Top 10 Reasons Why Cartoons Suck These Days

A problem with a lot of modern fiction. This probably shouldn't be number 1, but it's interesting that it is. I think the problem here is that these days show writers try to put themselves into the characters too much rather than creating characters for their target audience. It's become an outlet for the writers to express their own personality and opinions rather than a product produced for an audience.

This doesn't make it bad. Indeed, it could be argued it gives it more artistic viability. However, it is clearly going to reduce its broader appeal, especially in this day and age where everyone is so aggressive about their own opinions. Cartoons should be fun. They shouldn't be a deep introspective view of the psyche of the creator.

People have different senses of humor. This seems a tricky one to judge, especially with so much content out there these days. I don't find a lot of them funny, but I'm pretty sure those ones weren't targeted at me, so I'm going to have to disagree on this one. That this is rated number 2 though is interesting. Has humor changed that much?

If you want unfunny, look at Johnny Test, Sanjay and Craig, Fish Hooks, Fanboy and Chum Chum, and Breadwinners. If you like any of these shows, you have a bad sense of humor and no appreciation for quality whatsoever.

Kind of.

Professionals always want to get paid. It's literally what makes them professionals. So I disagree in some respects. However, I feel these days the ease of pumping out a cartoon thanks to being able to do it all cheaply on computers has created a problem where there is a far larger amount of rubbish compared to the quality stuff (which is still there if you look).

I don't think it's fair to say financial motivations are the cause of the problem, though. In many cases, the writers are not doing it for money but to make some kind of political statement. Because they have to do it on a budget and the art quality isn't their top concern, they end up with low-quality, overly political rubbish. For me, the issue is more that you can make these so cheaply they are basically letting anyone do it.

Look at pictures of the old retro Noggin interstitials and compare them with the newest modern Nick Jr. stuff. You will see a very big difference in creativity and imagination. Noggin was a literal wonderland with all the strange designs, high-contrast colors, easygoing yet weird music, and some old-fashioned elements to make kids think. At the same time, it felt so cozy and safe.

Nowadays, Nick Jr. is very boring, minimalist, and one-dimensional. Simple isn't bad, but the way Nick Jr. is now is uncreative. It's so sad that kids nowadays will never be able to see the world as it should be: imaginative, different, and looking for new opportunities and adventures with actual purpose, unlike stupid TikTok dances and "influencers" with no point.

They rely on these gags over and over again as if they are catering to 4-year-olds! There is nothing wrong with mature humor!

I know, right? I'm sick of bathroom humor!

Lack of effort definitely. Except for shows like Korra and Gravity Falls. Those shows really try their best, despite their parent network constantly interfering with them.

Most have a lack of effort. Shows like Gumball are exceptions.

Ugh! I hate things that are done without passion.

If you were a kid in the early 2000s, you'd remember Noggin and all the strange yet comfy designs and music, and how every show was so different from another. Everything had a point to it, no matter how simple it was.

Nowadays, Nick Jr. is pointless and boring, with some exceptions like Blue's Clues and You, and Bubble Guppies (except for the same jokes over and over again).

I mean, most cartoons have a "one episode story," but animes have the whole series to finish a story, more than just a bunch of random things and fights each day. I know Gravity Falls had somewhat of a story, but still, we got all these ones that don't. Anime, on the other hand, is not for everyone, but it is more original than today's cartoons.

The only three shows with decent plots are Gravity Falls, Adventure Time, and Steven Universe. All three really started out strong. Adventure Time and Steven Universe kind of faltered after a while. They seemed to try to invest in characters who are already firmly likable, wasting entire episodes on meaningless subplots. Gravity Falls was able to keep my attention until the end. The only thing I didn't like about it was that there didn't seem to be any real consequences at the end.

Aside from those three, new cartoons really don't have any meaningful or interesting plots. There aren't any that are just supposed to be fun without plot, trying to create some silly plot that just takes away from any humor or fun. Older cartoons at least either had a plot or were just meant to be watched without needing to follow what happened before.

Teen Titans Go and The Powerpuff Girls 2016 say everything about spin-offs of great cartoons.

Creative and experienced cartoons have longer episodes.

Short episodes are usually less than 15 or 20 minutes. They lack ideas, creativity, development, and personalization of the characters.

Short episodes feel meaningless to a show and lack effort, showing no proof of making the show better for people to watch.

Also, short episodes are boring.

I kinda see this as a reason why cartoons decline over time. Like seriously, environmental messages are worn out, especially after E/I Saturday mornings declined. Also, recasting white voice actors... boy oh boy... I mean, this mostly applies to adult cartoons, but still.

Too much of this everywhere these days. It's okay for entertainment to make you think. It's not okay for it to tell you what to think.

I agree with this one. Too many cartoons have propaganda, especially the ones on Cartoon Network these days.

Yeah! This is the main problem with cartoons these days. They need to get serious. I really wish that most cartoons were serious enough to get my attention. I also appreciate less immature humor.

They've been doing this the wrong way since the days of Cow and Chicken. That show really sucked.

