Lately we have been reminiscing and recalling our respective childhoods in the early '90s. We characterize our younger years as a time when a kid could collect Pokémon cards, read "Goosebumps" books and, most importantly, watch Nickelodeon. Do you remember the shows like "Doug," "Hey Arnold!," "Rugrats" and "Rocko's Modern Life?" Those were the shows that revved our engines back in the elementary school.
Today, however, children listlessly watch different programs produced by the same kid-friendly stations. We want to go on record as saying the kids' shows of yesteryear, namely the '90s, trump the garbage that kids watch nowadays. Rare gems include "SpongeBob Squarepants," which makes us chuckle like "barnacle heads" whenever we watch reruns, but the vast majority of today's Nickelodeon and Disney Channel programming is composed of flimsy attempts to target an adolescent market.
Of course, the negative Nancys out there (and all the "Hannah Montana" fanatics) might contend our opinion. They might argue that we only love those older shows because we have fond memories of them and that we cannot currently relate to current kids' shows.
The other day, however, we were feeling wistful and reflective, so we decided to watch reruns of "Doug." "Doug" has not lost its touch. It is witty, cute and representative of the life of a middle-school teenager — that is, a middle-school teenager with an ultra-intelligent dog, an avian alter-ego and a blue best friend.
Besides the relatable plotlines, the shows of our generation had subtle but artistic aspects. "Hey Arnold!" infused rhythmic jazz into urban life to provide the backdrop for a show about love, acceptance and family. "Stoop Kid's Afraid to Leave His Stoop" still pulls at our heartstrings every time.
These shows have been replaced by "Zoey 101," "The Suite Life of Zack and Cody," "iCarly" and "Hannah Montana." These shows all share one universal flaw: They aren't cartoons! Don't get us wrong, we love some of the old-time, live-action shows like "Pete and Pete," "All That" and "Even Stevens." Yet even today as college students, we enjoy cartoons like "South Park" and "Family Guy," though they may be slightly more vulgar than "Rugrats."
We love the shows of yore because even though they were often animated and silly, they were full of emotion and hilarity. Whatever happened to love stories? There was a time when it was normal for Helga Pataki to shoot a spitball at "football-head" one moment and worship a shrine of him made from chewing gum and newspaper clippings the next.
Now, however, shows consist of idiotic, slapstick humor and star promiscuous youths like Jamie Lynn Spears and Miley Cyrus. That's right. This generation's heroes are a teenage mother and a 16-year-old girl who is dating a 20-year-old and already has a Playboy offer on the table for 2010.
The other problem with Nickelodeon and Disney is that they are afraid to push the envelope. The shows "Are you Afriad of the Dark," "Ren And Stimpy" and "Aaahh!!! Real Monsters" were classic staples of our adolescence, but would not be aired now because of overly sensitive parents. Slapping these shows with the TV-Y7 rating back in the day aptly tempered parents' concerns. Don't pretend you are all happy-go-lucky, Nickelodeon; we've seen "Degrassi."
Thus, we are making a plea to the studio execs at Disney and Nickelodeon. Come up with some new ideas that reflect the ingenuity of the old school programs. Or at least bring back some of the former stuff. We will happily watch reruns. As for now, we will tirelessly search the Internet so we can cry nostalgically and marvel at radical episodes of "Rocket Power."
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Zach Drucker and Chris Poldoian are freshmen who have not yet declared majors. They can be reached at Zachary.Drucker@tufts.edu and Christopher.Poldoian@tufts.edu.
