Child-like or cynical?

[HardyGirl]

OK, some of the replies to the Shazam thread on the Sci-Fi board got me thinking....

Most of you know that I do my Saturday morning ritual every week, and sometimes I even do some of the after school cartoon line-up, if I'm home at 3pm. My question is this; can you put away your current age and enjoy children's shows for what they are as you did back in the day, or do you pick it apart or simply cannot watch them?

With me, it's the former. I'm glad that I have the ability to be a kid while I'm watching these shows. I will sometimes catch myself thinking something cynical, but I'll push it out of my mind. I'll sing the theme songs, laugh at the stupid jokes, and just enjoy my regression. It's very therapeutic for me. I think if I didn't do this, (and play w/ my toys) I'd go crazy! I miss being a kid, and this is my way of going back in time, even if only for a little while.

How about you?

[Bruce Banner]

I'm pleased to say I can still watch the shows with the same sense of childlike joy as when I first saw them.
Whether it's Bigfoot and Wildboy, Superfriends, SMDM or whatever, I just sit back and enjoy the ride.

I guess it helps that I never really grew up.

[artskull]

Definitely sit back and enjoy those shows, cartoons and movies as I did back in the day. I question people when they lose that sense of "wonder" about entertainment that made them genre fans in the first place. As you mention, it's great to go back in time if even for just a 1/2 hour of Ultraman or Speed Racer…

[Cmonster]

Great thread.

For me, I don't think I could even be the huge Krofft fan that I am if I couldn't look at the shows through a kid's eyes, or at least from a kid's perspective. These shows were made for kids, so as an adult it's really hard to watch them as adult entertainment. You also have to look at from the view of a kid in the 70's, not a kid today. Young people in this day and age are much more advanced than we were. They don't seem too impressed by stuff like Sid and Marty Krofft. Really young kids, like 4-6 might dig it, but hell, I was watching all these shows when I was like 9 or 10, 11.

Like you Sharry, watching these shows as much as I do, is my way of going back in time and reliving it. I need to have that in my life. I have an insatiable need to always find cool, 70's bits of nostalgia to keep life moving forward...

SC

[Mikey]

If a show is really good it can be happily enjoyed by any age group at any time.

One example is Scooby Doo

If a show is written poorly and boxes itself into one genre then it's stuck in the past and is hard to enjoy after about 2 minutes of a nostalgic haze.

One example The Banana Splits

So I can enjoy SOME things as an adult, but not everything.

[SlipperyLilSuckers]

I enjoy it thru the eyes of a child.

[RG]

mostly via my inner child and really enjoy them... but sometimes the adult in me finds an added level of humor in some due to very simple ideas or plots. but I still enjoy them.

like ... how could teela not see that adam is he-man, he goes into the room as adam and he man comes out and it just makes me laugh ... good stuff, but makes me laugh ... really adds another level of enjoyment to them for me as an adult

[Adam West]

I'm with Mike on this one. Some shows I can watch and I still love it and others....I really cringe.

As corny as the Brady Bunch is, it never gets old or dull for me (even if the plots are not even close to reality). On the other hand, I do remember watching some HR Puf-n-Stuf episodes a few years ago and should have stopped at one (I could have handled it) but I watched 3 or 4 back to back and although I do have an appreciation for the costume work and set designs....that laugh track especially when it really wasn't funny at all started to give me a migraine. But that's just my opinion and sometimes do wish I could just cut off the adult circuit in my brain at times and enjoy them from a kid's point of view.

[kryptosmaster]

Depends on the show. Some are still as good as they ever were but some are just plain awful now that you can see the cheapness of the animation or mistakes or something along that line. You tend to notice those things more as an adult.
I can only take so much at one time though. Like the poster above mentioned; a couple episodes are cool but a marathon sometimes is too much of a good thing.
Rich

[kennermike]

depends on the show but Child-Like

[kingdom warrior]

I'm the same it all depends on the show. If you throw on the Land of the lost....I cut it up I hated it then I hate it now.
throw on Sigmund and the sea monsters and it's total nostalgia for me.

[huedell]

I'd like to say one thing to HardyGirl in particular regarding her thread question...

I have a few beliefs that I stand behind (if not live by), and one of them is
that one of the BEST things a person can be is "cool"---as in "cool headed".

The personality you communicate to these boards (as I see it)
is brimming with that "cool" attitude. You seem like you can enjoy so
many things because you've conditioned yourself to be cool
and not LET that cynicism creep in... and I wouldn't be surprised if that
attitude reaches into how you act in other parts of your life. Regardless...
what you HAVE already shared with us, I find to be an incredible
achievement of human spirit!

Keep rockin' it!

(As far as me w/the original question... I'm aboiut 60/40...40/60 hit & miss!)

[fallensaviour]

I do a similar thing here.Saturday is cartoon day from the time you wake up until 2pm thats it!!!
I enjoy classics like Scooby doo,The flintstones,Superfriends,Star Trek animated,blackstar and batman.
That's the way it is my wife is not a huge fan of the old shows but has come to understand it is the way I am.Plus now I have 3 kids to back my play...LOL
Sunday is boardgame night with lots of classics operation,monopoly,battleship,life,HeroQuest,sorry ,Scrabble.
I try to think like a kid most times...LOL
The weekends are meant for fun!!!

During the week whenever possible it's the incredible Hulk,Bionic man,starsky and hutch, and Chips.Looking to add in Happy Days.TV was just so much better then (70's)

[Nostalgiabuff]

If a show is really good it can be happily enjoyed by any age group at any time.

One example is Scooby Doo

If a show is written poorly and boxes itself into one genre then it's stuck in the past and is hard to enjoy after about 2 minutes of a nostalgic haze.

One example The Banana Splits

So I can enjoy SOME things as an adult, but not everything.

couldn't have said it better Mike. And Scooby Doo is aa perfect example, I can stil sit and watch with my little ones. but other shows like Thundercats, and most of the stuff from the 80's, I cannot sit and watch. it is just too bad.

[mego73]

Most of you know that I do my Saturday morning ritual every week, and sometimes I even do some of the after school cartoon line-up, if I'm home at 3pm. My question is this; can you put away your current age and enjoy children's shows for what they are as you did back in the day, or do you pick it apart or simply cannot watch them?

How about you?

I most definitely still am able enjoy my childhood shows for what they were back in the day.