I was thinking about it, Nickelodeon seemed so much better back when I was young, as did the Disney Channel.
Now is it that we remember them being better because they were or because we were kids and that was the target audience?
(I personally think they were better, less dumbed down, I mean compare Pete and Pete to Sponge Bob or So Weird to Hanna Fontana)
No, it wasn't that we were younger. Disney was MUCH better back in the day. Disney shows have become SO predictable, that once you've seen one episode, you've seen them all. Here's the basic scenario for an episode of a currently running Disney Channel series: 1. Main character gets into trouble 2. Main character creates some crazy scheme to get out of the trouble. 3. Main character gets caught by an authority figure and learns a very important lesson. THE END. IT's SO brainless now. At least SO WEIRD had story archs. If you go back and look at the Season 1 episode "Strangeling," you'll see that they hint at something that is not mentioned again until the Season 2 episode "Strange Geometry." On THE FAMOUS JETT JACKSON, the lessons learned were not always "Don't lie to your parents" or "Don't cheat on a test." In the episode "Lost and Found," Jett ends up alone in Charlotte and befriends a poor black man who shows him how African-Americans are really treated in the real world. Disney would NEVER do anything like that today. The closest they've gotten is that episode of THAT'S SO RAVEN where Raven didn't get hired for a job because she was black. Now I have to admit, some shows we watched when we were younger aren't as funny as they once were when we were younger, but I still think that they were MUCH better than the stuff they put out today. End rant :) (
Oh, and the Original Movies were 10000000000 times better!)
Yeah I agree with you, but I was just thinking.
Not only was it better, it was more real. So Weird, Famous Jett Jackson, The Jersey, etc...while 2/3 mentioned were fantasy, they were realistic when it came to setting. The scenes looked like real school hallways, houses, etc, and the actors did not look like models or wear ridiculous outfits. Nowadays...have you seen Hannah Montana?? The sets and clothing are so perfect and colorful that it may as well be a cartoon. And all of the actors have to be "hot" to appeal to the tweens.
And yeah, Disney scripts were just...different, more emotional, and the plotlines stronger. DC episodes these days are just crappy jokes woven into repetitive, unoriginal plots that rarely have any sort of continuation, unless it's a romance. It's been severely dumbed down to cater to tweens and younger, which also explains the brighter sets. And while acting back then may not have been Emmy-worthy, it was better than today's. This is probably because Disney doesn't just look for actors - DC stars also have to sing and dance in order to reach any kind of high ranking on the DC "superstar" scale.
Now, that's not to say that all DC shows today aren't good for a guilty pleasure fix every now and then. I personally enjoy Wizards of Waverly Place - the acting is by far the best on the channel. However, none of them have the kind of quality that came with older shows and movies of our time.
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I don't know if it's your kinda thing, because it involves a lot of being normal.
-Chandler Bing
I agree with everyone on here. i just watched the first episode of So weird and still love it and im 19. I do feel that it was a bit unfinished and i don't like the change in main characters but it is still a milliion times better what is on today
shareI agree, the show disney channel puts all depend on crappy jokes that fail to deliver and bad actors. So Wierd was emotional and very nicely done show, so does Jett Jackson. And many others. That's So Raven and Lizzie were atleast funny and the characters were adorable. Now everyone is annoying and unlikeable. Many shows gave children real lesson but made us laugh as well. Disney now only tries to be "hip" and "cool". And disney channel is starting to get ashamed from Mickey Mouse.
shareI've been rewatching all the So Weird episodes, and I've cried at some of the same scenes that I used to (Fi breaking down after Molly tells her that her father was interested in paranormal stuff, for example). Despite unrealistic plots, the shows were realistic in terms of family life and emotional content.
The big difference is that shows like "So Weird" and "In a Heartbeat" weren't selling you on the stars, or the accompanying soundtrack that the stars had made. They weren't asking you to buy the doll and the hairbrush and the toothbrush and the cereal and the... They were asking you to watch the show and enjoy it, and possibly think it all over in a new way. The shows on the Disney Channel now are merely half-hour infomercials, intent on selling the career of the "next big thing".
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Wake up, sheeple! - BHG
I wish they had sold the soundtrack to this show, I'd buy it.
shareHonestly, I think it's mostly that we got older. While yeah, the stations HAVE changed, there's no denying that, I think that we dislike seeing them change from what WE were used to and what WE grew up to love.
Our parents think that our cartoons were garbage, just like we (even if most of us aren't THAT old) think that modern cartoons are garbage. & the argument that "well my mom loved watching cartoons with me" is pointless because "every" mother loves watching cartoons with their child... Just getting that in before someone brings it up lol...
It's time to move on and really get over it honestly. It's not coming back. one of the formulas for success is change, and obviously disney is doing something right even if their main audience are 11 year old girls.
To me,it was better. Everything was less superfical,and it didn't see, like Disney and Nick were sucking up to the teenie bopper crowd.
"Life is pleasant.Death is peaceful.It's the transition that's troublesome." - Isaac Asimov
I still enjoy watching all the old disney shows. So weird is the best. I think back then they targeted it for young teens and now they target it for like three year olds. Disney is so stupid now.
shareAfter re-watching the first two seasons (and a few of 3 before giving up) I can say that there's no comparing the quality of today's Disney or Nick shows with what they were in the past. So Weird made me care about each of the characters and developed them incredibly well. If they were childish or immature, when something bad would happen, I doubt I would have cried as much as I did watching something like I did on So Weird. Fi saying goodbye to her father on the rooftop, knowing it was probably the last time she'd see him, or Rick singing a duet with Molly from beyond the grave, it's just so powerful. Not to mention every show on disney now has a laugh track almost as a requirement. I'll laugh when I find something funny.
shareI've been thinking about this a lot lately, and I agree that the shows seemed better. I think some of the attachment we feel is because we were younger and the shows remind us of those days, but they were still better. The situations were more realistic, even when they were fantasies. The characters were believable, and reacted in ways that normal people would react, rather than concocting over-the-top schemes that make no sense and always end badly. I know they probably won't go back to the old ways, but I really wish they would at least stop dumbing down the shows so much. Just because they cater to kids doesn't mean they need to be patronizing.
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It's so stimulating being your hat!