What Ever Happened to Kids TV?

June 26, 2012 in Books, Children, Entertainment, Film & TV, Parenting

Well duck me sideways, it’s an ice cream…

I need help. Over the last few days I have been subjected to the kind of rubbish TV that kids are provided these days. Baby voices putting W’s where they shouldn’t be, beads of sweat on foreheads and open mouthed questions of “Huh?” while making a facial expression that would make even Einstein look like an idiot. And if I have to hear one more bratty child speaking back to their parent with an “Ugh, they just don’t understand anything” tone I am going to stab someone with the remote.

What happened to all the shows that actually teach children about life? About the things they are going to come up against in the real world, and preferably how to speak to an adult in a polite manner that doesn’t result in getting told off.

What happened to live action? Shows without stupid looking animals and sound effects for raising your eyebrows?

I feel like the societal ban on actually exposing children to the real world (or running them as “free range kids” as it is labelled these days) has now made it’s way into our homes and onto our television screens. As a society we seem to have gone from being scared of stranger danger or that kids might be exposed to a situation where they won’t know how to react, to actually spoon feeding them a completely unrealistic image of the world.

The motley crew of Degrassi Junior HIgh

Look at the shows we watched when we were their age. I was watching Degrassi Junior High, a show that in its first iteration (I have only seen the odd episode of the Next Generation and I’m not impressed) covered topics such trying to be cool at school and accidentally making a bad reputation for yourself, finding your group and your way. As well as bigger issues like losing your virginity, suicide, drugs, abortion, teenage pregnancy and aids. I am not finding anything on TV these days like this and I have a suspicion actually wanting a teen to watch that kind of show is going to see me tarred and feathered for exposing them to something so serious. God forbid they read the books I was reading!

My stepdaughter is now 12 years old, and I’m finding it really hard to find a show that I don’t feel is young for her, that actually teaches her something (preferably) and doesn’t dumb it down. Children, especially tweens, are smarter than they are given credit for. They do not need everything spelt out for them and by providing it I feel like we are raising a generation of children who are unable to think for themselves. Unable to grasp subtlety or understand complex dilemmas.

However, I am not a full time parent. I am an occasional one, a stepmother, a peripheral parent, so it’s highly possible these shows do exist they’re just buried in the avalanche of shows where all the characters sound like a 4 year olds or brats and display the intellectual capacity of a cucumber.

Therefore, I’m handing my dilemma over to you. All the parents out there. Are there any good shows out there that meet my criteria? Am I asking too much? Should I be tarred and feathered for actually wanting a show that doesn’t dumb it down or encourage backchat?

Please, help me, before the cushion gets it!

What shows do you recommend for a 12 year old? What shows did you watch? Do you think kids shows have been dumbed down?

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Author Info

Tamsin Howse has written 179 posts.
Tamsin is a wife, stepmother and blogger with a passion for people and relationships, fashion and beauty, and an inability to successfully complete household tasks. Co-founder and Editor-in-chief of KiKi & Tea.
Follow on twitter: @TamsinHowse
Website: http://kikiandtea.com

27 Comments »

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Bek M

I agree- there’s not a lot of great kids shows on tv.
When I was a kid we watched some great Aussie shows like Ship to Shore, Round the Twist and Spellbinder. I think ABC3 has started showing Ship to Shore again. We also watched Doctor Who and Degrassi. You Can’t Do that on Television was a fun silly show.

Maybe it’s time to get some DVDs or download some old shows?
- http://tamsinhowse.com/blog Tamsin Howse
  
  Oh my, I LOVED Round The Twist!!
  
  I have it on DVD! The first 3 seasons anyway (the first two casts, and when the shows were still Paul Jennings stories). Maybe I should bust those out!
  
  Sadly these ARE downloaded shows she’s watching. We don’t watch Free To Air much since we got an Apple TV.
  - Rose Russo
    
    I love love love Round The Twist!!! Best. Show. Ever.
    
