I don't watch a lot of television anymore. This could be partially because of my busy schedule and partially because I decided not to invest in cable after moving to my apartment due to the internet being more important to me. Or it could very well be that the television shows they are coming out with these days are mostly garbage.
I am still a child at heart so for the majority of this column I would like to focus on the kids shows that are now airing compared to the shows that aired 15 years go. Growing up in the type of family I have, I was also exposed to T.V. shows from before my years of existence, which were actually probably even better than the shows my generation grew up on.
What made my childhood Saturday morning cartoons and TGIF Friday night programming even more enjoyable was two things. One, my sister was only three years older than me therefore she often shared the same taste in television and two, it was always a family gathering. I don't really remember ever being plunked down in front of the T.V. set for hours alone, my parents always joined and discussed shows with us.
Let's start off with a few of my old favourites. I am not sure how many of the readers remember Doug, but he was quite the hero around my elementary school playground. We all paraded around with our McDonald's Doug toys strapped to our knapsacks and discussed the episodes from the previous weekend. Doug Funnie was a recently relocated sixth grader in the fictional town of Bluffington. Most episodes often started with Doug writing in his journal about recent life events, and then the episode would be a flashback of said events that were narrated by Doug himself. I am pretty sure that I learned that boys didn't actually have cooties from this show, as Doug showed his affections towards my favorite character Patti Mayonnaise.
I don't want to continue all day with cartoons so I will just note a few of my favorites here without the descriptions. Every Saturday morning began with the run list entitled One Saturday Morning, which included watching the diverse group of hooligans in Recess. Pepper Ann which was a show I hated most days but, now that I look back on it, was quite educational. The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh and of course it later went on to include the Weekenders, 101 Dalmatians and Lloyd in Space. This block of shows was cancelled in 2002 and replaced with ABC kids, which is where we stand now.
Now onto the family shows that brought my family together each Friday night. I think these types of shows have become an extinct species. If I am wrong, please fill me in on shows that compare these days. I love the older shows such as the Wonder Years and Alf; these were always funny but also educational and always had a life lesson at the end. And then there were the 90's shows such as Sabrina the Teenaged Witch, and of course my favorite show, Boy Meets World.
Boy Meets World was one for everyone. It had enough drama and relationships for the more dramatic emotional people, enough comedy for the ones who liked a good laugh, and enough life lessons for it to be child appropriate. Over the years, I quickly became attached to the characters and began to wish it would never end. Sadly after seven seasons it was time to say goodbye. This is one of the only shows where I can watch the DVDs of the seasons over and over and never get bored.
But, hey, maybe I am wrong. Maybe shows like this exist now and I just don't know about them yet. But until someone proves me wrong, I am ticked off about this generation's TV choices of "Reality" television stars and unnecessary violence amongst the cartoons. Sure we had Sailor Moon, Ninja Turtles, Original Power Rangers and Pokemon, but I can't say that the violence was ever the main topic in these. It seemed to me that there was always a life lesson as the main focus, with a few epic battle scenes mixed in.
