How TV Shaped Us Part 1: The Big Orange Splat

Yo! Welcome to the first true, official blog post! As I said back when I was beta testing everything here (which, thank you to everyone for helping me out, by the way!), I intend to use this blog to gab about books, movies, TV, music, fandom stuff, and pretty much anything that perks my interest in an effort for you all to get to know me better as a person. And likewise, I hope to get to know my audience more too! And as someone who generally enjoys stories with morals, I also hope to take whatever the subject matter is and tie some kind of life lesson to it, or see how it can relate to becoming a better writer and artist.

Case in point, if you've followed any of my social media for any length of time, then you know I pretty much live and breathe cartoons. Animation as an art form has always been my passion, because there's certain stories and ideas and emotions that can really only best be conveyed via animation and abstract art, in ways that real life just can't achieve (i.e.: see any of the live action Disney remakes and just how much life was sucked out of the material in comparison to the original cartoons.....but that's a subject for another day). Even as I creep into middle age, I've never lost interest in watching movies and shows that, arguably, are aimed at kids.....which, who says cartoons have to be aimed only at kids? Or that adults can't genuinely enjoy them? (Another subject I'll have to wax poetic about in the future.)

But for this first "getting to know you" post, I thought I'd reflect back on a few cartoon shows that I watched the most while growing up. The ones that influenced me the most and/or I still quote and remember clearly to this day. Obviously, there's no way I can cover EVERY single one; there's just too many to count, especially since there were so many channels playing cartoons back in the day. But I'd at least like to highlight the big three that dominated my afternoons and evenings and weekends when not in school:  Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, and Disney Channel. And to make this more digestible for all of us, I'm going to split this into a three-part reflection on each major network.

So, picture it: it's the early to mid-90s. You were born in '89 and only really started paying attention to what was on the boob-tube when you hit kindergarten in '94. The fabled Disney Channel isn't part of your cable package and just appears as incomprehensible static on Channel 40. And you can only watch the classic Hanna-Barbara action shows on 'TNT Toons' because Cartoon Network doesn't exist yet. So, your only other option to get your cartoon fix is the channel dominated by the ever-morphing orange logo and neon-green slime: Nickelodeon.

This truly was the Wild West era when it came to what counted as kids programming. I think most networks just threw on anything to fill air time. Looking back, I still can't believe us six-year-olds were subjected to shows like "Ren and Stimpy" and "Rocko's Modern Life", considering the sometimes-gross imagery and adult jokes that (hopefully) flew over most of our heads. But at the same time, it was really cool for us kids to have a channel all to ourselves (at least until "Nick at Nite" came on and then it was off to bed). All the programming made us feel like we were never being talked down to, and we even had special events and contests catered just to us. The biggest was the annual "Kids Choice Awards". It was so cool for us kids to have our own "Oscar" ceremony and actually have a say on who won the coveted orange blimp (especially when kids have so little say or control in what they're able to do, or where they can go without meddling grown-ups getting in the way).

Even cooler were those neon-orange VHS tapes that stuck out from all the other tapes at the local 'Blockbuster', letting everyone in the tri-state area know what network those episode collections came from. My Grandma babysat me during my summer vacations, and I fondly remember bringing over stacks of tapes and setting up my own marathons for us to watch together. (She didn't have cable. It was either that or sit through reruns of "Sesame Street" and "Mr. Rogers" and whatever else her rabbit ears could pick up....which I had no qualms about watching those shows either.) This 80+ year old woman was always excited to get a peek at the shows she didn't have access to (or was just happy to hang out with me, maybe a bit of both), and I'll run through at least a handful of the ones that still carry with me to this day.

(Full disclaimer here: I'm not writing a full-on series breakdown of any of these. If you're my age, I'm just operating under the assumption that you saw or at least heard of all these shows. And if you're a young-in who hasn't, they're all just one Wikipedia and streaming service search away....which, if you haven't seen these, what are you waiting for? Go watch 'em right now! That's an order, soldier!)

First up is the legendary classic; one of the three original 'Nicktoons' that launched the network to begin with (alongside "Ren and Stimpy" and "Doug"); the one that dominated pop culture until a certain yellow sponge came along----"Rugrats". You'd think a series revolving around literal babies would be boring, yet so much thought and care went into making what's usually the most mundane of things into awe-inspiring adventures when seen through the eyes of a small child. From a sandbox becoming the Sahara Desert, to a kiddie pool turning into the open ocean, to the belief that there's a parallel universe behind every mirror. ("Mirrorland" remains such an iconic episode.) And the show found a way to make the parents' side of the stories just as interesting (need I say more about the tear-jerking Mother's Day episode).....but man, were these parents so clueless and inattentive! Half the things they did would never pass 'broadcast-standards-and-practices' today, from Grandpa Lou constantly falling asleep, to the infamous episode where the babies are afraid of being sucked down the bathtub drain and Chuckie's dad left a one- and two-year-old alone and unattended in the tub. I guess us 90s kids were just built different. Note to new parents: take note of what the parents do in this show and then DON'T do it.  But regardless, this show was actually teaching me a lesson I didn't even know I was learning: it taught us how important and powerful using our imaginations is, how to see the world from another person's perspective, and how to conquer your fears and be more outgoing. To quote Tommy Pickles: "Someday, you'll be six years old. Do you wanna' look back then and say you never really lived?"

No Tommy. I don't.

