I haven’t watched cable for awhile, but I think Cartoon Network has the best shows so far. I just started watching The Regular Show and Adventure Time, and they’re really great with their subversive (and sometimes adult) humour. MAD is also another great show that parodies pop culture (and as I have mentioned in its thread under ‘Feature Films’, it even spoofs a few Pixar films!). I also enjoyed a few Chowder and Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends episodes, and I want to check out Flapjack when I have the time.
Nickelodeon is unremarkable the last time I saw it. I have no idea what is iCarly and I have no interest to find out. I used to love Spongebob, but I heard it’s gone down in quality recently.
Disney Channel is too teen-oriented nowadays. I remember when they used to show weekend movies on The Wonderful World of Disney, and they should really bring back classic movies and TV shows for the new generation to discover. A lot of their shows are disappointingly in typical high-school settings with dated jokes (unlike the timeless storylines of shows in the 90s).
Contemporary American children programming needs to have a paradigm shift from the whole ‘teen-becomes-a-pop-star-while-surviving-high-school’ mentality. Even shows like My Gym Partner’s a Monkey, Camp Lazlo, and Total Drama Island have pedestrian, real-world settings. If it’s not those, it’s ‘bash-em-ups’ like Ben 10, Jake Long, Danny Phantom, and The Life and Times of Juniper Lee, which are a tad violent and repetitive for my taste.
Adventure Time is the closest show to epic, fantasy settings. Whatever happened to ‘grand-adventure’ shows like Ducktales, Gummi Bears, Rescue Rangers and Aladdin the TV series?
Nickelodeon should also bring back its game shows, and sketch/vignette shows such as All That and Kablam! They had brilliant, family-friendly humour without resorting to action theatrics and scatological jokes.
And when are Western animators actually gonna attempt something as ground-breaking as Avatar The Last Airbender, or anime like Full Metal Alchemist or Cowboy Bebop? Instead of exploring the heavens of imagination, they’re stuck in the quagmire that is teen comedy sitcoms. ![:unamused: :unamused:](https://pixarplanet.com/forums/images/emoji/twitter/unamused.png?v=12)