What's the interest?

[JustJack]

I was just an another board(CNX, toonami revolution), and an interesting topic came up..

Why do you like, what you like? What interests you about certain shows?

Like, Power Rangers. Many people don't like it, for obvious reasons. But still, many of us might still like it. Personally, I'm not a huge fan, but I've been watching it lately(Time Force), and it is really good..

or PokeMon. most people hate it..but still, many do like it.
Digimon, to!

Sailormoon even. My dad understands why I'd watch a show with skimpy-dressed girls, fighting evil...but ultimately, he can't sit through a full episode.(haha)

So, what interests you?

[RockItShipper]

Pokemon: The crossdressing, the original VAs(don't follow the dub), and dodginess in general... Cute girls too.

Digimon: Taito, Jyoushiro, SoMi, Hikamiya, TakeIo, KenDai, LeeTaka, RukiJuri, HiroKenta...

[NewMaxFranklin]

I think one of the big reasons we like what we like, is that we've just grown accusomed to it. Simpsons has been craptacular for a while. But I still watched it (back when I had a tv) because I liked the characters. Even if they were not as funny, they were still like old friends.

I recall that post a while back about kids using cartoons to vent and release after the WYC attack. What I look for/enjoy most about tv shows is the escapism.

When you watch something like Sailor Moon, you know there's a formula at work. The story spotlights one sailor scout for a light, campy, story with a parer thin moral message. The scout gets in trouble at the end and the other scouts help her overcome the problem (usually a monster in a loud costume, armed with a silly voice.)

It's just a half-hour entertainment pill. You know the moster's gonna die and the girls are gonna be fine in the end. I don't like the show, but I used to be a Power Ranger fan. And it's basically the same show.

Shows I watched (most recently) and why:
A Pup Named Scooby Doo
I hated all the other Scooby shows, loved this one; Go figure. I liked the wacky, hap hasard animation style. It was very fun and toony, where the older ones were tiff and flat. I liked the ~wink, wink~ self parody in the show; Freddy is a hopless dunce who always suspects a character named "Red Herring." Everyone knows that when Thelma says "Jinkies" she's found a clue. Daphne is a spoiled, self-interest, rich girl, wo regularly calls on her Butler to materialize (like a genie) and do things for her. Shaggy and Scooby are hungyer and more cowardly than ever. No one outside the "gang" can understand Scooby's Dog-speak. And during the musical number/chase centerpiece the gang and the moster break-it-down between hide and seek vignettes.
Freakazoid
A delicious parody of animation superheros and tv in general. Freakazoid is like a Kevin Smith movie. It's by fanboys for fanboys. You have to be older than 12 and a geek to get half the jokes. Which is why many, like me, love it. And why it only lasted on season.
Gargoyles
You know why.
Simpsons
Watched the reruns because they were funny as hell, and I loved the characters. Watched the new ones because, hey, it's the Simpsons.
Buffy TVS
Well done, action/comedy/fantasy with quirky characters. I love quirky characters. I tend to prefer fantasy over sci-fi too.
Seinfeld
Quirky characters again. Broad comedic types with interlocking stories that build to a big finish. Genius!

Shows I gave up on:
Highlander The Series
Angel
Batman Beyond
Friends

[Calhoun07]

I don't like anything remotely lame, so there! ha! ha!

Just kidding. I suppose the cheesiest show I genuinely like is Land of the Lost. Despite the bad acting, the poor camera work when they put the dinosaurs with the people, and the extremely limited shoe string budget, this show had damn fine writing on it, and was heads and shoulders above most kid shows at the time. It may not be Emmy award winning material, but it didn't dumb down to it's audience. In fact, several creative folk from the original Star Trek series worked on this show, and I think they put alot of quality work into it.

And the same can be said for any other series, why I might stick with it even if other people lump it to the garbage pile. If the writing is good, and intelligent, even if the animation or camera work leaves a bit to be desired, even if the acting is a tad bad, I can forgive it for a ripping good story.

[Nightflower]

Batman (Not TNBA, though I hardly saw any of that), and Batman Beyond-
'nuff said.

