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"It's for kids" is the biggest excuse for bad animation and media in general

If they mark this as a kids video, we riot.

My parents decided to show my sister copious amounts of Coco Melon before going to kindergarten. She did so poorly in school that the teacher had to have a talk with my parents and myself that something had to be done else she'll have to be held back. After giving my parents 10 across the face, I went on a 6 month sabbatical and had to regulate what my sister could watch and tutor her. I had to sit down with her and get her to watch the media I watched when I was growing up, Between the Lions, Electric Company, Cyberchase, Word Girl, Sesame Street, etc, on top of doing activities together such as building legos, go fish, visits to the park, etc. By the end of the 6 months, she not only did complete 180 in performance, she also began reading at a 2nd grade level. She's now more motivated than ever to read and write. The other day she squirreled away my copy of The Hogfather by Terry Pratchet and was able to read aloud the word "archchancellor". If you have kids, DO NOT LET THEM WATCH COCO MELON. It is making them stupid.

8:28 Funny that you say that - the kids in Bluey are actually voiced by kids. For that reason, they’re not credited so they can be raised outside the spotlight. Love to see a production crew that actually cares about these kids.

GOOD GRIEF, HE’S NAKED!

This reminds me of one of my favorite quotes: "A children's story that can only be enjoyed by children is not a good children's story in the slightest" -C.S. Lewis

People really be like "think of the kids" and then sit them down in front of the distractotron.

Even Thomas/Railway Series creator Reverend Wilbur Awdry knew that kids were smart and not stupid. "You've got to remember that you're not merely writing for children. You're writing for the unfortunate people; mothers, fathers, aunts, uncles, grandfathers, grandmothers... who've got to read the stories aloud. Not just once, but over and over and over again." -Reverend W. Awdry A quote I wish more writers of children's stories and shows remembered and take note of.

The "Distractatron" is literally the type of machine you'd see in a (well made) kids cartoon episode about teaching kids not to stay in and watch TV all day LMAO. That is _comically_ evil.

WordGirl literally features a mad scientist who fights his own psyche and the psyche of a mouse for control of his body. WordGirl is amazing

There's also the fact that kids are information sponges. You don't have to directly *teach* everything for them to learn. For example, a well-written, engaging story is helping kids learn storytelling just by exposing them to it.

I really hate how "family-friendly" has been watered down into 'kidshow fodder' (stuff like Cocomelon and cringe-worthy UKpostsrs like Ryan's World) because the literal term 'family-friendly' was intended to mean that something is suitable for both kids and adults, and I'm glad shows like Bluey and Wordgirl are actually aware that a "family-friendly" show has to appeal to *families*!

people nowadays will never understand the sheer pain and panic of realizing you only have one more chance to get a question right and not be a Party Pooper while watching Crashbox

It always pains me to see network TV shows for kids getting cancelled left and right while low quality, ugly YT Kids content farms are just allowed to run rampant. Glad I grew up with shows made by people who actually care about the kids watching lol

I LOVE this video, so I wanna share my story whit kids animation (as an autistic kid) As a kid, I watched TMNT (2012), SpongeBob and my little pony… and as a kid I was never taught basic manners and stuff because I was severely neglected. However, I’ve been told I’m an extremely nice and understanding person… TMNT and MLP taught me how to make friends… because I was autistic, and didn’t make my first friend around first grade. I don’t remember what SpongeBob taught me, but it helped me through the trauma of my childhood. Also I wanna mention Dora, Dora was my favourite show as a baby… and when I was a baby I was told I wouldn’t be able to talk and all that stuff… but I apparently “wanted to be like Dora” so I spent time learning how to talk because of that show. So TLDR, children’s animation is important, especially for neurodivergent kids who might not understand certain things..

Cocomelom is like the emergency procedure parents would use to distract their kids, when they obviously want nothing to do with them.

Using word girl is probably one of the best examples I could think of.

The thumbnail having the Cocomelon baby with red eyes to represent the current standard of children's animation really feels like the way shows like Word Girl would represent this sort of thing.

Unfortunately, a lot of my nephews and nieces like Cocomelon. I remember trying to show one of my nieces something better. The flamingo segment of Fantasia 2000. She was crying and the parents had to put on Cocomelon to have her calm down. True story.

