Anyone else think that TV isn't what it used to be?

I'm not in to reality shows and other types of shows like the Good Wife...(Though I'm not knocking them) I mostly watch cartoons. I'm mainly talking about the quality of the networks, blocks, and commercials.

Back in the day, I mainly watched 7 networks. Cartoon Network, Boomerang, Disney Channel, Toon Disney, Nickeloden, Nicktoons Network and Noggin. Now all of them are either nonexistent, or dead. (Or both.) Though, Boomerang, IMO, is still great, but not the same.

So many great memories...WHAT HAPPENED?!?!

Now, I'll admit that the cartoons are good these days. I don't care what anybody says. But it's just not the same anymore. The networks are just not the same. The bumpers are just not the same. The commercials are just not the same.

Cartoon Network.Ah man. Good times. Cartoon Cartoon Fridays. Toonami. Maguzi. CN City. So many good memories....hen CN Real had to come along and screw everything up. CN hasn't been the same since. I'll admit, the new cartoons are really cool. But the network, as a whole, isn't the same Cartoon Network it was back in the good old days.

Nickeloden.How to sum up nick these days...Hmm...Spongebob. Spongebob. Spongebob. Spongebob. Spongebob. Sitcom. Sitcom. Spongebob. Sitcom. FairlyOdd Parents. Spongebob. Spongebob. Sitcom. Spongebob....And a little bit of Nick Jr. Yeah...

Nick was awesome back in the day. Their shows were weird, silly different, and funny. They had that Nickeloden uniqueness you couldn't find anywhere else. "Not just cartoons, Nicktoons!" *Sigh* Without Spongebob, they'd be doomed. It's sad.

Disney. Disney Channel is probably the worst out of the three. Sitcoms, Sitcoms, Sitcoms, Sitcoms. With all of those great shows they're sitting on, why are they mostly showing these sitcoms? Are they sitcoms bad? I dunno. But it's is ridiculous what the Disney Networks have become from what they once were.

And Toon Disney is dead....Toon Disney is dead....Now it's Disney XD...With more sitcoms and a few cartoons....WHY?!

I just don't get it. Why can't we have ALL of the old cartoons AND the new cartoons? Why? That would make TV so much better. It's a shame these networks just ignore the old classics like they don even. It's a darn shame, it is.

Aside from cartoons, I only watch wrestling. TV just isn't the same as it used to be.

I know most of you will say..."Cartoons? Yuck. Those are for kids." But don't be mistaken. Cartoons are the best thing on TV. Alway have been, always will be.

No.

Welp. I can live with that opinion.

imo no.

It's just... different. Now movies on the other hand are getting worse. More sequels and remakes than original films.

T.V is has been kinda razzle-dazzle these days but I don't often watch T.V like that since the Internet has spoiled me lol, but anyways Cartoon Network: most of there shows are not really that good but it sure has been lacking with anything good and most of there goody shows ends up on Saturday. Sonic Boom is errr alright, not the best Sonic show around, Teen Titans Go, I only watch it because of Raven, I totally miss Ben 10 and Generator Rex, best action shows, and then we have Toonami still hanging in there so that's pretty much saying something. Nickelodeon: I only go to that network for only one thing Avatar series and nothing more. Fairy Odd Parents was good back then but now, it has lost it's way, I miss Danny Phantom good series. Toon Disney: I only watch Star Wars: Rebels.

That said, T.V is becoming irrelevant since the Internet does it better but my only issue is that these networks show barley any action shows and that's really depressing :-(

No one cares to watch cartoons on cable TV anymore. It's all about Netflix.

Also, for the love of god please watch Gravity Falls. It's easily the best show today.

I had this nice long comment for you but it vanished into the void of gamespot. But the gist of it was that I agree with you tc.

Why can't you grow up and watch real TV like the rest of the planet? Sure, cartoons back in the day probably were better and more family-oriented rather than just toddler-oriented like it feels mostly these days. But who cares? It's kids programming. And honestly, the kids probably like it well enough - it's nobodies concern. Why should they air the classics? Those shows were run in the past because they were new at the time - let new shows take a stab at it. You can always watch the old stuff on Netflix.

