- Man, kid's shows were a big part of my childhood.
I really enjoyed those.
That was, until I found out
that they all had horrible messages.
A good kid's TV show was fun, exciting,
and usually had some sort of moral at its heart,
something that kids can learn about
along the way that has meaning.
However, even the best TV shows at times
make some questionable choices
and ends up containing ideas
which should've been left on the cutting room floor.
You'll see what I'm talking about.
(slurping)
(bleeping)
Here are 10 old kid's TV shows that had horrible messages.
Number 10 is "Rugrats".
"Rugrats" was a popular kid's show in the nineties
and early 2000's.
The show followed the adventures of a group of kids,
mostly babies, that get into funny situations
around the home of one year old Tommy Pickles.
A lot of people loved this show when it was on
and many still do.
It even received critical acclaim
for exploring difficult topics for kids.
As is the case with most great kid's shows,
"Rugrats" was able to have some jokes for parents watching.
However, in one case, the writers probably skewed things
a little too close to the adult.
In one episode, Tommy's grandpa is looking after the kids.
He shows some videos that he's renting for the night
most of them kids movies.
Except of course, for 'Lonely Space Vixens'
which he states is his favorite
and he'll only watch once the kids are in bed.
Yeah we know what kind of video that is grandpa, we know.
Number nine is "Richie Rich".
Based on the comic book, "Richie Rich" the cartoon
aired in 1980 and its popularity led eventually
to a live action movie in the nineties.
The cartoon follows the adventures of Richie
or as the comics labeled him, the poor little rich boy.
Richie's the only child of a family who are so rich
that Richie can have anything that his heart desires.
He even has a robot maid
who looks out for him on his adventures.
It's all fun and games until you realize
that Richie Rich is about,
well,
being rich.
There's absolutely nothing wrong with having money
but in "Richie Rich",
money solves any problem that life throws at you.
People were concerned about this in the eighties
when the Wall Street money money money attitude
was popular.
It was all about buying things
so that you can win over people
who can't afford the same luxury.
Number eight is "Tom and Jerry".
Man it almost feels sacrilegious to include this one.
But yes, "Tom and Jerry" doesn't exactly
send the best message to kids.
That is, the older version of the cartoon at least.
Tom and Jerry are a cat and mouse
and wouldn't you know it, they don't get along.
Original episodes of the cartoon in the forties
involved Tom trying to catch Jerry
so that he could eat him
though Jerry always outsmarted Tom.
This was usually done in increasingly violent ways.
A fork stuck in Tom's eye, a cannon shot at his face,
a piano dropped on his head, you name it.
Poor Tom has been hurt by it.
Although a newer version of the show
includes Tom and Jerry being friends,
older episodes are extremely violent and do teach kids
that they can solve a problem by hurting each other.
But I can't do this, OG "Tom and Jerry" episodes?
Hilarious.
Terrible message, but hilarious.
Number seven is "Dennis".
Also known as "Dennis the Menace",
this 1986 animated kid's show
brought to life the adventures of Dennis.
It may not surprise you but he's a child and
a menace, bet you didn't see that coming.
The show originally aired in syndication
but the second season was shown on Saturday mornings
on the network CBS to a large audience of kids
eager to see what hijinks that Dennis would get up to next.
Many of these adventures involved Dennis' next door neighbor
George Wilson.
George is an elderly man
and rather than having an easy retirement,
Dennis spends much of his time annoying George
and causing him all kinds of stress.
Of course, this was all played for laughs.
However it's hard to watch these episodes
and not conclude that Dennis is just
harassing an elderly man and getting away with it.
"Throw that pesky punk in jail."
Number six is "Justice League".
Marvel might be flying high in innovating
the cinematic landscape,
but DC had always produced brilliant animated shows.
Whether it's "Batman: The Animated Adventures"
"Superman" or the great slate of feature length
animated movies that they make,
DC's animation department deserves all the recognition.
But like many of the shows on this list,
when writers try to make an adult joke in a kid's show,
sometimes things can go a little too far.
The DC animated universe's Justice League cartoon
is widely loved
but some of the episodes include sexual innuendo.
In one famous exchange, the Flash makes a joke
about being the fastest man on the planet.
Hawk Girl replies with, "That's why you can't get a date."
Think about it.
