Board 8 > The 100 Dumbest Events In Children's Television History- Part 2 (The Top 30)

(+) Yeah! (+)

Huh. I don't have kids but from everything I've heard everyone loves Blippi and this is the first time I've heard of Blippi hate. Unless it was sarcasm that went over my head or...wait maybe I'm thinking of Bluey. Either way uh that's a strong comment to make if they're citing Clutch Cargo there!

#10: Jerry Falwell vs. Tinky Winky

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/8/4/3/AAAG8cAAEpFL.jpg
I'm not sure where in the Bible it says not to watch Teletubbies, but I'll take any excuse I can get.

Long before Charlie Kirk was looking for "woke" condiments in his fridge, social conservatives were scouring the media for anything they could possibly get mad at as they riled up their flocks. We had the Satanic Panic and the crusade against Dungeons and Dragons in the 1980s, and in the 90s, a whole new generation of beloved characters were in the crosshairs. Teletubbies was a British children's show imported to America and broadcast on PBS, and if you've ever seen it, you know just how mindless it is. Four baby-like creatures known as Teletubbies explore the world around them with simplistic dialogue and childlike wonder. The show was pretty much designed to appeal only to infants and toddlers, and to practically everyone else, it was a massive nuisance, almost on par with Barney before it. But to one televangelist, Teletubbies posed an existential threat to America's moral fiber. Jerry Falwell in 1999 declared war on Tinky Winky, the purple Teletubby, claiming that "purple was the gay pride color", his triangle-shaped antenna was "a gay pride symbol", and he carried around a red purse. He even went on various morning shows to decry Tinky Winky and claim that he represented an attack on Christian values. Falwell's words were immediately lampooned on shows like Saturday Night Live and on late-night TV, and the whole incident let to ridicule of both Tinky Winky and Falwell, but mostly Falwell. Of course, in England, even before Falwell declared war on the purple Teletubby, some cultural commentators had been pointing out Tinky Winky's potential homoerotic undertones, but largely in a tongue in cheek way, and it's rumored that after Falwell's rants became public knowledge, Tinky Winky's actor began playing the character even more effeminately just to mess with him. So, in the end, not only did Falwell become a laughingstock, but Tinky Winky just became even more effeminate, and with LGBTQ+ characters now becoming commonplace on children's television, it's clear that Falwell and his ilk have lost the culture war they wasted so much time fighting.

I remember when Tinky Winky was the one and only reason to not watch Teletubbies growing up, not the fact that the show was mindless and does absolutely nothing.

I remember Boobah being similar too >_>

Are we sure Boobah wasn't just a drug induced hallucination that we all somehow collectively shared?

Man,

we did not like purple as kids

#9: Bronies

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/9/2/6/AAAG8cAAEpGe.jpg
That's not actually Applejack, but I don't think that's the most relevant thing here.

Before I begin, I just want to say that when I say "bronies", I don't mean all bronies. #NotAllBronies The vast majority of My Little Pony fans, even adult ones, are creative, harmless, normal people, and they're not the ones causing the problems. But, unfortunately, bronies wouldn't be so high on the list if there weren't a small but VERY noticeable minority causing a lot of problems, and that's what we're discussing here. My Little Pony returned for its fourth generation in 2010, and almost immediately, the show became a massive hit, revivifying the franchise after years of stagnation. Directed by Lauren Faust, the show achieved both critical and commercial success, and became The Hub's biggest show, winning millions of fans worldwide. But a small subsection of the show's adult male fanbase, known as "bronies"... let's just say they've gone way too far. Like all other cartoons, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic has had obscene fanart drawn and posted, but unlike most other cartoons, this fanart is regularly posted in areas kids (the show's target demographic) regularly have access to, untagged and un-gated. These bronies frequently made thirst posts about the ponies on Twitter, to the point where it became pretty much impossible for kids to search My Little Pony online without turning up something disgusting. There have been exceptionally violent fan videos posted of the ponies being brutally murdered, sometimes by other ponies (example: the "Smile" video). Other fans have appeared at conventions, asking inappropriate questions to the show's cast and crew in full view of young attendees, or even making inappropriate passes at cosplayers. A substantial radical right-wing contingent of fans also attached itself to the show, drawing Nazi ponies and other right-wing memes. And there are even a few fans who have gone so far as to commit violence in the name of the show, from simple assault and battery to... *sigh* another mass shooting, this time at a FedEx distribution center, claiming eight lives. While there are plenty of horror stories in numerous other fandoms, this subset of the brony fandom has become infamous even amongst other toxic fandoms, and has pretty much become the modern standard-bearer for "toxic fandom" in general. Amongst shipping "antis" who have attacked people for their ships, art, and writing, many of these cite the My Little Pony fandom and lingering trauma from seeing inappropriate art as the reason why they're so aggressive against the proship side, claiming that they don't wish to see their own fandoms become like the My Little Pony fandom. In other words, bronies may have been the supervillain origin story for today's toxic ship discourse. Again, most bronies are totally fine, and are merely enthusiastic for a really cute and fun cartoon... but it only takes a few bad apples to spoil the bunch, and My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic's toxic fandom is as bad as it gets.

