Is there any definitive proof that young viewers don't like adult centered toons?

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le_a_perdu_ame

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I've asked this before, but a couple of threads prompted me to ask again. The first being the decades thread asking whether the 90s or 2000 (in which we discussed the 90s didn't have an obsession with tween centered characters) was the better decade, and the post with a link to Cartoon Nework's upcoming cartoons (all of which star a teen character).

Just to be clear, when I say adult centered toons, I don't mean cartoons with adult content, but cartoons where the main character is an adult.

But to recap, most (keyword, most) of this decade seemed to be comedies centering around a kid/teen if not focusing on some super heroes.

Now, I certainly can believe that the younger demographs appreciate cartoons where the main character is in their agre range, but is there any definitive proof that they object to watching cartoons where the characters are far removed from their age range?

So far I see some evidence to prove that it's network paranoia than a full blown fact:

1a.. Spongebob Squarepant has been Nickelodeon's most successful cartoon for the decade despite the lack of a regular kid/teen character. You might argue that Spongebob is a kid at heart, but lets look at some key tween ingredience missing from the show:

- Aside from some boating school episodes, obviously the lack of school centered episodes, whereas the major settings seem to be an adult environment (The Krusty Krab being a work place).
- Lack of the unobtainable crush.
- Aside from Flats who bullied Spongebob for an episode, the lack of a regular bully.

Yet the show is still a success.

1b. As I understand, Back At The Barnyard has been pretty successful as well, despite not being so kid centric.

2. Jackie Chan Adventures and The Batman had higher episode count than the other homegrown KidsWB shows that featured kids. Sure you had Jade, Robin and Batgirl, but Jackie and Batman had a good deal of screentime.

3a. While it ended at episode 52, Courage The Cowardly Dog has made enough ratings with the target demograph to continue with reruns and the only main characters are two elderly people and a dog.

3b. Tom & Jerry also does well to warrent continual reruns.

4. To put another spin on my comments, there was an earlier attempt to spinoff Crash Nebula from Fairly Oddparents. Now the proposed pilot had all of the cliches you'd see from a successful tween show, and yet it didn't get the response to become a full blown series.
 
I suppose it all really depends on what kind of cartoon. If it's a superhero sort of thing, than yes adult characters should be in it because, in those types of situations, adults can just do more interesting things. In comedy, it can go either way. Johnny Bravo was popular at a time. So was Sheep in the Big City. Whether the characters are adults or kids I don't really think has that much of an impact. It's all about the writing.

But there really isn't any evidence that kids prefer shows with kid characters. In fact, most of the highly popular shows of any generation usually had a somewhat adult cast.
 
I'd say that talking animals like Spongebob don't really count. While you can argue that they are adults, they're just so different from humans (physically if not socially and mentally) that they don't have much in the way of a discernable age. When I was little, I never thought of Bugs Bunny as being either a kid rabbit or and adult rabbit; he was just a rabbit, and age never factored into it.
 
Except that Spongebob live more of a human lifestyle, while Bugs is a rabbit with human traits. I'd say the arguement holds more true for Tom and Jerry as they aren't humanoid.
 
As long as the adults have childlike tendencies, I think they find it funny. You can see any PG family movie that features adults as the characters with no kids, and usually it involves a lot of slapstick or grossout humor, which kids love no matter who is doing it.
 
To give an older example, there's Rocko's Modern Life.

There were no recurring kid characters, and most of the main stars were young adults as best.

And it had little to no settings that kids could relate to, with most of the episodes dealing with things like corporate life-style (Conglom-o), having a day job (Rocko at the comic book store), driving a car, and others.

The show was still popular anyway.
 
I don't know if there is any proof that kids don't like shows about adults, but it does make better sense that kids would like characters that they relate to.


This thread is about cartoons that are about adults, not shows for adults.
 
Right, although it's more of that Spongebob is considerably a manchild and acts a lot more like a kid than a full grown adult.


South Park is unrelated because the show centers around kids. However Family Guy is technically on topic considering the main character being Peter. But yeah, when I was younger, I watched the Simpsons all the time.

I'm not surprised that kids watch Family Guy, I've known people who are actually convinced that Family Guy is a kid's cartoon.
 
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Again, even with Spongebob's manchild status, the show lacks:

1. A regular bully. I believe the school bully cliche was used once in the show's run.

2. The show lacks the unobtainable crush.

3. The majority of the show seems to take place at Spongebob's work place (adult environment) more than it does with the psuedo grade school.

4. Spongebob doesn't have the obsession to become popular.

And again, these are the ingrediences used in the successful kid centered shows. Despite the lack if them, SbSp still remains popular to this day.
 
I think it's Spongebob's childish behavior that attracts the audience. I mean I don't recall caring for that many shows with the stereotypical factors in 'kid-life'. I think the only successful one I can think of is Dexter's Laboratory... oh yeah, and Billy and Mandy would count too, I suppose. But both those shows have an adult audience as well, and sometimes more of an older audience.
 
What about Rugrats? That show was popular, but they don't go to school, have unabtainable crushes, and strive to be popular. I guess they do have a bulley...
 
They didn't, but action speaks louder than words, and so far every upcoming cartoon features a teenager as the center character, and it's not just CN that I apply it to. Until Back At The Barnyard, Spongebob was the only current Nicktoons to be adult centered, and well Disney's homegrown cartoons well feature middle school or high school students. The last cartoon from Disney that I can think of that went outside the school setting was Brandy And Mr. Whiskers.

And again, I can certainly see the target demo appreciating cartoons with the character in their age range, but why else would the three networks be so hesitant to have more adult centered cartoons?

To prove my statement isn't complete speculation, I read in an interview that Greg Weisman was looking to get the Gargoyles spinoff Bad Guys onto Jetix, but among reasons it was rejected was due to the characters being adults. I mean you think a cast containing a man in body armor, a masked woman, a gargoyle, a mutate and a scientific creation would interest the target demograph.
 
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