Virtually all PBS shows are the perfect example of quality fun kids content. Ruff Ruffman, Super Why, Sesame Street, Reading Rainbow, Mister Rogers. Storybots is another somewhat modern example that is quite great. Speaking of Super Why, they has a comic themed shorts reboot on PBS recently thats quite educational in a word girl way. I got to play one of the bad guys :)

*fun fact, bluey is ment for ALL AGES.* in some episodes, bluey's parents are shown and comforted by other characters, even their own children! so,children can learn something for themselves, and parents can also learn something for themselves too. (you can also watch it if you're bored) *i might not be entirely correct, but im just stating facts*

"yes, doodley," we all say in unison

This reminds me of Jim Henson’s, the dark crystal, and how he thought that it was unhealthy for children to be never be afraid and how he wanted to get back with the deep and dark roots of the fantasy genre through Hans Christian Andersen’s Stories. I feel like whenever people hear the words *Family Friendly*, they automatically think it equates to being made “For Kids”. When in actuality, it means that it’s made with kids and adults in mind. With things that children and adults can understand.

You go back to the ancient 60s BBC shows like Bagpuss and The Clangers, and it is absolutely amazing how much creativity went into the stories that they tell. I was literally the most captivated kid, watching the start of the clangers as it zooms out from a city, to show you the earth, and then the stars and you're just always hit with this feeling of wonder about where you exist in the universe and what else could be out there. The Paddington TV series, Ivor the Engine (Yes, Ivor, not Thomas. This one features dragons!), The Wombles. There was so much imagination put into all of them, so much to be inspired by, to make you think! I hope more parents make sure to let their kids know there's more interesting stuff out there than a story about "a dirty yellow bus that has a boo-boo"

One show I really liked was Cyberchase, because it taught math concepts that were a few grades above my level. Things like, how to label and read graphs, how to find the areas of simple and complex shapes, and how to solve problems. Most other math shows only taught how to add. It felt "illegal" to learn that complex suff outside of school, it made me feel really smart.

"It's just for kids" is the biggest and most reliable crutch for laziness

i think one of my favorite jokes ever done in Word Girl was this one episode where they were trying to teach the word "envelope" (as in the verb form), and they had the villain character constantly using the word at every opportunity he had, leading to word girl actually getting increasingly annoyed by it as the episode went on

Another example of excellent educational kids' shows: Cyberchase. The artstyle, characters, and world were unique and interesting, so when math emerged as part of the lore of the world, you felt engaged in learning about it. Just like you'd get nerdy about all the intricacies of Bionicle lore. But they harnessed that impulse and hitched it to math, which was awesome! More shows ought to connect their worlds to their educational goals in order to make learning cool again! Come to think of it, there was a lot of this in the late 90's and early 2000's. The Magic School Bus is another great example with a similar premise, but for the sciences instead of math. Between the Lions was similar, but for language fluency and literature. And frankly, Dragon Tales was a good example of this with prosocial behaviors, since the lore of the world rewarded respectful communication, maturity, kindness, and character growth. I never realized that one was so deep until now, but this analysis tipped me off. Thanks for helping me find more appreciation for my childhood. 🙂

Bluey is unironically my favorite show right now. It's so unapologetically Australian and crafted with such care. I hope all future media (not just children's media) can learn from Bluey and create something genuine. Also, Joff Bush and his team writes some of the best scores out there.

People saying "it's for kids" fail as an excuse to do less work don't realize that this suggests they have to do triple the effort instead, cause kids are a more delicate audience. You also need to be careful to pass the right messages and help them learn valuable lessons. The content ought to be educational while also being disguised into a great film for both their interests and adult interest.

6:00 "What, am I gonna blow up"? "No, worse! [You'll teach children vocabulary!]" "...And then you'll blow up!"

No kid will ever remember any cocomelon video with pride and fondness after they grow up bruh

Arthur was REALLY good at this because it never even felt like learning because a lot of it was just slice of life social and emotional issues being expressed in more complex ways than the usual kid's fair of "I shouldn't take my sister's toys because it makes her sad." It was like, "here's the episode that's a metaphor for grappling with the trauma of 9/11." I also learned about the magna carta and how to spell certain words, but that was more incidental than anything -- the same way you can learn something just by scrolling social media for long enough, but with more intent and accuracy.

