BW Media Spotlight

Look, I’m one of the first people to complain about the state of some kids shows today. They seem to be made more for adults and maybe kids will like it, something still a bit too “grown-up” (and yet somehow still immature) to even qualify as “all-ages” when you really see what’s going on. With Disney execs outright admitting in investor meetings that their goal is to introduce more “minority representation” rather than tell good stories with good characters–and certainly not doing a proper adaptation to introduce a new audience to a cultural icon–it can seem like kids are at best an afterthought in their own entertainment. I’ve talked about how few comics there are for kids and none for kids and adults to enjoy together unless you’re someone like me who could watch Paw Patrol and an actual rescue show with the same excitement. I however am weird.

While there seems to be less and less kids show not made for fanshippers, token promoters who embrace stereotypes, and insist on making things “edgy” while insisting kids shows of the past shouldn’t be kids shows today it may seem like there’s nothing good for kids on television these days. Yeah, I can do without the kids drag queen show and wish American Ninja Warrior Junior was back on Universal Kids instead of Peacock so I can watch it with my dad (who has not seen anything else in the Ninja Warrior franchise), but to say nothing good is being made for kids or has in the past few years is to not really pay attention to what’s being made. Among the crap made by people who hate kids and think they’re stupid enough to accept anything just because they’re more accepting than adults every now and then something good comes out.

Try telling that to Bounding Into Comics contributor Jacob Smith. In his recent commentary “Three Ways To Make Children’s Entertainment Great Again” Smith makes the case that Disney Channel and Nickelodeon, the two big names in kids networks so that’s what he mostly calls out, are not making good shows for kids anymore. I do agree they’re making a lot of crap and politically motivated crap but to say there’s nothing good is to miss out on some good shows.

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