How often do kids watch old cartoons?

[heavens-champion 1,893]

How often do kids watch old cartoons? For example, how many kids watch old Loony Tunes shorts?

[Steve Piranha 28,752]

Who knows. I used to watch shows past my birth, some 80s, Looney Tunes as well, but Tom & Jerry was my all time favorite. This one isn’t a cartoon, but I also watched the Three Stooges.

can’t tell how much kids watch old cartoons, but I’m not even sure if kids watch TV as much overall 

Edited September 19, 2018 by Steve Piranha

[Here No Longer 5,270]

Most of the ones I know? Not very often.

[Cash In 21,493]

Hard to say. I used to watch Looney Tunes and Tom & Jerry whenever they were on. Both would've been considered old back then as well.

[GeekySonic 1,150]

Well, the Wal-Marts near me have started selling DVDs of cartoon classics, including Tom & Jerry, Animaniacs, Looney Toons, Tiny Toon Adventures, The Flintstones, Batman TAS, and so on. Not as in, they've just added them to the butt-end of the DVD section because they're gathering dust in inventory, but instead they completely dominate the entire cartoon section. So, I would guess that kids watch them enough to make companies think there's a profit to be made by targeting them.

[Rising Dusk 26,033]

A rather interesting question.  When I was a kid, I was at the whims of the TV network.  Cartoon Network during the day was nothing but repeats of older Looney Tunes, Tom and Jerry, the original Scooby-Doo shows, The Flintstones, etc.  Then the evenings had the 'new' shows.  Now a days, there are so many ways around watching what you want that you aren't a slave to the networks.

The kids I know, don't spend as much time watching network TV at all.  They're watching the newer modern shows they like online.  My nephew, though still young, has never seen any of the older cartoons I grew up with.  And from what I can tell, neither have any of the other kids I know.

[Ganondorf8 11,118]

I'm not sure if kids these days would watch old cartoons given that their attention spans are focused on more recent cartoons. Then again, with the advances in technology, kids may be more interested in tablets, iPhones, video games, and so forth. When I was a kid, I used to watch old cartoons all the time as they were still pretty relevant.

[MangoFoalix 24,898]

Hey @heavens-champion

As this has to do with a cartoons, I will be moving it to Media Discussion.

 

[Flutterstep 46,216]

When I was a kid I use to watch Tom & Jerry which goes back as old as the 1940’s. I use to also watch Wacky Races that was aired. I don’t see why kids wouldn’t watch old cartoons since there’s no real distinction between shows of animation.

[Jordan D 149]

Well, my niece (8 years old as of now) doesn't really watch much cartoons (she's already in the "cartoons are for babies" phase) and gets annoyed whenever I watch old cartoons like He-Man and The Real Ghostbusters. I don't really have much reference point than that. 

[Prospekt 10,984]

My teenage brother loved classic Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies cartoons when he was little, as did I. Additionally, I went through a phase in 1st grade in which I'd watch The Flinstones every morning before school. But alas, I don't think I've found any other millennials who really enjoy old school (by that, I mean pre-1980s) cartoons, apart from maybe the original Scooby Doo. All my friends in grade school only watched stuff from the 90s onward.

[Jeric 46,834]

I introduced my kids to a wide breadth of media that predates me as well as cartoons I grew up with. My kids have seen animation from the 30’s on, including Casper, Pink Panther, Popeye, Woody Woodpecker, the complete Hannah Barbara and WB offerings. I’ve even gone obscure and shown them stuff from the 80’s that didn’t last long. 

My kids have taken to a few shows from each generation, from Yogi Bear to Robotech to Bionic Six to BtAS. I must pass on what I learned!

[Shy 156]

I didn’t really watch tv when I was younger, but when I did I usually watched Tom & Jerry and Looney Tunes.

[SkySilver 28]

9 hours ago, Cash In said:

As a kid, I didn't often go out of my way to watch old cartoons. However I did watch them, if they were being shown on Television. The ones that stick out, were Tom and Jerry and The Looney Toons.

As a kid, I watched these cartoons all the time on Cartoon Network. Definitely some of my favorite cartoons. I don't know a lot of kids that watch old cartoons. I only hear about the new stuff on Netflix or Disney shows.