Being a brony was fun when it was still mock enjoying the show.

Then people were legitimately treating the show as the best thing ever

"If you were horse famous, you would understand!"

Japan has its own bronies now with Uma Musume

masterplum posted...

Man,

we did not like purple as kids

It was social condition. If you liked pink or purple you were a girl or gay, and you had to make sure peope knew you hated them. I doubt even our most liberal of 30+ year old users didn't have to feel with this pressure at some point in their childhood school to some degree.

Man, them's fightin' herds!

#8: The Power Rangers Peace Conference

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/9/6/4/AAAG8cAAEpHE.jpg
"You know, Zordon, McDonald's is an awfully weird place to hold a world peace conference. And these registration forms look a lot like job applications..."

In the fall of 1994, Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers was riding high. It was the #1 kids' show on TV and only getting more and more popular, especially with the special episode inaugurating Tommy as the White Ranger. As the show's second season went on with more and more exciting episodes and higher and higher stakes, it seemed as if nothing could bring the show down. It was raking in billions of dollars between ad sales and merch, and creator Haim Saban was rolling in dough. Surely he could spare some of those billions to give his actors a raise when their contracts came up for renewal, right? Well... the thing is, Power Rangers was initially a non-union production on a shoestring budget. The actors playing the Rangers made just $600 an episode, and were forced to work long hours for long stretches, along with making appearances and all sorts of other commitments of their time. But, you know, back then no one would imagine the show would turn into the biggest success since Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and now it seemed poised to surpass the Turtles in popularity as long as the show continued its rise, so surely there had to be some money for the actors who'd helped make the show such a big success, right? As it turns out, there wasn't. The actors playing the Rangers were only offered a modest increase in their pay, not nearly what they were asking. When they began to play hardball, with Austin St. John, Thuy Trang, and Walter Jones holding out particularly stubbornly, Saban decided to cut those three actors loose and proceed with all new ones, using the excuse of a "worldwide peace conference" to explain their departure and replace them with Steve Cardenas, Karan Ashley, and Johnny Yong Bosch respectively. In other words, over a minor pay dispute that would've only required him to pay his actors a pittance of the billions of dollars his show was making, Haim Saban instead chose to jettison half his cast and hope the kids wouldn't notice. Well, they did notice, and though Power Rangers remained popular for several more years, it was at this point that the show's popularity began to plateau, before gradually starting a slow and steady drop the following year. When Power Rangers: The Movie came out in the summer of 1995, it opened to about a third of what Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles' movie did just five years before, when adjusting for ticket price inflation over those five years. Saban's short-sighted move to save a few bucks caused the popularity of Power Rangers, which to that point had been rising meteorically, to level off and then start to fall away. Kids aren't dumb, they know when something's changed, and believe it or not, the interactions between the teen characters outside the Power Ranger suits were a big part of the show. Kids loved Jason, Trini, and Zack, and though the new Rangers performed their jobs ably and were good characters in their own right, it was a major blow to lose half the cast barely a year into the show. Why get attached to the human characters if there's a chance they get replaced within a year? Though it didn't end the Power Rangers craze overnight, it certainly limited the show's potential. Perhaps it can best be compared to when the Oklahoma City Thunder traded away James Harden to save on paying the luxury tax: they never contended for a title again, and firing three of the original actors over a pay dispute proved to be one of the shortest-sighted moves in the history of children's television.

I think the whole thing with Teletubbies too was that is was so easy to hate on it. Even more so than most kid's shows.

Yeah the whole bronies thing was weird to me. Kind of turned me off on wanting to watch the show.

Oof yeah the Power Rangers recasting deserves to be up on this list for sure. Not to mention the poor treatment of the actors (specifically David Yost) that did stay on board.

RySenkari posted...

#10: Jerry Falwell vs. Tinky Winky

hA! Speaking of purple and gay - jokes on you, Falwell, I never watched Teletubbies!

RySenkari posted...

