For nearly 15 years this blog has been largely fired by the TV of the Sixties, Seventies and Eighties. From the off its been TV from those decades and its spin-off toy lines that has been its inspiration.
Gerry Anderson's fabulous TV output - Thunderbirds, Fireball XL5, Captain Scarlet et al - completely captured our imaginations, as did most of the children's television shows back then.
Kids' TV influenced what we saw, what we heard. what we wore, who we were. It was that important to us.
So I'm always amazed when I visit my Grandchildren and all they seem to watch is You Tube. Things like Diana, Blippi, Ryan's World and strange repetitive content about numbers and colours.
I'm struggling to call them TV programmes even though the Junior's do watch them on the box. They could watch them on anything, but that doesn't bother me.
It's the production of these You Tube 'programmes' that concerns me. They appear to be home-grown DIY affairs involving children and or young people. The Russian Diana involves her and her brother sliding down foamy slides and jumping round the garden. There's no dialogue really but is peppered with Ooohs and Aahs and hand gestures, guaranteeing it a global reach I suppose.
Ryan's World and Mr. Blippi have gone from home-made videos to world-wide domination, complete with marchandising and toys. I'm sure Diana is on her way too.
My Grandson Junior does watch real TV shows - made by a professional team in a studio: Octonauts is a favourite and he's also got into Thunderbirds Are Go.
But the news that CBBC is being taking off the box completely in three years to appear online only. When I saw the programme name Blue Peter on their roster it hammered it home.
Things are a changing!
Virtually all the toys on this blog were generated by TV shows or comics connected to TV. It forms the basis of our collective memories and drives our nostalgia.
Will You Tube do this for future generations or has the link between TV and toys begun to decay as well?
I suppose I just need to get with the programme and start watching Ryan's World!
A concerned TV watcher/ dinosaur.
New and Improved are often confused! It is not age alone that makes me think some aspects of modern life are not as good as they used to be. Why, for example would I want to pay a monthly fee for promised access to shows that I could just buy and keep on a shelf with a guarantee of no further charge?!
ReplyDeleteThe times that we grew up in have almost gone and are being replaced with something different. Is it better? I don't think so, but it's not my childhood.
Yes, different times Kev. I often think I'm at odds with them but I think that's to do with getting older!
DeleteIt's not just kids TV shows. Teens and young adults hardly watch TV anymore these days. They have YouTube, TikTok and so on. Technology and social media has got to the point where people can make their own mini-shows on their phones and publish them online. Mostly rubbish (though some are actually well done) but todays youngsters want something new every day and different to the same old soaps and crime dramas that the TV channels churn out year after year.
ReplyDeleteSame with newpapers and magazines. Why read yesterday's news when you can read the latest news online?
Some of the TV companies have caught on to this which is why they have moved into streaming for niche genres. If you want new Star Trek then you have to get Paramount Plus, If you want new Star Wars and Marvel you have to get Disney Plus. They know the fans will pay.
As for toys based on TV shows, Trek, Star Wars and Action Figure toys are still being made, but nowhere like the quantities they were 20 or 30 years ago. Like you I think the glory days of TV show toys was the 60s, 70s and 80s before electronic games took over.
Speaking of the glory days of TV toys Yorkie I have been really enjoying the series The Toys That Made Us, which often talks about the link between TV/ Comics and toys. The four episodes on Star Wars, GI Joe, He Man and Barbie are well worth watching. No idea if they were on normal telly at any point, I found them on ..... Netflix! Have you seen them?
DeleteMy wife and I, being cartoonists, enjoy watching kids shows old and new. (For the next few weeks, I'm off work, recovering from hernia surgery, so it gives me a chance to watch.)
ReplyDeleteSorry, if this may turn into a bit of a rant, I apologize.
We don't have kids, but kids fare has definitely changed since we were kids and it's understandable in some ways, odd in others and extremely disturbing in still others.
Loony Tunes & Hanna Barbera cartoons: What we grew up on: idiots, explosives and falling anvils, now gets warning labels. I saw a warning to parents that 'Dick Dastardly, sometimes does not try to win through honesty, hard work and perseverance'...
Really? Do you know what cartoon villains are...? And why does "Wacky Races" get a "Sex and Nudity" warning...?!?
It makes me feel like some of the warning labels are written by little old Victorian ladies who somehow managed to survive from the 19th Century.
On the other hand, you get Disney TV pushing shows for pre-teen-children with horrific nightmare-fuel-violence like "The Owl House" where the main protagonist is a pre-pubescent girl in a lesbian relationship.