Not to mention kids who are neurodivergent NEED that attention grabber. As a child who had an undiagnosed learning disability, the cartoons that had a world and soul behind them were the ones that helped me learn. Especially moral lessons. I just really hope producers see the success behind Bluey and we grow from there because I would've definitely loved that show as a kid :')

Amazing content, as always. I've got an awesome lil' cousin who's very much neurodivergent, so much so he doesn't really talk to people. He's the most resourceful, intelligent little man, and he enjoys to learn new things soooo much. Whenever i'm doing something that grabs his attention, he'll just stand there by my side hoping i explain what i'm doing, and i surely love to do so. Some months ago, the drain on the shower clogged and i went to pry it open with a screwdriver and a doorstop, he just sat there with me and watched closely and listened to me explaining how a lever works. Little man got so excited he tried to lift the goddamn fridge with a mop and some books some hours later. Of course, my aunt was furious. I don't think she understands the boy and the curious eyes he has for everything, so she'll just put Cocomelon on the tv hoping the kid will get distracted enough to not be bothersome, and that makes me so genuinely sad. Whenever i'm there and she puts something on the TV, I try to change it to something that will actually engage with lil' man to teach him something. It's hard to make him keep his attention on a screen if it's not Cocomelon or some cr4p like that, but so far, he really likes Bluey and Sesame Street. When I showed Bluey to his mom, she loved it, and they've been binge watching it for more than a month now. His mom was so happy when she told me he was having fun and getting to know other kids in the playground, he even made some friends, and I'm very happy lil' man is learning to be social even without speaking much. After watching this i'll try to convice him he already grew out of Cocomelon, cause I know damn well that's not rewarding his curiosity.

I think one of my favourite quotes from any TV show ever comes from bluey which is- "i don't want an important life lesson, i just want an ice-cream" because 1. It's something both kids and adults could probably agree on and 2. You could absolutely imagine a kid saying that.

genuinely I could just sit down and watch Curious George, Word Girl, etc. because they're all made so well for all audiences instead of appealing to the lowest common denominator. it's the mark of a good writer that someone could make a non-lingual monkey so compelling

2:08 that's actually incorrect, her massive vocabulary is literally part of her superpowers. In S2 E20 the plot is that a peice of her home world Lexicon Falls to Earth. When she is intracting with the material dubed Lexonite she loses all of her superpowers for short time. She also loses her ability use big words and will find herself miss pronouncing them when exposed to lexonite. The villain Mr. Big even made a cage out of the stuff and trapped her in it and put special lock on it that would open the door if she could define a specific into it, potent

I was talking about this with my mom the other day, and she said that even the shows she watched back in the '60s and '70s had more substance than what the kids watched today. She watched shows like Puff the Magic Dragon and Captain Kangaroo. Not only were those shows educational, but they didn't pander to kids and were fun and engaging. And again these were shows from forty to fifty years ago. I worked at an after-school center and was one of the few people who refused to play Coco melon (I worked with the kindergarten and first graders) so I put on Captain Kangaroo and Puff the Magic Dragon, which they loved. Yes, kids will watch anything, including shows from the 1970s, but they need substance and engagement.

Crashbox was amazing to watch as a kid. Distraction News was my favorite bit and helped me learn how to filter out unnecessary clutter from gathering information. A skill that we so desperately need more of nowadays.

have you heard of Pocoyo, Doodley? it's a kid's show meant a bit on the younger side, a bit more so than the ones you mentioned here, preschool. It's been ages since I've watched it so I did a quick glance and the episode structure is just about 7 minutes, focusing around one concept like what a "phone" is, or... some cloud friend? Regardless, there's one standout thing about Pocoyo, it's animation. It's a pure white void, with just the characters and objects, and the animation is extremely snappy. I've always been fascinated by how it looks, and the visuals alone feel they carry the jokes and such, some points even resembling the little jokes we make with crouching in a FPS. I don't think it got popular overseas due to it being made in spain and other factors, but *I implore you to check it out, Doodley*

5:59 > Eats > Defines vocabulary > Refuses to elaborate > Explodes What a chad

The rabbit hole gets darker if we talk about how parents let their kids watch “Spiderman Elsa” content on their iPads.