#9: Bronies

ngl I was waiting for this one to drop ever since I caught up. You could probably fill a quarter of this list (and I'm being generous here) with weird brony stuff. I appreciate the addendum. MLP: FiM was for a while one of my favourite shows though I never finished the series so maybe I am actually a FAKE FAN and it does suck to have a decent piece of media tainted by some very loud bad apples.

skulltrumpets posted...

bad apples.

Sounds like brony fanart.

skulltrumpets posted...

hA! Speaking of purple and gay - jokes on you, Falwell, I never watched Teletubbies!

ngl I was waiting for this one to drop ever since I caught up. You could probably fill a quarter of this list (and I'm being generous here) with weird brony stuff. I appreciate the addendum. MLP: FiM was for a while one of my favourite shows though I never finished the series so maybe I am actually a FAKE FAN and it does suck to have a decent piece of media tainted by some very loud bad apples.

Yeah, I think normal fans probably fell off after the first 3 seasons or so. The songs fell off and after a while it was just fine.

Which was probably also part of the problem where the Fandom remaining was the most extreme

I only ever heard bad things about bronies so I stayed away from the show with a 10 foot pole. The power rangers thing didn't rwally annoy me too much as a kid since I wasn't able to watch all of seasons 1-3 at once. In fact, didn't think it was strange at all that they were replaced because I missed the peace conference episode and I'm sure my headcanon as a child was that they finally died fighting Zed.

RySenkari posted...

#8: The Power Rangers Peace Conference

I did not know that was why those actors left. Insane. That level of greed is just absurd.

I hated when they swapped to the new rangers as a kid. Even worse when they did it again in the Turbo movie.

RySenkari posted...

A substantial radical right-wing contingent of fans also attached itself to the show, drawing Nazi ponies

WWE wrestler Seth Rollins ex-girlfriend did this, lol

masterplum posted...

Yeah, I think normal fans probably fell off after the first 3 seasons or so. The songs fell off and after a while it was just fine.

At first I thought this was in reference to Teletubbies

Will never understand why a show about love and tolerance made Nazis go "That's our show!".

I mean besides their average IQ being below room temperature.

Maniac64 posted...

I did not know that was why those actors left. Insane. That level of greed is just absurd.

I hated when they swapped to the new rangers as a kid. Even worse when they did it again in the Turbo movie.

Technically they only did it halfway during the Turbo season
All the remaining original 5 rangers (Blue, Pink) had already been phased out by that point.
But after that not even Tommy and the replacements stayed.

Dark_Young_Link posted...

Will never understand why a show about love and tolerance made Nazis go "That's our show!".

I mean besides their average IQ being below room temperature.

because it was never about what the show itself was about

the types of incelly creeps who are drawn to nazism are the same types who are also drawn to wanting to fuck childlike ponies

#7: Pee-Wee Gets Busted

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/0/3/3/AAAG8cAAEpIJ.jpg
"Heard any good jokes lately?"

In 1991, Paul Reubens, best known for his performances as Pee-Wee Herman, had been finished with his hit children's TV show Pee-Wee's Playhouse for several months, and was taking a vacation in Florida. After deciding to visit an adult movie theater, that theater was raided by police, and Reubens was caught exposing himself while viewing a movie. He would be arrested for indecent exposure, kicking off one of the biggest scandals in children's entertainment history. Almost immediately, reruns of Pee-Wee's Playhouse were pulled, and wouldn't be seen on television again for more than a decade. Reubens was scandalized immediately in the media, with tabloids and talk shows launching all kinds of allegations against him. Despite overwhelming public support, nearly all companies associated with Pee-Wee Herman ended those associations, including Disney and Toys 'R' Us. Ultimately, Reubens was given community service for the charge, leading to his appearance in anti-drug commercials, including the infamous Pee-Wee Herman "this is crack" commercial, one of the most bizarre anti-drug ads of all time. This was a scandal that was blown WAY out of proportion... he was exposing himself in an adult movie theater? What are you supposed to do while watching adult movies, sit quietly and reverently like you're in church? Now, I will say that there is a "what were you thinking?!" factor to all of this, that Reubens had no business watching porn in public so soon after Pee-Wee's Playhouse ended. To paraphase Saul Goodman: "Why don'tcha do it at home like the rest of us, with a big screen TV, 50 channels of pay-per-view?" It was probably a bit ill-advised for Pee-Wee Herman to be doing such things at that time, maybe wait a couple years until the show's been off the air a while? At the same time, this was blown INCREDIBLY out of proportion by a newsmedia increasingly hungry for scandals and drama, and dragging Pee-Wee Herman's good name through the mud for something millions of people have done is obviously really, really stupid. It led to Pee-Wee's Playhouse being pulled from syndication, meaning that if you're a millennial, chances are you had no chance to watch one of the best children's TV shows of all time until it ended up on Adult Swim in the 2000s. It also killed off any chance of the character being brought back if Reubens ever got an inkling to perform as Pee-Wee again. This was one of the biggest celebrity scandals of the early 24-hour news cycle era, and it really, really shouldn't have been.

