Author Topic: Now and Then: Childhood Entertainment (Read 471 times)

Shuckins · « **on:** July 07, 2004, 01:22:32 PM »

After sampling some of the programs available on modern television I find myself yearning for the "Good Old Days" of childhood entertainment.

I find the Cartoon Network's lineup of daytime shows appalling. Second and third rate animation replete with gratuitous violence. What passes for humor is no more than smart-mouthed put-downs. It is stunning to find so much programming that has so little redeeming social value.

The Disney Channel available from our local cable company almost never show any of Disney's classic oldies, whether movies or cartoons. Firing Myers may be the best move Disney has made in decades. One can but hope that this was a move in the right direction.

Sigh...it may be all a matter of perspective. You enjoy what you are raised with. But I firmly believe that Roy and Dale and Gabby and Trigger and Howdy Doodey and Kookla, Fran, and Ollie had a more constructive impact on my generation than modern programming will have on the generations of my children and grandchildren.

Boy...I really miss Happy Trails.

Your thoughts?

Regards, Shuckins/Leggern

Sandman · « **Reply #1 on:** July 07, 2004, 01:30:51 PM »

Gratuitous violence?

Hmmm... Roadrunner and Coyote, Tom and Jerry.

Violence in cartoons isn't new.

As a kid I thought that Roy and Dale and Gabby and Trigger and Howdy Doodey and Kookla, Fran, and Ollie were all boring as hell.

xrtoronto · « **Reply #2 on:** July 07, 2004, 01:32:17 PM »

Captain Kangaroo weekdays when I was a kid.

Three Stooges 8:30 Saturday morning on weekends!

Never missed an episode.

nyuk nyuk nyuk!:lol

mosgood · « **Reply #3 on:** July 07, 2004, 01:53:38 PM »

I could never get into Capt. Kangaroo

Mr. Rogers was always a trip to watch. I use to get hipnotized by his voice. I would sit there and trip out on him and wonder if he really talked like that.

Abbot and Costello are my all time favorite comedian teams though.

Bing and Bob were good too!

Sikboy · « **Reply #4 on:** July 07, 2004, 02:03:33 PM »

I was always into Speedracer as a kid. Those car crashes were awesome for 1977!

Also, Ichy and Scrat... err Tom and Jerry had me rolling out of my Bean Bag chair.

Then I moved to The Philippines, and had a steady dose of giant robot cartoons from Japan. Mazinger Z, Mechander Robo, Voltus V (Which I believe might have been a PI production). Man you're right, those were the days! lol

I guess I was a cartoon violence pioneer lol.

-Sik

Curval · « **Reply #5 on:** July 07, 2004, 02:13:06 PM »

Perhaps the stupidest cartoon EVER is currently on TV and if I see my kids watching it I will turn off the TV and get the kids to play outside. Catdog. Whoever came up with that one should be shot.

rpm · « **Reply #6 on:** July 07, 2004, 03:16:38 PM »

This got me thinking. Back around the mid 60's I got a toy fighter sim. It was a plastic F-4 on a wire that was suspended over a plastic drum that turned. Ran on 2 or 3 D cell batteries. The plastic had a drawing of jungle and 2 or 3 "targets". You had joystick to move the F-4 left or right to hit the targets.

I never took it apart (a miracle for me as a kid), But I suspect it was constructed somewhat like an "Operation" game. If the plane was in just the right spot it made contact with an electrode and made the game light up.

Even at that early age I was destined for AH I guess.

Sandman · « **Reply #7 on:** July 07, 2004, 03:18:56 PM »

Corsair dweeb or Phantom dweeb?

rpm · « **Reply #8 on:** July 07, 2004, 03:25:04 PM »

Phantom dweeb.

gofaster · « **Reply #9 on:** July 07, 2004, 03:25:38 PM »

"Samurai Jack" and "Recess" have this children cartoon entertainment thing figured out. The rest is crap but those two are golden.

"Simpsons" and "King of The Hill" are way beyond normal cartoons. They're satires drawn by artists written for intellectuals.

midnight Target · « **Reply #10 on:** July 07, 2004, 03:29:44 PM »

TV Land!

Andy Griffith
Leave It to Beaver
Carol Burnett (I hate this show but the wife likes it)
etc.

They even show retro-commercials sometimes.

mosgood · « **Reply #11 on:** July 07, 2004, 03:33:58 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by gofaster
"Samurai Jack" and "Recess" have this children cartoon entertainment thing figured out. The rest is crap but those two are golden.

"Simpsons" and "King of The Hill" are way beyond normal cartoons. They're satires drawn by artists written for intellectuals.

I agree there. SJ and Recess are fun. I leave the tv on ToonDis all day for my parrot, while im at work. In the mornings, when i turn it on, recess is usually on and ill watch for a few minutes before I head out.