Okay I doubt a kid would understand the joke but we do
and it's not an image that I wanted in my head.
Thanks DC.
Number five is "Muppet Babies".
The Muppets were created in 1955 by Jim and Jane Henson.
They first appeared on television
in a show called "Sam and Friends".
It wasn't until 1969 when Sesame Street first aired
that these puppet creations became a cultural phenomenon.
"The Muppet Show" then ran from 1976 to 1981
and followed characters like Gonzo, Kermit the Frog,
and Fozzie bear.
Most of these shows were geared towards kids.
The 1984 animated cartoon, "The Muppet Babies"
was specifically created for younger children.
However, the show, which follows the Muppet characters
when they were toddlers living in a nursery room,
doesn't exactly have the best message attached to it.
Usually, the kids are left alone
to interact with the house in any way that they want
getting into adventures and danger along the way.
Basically what I'm trying to say is
the nanny should have been arrested, man.
Number four is "Pepe Le Pew".
Warner Bros created a bunch of iconic cartoon characters
in the forties.
This included Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig and Daffy Duck.
While the violence of some of these cartoons
is frowned upon by some, it's the cartoon Pepe Le Pew
which created alongside other characters,
which was the most problematic through a modern lens.
Pepe Le Pew is a skunk and first appeared in 1945.
Since then, he's appeared on countless kid's shows.
Most of Pepe Le Pew's storylines
involved him pursuing a female black cat
which he thinks is a female skunk.
No matter how much the cat resists
his attempts to kiss and caress her,
Pepe Le Pew never accepts no for an answer.
Given the current climate,
this is obviously not exactly the best message
that you wanna teach kids about relationships.
All right we need an intervention,
Pepe Le Pew must be stopped at all costs.
Who's got the skunk spray, cancel culture, cancel him.
Number three is "Gummi Bears".
Disney's adventures of the "Gummi Bears"
aired between 1985 and 1991.
For those growing up in the eighties and early nineties,
it was a very popular cartoon.
The show followed a group of bears who lived in a forest.
They tended to hide from human beings
with the villains trying to uncover
the secret of the bears' powers.
Sugar, diabetes, mostly sugar.
The Gummi bears developed superpowers
by drinking their secret Gummi berry juice.
When drank, this magic potion allowed the bears
to bounce away from those hunting them.
Now it sounds like good fun and it was
until you realize that this kid's show
is essentially advocating taking a drug
in order to improve your performance.
There were a few people at the time and since
who felt the show should be banned because of that.
Me on the other hand,
I just can't get enough of that Gummi berry juice.
(laughing)
Number two is "Scooby Doo".
Scooby Scooby Doo, I love you.
"Scooby Doo" is an animated cartoon
which has ran since 1969 to present day.
The fact that it's never really been
off of television screens in all that time
shows just how popular the show is.
In it, a dog named Scooby Doo and his human companions
travel around in their van.
The van is called the Mystery Machine
and wherever it stops, they find spooky goings on.
There's usually a mystery to be solved
as Scooby and the gang enter into abandoned properties,
theme parks and other places,
to discover the secret behind monsters and ghosts
chasing people away.
Although they solve a crime or two,
the show does encourage kids to break into properties
and trespass.
At least that's what I said to them
when they turned up at my door.
They stuck their noses in my business
and I would have gotten away with my plan too,
if it wasn't for those meddling kids.
And number one is "Power Rangers".
Okay who didn't love the "Power Rangers"
when they were a kid?
Martial arts, super hero costumes, giant robots
and monsters fighting each other?
Remember the putties?
(garbling)
It was all the things that kids were obsessed with
at the time during the nineties in one show.
But some people are arguing
that the show promoted racial stereotypes
which it definitely did.
For starters, the black ranger was African American.
The yellow ranger, asian.
The pink ranger was a ditzy white girl.
The red ranger was American Indian.
You see where I'm going with this.
The yellow ranger would also have problems
driving their robot vehicle
while the black ranger
would always dance before martial arts.
Yeah, time has not been kind
to the original run of that show.
Though, whenever the show's music comes on,
I can't help but back flip onto the couch and shout,
'it's morphing time' minus the racial stereotypes of course.
(laughing nervously)
but that's it, thanks for watching, for subscribing,
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Thanks again, see you next time.