Has the cartoon industry gone more "kid-friendly"?

[albino_moogle]

Hmm, i don't know. The characters in Animaniacs were allowed to say "sexy". Would that be possible in a kids show today? I don't watch enough modern cartoons to know the answer myself. And could any of todays kids cartoons feature a scene like this?:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iR6KjNmN2BA

[Chaudhary]

Yeah, I've seen "sexy" used plenty of times in kids cartoons these days (FOP, Adventure Time)

[S0ftBallL CiiCk x3]

I don't know, I've seen a lot of psycho scenes in Flapjack, scary visuals and all. There's an entire episode of Flapjack based around K'nuckles addiction to drinking candy, an allude to alcohol. They even have a scene where K'nuckles eats too much and ends up becoming affectionate, angry, and then cries in front of Flapjack.

In a more recent episode of Dan Vs., Dan goes as far as to almost chop a woman with a tree axe, to which she responds, "What are you, a psychopath?!". And it was an actual, lethal threat too, not a light-hearted, cartoon pain threat.

And can anyone forget the entire episode based around Pops naked in Regular Show?

[SuperH]

Yup, that's all very true. People think today is getting more edgy because of the increase of TV-PG, but honestly today's PG is like yesterday's TV-Y7. What i think the difference is is the diversity. I live with two little sisters so I see and am fairly in touch with today's cartoons, and I always see for the most part the same formula. There's not as many cartoons being made as there were in our days, and the ones that are here are pretty much the same with a few differences, but of course there have been a few gems in the last decade. So I don't think they're being more kid friendly just...less creative or a lack of cartoons in general.

[Miss Mermaid]

This scene from Sym-Bionic Titan is far from kid friendly. I wish I had seen more stuff like this as a kid.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TW71JI6AZUA

There's still edgy stuff in cartoons today. You just have to look for it.

[Raymond C88]

I feel that the medium may have found the proper balance. The shows on CN like Adventure Time and Regular Show have some kiddie jokes, but they'll have a joke or sequence that there's no way they would fly on another network. However, Nick and Disney Channel, with a few exceptions, tends to be too kid-friendly with their cartoons. But for the most part, it's evened out. For now.

[sharyar21]

I don't think cartoons have gotten any tamer than they were in the nineties or the 00's. You just gotta know where to look. Nick's cartoons are pretty tame (sans the Avatar franchise), but Disney's has begun packing a slight edge and Cartoon Network . . . I don't even know where to begin with that. Adventure Time, Sym-Bionic Titan, etc . . . there's a lot there.

[noisy]

Wow, is that show actually a kids cartoon? I mean, that particular scene was obviously intended for adult viewers, but, like, is the show as a whole aired and promoted as a childrens cartoon?

[teloite26]

I don't see what's so "edgy" about that Ren and Stimpy scene, I mean, they're talking animals. Now if Ren had really been doing that to Stimpy with ultra-bloody results, then I'd be surprised.

The Sym-Bionic Titan scene didn't really shock me either. I mean, I've seen worse stuff in cartoons past and present.

[sherry d]

What exactly have you seen in childrens cartoons that's so much edgyer than those things?