I don't watch TV anymore, tried but nothing that I liked.. no, it's not like it used to be.

This:

used to make me piss myself with excitement.

Hey they didn't wire our area for cable until '88. Four channels, man. FOUR.

Toons for life, bro. What am I supposed to watch? Honey Boo Boo? lol.

It's not the fact that I can't watch the shows elsewhere, (Shows like Pepper Ann and Teamo Supremo are REALLY hard to find.), it's just painful to see the networks that I loved so much become shells of their former selfs.

Lots of people love cartoons. I'm sure all of the 80s and 90s kids would love to see those channels like they were again.

@Aljosa23: I honestly think that TV may become obsolete in another decade or so. And Gravity Falls is awesome.

Yep. I hear ya. I just don't get why we can't have the best of both worlds. All the old shows along with all of the new ones. Different lineup every day.

Yeah. I don't even watch movies anymore. If I'm ever interested, I'll just wait until they're on Blu-Ray, or the internet.

That Seventh Son movie has potential, though.

Watch Breaking Bad ya turd

Good wife is greatness

If we are only talking about cartoons then I see no difference at all, they were just as obnoxious ten years ago and I imagine they will continue to be in order to cater to their target audience. People really need to let go of this "it was better in my day" attitude, I loved cartoons as a kid but I certainly don't view my kids as unfortunate when they have programs like Adventure Time -- nor do I consider them philistine's if they reject the crap I grew up with.

As far as TV shows are concerned I believe its quite the contrary really. Both the scale and production values in addition to the overall quality of the work have skyrocketed in recent years. Seriously there is such an abundance of great shows to watch I'm barely keeping up with my ever growing to-watch list. Seeing how cartoons are aimed mainly at kids chances are you just grew out of them. Its either that or the fact that cartoons are aimed at rapidly changing and rather volatile/whimsical demographics that its impossible to maintain a certain standard and consistency in cartoon works. So you can easily wake up one day and feel cartoons no longer do it for you anymore. On the other hand, Japanese animation for instance has too been getting more sophisticated and elaborate with quality rising admittedly in a certain way that is not necessarily approved by all. Anime is targeted at both young and old demographics so its not hard to maintain a certain standard that would keep everybody pleased not to mention the fact that anime targets more bankable demographics which certainly keeps the industry competitive and well liquidated.

OMG, this thread again... No. The answer is no. We've been over this as a forum time and time again. TV in thethe past decade has been far and away better than any era before it.

Live TV is dead to me with Netflix. I don't even use it for background noise anymore.

After reading GazaAli post, I forgot to mention this on Action Cartoons on why they are disappearing before our very eyes. You see, some cartoons [mostly action-adventure] will be canceled due to the fact that Toys sells are poor. Toys like action figures will determine the fate of the action cartoon series. ThunderCats 2011 is a good example, the show was cancel not because of the ratings were bad but because the action figures were poor and the show was cancel because of this and ThunderCats 2011 only had one season and it didn't make it to season 2. Back when Ben 10 was a hit show, the action figures were selling awesome when the series was new, Ben 10 was really popular until it got to Alien Force when the toys were selling poor and it almost made the cartoon cancel until Ben 10 Omniverse came along and the toys were sell but not for long. Cartoon Network had to finish up with the Omiverse so there won't be a cop-out and when the final episode air with the Frog Princess fight, CN was ready to ditch that show ASAP. This also applies to what happen to Generator Rex. Anime shows do however follow this, Manga series also determines the fate of an Anime show. Deadman Wonderland comes to mind.

Bottom-line: If the Toy sell is shitty, the cartoon goes as well.

It really isn't what it used to be. Nickelodeon's programming is pretty terrible now. Rocko, Catdog, Rugrats, Hey Arnold - all dead. They beat Spongebob like a dead horse and lack good, new IPs. After Cartoon Network dropped Courage the Cowardly Dog and butchered Dexter's Laboratory, I gave up on them. When I had cable, none of the new programming looked promising when my stepson glanced at it from time to time.