This is the same reason I admire the Railway Series and the first few Seasons of Thomas and friends. Reverend Awdry created stories that taught children, but in an engaging and fun way that is enjoyable for a lot of people. It makes me sad to see the franchise be twisted into something to try and compete with cocomelon and paw patrol. Bluey and word girl proves that the kind of show Tomas used to be can still be profitable and successful. It just takes a little more creativity. I’m doing a school project on the Railway series and read through all 26 of the reverends books, they were fantastic! I will definitely be reading them to my children in the future.

The whole Distractatron thing sounds like something a super villain in a kids show would make

Hearing you mention Sesame Street reminded me of the South African variant I watched as a child, Takalani Sesame! It featured Elmo with a different name and also a whole cast of new puppets with South African names! One episode that left an impact on me was an episode where Elmo learns that his friend is HIV positive. HIV was and still is a huge talking point here in SA, so I remember a lot of SA tv trying to educate kids on the matter. At first Elmo is sad cause he thinks that meant he couldn't be near his friend anymore. However an adult explains to him that HIV isn't spread through contact and he's absolutely delighted he can hug his friend. The friend, her name is Kami, is a very prominent character and she is quite literally the reason I learned about HIV at the time and learned something! It makes me smile whenever I think about that moment because there where loads of silly hijinks and jokes in the show, and also it took the time to teach children something! idk I'm rambling but this video reminded me that Sesame Street is still so great.

One of my art teachers thats more like a mentor to me worked on Word Girl back in the day and learning about all the love and passion that went into the show really shows how much care went into creating a great show that's a also educational.

I wrote my college graduation paper on this subject, and it is heartwarming to see other people care about it too! I love Sesame Street and Crashbox so much, it is awesome to see Crashbox mentioned at all in a video :') Thank you for sharing, and may the children's educational media with good substance rise again in the future.

Cocomelon is basically the Velma of indie animation. The cartoon is already considered the worst indie animated cartoon series. Even worse than Ctrl + Alt + Del.

I grew up with little einsteins, I know far too many classical music pieces and paintings thanks to that show. Loved the show, it was probably my favorite show as a child, learned a lot from it.

Thanks, you unlocked my core memory of CRUSTLESS BREAD, the greatest adversary to Chuck the Evil Sandwich-Making Guy

Despite coming late to it, I have to say Sofia The First is one of the many examples of children's shows with substance. Good stories, good lessons, characters that everyone can relate to (boys and girls; young and old alike) , and connecting with Disney's previous stuff, it made my younger self (who didn't like the show at first) reexamine my previous misconceptions with the show... It even was strengthend a few years afterward after reading about the show's producer (Craig Gerber). He stated in an article, “In a world where many young girls want to dress up as princesses, Sofia could serve as a positive role model, displaying traits and learning lessons that young girls (or boys) will retain long after they trade in their gowns for other costumes.” Looks like he did it well. Amd I'm proud to say I'm a fan.

I appreciate the acknowledgement that kid-friendly animated content doesn't have to be reduced down to flashing colours and noise to grab attention, _nor should it be._ Harnessing the power of entertainment to convey meaningful lessons to kids is such a valuable thing. Things ranging from the mundane to serious can be shown to kids in a way they'll actually take to heart the lessons at hand, setting them up to be a better person as they grow. I really, really wish there were more high quality programs that did so, since Bluey is the only standout I can immediately recall. Even ignoring the possibility for good, I resent the idea of just putting what amounts to meaningless noise in front of kids to placate them. It's just an insult to their growing mind to be like "look, pretty colours! Silly scenarios! that's it, keep looking at the noise rectangle!" Kids may not all be geniuses, but let's not treat them like idiots. They're just tiny humans that have yet to experience the dread of taxes. All in, good video.

Apple & Onion is a more recent example of a good cartoon that's educational without being _"educational"._ It'sa slice-of-life show about two newfound best friends figuring out life as young adults, and through that they learn alot about life. They do cutaways to define words, sing songs while doing chores/work, and have a lesson at the end of each episode, but never did it feel like a boring "educational cartoon". The strange world, odd sense of humor, and adult cast of characters really makes Apple & Onion feel like a show where everyone can learn something, not just kids.