Fart jokes are not funny to anyone except for very immature people.

If it's only fiction, then it shouldn't hurt anyone. I support the idea of everyone having the right to bear arms, and I cannot stand political correctness. I wish more people could do something to stop this ban.

Wow, no guns? No violence? That totally sucks. I want guns and action. It is just an animated show, not a real-life incident. They should bring this back. I don't want cartoons to be completely boring.

Looking at you, Looney Tunes Cartoons on HBO Max. The only notable appearance without his gun before 2020 was What's Opera, Doc? and that was set before gunpowder was affordable.

Honestly, the animators are too lazy to create unique character designs. Instead, they depend too much on computers. Just compare the simple laziness of Adventure Time to the well-animated Batman: The Animated Series.

What happened to good character designs like the ones back then? Why do today's cartoons have only lazy designs? This ticks me off, especially since I am an artist.

Different people have different ways of designing characters, so there is really no problem with that.

Couldn't agree more. And that's what must be causing lots of people to behave inappropriately these days. What do those folks behind those shows think? That viewers will want to be influenced by that stuff? If so, they're sadly mistaken.

This is pretty much the problem with television in general nowadays.

I know that they can be mean-spirited, but how are they sadistic?

The music is almost all the same. It is fast-paced and mostly unoriginal. Early 2000s kids' shows had a lot of old-fashioned music that sounded a bit slow and easygoing and was sung quietly, but at the same time sounded upbeat and fun. There was more creativity in shows before the mid-2000s than there is nowadays.

Phineas and Ferb is the best explanation.

Inappropriate cartoons are made by idiots and loved by idiots! Real, real idiots! Any inappropriate action in a show is already disliked by good people. They think it is humor, but they are ruining people's lives with their stupidity and lack of creativity and knowledge.

Yeah, because shows like Ren & Stimpy and Rocko's Modern Life were SO far from being weird and taught kids great morals.

Take the Yogi Bear movie, for example. Utter trash and a complete abomination to the old cartoon.

It's a shame that artists no longer have the freedom to draw whatever they want due to political correctness and executive meddling.

ONE Kids is turning weird. For instance, Daniel Tiger's "If you have to go potty, stop and go right away!" We know that already. Make cool things like Daniel's house getting destroyed during a hurricane - something cool like that! That new show coming out, Let's Go Luna, is so dumb. No one is going to watch that. "Wah, my plant Bob died. I am so sad I can't get it to come back alive. Nothing will help!" Well, it's a plant, kid. That's what happens. No 3-year-old is going to watch that. It is making kids dumb, crybabies, and immature!

Remember how great SpongeBob was? But then, after the movie, we got terrible episodes like A Pal for Gary, Pet Sitter Pat, One Coarse Meal, and many more. And it doesn't just apply to SpongeBob. There are plenty of shows that used to be great but now suck these days.

In anime, every scene can be drawn out very carefully. In the old days of cartoons, the physics and the backgrounds looked pretty magical. Only a few shows today have these qualities, like Steven Universe or possibly Gravity Falls.

But some are just basic sprites made in CGI, literal pictures in low resolution, or have a high noise value.

Yes, and they are so focused on action rather than surroundings or details. The realism is gone. For instance, the new turtles are all straight lines with crude angles and corners. People applaud them for having such great animation. GREAT ANIMATION? REALLY? The action pacing is incredibly fast, too fast to even take in any details. If I flash you with a construction lamp, you could say the drawings were great. But please, look at them closely. They're lazy.

I agree! Cartoons with hand-drawn animation look better, and Flash animation looks bad. For example, one of the reasons why Wabbit, aka New Looney Tunes, is bad is because it has bad animation. The animation of the original Looney Tunes is a masterpiece compared to this trash!

Beginners can use Flash Animation, but people who know how to animate? NO! By the way, I don't mind fluid Flash Animation.

I have more cartoon ideas than 1,000 animators combined. They make such useless and uncreative shows with no meaning or creativity, adding only nonsense and garbage to form a kids' show. Lack of ideas makes for a bad cartoon.

Instead of actually letting us see the new episodes, they keep showing the 3-year-old episodes we saw 100 times yesterday. It's as if they don't even want us to see the newest ones.

Steven Universe is a perfect example of this.

Bubble Guppies is a perfect example of this.

The protagonists are boring, lifeless characters with no development. This is one of the reasons why most shows suck.

Kion from The Lion Guard is the dumbest protagonist. His name is just lion with a K. Nothing special.

Older cartoons had moral values? Well, if you have seen the animated shorts from the 1910s through the 1950s, you will see most of them showed more moral values than the recent cartoons from the 1990s to today ever had. Characters get punished, spanked, etc. in some of those cartoons, something you don't see today. At least back in those old days before we were all born, artists had more freedom and did not have to worry about political correctness at the time.

What made the older cartoons likable is that they often showed morals and consequences in the story. You rarely see characters who are bullies get spanked or punished for all the bad acts they do in today's shows, as you'd expect in the older shows. Also, being politically correct doesn't help either.