#80s tv
Why Did So Many ‘90s Kids Cartoons Feature Edgy, Adult Comedians?
With the early 1990’s came the bizarre fad of famous stand-up comedians, who weren’t necessarily “kid friendly” getting greenlit for their very own Saturday morning cartoons. Comedians like Howie Mandel, John Candy, David Wayne, and the now kinda-problematic… Roseanne Barr and Bill Cosby. We’re talking Camp Candy, Bobby’s World, Little Rosey, Waynehead, Life with Louie, The Completely Mental Misadventures of Ed Grimley and a ton more shows that make us go wait a minute… whaaaaat?
“We’re trapped in a mirror dimension. No one to come save us… only one thing left to do.”
“Initiateaggressive wiggling.”
Batman and Robin, jumping a boulder with a car!
Samurai, creating a tornado over the ocean!
Superman… um… bringing a mirrorhome!
We may admittedly have left the realm of badassery a little, and entered the realm of… well, IKEA-tripery.
It doesn’t matter that there’s a huge mirror on the truck.
It doesn’t matter that Batman and Robin are chasing an entirely-mirror-themedvillain.
Show me a scene in a Hanna-Barbera cartoon…
…with two sets of characters’ heads…
…and my brain says “oh no, someone overlapped both cels again.”
But alas, it’s perfectly sensible.
…that said, a second later the truck does disappear in the front angle,
so hey, at least it gave us a consolation prize.
Ted the Animator: “Just a minute, just a minute, not quite finished yet.”
Carl the Animator: “Hanna-Barbera wants it now, it’s plenty finished for their purposes.”
Ted the Animator: “Seriously, hold on, I–”
Carl the Animator: “One single shot uses it, there doesn’t have to be much detail. It’ll be fine.”
Ted the Animator: “Carl, it’s not ‘unfinished’ like ‘needs final touches…’”
Ted the Animator: “…it’s ‘unfinished’ like ‘there’s a chunk without any paint on it.’“
Carl the Animator: “Yeah, and a Super Friends episode makes most animatics look like a finished Pixar release. No one will notice.”
Ted the Animator: “…it’s 1984, what’s Pixar?”
Carl the Animator: “…shh. Just pretend we have logical continuity.”
…and now Super Friends has worked hard to reinforce…
…is that all across the US, in every major city…
…we just love our seven-lane, undivided downtown highways.
That said, they found a very-American answer to car-dependant infrastructure: compensating with a sidewalk the width of a house across.
Possibly the most “didn’t know I needed this” thing I’ve ever not known I needed.
