Adult Revivals of Fox Kids shows

[Prgiordano]

I've been noticing a notable number of supposed "kids" franchises over the past several years that've now gotten (or are now on the verge of getting) more mature and adult entries catering to the fans that've grown up with them over the years. A notable number of these shows now seem to be that of ones that used to air on the now defunct Fox Kids block, which had classics such as Animaniacs, Batman, X-Men, Goosebumps (not animated, but still), and The Tick. All the listed shows here have since gotten revivals and/or reimaginings with either swearing (which the block obviously attempted to forbid), and/or the willingness to realize the potential that S&P/FCC regulations almost certainly prevented these shows from having. What are your thoughts on this?

 

[Pooky]

Was the Animaniacs reboot not aimed at kids? I couldn't really tell. Mind you a lot of people said that about the original.

The Goosebumps reboot kind of baffled me. I would say the two things that made Goosebumps stand out were 1) It was horror aimed at kids 2) The TV show was an anthology series aimed at kids. While certainly creative, frankly the writing or production quality was never among the higher tiers of horror writing nor on par with your average Twilight Zone, Outer Limits or even Amazing Stories on a good day, but being aimed at kids gave it a unique and distinctive place in pop culture. So the reboot being neither an anthology show nor entirely family friendly strikes me as odd. Some people say it's good though, so whatever I guess.

 

[Prgiordano]

Was the Animaniacs reboot not aimed at kids? I couldn't really tell. Mind you a lot of people said that about the original.

The Goosebumps reboot kind of baffled me. I would say the two things that made Goosebumps stand out were 1) It was horror aimed at kids 2) The TV show was an anthology series aimed at kids. While certainly creative, frankly the writing or production quality was never among the higher tiers of horror writing nor on par with your average Twilight Zone, Outer Limits or even Amazing Stories on a good day, but being aimed at kids gave it a unique and distinctive place in pop culture. So the reboot being neither an anthology show nor entirely family friendly strikes me as odd. Some people say it's good though, so whatever I guess.

Well let's put it this way. I highly doubt that Fox Kids would've allowed the people on Animaniacs to get away with a character called "Jackass Monkey" in one of its episodes. As far as I was concerned, it was in denial as to whether or not it was still a "kids show" if it ever truly was one in the first place.

 

[Fone Bone]

Saying the Animaniacs revival is adult is the same thing as calling Shrek that. Yeah, there are a couple of naughty words and adult concepts. But there is never a question that kids are what it is really aimed at.

 

[Silverstar]

I didn't know this was a thing, and TBH, I'm still not convinced that it is. I'd elaborate, but I'd just be repeating what @Fone Bone said above me.

 

[Classic Speedy]

Bobby's World: This time, he's in his 40s, balding, and has a spare tire. Funnily enough, he's still voiced by Howie Mandel.

 

[Neo Ultra Mike]

As Fone Bone pointed out, the Animaniacs revival on Hulu isn't an Adult series. Rather it's doing what the original series did and generally being a kids show with a lot of innuendo and references you'd really only get as an adult. The only difference is thanks to Hulu regulations being a lot more lax and the team being more aware that adults would gravitate towards the program, there was more freedom in what they could get away with and say. But it's still not trying to be an adult reboot or reimagining at all just working within different standards then what the original had.

Also the thing about Batman, X-Men AND The Tick Prgiordano is that yes those takes on the characters are beloved and obviously have led to other avenues you do have to realize they come just from well known comic book FRANCHISES and IPs that can cater to just everyone then kids already. The Tick Amazon Prime series wasn't connected to the Fox Kids series sans it just being based on the beloved Ben Edlund comic book and him working on both. And though Batman The Animated Series did expand it's universe to Kids WB and Cartoon Network it never technically had an adult cartoon made about it as honestly even the more adult parts of the franchises you'd hear Kevin Conroy or Mark Hamill's take on the Dark Knight and Joker were either not directly part of the BTAS universe or more one off films like Batman and Harley Quinn then full revival series. Even the animated X-Men series though likely again being able to get away with more then on Fox Kids isn't still a full on Adult Series at all.

Rather the thing is that franchises we loved as kids are still popular and branches of them have survived to spawn new limbs that have different kind of leaves then the one you grew up on but are still part of the same kind of tree if you really look at it.

 

[Prgiordano]

As Fone Bone pointed out, the Animaniacs revival on Hulu isn't an Adult series. Rather it's doing what the original series did and generally being a kids show with a lot of innuendo and references you'd really only get as an adult. The only difference is thanks to Hulu regulations being a lot more lax and the team being more aware that adults would gravitate towards the program, there was more freedom in what they could get away with and say. But it's still not trying to be an adult reboot or reimagining at all just working within different standards then what the original had.

Also the thing about Batman, X-Men AND The Tick Prgiordano is that yes those takes on the characters are beloved and obviously have led to other avenues you do have to realize they come just from well known comic book FRANCHISES and IPs that can cater to just everyone then kids already. The Tick Amazon Prime series wasn't connected to the Fox Kids series sans it just being based on the beloved Ben Edlund comic book and him working on both. And though Batman The Animated Series did expand it's universe to Kids WB and Cartoon Network it never technically had an adult cartoon made about it as honestly even the more adult parts of the franchises you'd hear Kevin Conroy or Mark Hamill's take on the Dark Knight and Joker were either not directly part of the BTAS universe or more one off films like Batman and Harley Quinn then full revival series. Even the animated X-Men series though likely again being able to get away with more then on Fox Kids isn't still a full on Adult Series at all.

Rather the thing is that franchises we loved as kids are still popular and branches of them have survived to spawn new limbs that have different kind of leaves then the one you grew up on but are still part of the same kind of tree if you really look at it.

Sorry. It's just that I have a black and white morality regarding profanity. As far as I'm concerned, anything with the slightest form of vulgarity such as "suck," "god," "crap" and other expletives respectively, it is automatically not suitable for those under 10 or 13.

Here, I made an IMDB list a while ago regarding this, where I acknowledge that these maturer takes don't automatically mean that they're truly "adult" now so to speak.

Kids Content That've Grown Up (To Some Extent)

In a world where people can now have access to and knowledge of things that weren't as easy to obtain prior to the advent of the internet, the supposed kid-targeted franchises of yesterday, aware of how their fans grow up and mature overtime, may end up either maturing with them or creating...

www.imdb.com