One thing I find interesting is when shows for kids make references or parodies of decidedly non-kid-friendly shows or movies.
Arthur, the PBS cartoon, has parodied South Park and The Sopranos, both very, VERY much not shows for kids.
These are attempts to widen the fanbase.
Sesame Street has done a bunch of these, most available on YouTube. I don’t know if the parodies were shown in the actual TV show.
Warner Bros cartoons were constantly doing it.
When you make entertainment for children, it’s inevitable that the children’s parents will end up being exposed to it too. Making material that works on two levels is more fun for everyone involved, and it means stuff you watched when you were 8 is fun to rewatch when you’re 19 or 47.
That’s what I was going to mention. True Mud is one of them.
They also parodied Boardwalk Empire, Game of Thrones, Sons of Anarchy, and The Walking Dead.
There’s a surprising amount of parodies of gritty, adult primetime shows.
Yes, but the Looney Tunes (et al) cartoons that were released as theatrical shorts were never intended to be specifically “for children,” IIUC. Though it now occurs to me to wonder which feature films they were shown with.
Polygon semi-recently did an article about the South Park (…and more!) episode of Arthur. Sadly, they made no attempt, that I could tell, to talk to the show’s creators and find out what the thought process was. I doubt they saw a lot of potential new audience cross-over between fans of Arthur and fans of Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist and the article writer talks about how confusing it was to him as a kid, so was it just the writers having some self-indulgent fun or throwing a bone to parents stuck in the living room with PBS on?
Looking at the stills, there’s some real animation changes going on as well. The Beavis & Butthead one just looks like the regular artists copying that style but the Dexter’s Lab and WWF ones are well off the beaten path. Did they need to bring in different artists? Get the Dexter’s Lab people to lend a hand? There’s a real story here that Polygon totally missed!
Rocky and Bullwinkle was not really a kid’s show either
Yes, they had Bugs doing Of Mice & Men, Opera, etc.
Pretty much every Warner Brothers movie released from the 1930s to the 60s.