    I don’t know if a younger audience would appreciate it now??
- Melissa Savage
  
  I’m so grateful Bek, you just removed the church song that was running through my head with the Ship to Shore theme…
http://ptmaree.blogspot.com/ pt

I’m going to put in a vote for Doctor Who as well. Brilliantly well written and acted, adult enough to keep my 13yo rather obsessed with it but the themes are not too adult that there is anything objectionable. Other than Glee (which waxes & wanes in our house) TC really loved Pushing Daisies, which was sadly cancelled after a couple of seasons but worth hunting down. Its a really sweet show about solving murders… I know that sounds wrong but it is. The new Once Upon a Time show is ok too.

Kid specific shows I find iCarly bearable, as are the english language versions of the Deltora Quest series (books are superior though). I have friends who’s child is obsessed with The Tribe but I just don’t have the patience for such bad face paint and hair. Dance Academy and Blue Water High are both quality Australian (ABC both) teen shows. Dance Academy more so xplores some of the things that Degrassi covered.

I think that we need to realise that the way ‘our shows’ approached things may not neccessarily be right for the current crop of pre-teens/teenagers. The messages need to be altered for today and perhaps delivered in a different manner too.I’d honestly talk to your s/daughter about the shows she already likes and then go exploring together. YOu may both end up finding a new show to love.

xxpt
*I’d start with Doctor Who though, start back at the Chris Eccleston eps, the Tom Baker ones (that I loved) were not the hit I had hoped…
- http://tamsinhowse.com/blog Tamsin Howse
  
  Oh I hated the Tom Baker ones as a kid!
  
  Thank you for all those suggestions. A colleague also suggested Dance Academy so I’m definitely feeling I’ll give that one a go!!
  
  And you’re right about the approach, but I still feel these subjects should be approached, even in a different way.
  - http://ptmaree.blogspot.com/ pt
    
    Ahem I’m a little older than you T!
- Jessica
  
  Don’t forget Sarah Jane Adventures (Doctor Who spin off for younger kids) and if you have a iphone you can get all the eps for it (and all but the last season of Dr Who) for $10 a month with BBC iPlayer… Which can transmit wirlessly to an Apple tv (not sure about modded ones tho)
http://music.johnanthonyjames.com/ John James

I’m a bit older than most of the people who read KK&T, so I remember some great BBC productions from the 1970s that were incredibly good…the two best being the 1974 version of Tom’s Midnight Garden, and the 1975 version of The Secret Garden…these are not just possibly the two best kids shows ever made, but some of the best TV ever made. Intelligent, well acted…they were for children, but not childish…
- http://tamsinhowse.com/blog Tamsin Howse
  
  I watched the movie of The Secret Garden, was the TV show also based on the book? That’s a really good one… I think I have that movie somewhere.
  
  I am feeling SO much more inspired now!
  - http://music.johnanthonyjames.com/ John James
    
    The TV series was way better than that movie…I think you can buy it on DVD…
An Idle Dad

I think you’ve plucked one of the all time best TV shows for children – Degrassi High – and are holding it up to compare all other children’s TV against. Which is slightly unfair (though not far wrong).

After all, Degrassi High grew out of Degrassi Junior High, which wasn’t that great. All the meaty stuff (and good acting) came much, much later.

Even if you limit the comparison to that in the 1980′s, you’d find most children’s TV was shit.

The 80′s are back, maybe get them on DVD?

But I do agree somewhat. As a parent who loves exposing my children to entertainment I loved as a child – The Last Starfighter, The Goonies, The Princess Bride, The Boy Who Could Fly and TV series like the 1980s Astroboy, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century and Star Blazers – I do notice that lots of things are different.

All three ‘adventure’ movies – The Last Starfighter, Goonies and TBWCF – all contain older brothers with access to pornography, all contain the word ‘shit’ and danger is ‘real’. Plus interaction with strangers is a given. Think about Chunk’s relationship with Sloth in the Goonies, then think about that being written today – it couldn’t.