The schizoid nature of "What is okay for kids" has me aghast. Honestly, I don't know what to think.
Another example that leaves me with my jaw hanging was when I looked up the old 1960s "Outer Limits." That show scared me to death as a kid. I remember hearing that when it came out, they did things like black out the monster's eyes because it was too frightening.
Today, the parent's guide warning is that it was okay for 10 year olds, but they felt that the anti-authority views expressed on the TV show might cause children to question authority...?
Really? Have we gotten to such an authoritarian point in our society, that asking questions like The Outer Limits and the Twilight Zone are dangerously rebellious?
Honestly, I don't know what's going on with children's entertainment, but there's definitely a bizarre shift going on.
Another bizarre example:
When the Jane Fonda sex-farce movie "Barbarella" came out in 1968, it was rated Adult, or X, or whatever they had for ratings in those days. When I was a teenager, it was rated R. Nowadays, it's rated PG, which is the same rating as some Star Trek and Lost In Space episodes.
The most maddening thing is, I can't find any sort of pattern. They're finding sex in places where there is none, and waving off hardcore stuff as if it was nothing. They're seeing cartoony slapstick violence as horrific, and horrific violence as if it was nothing.
I don't understand it at all, but it disturbs me greatly.
Yes Scott, it is confusing. The vagueries of taste and decorum is a leaky ship on an ocean of censorship. It changes at the whim of the prevailing wind of the time. I remember seeing Enter the Dragon when I was 13. I had to pretend to smoke to get in as it was an X [or 18 now]. Enter the Dragon is on the telly now for anyone to see. We do still have a 9pm watershed in the UK - I think - when more 'adult' content is shown. Being a fan of VHS and a big collector of Big Box videos I am often appalled that the British Government imprisoned video shop owners for simply renting out VHS tapes. Prison and fines of thousands of pounds! Those same films are all easily available online now and many so-called video nasties have been shown on TV since! I remember when the Exorcist and Texas Chainsaw Massacre were un-banned here and shown on Channel 4 I think. What was all the fuss about. Both tame by today's standards. You just need to watch the Six 'O' Clock News to get really scared! As an aside I was saddened to learn that Cineworld, the cinema chain, are in trouble. Not enough films and punters. It may close. People are watching at home. I have no room to talk, the last film I saw at the flicks was Kong V Godzilla, which must be two years ago. That damn pandemic! Recover well Scott and enjoy Looney Tunes. One of my all time faves was Road Runner and Wile E Cayote with all his ACME gear. I often wondered as a kid if I could order stuff from ACME! ha ha! Beep beep!
DeleteEverything about censorship is mad. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937) was hit by the British Board of Film Censors with an A Certificate (no one under 16 admitted without an adult) when it first came out - the Wicked Witch was too scary. Later cut, and given a U Certificate so those under 16 could watch it unaccompanied. In Australia Star Wars (1977) was given Not Recommended for Children. I saw The Day of the Triffids (1962) on TV - years later I found out it was an X Certificate film. I doubt my Mother knew that either, or I would not have been allowed to watch it.
ReplyDeleteStar Wars not for children? Who was it for then? Blimey. Just looked up the BBFC age rating here in 77 - U!
DeleteIn Australia NRC - Not Recommended for Children (now called PG) meant unsuitable for those under 12, but OK for teenagers and adults. This was a recommendation, and not a restriction, so those under 12 were allowed to see it. Still sounds terrible though. In America Star Wars was PG - Parental Guidance suggested. In New Zealand it was GY - suitable for General audiences, but recommended for those 13 and over. In Britain the BBFC was very lenient in giving Star Wars a Universal certificate (equivalent to a G for General audiences in NZ, Australia, or the USA). All film censorship decisions are totally mad.
ReplyDeleteIt's 'woke-ism' pure and simple. I saw an episode of Grantchester (good show) a couple or so months back, and there was a warning at the beginning that the programme contained homophobic language of the time that some viewers might find offensive. It amounted to one gay man calling another gay man a 'pansy'. Yet, in other episodes, when there were occasional scenes of same sex kissing (nothing prolonged, thankfully), there was no announcement at the beginning saying that the programme contained scenes of same sex activity that some viewers might find distasteful or offensive. How times have changed.
ReplyDeleteYep, the times they are a changing. Alas I feel like a dinosaur shortly before they go extinct!
ReplyDelete