Man, this is pretty ridiculous. It makes me think just what is wrong with people when the standards at the upper end (adult television programming, especially cartoons) are becoming looser, while the standards at the lower end (children's television programming) are becoming tighter. There's no longer that ambiguity between what you could get away with in a children's television program and what you couldn't, because when they pitch a children's television program, it's absolutely
for children this time, because "if I wanted to pitch and write for an adult program, I'd pitch it to Spike TV/Adult Swim/G4", etc, and unfortunately, when some people get into the mindset that something is "for children," it's dumbed down and sanitized, and I think that's the wrong way to go about it.
There's an actual market for adult cartoon television programming, and I think that hurts the entire gamut of children's programming in the long run. My friends and I were talking about how it's pretty weird nowadays that shows like SpongeBob Squarepants and The Fairly Oddparents are pretty deceptively complex when it comes to script and how clever they are when they work the jokes in, and how they're just like the old favorites in that regard, like Rocko's Modern Life, Darkwing Duck, and Aaaah! Real Monsters.
Remember, trust the fungus.
(this post has been redeemed, see this topic for more info!)