Cybersix-
Yeah, I like this show. Well, not so much anymore since you can only stand so much of 13 episodes. Some episodes are cool, but some are kinda of the lame monster-of-the-week formula. I don't know why this show caught my interest so much. I think it's the animation, and there's something captivating about the heroine jumping around... enough to inspire me to learn CG and seriously consider the career of animation :)

When I was a kid, my favorite shows were Spiderman, X-men and Gargoyles. When I was a little kid, I liked Ninja turtles and Transformers. There's really no intellectual reason, other than I was a little kid and I'd watch anything :D

That 70s show- cuz it's funny :)

Friends- sucks, but I watch it out of habit anyway.

Show that I used to be obsessed with, but gave up on- Buffy. Too tired to get into THAT rant, just came back from work :p

[BourgeoisBuffoon]

Anything that's silly, but not truly stupid, I like!
Anything with good characterzation or plot I REALLY like!

Stuff like The Simpsons, Dexter's Lab, etc...that kinda stuff. They do a lot of the above...

[Failure]

Originally posted by Nightflower
Show that I used to be obsessed with, but gave up on- Buffy. Too tired to get into THAT rant, just came back from work :p

Does it have anything to do with Joss Whedon's incessant use of emotional manipulation? That's what bugs me most about his writing. It's great, but too often he reaches for that bucket of tears or something like that.

[RockItShipper]

Oh yeah, forgot about Gargoyles. Lots of great things about that show. I think Goliath and Elisa's relationship topped it off the best. Here were two individuals so clearly perfect for eachother- it wasn't easy, but they wound up together in spite of all the things pushing them apart.

[DR. BELCH]

--relatability. you want a character who speaks to some aspect of your personality, or a need. For me it's Daria--a bland-voiced, self-styled, sardonic outcast. For the same reason I fancy Yolei from Digimon and Velma on Scooby Doo. Something about lasses in glasses.... :D
Also, if a favorite actor appears in a series, I gravitate towards it. Jim Cummings' name on the credits, for example, attracted me towards Darkwing Duck, Taz-mania, Goof Troop, and Catdog. Maurice LaMarche's voice has appeared in great shows like Pinky and the Brain and Animaniacs, and forgettable manure like The Wacky World of Tex Avery or Space Goofs (one of the reasons I often wonder why a great v/o guy/gal bothers with some of the stuff they do, if some actors ever look at the copy, throw it down and walk out). And of course there's some actors--Tim Curry and Alyson Court come to mind--I'll watch in anything.

[Leaping Larry Jojo]

With Sailor Moon, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Also, each season of Sailor Moon differs in tone--the creative staff changes in Sailor Moon were quite chaotic, THAT coupled in with the demands of the sponsors-- and the show would bounce between disturbingly dark and mindless fluff at the oddest times. Watching Sailor Moon is like a tug of war--the first 40 or so episodes are pretty fluffy kiddie stuff--the sponsors had strong creative control during this time. Then one guy got promoted to series director around the second season and the show started getting some subtext and gender examinations--I kid you not. It was still the same show, yet at the same time, you had deeper relationships, reverse-freudian subtext (with "Darien" and "Rini") and greater psychology. The imagery became bizarre, and the characterizations more "full." Utena fans will note that many of the ideas in Revolutionary Girl Utena (also by the series director of Sailor Moon) were in prototype form in the Sailor Moon S season--"Rini's" relationship with the passive Hotaru Tomoe, for instance, was a very rough sketch of Utena and Anthy's relationship. Sailor Uranus would be a prototype for Juri Arisugawa, etc,. Though the series would never be called "mature," it was certainly interesting to see how some seasons became very dark while other seasons never seemed to add anything beyond its childish "monster of the day" + moral formula. Not surprisingly, the series director lost some of his creative control at around the 4th season, which resulted in a season full of visual creativity, but mindless thematic pap. He would later leave the show and move on to "Revolutionary Girl Utena," where he had tremendous creative control.

Wow, that's a lot of Sailor Moon analysis. Was that fascinating to anyone here?