Haha, I was wondering if something about pee-wee herman was going to make the list.

Why did the theatre get raided?

TeamRocketElite posted...

Why did the theatre get raided?

Vice cops sometimes did raids on establishments like that, specifically to catch people doing what Pee-Wee was doing.

I dont get why adult theaters exist if you cant enjoy the movie. That doesnt make any fucking sense at all. Who watches porn if they cant masturbate to it?

RySenkari posted...

Vice cops sometimes did raids on establishments like that, specifically to catch people doing what Pee-Wee was doing.

Our tax dollars ladies and gentlemen.

Shit I always thought he got caught doing drugs or something. All of that was just him yanking it over porn in a theater dedicated to it? Who the fuck actually cares?

I guess I've never really understood the concept of adult theaters at all. Are there really enough people comfortable enough to watch porn in a room full of strangers (who are all presumably equally comfortable with it) to make them worthwhile to operate? Regardless I completely agree with your assessment that the entire thing was blown out of proportion but that Reubens should have had the sense not to do something like this while he was still one of the major players in children's entertainment.

Underleveled posted...

I guess I've never really understood the concept of adult theaters at all. Are there really enough people comfortable enough to watch porn in a room full of strangers (who are all presumably equally comfortable with it) to make them worthwhile to operate? Regardless I completely agree with your assessment that the entire thing was blown out of proportion but that Reubens should have had the sense not to do something like this while he was still one of the major players in children's entertainment.

They made a lot more sense pre internet

masterplum posted...

Being a brony was fun when it was still mock enjoying the show.

Then people were legitimately treating the show as the best thing ever

Maybe not best thing ever but the show is legitimately very good.

Also relevant

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/8/2/1/AABtbFAADnZt.jpg

I thought about that but then I remembered that dirty video stores existed at the same time and it seems like more people would be more comfortable just doing that.

Is that why they swapped out those actors? I just assumed it was that they had moved on. Like, those three had to go to college and the other three were older and could stay with the show. This was reinforced by the one time I saw Zack's actor working again, where he played a college student. (IDK man, I was dumb.)

#6: The Death Of Optimus Prime

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/0/5/7/AAAG8cAAEpIh.jpg
This was Generation X's Kennedy assassination.

When The Transformers: The Movie came out in 1986, the series' young fans were stoked to see their favorite robots on the big screen, and the robot they were most excited to see was Optimus Prime. Leader of the Autobots, Optimus Prime was one of the most prominent animated heroes of the 1980s, with some even giving him the nickname of "Robot Jesus". Meanwhile, Hasbro saw the movie as an opportunity to introduce a brand new line of toys, and how would they generate sales for their new line of Transformers? Why, by killing off the old ones, of course! In particular, Optimus Prime was to be killed near the start of the movie, as the aftermath of a battle with Megatron. This would make way for the new leader of the team and the flagship toy of Hasbro's new toy line: Rodimus Prime. When the film's head writer saw what Hasbro was planning to do, he begged corporate to allow him and his writing team to change Optimus' fate, or at the very least, to bring him back at the end of the movie. Hasbro refused, saying that they had "great things planned" (i.e., their 1986 toy line), and so, Optimus' fate was sealed, and millions of unsuspecting kids went to the movies, unaware that their hero was doomed. The reaction, needless to say, was not what Hasbro expected: kids were crying in the theater, storming out, one kid locked himself in his room for two weeks... they were also sending lots of hate mail to both Hasbro and the film's production staff. About the only thing they weren't doing was buying the new toys: the death of Optimus made a lot of kids want to give up Transformers all together. Ultimately, Optimus' death would be reversed during the next season of the cartoon, and the Transformers IP survived, but not before an indelible memory was left in the minds of millions of Gen X kids, who will never forget the moment their hero Optimus Prime was killed. Oh, and despite traumatizing millions of young kids, the film was STILL a box office failure, opening at 14th in its first weekend. In other words, in order to upset millions of kids, pretty much everyone who saw the film would've had to have been pissed off. Pissing off the people who buy your toys is not a good marketing strategy.

Theres some cosmic sense of humor in a guy named Pee-Wee getting caught like that

I agree, the entire Paul Reubens situation was extremely dumb.

Underleveled posted...

I thought about that but then I remembered that dirty video stores existed at the same time and it seems like more people would be more comfortable just doing that.

