Do you remember shows like Hey Arnold, Sister Sister, All That, Kenan and Kel, The Proud Family, and As Told by Ginger! Many of us born in the 90’s probably smiled when you read that.
Unfortunately, shows like that do not exist anymore and they are replaced with mediocre shows like Disney’s Fish Hooks and Nickelodeon’s Victorious. Maybe you are a fan of these shows, but when you compare them to shows in the 90’s they lack the same depth and intrigue the 90’s had.
Sure, everyone loved High School Musical when it first came out, but then they had a sequel and a third one, every show on the Disney Channel and Nick began to revolve around singing and dancing to corny tunes.
Singing and dancing is nice, it is a part of this generation but this only becomes a problem when prominent networks like Nickelodeon and Disney Channel seem to never talk about real issues. The creativity and diversity is dreadfully lacking.
Back in the 90’s Disney Channel was not afraid to show, the average teenage relationship, they weren’t afraid to challenge the status quo in movies like The Color of Friendship, where they actually talked about race and the effects it could have on people. Disney seemed more adamant in the 90’s to deal with real issues but that has since changed.
With shows like That’s So Raven, and the classic Sister, Sister, off the air it seems they have lost a demographic that was once so important to the network. The same principles apply to Nickelodeon, I can count on one hand how many shows they have with minority characters and it is a shame compared to how the network used to be.
Outside of the issue of diversity, shows do not seem to have that empowering message they used too. I distinctly remember a Proud Family episode where they talked about girls in sports and encouraged them to play any sport they wanted. Penny Proud became a football player simply because she refused to be discriminated against because she was a girl. And in an episode of That’s So Raven had more than one episode dedicated to how her and her friends dealt with being bullied. They often retaliated but repercussions were shown, and in the end they made wise decisions.
These are all issues that are still prominent in contemporary culture but are not talked about, an issue within itself. So, will bringing back the 90’s cartoons solve these issues, probably not but they can give the 2000 babies incite on how to deal with the world today.
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Syracuse chapter and does not reflect the views of Her Campus.