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

I tried to do what you did and point out the 'exact' pith on one of my own threads. People still didn't get the gist and posted the exact opposite of my desired topic. The point is, people aren't always going to post exactly what the topic is about even if they try.

As for kids not liking adult cartoons; I personally think it just depends on the child. Most adult-oriented jokes will fly right over a child's head and/or they think it's funny.

FE: I watched SB as a kid when it first came out and didn't see the 'adult' content in it until much later; nor did I understand why my parents didn't like my viewing it. :p
 
Overall, I think that it depends on what type of program it happens to be. Action/adventure series tend to favor adult protagonists, because they have more freedom than kid characters and are able do more things such as drive, stay out all night without curfew, go to work instead of school etc.

But it's not just adults that have been getting the shaft lately; more recently, prepubescent child protagonists seem to have fallen out of favor with TV producers as well. It seems as if all we're getting nowadays is series after series starring or centering on teenagers. Even Ben 10's producers felt that it was necessary to age Ben and Gwen 5 years in order to get another series out of them. I don't have a problem with teen protagonists, but some people don't want teen-centric action cartoons all of the time. Some of us prefer a bit of variety.
 
Spongebob is not an adult. He's a talking sponge. Kids love talking animals :sweat: Same thing with Rocko's Modern Life (talking wallabies according to wikipedia :sweat:) and Sheep in the Big City (talking (well not really) sheeps).
Superhero cartoons are different from regular cartoons. Usually a superhero is a strong man/woman so it doesn't really matters if the show doesn't star any kids. :p
 
They are still at an age which classifies them as adults. And they aren't like wild animals or house pets who can talk. Sheep aside, the characters you listed live a very human lifestyle and are officially adult age.

Now I could see your arguement valid in the case of Tom & Jerry on the otherhand.
 
Take Spongebob. He must be in his 20's I guess. I don't think kids would like to watch a cartoon starring a 20 years old human-being working at a fast-food :P Those shows work because the characters are animals or random objects. :sweat:
 
Generally speaking, the consensus is that kids mostly enjoy watching either a) kids, b) animals or c) heightened fantasy beings like superheroes, wizards, genies, robots, ninjas, secret agents, etc. Regular, average grown-ups aren't generally gravitated towards and are usually only considered acceptable as parents or guardians who have minor supporting/mentoring roles.

I suppose watching kids doing the extraordinary is sort-of empowering to children, since they actually wield little to no power in real life, and wacky animals and magical creatures are just plain more fun to watch than ordinary Joes and Janes holding down jobs or whatever.

One of CN's last shows to not feature any kid or animal protagonists was Megas XLR. It's central characters, Coop, Jamie and Kiva, weren't kids or even teenagers; Coop and Jamie were young adult slackers who didn't have jobs and had no real interest in anything beyond cars, video games and (in Jamie's case) chicks. Kiva was a displaced warrior from the future, so I guess she falls into the 'supehero' class, as do in a sense Jamie and Coop, since they were in possession of a giant robot.
 
See like mentioned before, Johnny Bravo did very well, because he was basically a big man-child. Kids love when adults act like that. Will Ferrell is proof positive.
 
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