I think the public nature of it is part of the thrill for some people

Ill never get over the name Rodimus Prime

Mustve been an awkward moment to ask Pee-Wee for an autograph.

Jakyl25 posted...

Ill never get over the name Rodimus Prime

Shoulda gone with Hottimus Prime

How do we convince RySenkari to fill this topic up with honorable mentions after the list is complete?

Not mentioned in that writeup is that the backlash to Optimus's death was so great that they rewrote Duke's death in the G.I. Joe movie that was released a couple months later. Instead he falls into a coma. Just imagine if G.I. Joe had released first, would Optimus's fate have been reversed?

Also I absolutely loved the Transformers movie, Optimus's death be damned. Probably cause I knew he comes back so I wasn't traumatized like so many others. But I had my parents rent that movie so many times from Blockbuster that they eventually just asked if we could buy it from them lol. It was easily my favorite movie as a kid (and still is to some extent) and I certainly had all the lines memorized. Good times!

Surprised Brony shenanigans isn't higher.

Jakyl25 posted...

Ill never get over the name Rodimus Prime

That can't be real

Hot Rodimus Prime

Sucks that Saturday mornings are gone.
I don't recall the full extent of the Barney mockery here. I just remember "I hate you, you hate me" lol

Bronies disturb the crap out of me because of the bad ones - the amount of ridiculous fetish crap got me to avoid that show completely despite some now-former friends of mine being really into it. I didn't even give it a chance because it just disgusts me now.

Kids wouldn't have noticed the Power Rangers changing actors if they had their helmets on all the time. But that would kind of ruin the coolness of the characters, would it not? The morphing part is what makes them awesome.

I don't watch porn, and thus don't understand why anyone would do so in a public venue. That feels like private shit to me. Celebs should absolutely not be doing that, but at the same time.... who cares? Like always, the negative press covfefe was overblown.

Glad you added the Optimus Prime thing. Hasbro really had no idea what their audience was like. And they're fortunate the brand survived that shortsighted decision. Sad that kids were allowed to send nastygrams to the writers. Parents should not encourage that behavior. "Just write a letter and don't send it" is good advice.

#5: Cartoon All-Stars To The Rescue

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/1/5/1/AAAG8cAAEpJ_.jpg
I'm pretty sure drugs were involved in the CREATION of most of these guys.

The 1980s and early 1990s were the height of anti-drug preaching aimed at children, and that anti-drug advertising quite possibly reached its zenith on April 21, 1990. Prior to that date, advertisements hyping a cartoon crossover special permeated the airwaves and elsewhere, including McDonald's (which financed the special itself). Kids were hyped that many of their favorite cartoon characters would be teaming up for... something, something they didn't know but it had to be big! Alvin and the Chipmunks, the Looney Tunes, the Muppet Babies, Garfield, ALF, various Disney characters... it was easily the biggest animation event since Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, and it was going to air EVERYWHERE... all the broadcast stations and several cable channels as well, and President George Bush (Sr.) was going to introduce it. So, what were all these cartoon characters teaming up to do? Go on an exciting adventure? Take down the Soviet Union? No! They were going to teach kids... not to do drugs! That's right, all this hype and hullabaloo was for a 30 minute special where dozens of cartoon characters team up to save a young boy (and his sister) from drugs, represented by a smoke creature voiced by George C. Scott. Because that's a good message to teach kids, if you take drugs all your favorite cartoon characters will come to life. Also, some of the cartoon characters mention marijuana by name. I'm honestly not surprised that Simon knows what marijuana is, and I'm DEFINITELY not surprised that Bugs Bunny knows what it is, as I'm pretty sure he's familiar with much stronger stuff. Actually, Jim Cummings successfully lobbied to have Winnie the Pooh NOT be familiar with drugs, since he's too "innocent" to know about them, I guess. Also he spends much of the special locked in a drawer. This special even had a song composed by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman, and... hoo boy, is it bad. And, as Howard Ashman was dying of AIDS when he helped write the song, it's one of the last ones he ever composed. So, there's that I guess. The song is called "Wonderful Ways To Say No", and one of the lines is "those drugs are so boring!" Which... I mean... I guess? Seriously though, the last thing kids needed after being bombarded with years of anti-drug commercials, "lessons of the day", and DARE classes is EVEN MORE anti-drug propaganda. They got all those cartoons together and this is what we got out of it? A laughable waste of time, and probably one of Saturday morning's lowest points.

I was right in the target demo when that came out and I didnt care that the plot was dumb. I just loved it.

I hate that the Smurfs are not size-accurate to their show though

And hey, it might be true that if you take certain drugs your favorite cartoons come to life for you!