#side tangent

As the title suggests, I can specifically pinpoint two different shows on two different kids networks Disney & Nickelodeon, when it signified the end of the road for me, as far as kids' TV goes: Good Luck Charlie and Sam & Cat, for many different reasons.

Good Luck Charlie, the Disney sitcom, follows a middle class family from Denver, Colorado trying to take care of their youngest member Charlie and their day to day life. The end of each episode her older sister Teddy does video diaries for her as future advice and guidance when Charlie grows older. And of course, shenanigans ensues. I remember watching the priemere of this show, thinking it was really good. It was fun getting to know each member of the Duncan family and see what they were going through each episode. It's also refreshing to see a Disney show go back to its roots in a way without no gimmick whatsoever (magic powers, singing, psychic abilities, etc), just a regular grounded family sitcom Ala Even Stevens & Lizzie Mcguire. I was already familiar with Bridget Mendler as Justin's vampire girlfriend Juliet, in Wizards, and continued to crush it in the popular DCOM Lemonade Mouth. The biggest shout out to her especially since stepping out of the spotlight, she went to MIT to Harvard Law Bridgit is now a CEO of a space company founding Norwood Space for $100 million! Truly incredible career move. For me and to many people, this show was the last truly good Disney show that was enjoyable for all ages.

Side note: You guys remember that episode Teddy dumped Spencer because he was cheating on her with another girl Skylar, who she thought was her cousin? Did y'all know the love triangle between Bridgit, her love interest Shane Harper and Bridget's long time friend Samantha Boscarino was actually real? Apparently, Shane and Bridget were dating in real life then broke up. She and Samantha were roommates and then Samantha starting seeing Shane throughout that whole time. Now, they're married! I was initially shocked upon hearing the news via social media, but Bridget literally moved on to bigger and better things, so great for her & good riddance.

The complete opposite can be said with Nickelodeon's Sam and Cat, a spinoff show from the shows iCarly and Victorious. In this show, two teenaged girls start up a babysitting service in Los Angeles and hijinks ensue. I remember seeing this show when it came out and thought it was fine at the moment, but a major step down of what came before it. My friend from high school was completely into it though, as I recalled he loved everything from Victorious and iCarly (especially iCarly) and was gonna follow this show faithfully. As for me, however, I couldn't help but feel a little empty as I watched the show. As much as I do love and enjoy Jennette and Ariana respectively, this pairing seemed off from the jump. Sam & Cat were two side characters with their own quirks that worked in their respective shows, and seeing that all the time here quickly got draining. Apparently, this show was supposed to be just a Jennette show called Just Puckett, about Sam becoming a counselor to a group of kids at her former school and gives them advice and encouragement. From that premise alone, it would've been a interesting and mature take for her character.  Instead, the network gave that premise to another short lived spinoff Gibby!, starring Noah Munck, which never made it past the pilot. Also, Ariana Grande was becoming too popular to lose so they added her into the show, fresh off of Victorious being canceled. Thus this show being the end result.

If I thought this show was fine when it came out, in retrospect it was a mess of a production. A downgrade on screen and behind the scenes. According to Jenette's book, I don't blame her for wanting out of shooting this series due to the mistreatment she went through. It showed throughout, especially during the episode when Cat was trapped in a box.  The only highlights of the show were the two big specials: Killer Tuna Jump with Freddie, Jade and Robbie, and Super Psycho with Gibby, Nora and Nevel. Bringing out some legacy characters from the previous two shows gave this show life a bit. If you want to re-watch the show now, I highly recommend watching those episodes with the guest stars and the pilot itself just to get the gist. It also did feel like Sam and Cat felt more kiddie in terms of humor, tone and production, especially from Cat. The Cat we met in Victorious was a lot more dumber in an annoying way by S&C. The “kiddie” feeling wasn't just present in this show, but the rest of the following shows after this which made me hard turn away from Nickelodeon for good. I'll expand on that in a different post. It also showed that pairing side characters as the leads doesn't always work in the long run, and critics & audiences felt that. No hate to those who watched and liked Sam & Cat, I nearly did at first at ages 14-15, but after it's predecessors and knowing the legacy & rewatchability these shows left behind (Drake and Josh, Zoey 101, All That, iCarly), ending that with Sam & Cat is like a unsuccessful dud, in my opinion.

