Kids TV, Has It Got Worse?

YOU’VE heard people say it, you've probably said it yourself, “Kids TV is just not as good now as it was when I was a child.” But, is this really the case? Has kids TV really got worse, or have we just got more nostalgic as we’ve got older?

I grew up in the late 80s and early 90s on a diet of kids TV including shows like Thundercats and The Racoons amongst others, so for me these will always be the ultimate in kids TV. But what if some of these shows were shown to other generations? Would our parents find them as entertaining as we do? I decided to take a look back at kids TV down the years to see what, if anything, has changed...

We can't of course talk about kids TV without discussing the aforementioned Teletubbies. Four overgrown teddy bears with televisions in their stomachs, and aerials on their heads talking a strange language to each other, and often to the vacuum cleaner as well.

The onset of regular TV in the 60s changed things for children. Before TV was introduced, kids would make their own entertainment. Now children were able to sit down after school or at weekends and watch shows such as Andy Pandy, Banana Splits, Bill and Ben the Flower Pot Men. My mum still talks about these shows and insists they were the best. But what made them so endearing and were they any more educational than some of the shows I watched or kids watch today?

Andy Pandy was a mix of songs and games. It had entertainment value and through the use of the narrator, did hold some value in teaching children language skills. Bill and Ben on the other hand was a series of sketches, and although the characters spoke, it wasn't English. Instead they spoke in a series of nonsensical phrases, such as ‘flobadob’. This led to complaints about them degrading the language and causing children to be poor speakers. Ironically this same argument would be brought back over 40 years later with the arrival of Teletubbies, but more on them later.

Of course kids TV did have some educational value. The 60s saw the launch of shows such as Jackanory, where a narrator (often a guest actor) would simply sit and read a story and, of course there was Blue Peter and Magpie. So, it would seem we have a mixture of shows, ranging from the educational and informing, to the funny and entertaining.

The 70s saw the arrival of the Muppet Show, Bagpuss, Captian Pugwash, Newsround, Multi-Coloured Swap Shop and Tis-Was. The Muppet Show is often regarded as the greatest kids TV show ever made. Featuring a mix of sketches, sometimes involving special guests, jokes, the Muppets lasted for over a decade. But, it has to be said, as much as my brother and I love it, despite our best efforts, we just could not get his son (who's four) to enjoy it, so maybe that gives us an indication as to how things are different now.

The 70s also played host to Rainbow, which was intended as an educational tool for pre-schoolers to boost language and numeracy skills. It gained cult status, and, in a similar way to Sesame Street, managed to fuse education and entertainment together.

In much the same way as today’s children might struggle with the Muppet Show, or find the animation of Thundercats to be of a poor standard, so it has proved with the likes of Captain Pugwash, kids of other generations are unable to relate, hence why the re-established Captain Pugwash of the mid-90s failed to take off at all.

We come to the 80s, the decade of my two older brothers, and at the end of the decade, me. Thundercats, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Thomas the Tank Engine, Postman Pat and Fraggle Rock were the stars. But would Fraggle Rock work on kids today? I’m not sure although old timers, Thomas the Tank Engine and Postman Pat are both still as popular today as they were when they first appeared.

The 80s also gave rise to Grange Hill and Danger Mouse. Frankly I can talk all day about 80s kids TV. I haven’t even mentioned Inspector Gadget, Alvin and the Chipmunks and Count Duckula, and the list goes on...

And so to the 90s. Ducktales, Chip ‘N’ Dale Rescue Rangers, Animaniacs, which spawned another of my personal favourites, Pinky and the Brain, and going beyond we move into the era of Spongebob Square Pants, Ben 10, Peppa Pig, Dora the Explorer and Bob the Builder.

We can't of course talk about kids TV without discussing the aforementioned Teletubbies. Four overgrown teddy bears with televisions in their stomachs, and aerials on their heads talking a strange language to each other, and often to the vacuum cleaner as well. From the strange names, to the odd language often consisting of one garbled word, the Teletubbies came in for a huge amount of criticism over claims of their negative impact on children. Yet for all this, they did offer some educational value through the clips that were shown on stomach vision.

So, has kids TV really got worse? Times change, kids tastes change and thus those making the programmes have to change with it. We have seen that certain programmes and formats endure, whether anyone envisaged that Blue Peter would still be going strong now when it was first created, is open for discussion, but something about it continues to draw children in. Beyond that it is a simple fact that what worked in the 80s may not work today, and though we may think it was better, we would because we were kids back then.

Most of us tend to say it was worse but this is probably just nostalgia. I think it's simply different. Like everything else, kids TV has adapted and changed as the world has and in twenty year’s time the debate will be the same. Let’s remember, kids learn all day in school, do homework in the evenings and exams at the end of term. Sometimes they just want to enjoy themselves. So let's not criticise the people who make the programmes but rather,enjoy watching them laugh, as we once did.