People die, like really die, in the TV shows like Astroboy. Often, from an injustice or as a result of a principled stance.

The only modern comparable TV series to Astroboy is Avatar: The Last Airbender, which, oddly, you lament. I think maybe you aren’t giving the shows enough of a chance. Avatar is brilliant, deep and addresses many issues of growing up, friendship and responsibility.

I think young children get much better TV than we did in the 1980s, but overall, young adult/teen shows are just as crap today as they were in 1980. Degrassi is the exception now as then.
- http://tamsinhowse.com/blog Tamsin Howse
  
  First I have to say I LOVE The Goonies.
  
  Hmm… I believe you may have a point, although I also remember Press Gang being good. Which was kind of like the English version of Degrassi.
  
  I have all the Degrassi series (starting with Junior High and ending in the movie) on DVD already. Recently watched them through from beginning to end, I think you underrate Junior High. The whole “All The Way With Stephanie Kaye” plot and a lot about fitting in and defying your parents was in the Junior High series.
  
  Honestly, all I’ve seen of Avatar (TLA) is characters pulling stupid faces and some girl back chatting to her father. I did, I will admit, enjoy the movie. Which, I’ve been informed, makes me backward to the entire rest of society.
  - An Idle Dad
    
    You prefer the movie? This discussion is pointless!
    
    Press gang was awesome, but it wasn’t ‘deep’ like Degrassi. Didn’t it have a degrassi actor in it?
    
    I just may have to grab Degrassi High DVD series – there’s a movie? – and start getting Jas to watch it!
    - http://music.johnanthonyjames.com/ John James
      
      I had such a HUGE crush on Julia Sawahla in Press Gang…still do…
    - http://tamsinhowse.com/blog Tamsin Howse
      
      Yeah! It is in chronological order. Degrassi Junior High (Seasons 1-3), Degrassi High (4 & 5) and Degrassi High: School’s Out. So you follow the same characters from 12 to adult. It’s great! Have to start with Junior, even if they’re not as good.
http://tinytrifles.blogspot.com.au Karen

Hi there Tamsin, I’m typing and Abi is dictating. She’s 10 and she has opinions, dammit! She pretty much only watches ABC3 – we don’t have Foxtel.
Karen

Blue Water High is about a surfing school and I like this show. It’s about a group of kids and they live in a big house on the beach and they learn to surf. They respect each other, the girls are really good, they’re friendly and help each other. The boys sometimes have fights and sometimes don’t really get along with each other. They work it out and then something happens and they get snappy at each other again.

Dance Academy is all about love and how they are getting into big competitions and how they do ballet and stuff. It’s a bit boring plus the boys get into fights because they want to date a girl and then another guy wants to date her and then there’s a different guy who IS dating her and they get in a fight and the girl doesn’t know what’s happening. Sometimes there’s a little fight between the girls as well as the boys. There’s heaps of love in it and it’s really boring if you don’t know what it’s about and if you’re really new to it.

Sadie J is a show about a girl who goes to high school with her friends. Her friends are just happy with the way they are and they like to get on with life but she wants to prove how good she is. She shows off and tries to get friends with really big popular groups at school. I like this show but it’s hard to describe what it’s about. It’s a fun show.

Dead Gorgeous is a show I really like – it’s cool. It’s about 3 girls that lived in a mansion in the olden days and then they died and their ghosts live in the mansion nowadays. People have turned the mansion into a big school. The ghosts who live there can’t go invisible so they have to fit in with everyone else. They try to make friends and then they get into trouble in really silly ways. Like, one of the ghosts made friends with a girl who loves to mess with different types of chemicals and they were in the lab and they made a massive explosion and they got into trouble but the explosion was liquid and it sprayed all over them.

The Brady Bunch is cool. I like it because it’s funny how the kids act and how different their personalities are. I just think it’s a really funny show to watch and to see how different they are from their mum and dad and siblings.

For movies, I really like Ella Enchanted because I like how she gets on with life even though she’s had a spell cast upon her that she will do whatever anyone says. I like how she gets courage to fight against the spell.