A huge part of good preschool shows is the quality check required. Research, interviewing educators, and having a focus group. Cocomelon did not have to go through that.

The way kids WILL watch almost anything makes it even more important that what is produced for them is as good as it can be!

Cyberchase was my entire personality during childhood, I love this show so much even though I didn't get any of the math problems back then, the story was just so entertaining C:

Its ironic when you think about it, once animation finally started gaining respect the companies just jumped for the more profitable teen and up demographics almost completely leaving children's animation in the dust. Its not even like you cant have both, Owl House found massive popularity in all age groups, and it certainly achieves in teaching kids productive things (moreso about mental health than academic topics granted).

Arthur, Blue’s Clues, Cyberchase… there was a lot of good stuff back when I was younger. Also, Schoolhouse Rock and Animaniacs. I still have those songs pop into my head years later.

Bluey has some of the cleanest and most aesthetically pleasing puppet animation I have ever seen. Their background art is gorgeous. For the episode ‘Rain’ they had a team of four people just animating the water! The writing and music is amazing. I am a childless 24 year old and I love it!

Being reminded of Word Girl was the last thing i was expecting today lol

I never considered children’s animation from the angle of publicly funded television (in retrospect, the ‘this show is brought to you by viewers like you. Thank you!’ message makes a lot more sense). And there’s so many more shows for children out there that set the bar for educational media. Unfortunately there’s fewer modern examples to pick from but I’m happy Bluey stands out against the corporate tide. My show growing up was SpongeBob, and as popular as it is, there’s so many reasons why its first few seasons excelled as much as they did (please watch EmpLemon’s video about it, amazing essay!). It tackled issues in a realistic way that kids could relate to, using characters that weren’t easily identifiable as children themselves- like goofy young adults? It felt immersive, lively, and real! The corporate strive for profit by cutting creative corners is painful, I hope to see a resurgence of more versatile media in the future. Thankfully indie animation is easier and more accessible than ever, we get some good gems (like you Doodley!)

I find it funny that Care Bears [specifically the T.V Specials, movies, and 1980s and early 2000s series] and The Adventures Of Teddy Ruxpin, both shows based on toys, actually have a lot of substance and good morals while CocoMelon is just... nothingness. As an American, I find that British shows are underrated and deserve to be talked about more. The original versions of Thomas The Tank Engine, Fireman Sam, Bob The Builder, and Postman Pat are very calming and often have life lessons, and sometimes are just fun for fun's sake while still having substance. Another British show that deserves credit is Engie Benjy, a show about a mechanic who helps others with their vechicles' issues. Often through creative problem solving. While later seasons of the show go for a Dora-route with interactivity, it weirdly stays high quality even with that change. Sometimes Benjy doesn't get to save the day, which I find a realistic and refreshing change. Examples of this are the episodes Astronaut Jollop, Jollop Mixtures, and Jollop Alone.

Glad I'm not the only one who remembers CrashBox so fondly. It definitely can be a little frightening for kids, I remember being scared by the parts where the robots would do maintenance in the dark and the credits, but overall it's an incredible kids show.

I hope more shows will start to realize they should entertain a family as a whole. It used to be a "family TV" and it shifted to individual screens, which changed what the shows were going for. I will say Bluey is great as there are just as many lessons about being a parent as there are about being a kid. The best example is "Exercise", the kids are just playing while the Dad has to figure out how to exercise while including their play.

This reminds me of a discussion I once came across (I can't quite remember if it was a video or a forum thread or a blog post) that basically said, "hey, we shouldn't be giving kids those fake toy instruments that just play an off-tune song when you press a button if giving them actual experience with a musical instrument is a viable option." I think that the same thing applies here (namely the takeaway message to not treat kids as just needing flashy lights and stimulating sounds as entertainment). Kids are information sponges, they'll basically absorb anything that grabs their attention. If we make the stuff that grabs their attention devoid of any useful information, then how can we expect them to go beyond our own perception of them as just "dumb kids"? Giving a child a proper way to learn in a way that captivates them rather than handing them internet kids videos with the saturation cranked up will easily give them a headstart in learning more useful and practical skills such as spelling and vocabulary, maths, art and music, etc., so it's just sad seeing people accept the cheapest content that just passes the bar as "acceptable" and handing it over to their kids.