Switching gears fully to the Disney Channel  for my 3 part deep dive into the peak of kids TV. At last, all this yapping from me about Disney Channel shows somehow interweaving through this project has finally led to its own side tangent page properly, and honestly, what a time this was. This was the television I mostly grew up in and had fond memories of. The ratings, the stars, and viewership all greatly reflected that. I never really put much thought as a kid back then that this specific era of 2000s Disney would be one for the history books, because I was just simply enjoying these shows as they all aired. Nowadays, I say that statement with all sincerity and matter of fact, 2000s Disney was one for the history books. If you want any insight into what this era of DC was like for me in the 2000s, these random YT comments sum it up accurately:

• “I think there's a charm in this era of disney channel shows that can't be replicated again. Obviously I speak from nostalgia but ironically my parents are the ones that speak with more fondness towards these shows. I spent most of my childhood watching Zack and Cody, Hannah Montana, Waverly Place, So Raven, etc. My parents were kinda forced to watch most of these but they actually liked them a lot. If you can appeal to both kids and parents, I think your show is successful.”

“The 2000s was undoubtedly the golden age of Disney Channel! The theme songs, the catchphrases, the running gags, the movies, the RATINGS!!! All great things we just don't see anymore from Disney Channel and Nickelodeon. (...) It's so rare for a show you were obsessed with when you were only single digits hold up incredibly well when it comes to characters, jokes, and life lessons!”

• “Literally everyone I knew were watching Disney Channel in some capacity. The crossover felt like like legitimate events with all the hype going into them. There were kids quoting catchphrase regularly. You couldn't even get a ticket to a Hannah Montana concert. And High School Musical was such a phenomenon that the 2nd movie became the most watched broadcast in cable history. Which is insane. Now Disney doesn't even try in the cable department anymore. They'll just push out a mediocre live action remake or Marvel show and call it a day.”

• “I agree that the mid-2000s Disney Channel era was the golden age. Not only on how they marketed their stars, just the variety on the network. Animation had a prominent presence on the network, the short segments and series during commercials breaks, it just seemed they were all in with effort to make quality content for their viewers.”

“All our favorites together. The ones we tuned in too. The ones we cried over. And the ones we'll always remember.”

Most controversial thing I might ever post but this TADC drama is actually disappointing me. All because so many people in the fandom are pissed and losing their shit because Pomni and Jax are the main characters.

Ive seen people say the whole show is bad now because it's pandering "hetslop" ( real fucking nasty thing to say after Goose has said the show is not going to be a romance ) (( Also way to say you can't view male/female friendships as anything but a precursor to a romantic relationship )) And Ive also seen people say that the TADC is bad now because its just The Jax Show and all the female characters are purposely and malliously being ignored in favor of Popular Male Character TM.

Now on the subject of male vs female characters, I think its fair to be critical of writing and to be aware of trends in media and fandoms, especially relating to how male vs female characters are written and treated.

But I feel like this specific kind of criticism towards TADC has been wildly blown out of proportion when compared to the actual content of the show.

To start with are we so goldfish brained as a fandom to forget how much the first 3 episodes were focused on the main FEMALE characters development???

Pomni is given so much character growth in the first 3 episodes alone, and she continues to get that attention even in recent episodes.

Even episode 4 was far more focused on Gangle and her character development than anything with Jax.

Only in episode 5 did the show actually start to focus in on Jax more and start exploring his issues. And it seems like he is being used as to have us learn more about abstraction and what it might look like for someone to not want to leave the Circus the most recent episode.

Now onto the flipside of the arguments with shipping, (and this is the stuff that really pisses me off) there has not been a single directly romantic interaction between any of the characters, except for Kinger and fucking wife.

Noone's ships are Canon! Not your's and not mine!! No matter how much two characters interact any ship with them is still... say it with me

NOT CANON

So its feels really unfair to treat the writing of the show as a funnybunny circle jerk when its just not.

But also TADC is not even done yet and Im tired of watching this fandom jump to the conclusion that the show sucks over male main characters and fucking ships, when we dont even know the ending of this story.