(Psst....I also made a video about my Top 10 favorite "Rugrats" episodes. Click here if you're so inclined.)

Next up is a super chill show that was also based largely in reality, but was no less imaginative: "Hey Arnold". This was one that both my Mom and I shared a love for, primarily since she lived in the city growing up and could heavily relate to the iconic 'football head' and the wacky cast of characters around him. "Doug" was in a similar vein and technically came first....but honestly, I always found that series kinda' dull. Skeeter, Roger, and Porkchop were the stand outs, but everyone else were just so bland to me. (Sorry to any "Doug" fans out there.) The cast of THIS show, on the other hand, had WAY more personality and iconic moments. Basically, "Doug" walked so "Hey Arnold" could run. It taught all kinds of life lessons in every episode with a huge cast of characters. Sometimes one of the kids was the focus; other times, it was one of the adults, and you were just as interested in what the adults were going through as much as the kids. (Arnold's grandma in particular is an icon and a legend. We stan an elderly queen who steals neglected sea turtles from crappy zoos and releases them into the ocean.) Gerald's urban legend stories were always great (the haunted train is a good one). And it wasn't afraid to tackle touchier subjects like Helga's neglectful family situation, kids AND adults with physical or learning disabilities, homelessness (raise a glass for Pigeon Man), and of course, the famous Christmas episode where Arnold and company help his neighbor locate his long-lost daughter after they got separated during the Vietnam war (you'll be swimming in a puddle of tears by the end). And in its own subtle way, the show taught us how everyone is the main character of their own story, and you could be the best friend, sidekick, villain, or unnamed random side character in someone else's story.

.....also, every kid in America wanted Arnold's iconic bedroom.

Jumping forward a few years, we were then treated to one of the most literal magical shows ever, "The Fairly OddParents". Unlike the previously mentioned, more "down to Earth" shows, THIS series took base reality and threw it out the window. Any other show about a kid having to hide the existence of magical creatures from the world at large would treat the premise far more seriously, but this show wasn't above turning everyone into a bit of an oblivious doofus and just having pure wacky fun. I think every kid wanted to be Timmy Turner, or at least have fairy godparents of their own.....but of course, the way it worked was that you had to be living a fairly sad life to be awarded a companion fairy to begin with, so.....maybe us 'boring' and un-magical kids were the actual lucky ones all along? But hey, who can resist adventures that transport people into video games or other people's dreams, or turn your abusive babysitter into a frog? That is, as long as you follow the fairy rule book. While this show boasted the old cliche of "be careful what you wish for", it was also about how to find loopholes in the rules and come up with clever ways out of bad situations. From a writing standpoint, it also taught the importance of putting limits on what your characters can do and setting up ground rules for how your universe operates and then stick to those established rules. Because unless you're one of the Looney Toons, if your character can do anything with little to no consequence, you're just buying them a one-way ticket to Boringville.

(I also made a video about my favorite episodes. Click here if you dare.)

Finally, you can't talk about Nickelodeon without mentioning Spongebob. The show's become a meme-factory now with so many iconic quotes and moments, and more-or-less became the "Simpsons" of the new millennium (funny how both shows revolve around yellow-colored characters??). It's the perfect show to grow up with, because as kids, we love Spongebob and Patrick and can't understand why Squidward is such a stick-in-the-mud.....then you grow up and realize WHY the guy is annoyed by his neighbors' antics and you sympathize with him a lot more. I only recently also realized that this show is near-impossible to come under any racial stereotyping because all the characters are sea creatures; very smart move (save for Mermaid Man and Barnicle Boy---my first introduction to Ernest Borgnine and Tim Conway; rest in peace to both of them). And to think this all came about because the series creator, Steven Hillenburg, was a marine biologist who incorporated his ocean knowledge into his show. As such, this later taught me, as a writer, the age-old lesson of "write what you know", and that you don't have to limit yourself in life. You can bounce from one career or medium to the next as you see fit and become a "jack of all trades".

(And yes, I have yet another video talking about this TV juggernaut more in depth. Just click here!)

....but on a less-fun note, both "Fairly Oddparents" and "Spongebob" taught me something else: know when to let your story end, and that corporations aren't your friend. Both of these shows ran long past their expiration dates and, in Hillenburg's case, were dragged on against the creator's wishes. Be VERY careful in who you hand your story off to, or else you could wind up with a cow that's milked dry and becomes a shell of its former self. True, "Rugrats" ran for over a decade, but at least that show went out with more grace than the fairies and the sponge. At least we have the first handful of seasons to look back on, and the late Hillenburg (God rest his soul) left behind a legacy that will last forever. And I think that's something we writers wish for, whether we realize it or not: we all want to leave behind a legacy of some kind, and we hope that our writings will outlast us and be cherished by the next person who comes along and reads them.

Welp, that's all the more I can really say about the orange marmalade network for now. Let me know what some of YOUR cherished TV memories are! And come back next Saturday for Part Two, where we'll focus on the network that dedicated itself to showing nothing but cartoons 24/7.

What I got done this week:

--finished painting all my decorative boxes for the upcoming "Monster Bash" (see the "Upcoming Events" tab for details)

--began drawing the next "Jamie Jupiter" episode

--and began writing the next "Rini Boe" installment

Do you want to see behind-the-scenes photos and commentary on all these projects? All of this is available in my totally free newsletter! The next one comes out August 26th!