Cartoony

Mamakat's Marvelous Prompt: 1.) Tell us about a kids TV show that you would be happy watching...without your kids.


I like cartoons, and I am not afraid to admit it.   

I loved watching Looney Tunes growing up, no matter what or when, and eventually I realized that a number of the jokes were not aimed at children.  I asked my parents about them, and they often claimed to have no idea what I was talking about.  This only made me more interested in finding out what the heck those jokes were about.  The idea of a cartoon having "secret" jokes was intriguing to me.  The jokes weren't really secret, of course, and eventually I figured that out. 

I also enjoyed watching animated superhero shows.  These were extensions of comic books, as far as I was concerned.  While the X-Men were smacking around giant robots, I lived vicariously.  The lines between good and bad were clear, and the good guys usually saved the world, no questions asked.  My child brain agreed that this was how things should be. 

Now I have a son, and he loves the superheroes.  He is not old enough to read comic books, but he likes to watch superhero cartoons.  This is great news to Larry and myself, who are both avid fans of superheroes.  We gladly sit with our son to watch the shows he likes, particularly Ultimate Spiderman.  Except that four-year-olds don't actually watch anything for more than 30 seconds.  Their attention spans are light-speed short.   While we all sit down to watch the shows, Zane intermittently wanders off,  and spends most of the half-hour playing, talking, or whining.  This sort of off-task behavior heartily crushes my groove.

Source: netbug.net via Tina on Pinterest

I want to admire the animation, compare the shows to the actual comic book universe, have arguments discussions about whether Spiderman is really a mutant, and if so, why wasn't he part of the X-Men  Children do not allow for such single-minded focus.  I must make use of the DVR, and watch the shows when the boy is asleep or at school, so I can keep up with the storyline.  Part of me is a little appalled that I am "into" the storyline of a cartoon; part of me doesn't care.  I used to laugh at my mother recording her soaps so she could keep up with them, and I used to laugh at my sister-in-law with her telenovelas. 

Now they can laugh at me, as long as it is during a commercial.