...I thought not. Only I was interested. :rolleyes:

But sitting down and watching them all lately and connecting the threads to the more mature and daring "Utena" series was very enlightening. A lot of sexual-psychological politics were bubbling under Sailor Moon's second and third season, which surprised me.

With Pokemon, it's the little jokes one appreciates--in moderation. I have no qualms against it. It's bubblegum entertainment.

I watch Arthur, as well. Why? Because it has stronger characterization and deeper psychology than 80% of the kiddie shows on Sat Am.

I admired Power Rangers when they originally came on Fox, because it was campy, cheap entertainment that was heavy on action with stereotypical characters (but they had personality). Later seasons would get more serious, but would become even more action bent (15 minutes action, 5 minutes plot, 0 minutes characterizations), less character oriented (Do these new guys have personalities? Nah, they don't . Just like the cast of FRIENDS)

*ducks*

EDITED: More thoughts.

[Leaping Larry Jojo]

Originally posted by Failure


Does it have anything to do with Joss Whedon's incessant use of emotional manipulation? That's what bugs me most about his writing. It's great, but too often he reaches for that bucket of tears or something like that.

Actually, what turned me off his writing is his excessive use of tongue-in-cheek dialogue. He creates all this new slang that's supposed to be "cute" and the "I'm so clever" attitude of the writing really turned me off the characters. Leave it to Joss to kill an otherwise poignant scene with a lame pop-culture joke or reference.

[RockItShipper]

Originally posted by Leaping Larry Jojo
Wow, that's a lot of Sailor Moon analysis. Was that fascinating to anyone here?

...I thought not. Only I was interested. :rolleyes:


Well, I read it and I had a complete sense of what you were saying and all, even if most everything I know about Utena is from the yuri yahoogroups list. :o

[Leaping Larry Jojo]

Originally posted by RockItShipper


Well, I read it and I had a complete sense of what you were saying and all, even if most everything I know about Utena is from the yuri yahoogroups list. :o

Heh. JustJack in an Utena fan, though, so I guess it's directed at him, mostly.

[Crazy8s]

What draws me to certain toons? Gotta be the characters and the relationships. I can be turned off by animation design if it's extremely ugly, but if I really, really like the characters I can get past some strange animation styles (as it Phantom 2040--fascinating characters--awful animation style).

I prefer realistic animation--have ever since the original Jonny Quest, the first western attempt at fairly serious, realistic characters and stories within animation. Sure, I like wacky stuff like Freakazoid and The Tick, but my first love has and will always be more realistic action/adventure toons.

Toons I have known and loved:
Action/adventure--EXO-Squad, Godzilla:TS, Batman, Batman Beyond, Phantom 2040, Mighty Max, Real Ghostbusters, Starship Troopers and Sonic The Hedgehog, which was far more action/adventure than funny animal, despite the critter cast. Oddly enough, I was never a fan of Gargoyles. To each their own.

Comedy--Original Loony Toons and Popeye from the forties and fifties, aforementioned Tick and Freakazoid, Daria (one of the more intelligent shows out there), older Simpsons, Futurama (tho I think it could be better). Not really amused by things like Ren and Stimpy, Ripping Friends or South Park. Don't like ugly animation combined with less than admirable characters.

Kidstuff--Bruno, The Kid, Recess (yes, I do like these kids and their weird universe). I don't care for the 'precocious', mouthy and misbehaved brats now appearing in many shows. Hate Jade Chan AND the kid Alex from the new Mummy. So very annoying!

Live action: I come from the days of The Lone Ranger and Sky King, when live action WAS kid tv. Never cared for much of the stuff thrown at kids since them (like HR Puffinstuff and Banana Splits--what drek), but I did have a guilty pleasure in the original Land of the Lost (the one with Marshall, Will and Penny). Didn't like the remake at all. Too many cutesy critters and annoying cast members.

Just not into anime--especially the tv shows that clog the small screen nowdays. Don't like the animation styles, don't care about the characters, and am extremely bored with cute monsters and quests that obviously revolve around games and merchandising.