I'll always remember my favorite joke in Word Girl was the bit between her and the Butcher with the word Rambling

I grew up watching Word girl and Martha speaks. Honestly I thank those two shows for helping me on spelling bees and English exam as well.

I whole heartedly agree. Just because Kids will watch anything, doesn't mean they SHOULD. I remember growing up watching shows like Between The Lions, Zoboomafoo, Cyberchase, Arthur, Reading Rainbow, PB&J Otter, Rollie Pollie Ollie, Bear in The Big Blue House, etc. I was always engaged in a way that was both captivating and not at all pandering. They helped fueled my imagination, and helped me to be the artist I am today. We really need to get more people out of the mindset that "Kids are stupid and don't know anything" Sure while they don't immediately get everything around them, but that doesn't mean they're not smart. In fact there's a surprising amount of kids that are smart, somewhat mature, and willing to learn. I seriously hope one day I make something worth entertaining all ages. Excellent video!

I'll never forget that one scene in WordGirl where Ms. Powers pulls out an Omni-Man on our protagonist when they landed on the train station.

Both WordGirl and CrashBox are in my top five favorite kids shows from when I was a kid and I had so much fun rewatching both of those series as an adult, even if it was only on in the background while I was doing something else like cleaning, cooking, or drawing. Another show I absolutely loved as a kid that had a very comforting, yet educational tone (similar to Bluey) was Charlie and Lola. The animation in that show was so beautiful and colorful, and I just loved seeing the slice of life adventures of these two imaginative British siblings.

The worst part is that cocomelon is…the safe side of what they might see Elsagate type content, where the creators are rarely punished for putting content that’s not only uneducational, lacks any sort of substance, but also expose children to things that…really they shouldn’t see, gets the green light because “oh popular childrens media character” It’s really gross and I hope it does change as we continue to have a better hold on the internet and regulate those consequences

Back then educational children's media had so much heart, it was never about who can grab the most kids attention, the writing, stories, and plots were engaging and wholesome it made you part of that world. Oswald taught me to be calm in certain scenarios, Wubbzy taught me to look at things in an optimistic view, Toot and Puddle taught me that traveling can be fun and be friendly with the people you meet along the way, and Meggie and The Ferocious Beast taught me that being creative and that the imagination is a powerful tool. I hope that in the future children's media will become more engaging and not just a method to distract kids.

Not only can kids shows have more engaging things than Cocomelon, but kids shows can be scary, or sad, or thrilling, just as long as good prevails. That's the enduring power of folktales, which can be very dark but they almost always have a good ending even if somewhat tragic. No one will remember Cocomelon once it stops airing.

2:24 Now that I think about it, it somehow reminds me of Veggietales being an example of a good cartoon in terms of Christianity and entertainment

"Hand the kid a tablet and ignore them" is the main school of thought now.

Actively thinking of Wild Krats, Super Why, and Autonauts.

That general second half, it's basically: imagine if elsagate and cocomelon were the norm for children's television.

I watched Word Girl at the same age many kids today are watching Cocomelon, and I remember understanding it and thoroughly enjoying it! I think showing "older kids" programs to toddlers/young children, in which the educational content might be a little too "advanced" for them, is a good thing. Consuming media above my level of knowledge when I was younger exposed my mind to topics that I maybe couldn't fully understand, but I still definitely took in some information. It could have the possibility to teach children things at younger ages, preparing them for content they would see later on, setting them up to understand more advanced content in school maybe?

The 90's-early 2000's was truly a boom of children's entertainment and edutainment that genx-genz did not appreciate enough

i watched word girl when i was younger and the words it taught me i still use sometimes when talking to people so the show even without me realizing it. i’m glad its getting the praise it rightfully deserves

I usually judge how good someone’s parenting is by what they decide to put in front of their child. It doesn’t take that much effort switching from coco melon to Mr. rogers, yet so many parents just either are too lazy or just don’t care about what their child is consuming.