Then, there's the long-dead Tech TV. Man, I loved that channel. Fresh Gear, Tech Live, and Extended Play were among my favorite shows. G4 took control and the whole thing started going to hell. The old tech shows? Boom, gone. Extended Play? XPlay, with more fluff and stupid shit. The whole channel became a depressing parody of what it had once been.

I got rid of cable TV last year. Nobody in my family used it much. I would watch a bit of CBS News before heading out to work, but that's it. Time Warner's TV service was awful anyway.

There are a few good shows out there, but I view them on Netflix and Hulu - Grimm, The Flash, Gotham, Supernatural. I look up history documentaries on Youtube, since the History Channel turned itself into the haggle, barter, hoard, apocalypse, red neck culture glorification network.

A few shows will pull me in each year but I generally will, hear of them through the internet not tv and acquire them through the net advertisement free. Tv is expensive especially when you consider most the shit you pay for you don't want or watch to begin with, then they spend half the time throwing advertisements at you. Just can't be bothered when I can pick and choose exactly the shows I want to watch with far less effort then is required through cable\satellite or buying box sets. It also allows me to wait for seasons to be done, so I can watch them when and as I please. No waiting a week and forgetting what happened.

I do agree on one major thing though. Cartoons have gone from one of the best things on tv to one of the worst.

a lot of opinions in this thread

For a long time, I watched only sports... but that isn't cost effective. Nothing else was worth the amount of advertisements. I mean, seriously, you pay for the damn service and you get ads too? WTF is that about?

TV? You mean Netflix and Hulu? Haha, that's pretty much the only source I go to for any TV time. I started disliking most programs when reality shows took over. It's all the same stuff. At least Netflix and Hulu let me find some older shows without having to go through one rerun a day or a week.

Threads like these bother me. Its the exact same concept as "omg, games when i was a kid were so much better!" or "music during the 90's was so much better." No, it wasn't. Thats your nostalgia at play. Nevrmined that the vast majority of whatever medium you chose, was probably full of terrible crap. You taken the very best of what you remember of a period of time and distilled it down to a much smaller amount and thinking of that period of time as mostly full of that quality medium.

Music is better today. Games are better today. Books are better today. TV is better today. Movies are better today. The difference? You just haven't found them yet.

tv wasn't as good as it was,I remember watching a local drama series...man that hit the spot,was very entertaining back then,even better,it included a fun-filled game show,good times..now I see hipsters' shows,"new" bollywood and terrible direct-to-video shits like "Baby Geniuses" and so on...WHO WATCHED THESE ZERO QUALITY FLICKS ANYWAY?!

If only I have the media under my control,I could've made it into a spot where news,sports,awesome movies for tv such as: Rambo,Charlies's Angels(Full Throttle) Undercover Brother,Van Helsing,LotR,Bad Boys 2,etc.| culinaries(extreme if you dare).. honest infotainment,well-prepared game shows,children shows + strong-plotted drama series a dominant feature,not to mention ads,they're a lot less influential now,they only care about cash and other prizes inside a product to which boggles my purchase confidence(it's a fraud,don't listen to them shady sales)

Back in the day I watched TV nonstop, now I don't watch shows on TV anymore and online only, and even then it's a few new shows here and there but I don't prioritize it like in the past. Maybe if you love drama TV is better than ever, but for other types of shows, it varies a lot.

If you love dramas it is...

i would not worry about that as much as i would worry about a person that was still super into things they liked a decade ago.

tv has not changed, you have. and that's prolly a good thing.

it was never good

Or comedies, action shows, horror shows, etc. etc....

Haha, that's perfect. I know your post was meant as a joke, but I'm going to use it as a jumping off point anyway.

I'm kind of eclectic when it comes to television/film and I enjoy a lot of stuff from the 1970s. The 1970s had some truly fantastic cartoons that hold up well today even, but they also had some stuff that bordered on unwatchable. We just either don't remember them or discard them out of hand.

When we look back on a time period, we tend to look at the best stuff from across that entire time period when evaluating it against the entirety of what is on RIGHT NOW. Of course it's going to pale in comparison,

Not a big TV person, but Game of Thrones, House of Cards, Mad Men, Breaking Bad all happened within the last decade, so it can't be all bad.

