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Children's comedy

Comparing British and American children's comedy. (May 2019)

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TT
ThatTVNerd
After watching back some children's sitcoms of the noughties from the likes of Disney and Nickelodeon in recent times...I personally find them nowhere near as funny as I used to think they were.

In fact, the more older I've got, the more I have appreciated the likes of Zzzap!, Sooty, ChuckleVision, The Basil Brush Show etc, and I think I can understand why. Programmes like the above mentioned were written with the whole family in mind, even though children are the main demographic these shows are targeted at.

The Disney Channel/Nickelodeon sitcoms are written specifically with children in mind, and I don't think it's very clever (or funny) how the actors in these shows over act for the sake of getting a laugh - you never see Matthew Corbett or Tony Gardner do anything like that. In fact, there are very few American children's programmes from my childhood I still like to watch back to this day, one of them being SpongeBob SquarePants.
BR
Brekkie
Are they written with children in mind or Americans? Either way they're just not that funny.

I also think you're comparing two different eras - Saved by the Bell probably holds up better than any of the later Disney crap, whilst the shows you've mentioned probably hold up better for viewers of a certain age than the likes of Kerching and Tracey Beaker.
LL
Larry the Loafer
I still laugh at Kenan and Kel as a 27 year old, so each to their own.

I think a big factor is the people behind said show. Certain classic Cartoon Network shows in particular had some alumni that went onto more mature projects like Family Guy, and those shows seemed to entertain the creators (and in turn, people of a similar age) just as much as their target demographic. Cow and Chicken for example has a surreal and absurd style that still appeals to older viewers. And many still argue that Ren and Stimpy should never have been made for Nickelodeon in the first place.

That said, there's a British children's TV writer called Paul Rose (aka. Mr Biffo) who's written (and still does, AFAIK) a lot of "grounded" kids' programmes. That said, anyone who remembers his tenure writing Digitiser for Teletext and his subsequent YouTube projects will know his style and sense of humour certainly isn't family friendly.

Also consider that when Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon were coming into their own, they were trying to set themselves apart from pre- existing kids TV. Nickelodeon went in for the anarchy while CN most definitely started making shows with a slightly more mature edge. When I was younger I always preferred TV shows that seemed a touch older than what was probably meant for me, and it's because of the old saying that kids want to be adults and adults want to be kids. Disney almost certainly wouldn't get away with straying away from their family friendly output, so they're bound to play it much safer, in the same way that the BBC would probably cause a furore if it started making anything potentially unsuitable.
NA
natwel27
Tom and Jerry is one that does it for me. For someone who is now into much more darker humour, I'm pretty sure it's the "undertones" of violence and survival that I find rather funny.

I was never really one for sitcoms anyway.
BA
bilky asko
Speaking of Paul Rose, if anyone hasn't seen the Barshens podcast with him as a guest it's worth a watch:



Warning: contains references to bums and EastEnders.
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NJ
Neil Jones Founding member
The Disney Channel/Nickelodeon sitcoms are written specifically with children in mind, and I don't think it's very clever (or funny) how the actors in these shows over act for the sake of getting a laugh - you never see Matthew Corbett or Tony Gardner do anything like that. In fact, there are very few American children's programmes from my childhood I still like to watch back to this day, one of them being SpongeBob SquarePants.


But remember that Disney Channel and Nickelodeon have the same requirement as any other network show, they have to produce hundreds of episodes per season (not literally but it feels like it!) so they have to be written quickly and filmed quickly. Because we don't use that model but we commission and make more stuff, our mainstream series are typically six episodes in length (though I note a lot of CBBC original stuff seems to be 13 episodes per series) and I think we're better for it.

And of course modern day Disney Channel/Nickelodeon is very different to kids TV of the past - back then the presenters of the shows and the characters tried to be your friend. Today they just shout at each other and you in front of some garish set.


Tom and Jerry is one that does it for me. For someone who is now into much more darker humour, I'm pretty sure it's the "undertones" of violence and survival that I find rather funny.


Tom & Jerry was never made for children, not pre 1958 anyway. Those were all made to be seen in a cinema prior to the main film, and films that were aimed squarely at adults. This is why they feature "adult" things like smoking, implied racism (blackface and what have you) and some of the most violent cartoon gags to be seen in animated history. As time went by and T&J was farmed out to new production houses (Gene Deitch and later Chuck Jones and then back to Hanna Barbera) the older cartoons were aired on TV (albeit with edits to remove the racism).

Tom & Jerry is fairly unique in that any complaints made about it are usually always about either the smoking or the racism or the other adult themes; it is never about the violence.

The "Looney Toons" and "Merrie Melodies" series probably ended up the same way (in cinemas and later on TV) but those were originally intended for music promotion purposes, same with Silly Symphonies. It was a similar sort of thing to Fantasia, knock an animation up based around some music.
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WW
WW Update
Tom & Jerry is fairly unique in that any complaints made about it are usually always about either the smoking or the racism or the other adult themes; it is never about the violence.


But to be fair, one of the most enduring parodies of Tom & Jerry was all about its excessive violence: Itchy & Scratchy.

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