Hi I was born in 2006 and when you mentioned Crashbox and started showing clips of the segments I got vivid flashbacks to the slob and how scary he was to me when I was little. I remember having to turn away or watch carefully when he was on. I don't remember much at all but it's just weird to me that you were able to make me remember watching so many shows like it on dvds that my Mother would play right before I went to bed. Thank you for now reminding me where I was introduced and started to hate gross out stuff in animation even though its not as vividly intense anymore lol

Well said, sir! This is why I loved watching the Octonauts as a kid, and still do to this day: it was a show directed at a young audience which taught kids about various kinds of obscure marine life and the importance of conservation and pollution management, but was framed as a series of shared adventures had by a group of researchers and conservationists - in TVTropes terms, the education elements were JUSTIFIED. What I found the best about the show was that it promoted qualities such as teamwork, selflessness, and courage, and tackled some pretty mature themes: natural disaster, pollution, serious illness, serious injury, and even death. Predators were a serious threat to contend with, but they weren't treated as evil; the captain's authority was always reasonable and generally, disobedience had realistic consequences, but the show acknowledged that there are times and places when it is necessary to do things your way despite what others tell you to do. Granted, the US version tacked on a little end-of-episode wrap-up that reviewed the animal-of-the-episode (which I personally thought took away from the other lessons) but I grew up woth the UK version which basically presented the information and allowed the viewer to take away from it what they wished. As you said: giving the child a choice in what they learn.

I absolutely ADORED Crashbox when I was younger. All the different segments were so engaging and fun to watch. Honestly I think it’s one of the reason I love stop motion so much. Happy someone is giving it the attention it deserves!

I may something that may ruffle some feathers, but hear me out... Cocomelon is Temu-Grade Backyardigans. Backyardigans and Cocomelon share the fact neither show necessary teaches anything, and primarily focuses on Song and Dance. However, Cocomelon does not have some of the important things that make Backyardigans one of the G.O.A.T.s of Nick Jr Media. Backyardigans had plot. The music and song were wholely original and contextual to the story. The episodes that riff on other stories (such as Robin Hood, Journey to The Center of The Earth, Night at The Museum, and Spy Thrillers) don't even need context to be enjoyed, but those who know the context will have fun pointing out where those stories come from. While the characters could fit a variety of archetypes each episode (Pablo for instance, might be a dastardly villain one episode or a plucky hero the next), you could still identify some patterns in their behavior across a couple different episodes. Also, while it's a more opinionated point, the music in each episode absolutely slapped. The vocal performances and riffs were spectacular. Backyardigans hit just right. I feel like Cocomelon and the Co-clone-melons could've been good had whoever made them took more of a page out of their book. At least the _plot_ element. Admittedly, I can't really expect well-done original music from those guys when they started out as just a Low-Budget UKposts series (I mean, I'd still personally say it's worth a try. You can't make a masterpiece without standing atop the ashes of failed attempts, but I can understand why you wouldn't want poor quality music in a series.)

I would love to see a video similar to this, but with adult cartoons; many adult cartoons focus a ton on comedy, but I would love if you focus on cartoons that don’t quite fall under this category.

7:21 this math problem here makes me think that they put the answer as 2 instead of 60.5

adding my own examples to the conversation because i completely agree: the original thomas and friends was a charming show with actual model trains used to tell the story rather than animation. i get that some people found the models creepy, i never did, but that’s just me. anyway, the show was an adaptation of a book series called The Railway Series, originally written by Rev. W. Awdry, and later continued by his son, Christopher Awdry. when adapting the show to a tv series, the goal was to portray the railway and the trains on sodor as realistically as possible, with the only difference between sodor and reality being that the trains had faces. it also taught lessons through its stories, in an organic manner (at least, to my knowledge, it’s been a while) eventually it was adapted to cgi, which, while it took out the charm of the models, was relatively alright. initially the writing wasn’t great, with repetitive storylines and such, but it was no cocomelon. later a different writer was put in charge and the stories became much better, until the movie Big World Big Adventures. the franchise quickly went downhill. there was suddenly much more focus on keeping kids’ attention, with wacky dream sequences and such. two of the main characters (edward and henry) were cut out of the spotlight, and after a while, almost never mentioned again. they were replaced by nia and rebecca in order to bring more girls into the main cast, and while i respect that goal, these new characters had very little substance or personality other than “nice”. after a few seasons of this, the show ended. however, what popped up in its place was much more in line with the general trend of kids shows in today’s age. the main characters became much smaller and toddler-like, while their personalities were changed. rebecca was replaced again with an engine named kana. but the biggest thing was the change in art style - everything was two dimensional. now, this could have worked, i have nothing against 2D, the problem is that the physics became nonexistent fairly quickly. the trains can bend, jump, move their front wheels around as sorts of hands, etc. this could work with a new franchise, especially if the writing had more substance as mentioned in the video, but this was thomas and friends, a show that was meant to be slower and more realistic at first, becoming just a colorful distraction only meant to grab kids’ attention. not only that, but the owner of thomas and friends, mattel, is a big toy seller, so one of their main goals is to sell toys, which shouldn’t be a goal for any children’s show. but im just a random guy on the internet. maybe im a bit too worked up over this specific series lol there’s probably a bunch of stuff i’ve missed, but that’s the gist. tldr thomas and friends was stripped of everything that made it charming and special in order to grab the attention of kids, with the new iterations having very little substance.