[Steve Piranha 28,752]

12 minutes ago, SkySilver said:

As a kid, I watched these cartoons all the time on Cartoon Network. Definitely some of my favorite cartoons. I don't know a lot of kids that watch old cartoons. I only hear about the new stuff on Netflix or Disney shows.

Surprisingly, I've saw Shera on Netflix yesterday 

[Phosphor 11,522]

I'm not sure how often kids watch old cartoons. I watched em a ton when I was little and still do. My youngest sister seems to enjoy the older cartoons, probably because she would watch them with me sometimes.

[Narcissus 352]

I subsist on Looney Tunes. It's the staple of cartoon on TV, or at least it was. Anyone who misses out on them miss the best cartoons ever made. Unfortunately, when they play them on TV they repeat the same 20 or so cartoons endlessly and never delve into the bottomless riches of the thousands of titles made from the '30s to the '60s.  

[Dreambiscuit 8,022]

I love Looney Tunes. They're the classics of all cartoon shows. I don't like the pathetic attempts to reinvent them in recent years; they just don't have the kind of quality humor and animation of the originals (even though I like Lola Bunny in The Looney Tunes Show). Unfortunately most of the best original Looney Tunes are buried in a vault somewhere because someone imagined they were 'insensitive' but you can still get them if you look around for unofficial sources. 

Max Fleischer had some great stuff too with Betty Boop and Popeye. The oldest ones were the best and very surreal. Lots of fun to watch though. You'll never get cartoons like that anymore. Of course Disney had its fair share of greats from decades past, but there aren't many available now beyond the same limited handful. 

I never was a fan of Hanna-Barbara cartoons because I didn't like the animation style and the writing seemed generic (something that kids do care about, contrary to the belief of many studio board rooms). The early Flintstones and Jetsons were a step in the right direction.

Bullwinkle, though it wasn't brilliantly animated, the writing was crisp and often surprising. 

I really like Tiny Toon Adventures and Animaniacs, but those aren't really what I consider old. 

All things considered, I think a lot of these classic cartoons go unnoticed these days, which I think is terrible. There's a universe of cartoon artistry and history out there just waiting to be tapped. 

Edited September 21, 2018 by Dreambiscuit

[DixonTheAdversary 1,631]

I used to always watch Tom and Jerry. I still have the VHS tapes from my childhood. I also used to watch Looney Toons occasionally. The original Scooby Doo was also a frequent show I watched.

As for kids today, I would say that they don't watch them much, if at all. Since Cartoon Network changed Boomerang, all the old cartoons are on late at night/really early in the morning. 

[Lord Midnight Madness 1,542]

I watch a lot of older shows likes The Kids Next Door, Ed Ed and Eddy, The Powepuff Girls and a lot of the old Cartoon Network shows and some of nicks.

[TBD 17,228]

Here's intake on this..after the 90's, kids these days are into tablets and video games now.  So answers is, not often as in the old days.

[Rainbow Dash 1,471]

Kids these days are more about Fortnite, and becoming an online celebrities like Lil Tay. These kids dont even know the names of 90's icons like Corey Taylor, Hayley Joel Osmand, or Jeffery the Giraffe. I grew up on old television and radio plays. I seem like the most annoying hipster at parties because i'll be referencing Looney Tunes, Ed the Horse, or Buster Keaton.

[heavens-champion 1,893]

On 1/31/2019 at 6:33 PM, TBD said:

Here's intake on this..after the 90's, kids these days are into tablets and video games now.  So answers is, not often as in the old days.

So you're say that they don't want to watch cartoons at all.

[TBD 17,228]

5 hours ago, heavens-champion said:

So you're say that they don't want to watch cartoons at all.

"Not at all" but rarely now these days. 

[Antiyonder 317]

Speaking from experience, a lot of us in the 80s I believe could enjoy animation predating our birth cause we were shown it at a young enough age that it is a norm to watch and enjoy.

So yeah even kids born past the 90s are likely to enjoy the oldies if they watch it at a very young age.  And hey, Tubi has a good chunk of such like Hanna Barbera and G1 Hasbro stuff from the 80s, plus 1987 TMNT on Pluto and Paramount Plus.  Even some later gems like Garfield & Friends, Conan the Adventurer and Dan VS.

Heck, some of the old Flintstones and Yogi Christmas specials (Plus The Smurfs) are currently on Tubi as well.