I like the documentaries, even the fakeumentaries. At least Discovery said they are going to stop with the fake stuff. I rarely watch TV but it's either those or watch some classic 80's sitcom.

In terms of kids cartoons I think ithey have gone downhill since the 90's besides some bright spots here and there (Avatar, Amazing World of Gumball, Chowder).

Thing is though that I feel it is an effect of the rise of adult oriented cartoons which took over. I feel like their existence led to them taking a lot of the great hidden adult humor out of the kid cartoons which just leaves them not as good as the great 90's cartoons.

Watching Rocko is a COMPLETELY different experience as an adult and I love that. Kid cartoons these days lack that edge. On the other hand though, shows like Archer, Rick and Morty, and American Dad make that change worth it as they are some of the funniest shows ever made IMO.

Rocko is awesome. Gotta love it's satire. I'm thrilled that Rick and Morty got a second season, too. When it debuted I thought it had, "Cancelled before given a chance," written all over it.

TV has never been what it used to be. Every time I watch an old show I used to love I'm amazed I thought it was any good.

Yeah I hardly watch TV anymore I watch it if the kids are watching something on TV other than that I don't find anything interesting.

@pikachudude860:

Can of odd you only mentioned cartoons instead of TV as a whole.

Anyway, TV as whole has been boring since 2000.

@drarcadius: If you like Rick & Morty, I'm going to take your advice and look for Mr. Pickles. =)

@PSP107 I take it the OP is very young based on the screen name. IDK, I think I grew out of Pokemon over a decade ago.

TV as a whole has turned into reality TV garbage where people become famous for doing nothing. If any well written scripted show gets produced, it's amazing that it lasts past one year, and we're left with the Kardashian blight.

To the OP, I think cartoons are still great, but your tastes change as you get older. I still love cartoons: Venture Brothers, Archer, Adventure Time

TV today is still very good except in the category of comedy. I still think Married With Children (with its live studio audience) reruns outdo all the crap comedy shows (with their canned laughter) today.

Sure, a number of the later MWC episodes seemed off the wall. But, they're still loads better than the newer crap nowadays.

So many comments, where do I start?

No, no. That's not it. I LOVE the shows these days. I really do. I don't think they're better or worse than the shows back in the day. I just dislike the way the networks are these days. (Mainly Nick and Disney. CN is slowly getting back like it used to be.) I'll post an example in a moment.

I agree with what your saying though.

@PSP107: That's because I never really watched much of anything outside of cartoons.

...You've got a point...When talking about video games, music, etc. I thought that Sonic Adventure 2: Battle was the best Sonic game I've played...Until I played it recently. Great game, but could of used a lot of work done on it. And it's not just because it's old. But nostalgia made me belive that it was better than it actually was. So...It's subjective.

However, when it comes to cartoons, it's a matter of opinion. (Just like games.) But IMO, most TV networks not being as good as they used to be is as close to a fact as can be.

Ok. here is what I'm talking about.

Cartoon Network Powerhouse Era. (1997-2004). (REALLY REALLY LONG.)

Cartoon Network City Era. (2004-2006)

Can't find a good complation of the current Cartoon Network Bumpers, so you'll have to watch TV/Youtube and see for yourself.

I don't CN today is bad. I just don't think it compares to what it used to be. (Lots of innovative bumpers, blocks, etc. LOTS of shows.)

Nickeloden (80s and 90s.)

Nickeloden. (2000s.)

Kids WB.

I'll try to find some old Disney Channel and Toon Disney ones later.

You see now? You see how much these networks have changed? Heck, Kids WB is long dead. Those networks were awesome back then! Nothing is as good as it used to be. It really sucks.

I'm not sure if other people are as much on the nostalgia-wagon as you are. There's enough good stuff to watch that the majority of us don't have to return to programs we watched when we were kids. And frankly - I'm sure the kids growing up now will look back at the cartoons they had growing up as the "golden age", no different from how you view the cartoons you grew up with.