TV
There are some things which children of every generation find funny, ie. fart jokes. We did in our day and it's the same now. The difference was, broadcasters were more reserved and didn't pander to it (if they did, it was done in a subtle way). Having that awful girl from Shameless leaning forward and letting rip on a fake Newsround report in Stupid, then blatantly waving the smell away used to be "don't go there" territory.
The early 80s were far from perfect in the manners you describe. Even at that age I was aware of the high proportion of cartoons, and that hardly any were home-grown (leading me to believe that we didn't or weren't capable of producing our own animation!) Stuff like Make 'Em Laugh (how the BBC thought children were interested in clips from the Keystone Cops) did nothing for me.
But when you weeded out all those, you still had engaging stuff like Jigsaw, Take Hart, Stopwatch, Blue Peter, Finders Keepers (Stilgoe) - I could go on.
Assuming as I do that your Isla St Clair reference is to The Song And The Story, why wasn't there a place for that sort of thing? Though I admit Friday wasn't the best place for it, when children had just finished another week of school and wanted to forget about the classroom.
Although ironically, Muffin is now back on our screens!
I don't disagree - could you see ITV do anything like Roar or Evacuation? I merely suggested that not long ago, the eye was taken off the ball slightly.
marksi posted:
How can you judge what kids these days like? You're a 30-something-year-old with a moral judgement of a conservative 75 year old.
What's wrong with a programme that appeals to schoolboy humour when it's actually aimed at schoolboys?!
What's wrong with a programme that appeals to schoolboy humour when it's actually aimed at schoolboys?!
There are some things which children of every generation find funny, ie. fart jokes. We did in our day and it's the same now. The difference was, broadcasters were more reserved and didn't pander to it (if they did, it was done in a subtle way). Having that awful girl from Shameless leaning forward and letting rip on a fake Newsround report in Stupid, then blatantly waving the smell away used to be "don't go there" territory.
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You seem to look at the early 1980s with rather rosy specs on. What you forget is that much of the 90 minutes per day of children's output was imported cartoons. There was some crappy historical nonsense on a Friday which generally involved Isla St Clair droning on about a long dead poet, or repeats of Children's Film Foundation movies that were dated even then. You'd five editions of Newsround a week (there are at least 6 per DAY now).
The early 80s were far from perfect in the manners you describe. Even at that age I was aware of the high proportion of cartoons, and that hardly any were home-grown (leading me to believe that we didn't or weren't capable of producing our own animation!) Stuff like Make 'Em Laugh (how the BBC thought children were interested in clips from the Keystone Cops) did nothing for me.
But when you weeded out all those, you still had engaging stuff like Jigsaw, Take Hart, Stopwatch, Blue Peter, Finders Keepers (Stilgoe) - I could go on.
Assuming as I do that your Isla St Clair reference is to The Song And The Story, why wasn't there a place for that sort of thing? Though I admit Friday wasn't the best place for it, when children had just finished another week of school and wanted to forget about the classroom.
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Much of what went out back then simply wouldn't cut it today. It was a different era, in the same way that Muffin The Mule wouldn't have worked in the 70s or 80s.
Although ironically, Muffin is now back on our screens!
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Most kids live in households with getting on for 30 children's channels. Much of what's on those channels is crap - but what's on CBBC is far from crap. It's better by far than what we had to watch.
I don't disagree - could you see ITV do anything like Roar or Evacuation? I merely suggested that not long ago, the eye was taken off the ball slightly.