The Student News Site of University Prep

The Puma Press

The Student News Site of University Prep

The Puma Press

The Student News Site of University Prep

The Puma Press

Where’d my shows go?!

Illustration%3A+Micho+Matszewski+
Illustration: Micho Matszewski

Teen Titans. That’s So Raven. Drake and Josh. Remember these? If these shows weren’t awesome to you, then it is safe to assume that you did not own a television to see them.

Not only did the old shows have awesome characters, they also had really good plotlines that made people want to watch them. Those tricky situations that made it so difficult to do the impossible mixed with clever, funny jokes and a good lesson to kids at the end made those shows entertaining to watch as a kid, a teen, and the occasional 35 year old living in their parents’ basements.

Unfortunately, 2010 came along, and with it, many great TV shows were taken off the air. Now don’t get me wrong, the problem isn’t that the shows are gone; we all have to go out, at some time. However, I personally have a huge problem about what filled the holes that the good cancelled shows left.

I don’t know what great screenwriter died, but over the past couple of years of watching TV with my little brother and sister, I’ve noticed something common between almost all the TV shows directed towards teens and kids (except a select few on Netflix and shows that come on past 9:00 pm) – that they are absolutely terrible.

Let’s start with plotline, or lack thereof. They are all completely and utterly predictable. Almost every show now features this bland characteristic of constantly repeating the plot of their shows, thinking nobody will care if they take things they’ve used in shows like five times over. Sure, that shows may be interesting for the first couple of broadcasts, but you eventually realize that they aren’t really doing anything to make the show interesting and as a result, we stop watching.

Also, what’s worse than a character who is not funny? A character who makes things worse by trying way to hard too be funny. All the time, the characters just use stupid punchlines. Even if something slightly funny is said, it is ruined half a second later by the bland laugh track that goes off every three seconds!

The characters of old TV shows used to be so well thought out and creative. Today’s screenwriters are having a terrible time making an ideal character, which ruins their shows.

After looking at reviews and negative comments about today’s shows, the two greatest genres for a character in a modern TV show is either a stuck-up famous and rich person who treats their friends like they’re lower than

them, or else they are sleazy characters who use butts as their punch lines in someway or another.

Seriously. It’s just not that funny.

I get it; everybody is entitled to an opinion and I’m sure that I am over exaggerating on this whole topic. Or maybe, I don’t know, we’ve grown up to the point where we see things as an adult. And I will admit that I have a bias because the discontinued shows were arguably the best ones – and I’m not the only one who thinks this! But all the same, everyone now is going to grow up and forget the good days when a diss was legendary enough to use anytime and the morals of friendship and respect were still in play.

By: Jared Taylor