Creative Restrictions = Better Toon

This is why I love South Park. Even though they probably can get away with just about anything (except showing Mohammad on screen), their main goal isn't to try to offend everybody in every way possible. Their goal is to tell a story with a message.

Shows like Drawn Together, I just don't see the point. Okay, you're proving that you can get away with anything-- but why?

Ren and Stimpy is the same way, I like the Nickelodeon show. But man that "Adult Party Cartoon" thing was utter garbage. John K. needs restrictions, he's just messed up.

I'm not sure if Invader Zim's restrictions would have made much of a difference. Most of the changes Nickelodeon made were pretty minor stuff having to do with violence, and they only started cracking down on that after 9/11 (I guarantee you that "Hamstergeddon" probably wouldn't have gotten made after that). Jhonen knew he was making a show for a kids network, and knew he had limits. I'm kind of curious to see what Zim would have been like if it was made for another network, or even Adult Swim or something. It probably wouldn't have been that much different, though.
 
This only works when the creators themselves are up to the challenge. If the creators themselves just give up, and do what the producers want, then that makes for a very bad show.

But challenges and restriction can inspire and force the writers and creative staff to think outside of the box.
 
I think most of Nick's interference was cosmetic, at least before 9/11. Originally 'Bestest Friend' and 'Dark Harvest' were paired together, but since both eps were so... dark, Nick had them split and paired up with 'lighter' episodes.
 
Funny you mentioned American Dragon. I'm too lazy to find proof, but here's a show that had a lot more, interesting, material planned for it, but Disney's restrictions really cut it all down. The second season did go more towards what Jeff and crew were aiming for, but you just need to find what I'm talking about.
 
Yeah, but notice they didn't have any problems with the episodes themselves-- they just didn't want two dark episodes like that in a pair.

Really, I applaud Nickelodeon for having the guts to air stuff like "Dark Harvest" on their network without complaining about it.
 
I don't know, Dark Harvest I didn't have any *real* problems with. I mean, yeah, ZIm was ripping organs out of them, but you didn't *see* him doing it,and the students were almost otherwise alright.

'Bestest Friend', however got quite graphic with Zim's mangling of Keef and the other kids.
 
I think Family Guy is a good case study to make this point. Since the return, Fox has let them get away with much cruder material, and they go even cruder on the DVDs (and the Adult Swim airings, which are basically bleeped DVD versions). Not only do the old episodes generally seem smarter than the new ones, but often the "clean" substitute jokes for the new Fox episodes are funnier than their uncensored DVD counterparts.
 
Back
Top