I'm not sure if this counts but I remember growing up watching Rango and loving every minute of it despite how unconventional it was, it was rated PG but it wasn't presented as a kids film with its rather realistic looking animations and surreal yet hilarious presentation and ended up becoming my favorite film as a kid and even now as an adult where I've come to appreciate it more. It kinda made me wish more animated media treated kids with more maturity.

Seeing crashbox in the thumbnail made me so happy, it was my everything

Always a treat when someone brings up crashbox, stumbled onto the show effectively by accident as a kid and got hooked!

I think what makes me love Crashbox even as an Adult grownup today is that the characters have.. ACTUAL character Most modern kids shows I’ve seen have had predictable character types Everyone’s cheery Everyone’s happy Everything’s sunshine and rainbows With Crashbox, Captain Bones actively insults the viewer if they get the question wrong Professor Rocket is overly hyperactive and rushes you Dora Smarmy is snarky but very monotone. And The Revolting Slob is… the Revolting Slob. Hell even the intermission robots show more personality, as some feel overworked while others feel unbothered by it. It’s the littlest things like that that make me see how much Crashbox was ahead of it’s time and i’m glad they haven’t rebooted it cuz they’ll probably bastardize everything about the show.

I remember discovering Crashbox as a kid in the mid-2000s by finding it in the HBO section of The On demand service that our Comcast cable box had, and what measurimized me about the show was the animation. And honestly, just watching the intro to the show again just after you mentioned it in this video, it looks stunning. I think I keep falling more in love with stop motion the more I see it, it's amazing.

This video was great. More than explicit information such as lessons and numbers, cartoons are important because they introduce kids to more abstract concepts like storytelling and aesthetic sensibilities too.

When my daughter was in the target age for this stuff, I showed her DVDs of old "Electric Company" episodes (which had actually been labeled "not for children" since there were a few segments that haven't aged well, and research on what was optimally educational had moved on). But with appropriate guidance, that show taught her to read just as it'd taught *me* to read. She was a fan of "WordGirl" too. When she was a little older and watching shows like "Adventure Time", "Gravity Falls" and "Phineas and Ferb", I remember thinking that we were actually in a golden age of that kind of media, since those cartoons were *so* much better than the garbage I'd watched on Saturday mornings in the 1970s. They weren't educational shows, but they had substance--actually quite a lot of narrative complexity with multidimensional characters, some thoughtfully presented messages and sometimes even epic continuing storylines.

This is a breath of fresh air. We traded sesame street, cyberchase, wordgirl, between the lions, word world, electric company, jacob two-two... just to name a few... for drivel not teaching kids anything at all or bland beyond all comprehension. Thank you for bringing this topic more attention.

Crashbox reminds me a bit of The Electric Company. I grew up with the reboot. It also taught vocabulary and grammar. There was a live action plot, and cartoon bumpers with various art styles and characters in between breaks in the story. It also aired on PBS lol

What a well done video breaking down children’s media over the years. Crashbox and the other HBO Family shows were my childhood so I’m always glad to see them attention. I still have fond memories of George and Martha, Harold and the Purple Crayon, that Fairytales for Every Child show. Wordgirl was just after my time, but I watched it with my younger brother and was impressed with the quality enough to keep up with it. And Bluey out now is a breath of fresh air in the space, hopefully these substantial shows don’t become diamonds in the rough.