and Ferb and My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.
I know, why Phineas and Ferb?, well they have a good sense of humor and some catchy songs, perfect for a kid.

 

[Awesome_Miz]

Yeah Phineas and Ferb is a really good show even one of my cousins that is 16 likes it cause of the good humor it has.

 

[wrestlingfan]

Well I still watch Disney Channel and Nick for the time being and will probably watch it until I end up going to college, and then will watch it with my kids and so forth.

 

[Skairipa Matrix]

as much as we all think the shows suck their ages there aimed at find the shows funny so theres really nothing wrong with that plus the fact the movies the original poster named arent exactly movies aimed at 9 year old girls pretty stupid topic thats like telling a 10 year old kid to go watch a stand up comedy act of someone they never heard of and expecting them to piss their pants laughing its just not gonna happen!