I also like Alice in Wonderland (the Johnny Depp version) because she proves herself ‘Alice’ throughout the whole movie and finally at the end everyone realises certainly that This Is The Alice! She’s just really brave and she sticks to her word that she’s the Alice that they were talking about. She shows who she is because she gets through everything and she’s brave.

I like Star Wars because everyone joins together to fight this big thing that’s up there and there’s been lots of attacks and deaths and they’re all finding it hard. But they get through it and they stick together and soon it becomes a big war and it’s hard because there’s all little wars in different planets across the galaxy. And there are ships that are flying around. I like the people because they’re all very brave – good and bad. I like how Darth Vader he’s still brave and cunning even though he’s bad but I like how he had lots of courage when he was Anakin Skywalker. At the end of his life I was glad that he got over the badness in him and made it a very good ending for his death, not a bad one where it was a good defeat for the Rebels. It was actually a noble death.

BUT my all time favourite movies are the Harry Potter series. They just show how they push through life even though Harry’s parents are dead and he’s upset about that and that they just want to get Voldemort out of the way – so that the world, even muggles who have no idea what is happening – are safe. And he’s just really good. My favourite character in Harry Potter is Luna Lovegood because she’s just a really nice person and she doesn’t show off about everything. She’s just a good friend to have even though she might be a little weird sometimes. But I do like the style of her radish earrings but I’m not too sure about the Butterbeer cork necklace.

I just hope you can find some good shows and movies for your stepdaughter.
Bye! From Abi
- http://tamsinhowse.com/blog Tamsin Howse
  
  Hi Abi!
  
  Thank you for your advice! I really appreciate it. I know my Stepdaughter likes Star Wars so I am confident she will like your other suggestions. I have never seen the Johhny Depp Alice In Wonderland but you have convinced me to watch it! I do love Tim Burton, have you seen Coraline?
  
  I particularly like the sound of Dead Gorgeous! I shall look up the TV guide so I can make sure we don’t miss it. Sadie J also sounds quite funny, and I do like the idea of a show that demonstrates how important it is to be happy in yourself.
  
  Thank you again for responding to me, I will take it all on board!
  
  xx Tamsin
  - http://tinytrifles.blogspot.com.au Karen
    
    Hi Tamsin,
    
    Okay I hope the shows I told you about will come in handy sooner or later.
    
    I’ll see if I can watch Coraline. I just don’t know because some of my friends said it was a bit creepy. But either way I hope I enjoy it!
    
    From Abi
Aleced

I loved the secret life of Alex Mack when I was her age. It was about a girl who almost got hit by a chemical truck on her way home from school and ended up with these really cool powers after being doused in this chemical. It’s a bit girl powery as she has a really brainy older sister and they go on a bit of a crusade to unmask how bad the chemical company is. I also loved Daria which may or may not be appropriate depending on how mature she is. Just awesome for showing you can be cool as a geek
- Jessica
  
  OMG! How did I forget Daria? the first 2 seasons are definately apropriate, the next two should be and the last maybe… (about $50 at jbhifi)
- AleceD
  
  Its actually the Secret WORLD of Alex Mack
- Monique Fischle
  
  OH MY GOODNESS I LOVED THE SECRET WORLD OF ALEX MACK!!! And yes, that needed to all be in CAPS. I used to pretend I could move things with my mind. The memories.
  - http://tamsinhowse.com/blog Tamsin Howse
    
    I LOVED IT TOO!! And Daria! Yes!
Carohutchison

After school tv that was a favourite with me and my sister, ‘Miraculous Mellops’ and ‘Ocean Girl’.
Kris

ABC seems to have pretty good stuff. My favourite is HORRIBLE HISTORIES. Hilarious!!

Idle and I are the same age, so I’m down with all the movies he suggested – Princess Bride, Labyrinth, Stand By Me, Back to the Future – we loved all them at her age.

I like Dance Academy and I love Dead Gorgeous as Abi mentioned too.
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