@ Auntie Slag
I think because of where I lived growing up was strangely isolated, I do remember watching quite a lot of telly up to around starting secondary school in 1989 (kids telly featuring a lot less after the age of 11...mostly because my shcool hours were 9 - 4.30, so by the time I got home I'd missed everything - kids today don't know how lucky they are finishing at 2:30 - 3:30 in the afternoon..!). See, I knew there was some stuff on the Beeb I watched - Johnny Briggs! What an awesome show that was. I liked that that show was about your 'everyman' in class whom had things go wrong for him all the time. Gave me hope (!) Oh! And that girl whom started every proclamation "My mum, who's a nurse..." causing her classmates to roll their eyes. I remember a slice of wedding cake made out of toothpaste and bread, Humphrey and the sister whom spent an episode going on about Angorra sweaters. Jossy's Giants. Football team shenanigans, right? Awesome theme, as I recall. And I have just remembered Gruey, whom went onto be Cracker's son. So the BBC did also do stuff that I watched. Hoorah! Ooh! And I has just remembered that Tony Robinson cartoon show that was on on a Saturday - Stay Tooned- that fillled a void after Rolf Harris f**ked off to CiTV to start up Rolf's Cartoon Club ('you can join today!' - so I did) and I always remember for featuring awesome Canadian cartoon 'The Cat Came Back'
I loved those weird early morning cartoons on C4. Sharkey And George ('The crime busters of the sea/ Sharkey And George/ clear up any mystery') , that one about the human body (educational, but not nauseatingly so), Kaboodle, Dennis, Heathcliff and Cats & Co (was that what it was called, it was the cats that lived in a junk yard cartoon that was double-billed with Heathcliff and had that alarmingly hot female cat) and loads of weird Eastern European animation that was really eerie.
...and yes, I probably can still remember the Wide Awake Club theme 'We're Wide Awake/ It's good to know you're ready/ And you're Wide Awake/ So on your marks/ And get set go!/We're Wide Awake!' . Strangely, the show got retitled as 'WAC '90' in er, 1990. And lost the theme tune and it was largely downhill from there. Although TVam getting Chris Evans and his forgotten chum to inject some life into their kids segment with 'TV Mayhem' (1991-2) was a stroke of genuis - and probably what led to him getting The Big Breakfast gig when TVam lost is broadcast license thanks to Thatchers tremendous 'competition' wheeze (that has strangely never been repeated - and was how we lost stalwarts such as Thames Television, which only survive now as production houses for a handful of programmes).
@ Cliffy, I think you're right in that kids shows are probably more sophisticated these days. The criticism about things 'not being as good as they were in my day' is down to the frame of reference changing. For instance, the appeal of Tracey Beaker is utterly lost on me. A girl growing up in a foster home whom manipulates, outright bullies and uses every trick she can to discredit others to and get her own way is a puzzling role model. Without the inner monolgue you get from Jacqueline Wilson's prose, the character comes across as a total b*tch using her unfortunate background to her advantage, which is an odd thing to show kids. You too can get your own way by being completely selfish and self absorbed!
Worse though, is the stuff that tries too hard (Spatz, MPAA). The endless witless comedies, that weird prison variety show on CBBC with a parade of slightly embarrassed struggling bands coming on every now and then.
It's a shame that Jamie Oliver pretty much destroyed CiTV overnight with his healthy eating campaign - the 'ban' on junk food advertising to children before 7pm* (or whatever) really put the nail in the coffin of a set of programming that was already on the ropes- as it was always good to have a brash, chaotic counterpart to the Beeb's more considered output. Since CiTV and CBBC transferred to digital, it feels like children's telly has fallen off the radar somewhat. Whereas in years gone by, the really really good stuff made a dent outside its demographic, nowadays that doesn't seem to happen and its just a weird stew of forgettable cheaply made programmes (a lot of factual /science based stuff on a budget of 10p seems to be the order of the day) leading imported cartoons and shows like the gloriously mental Aquabats to plug the gap our own home grown stuff should be filling. I suppose in this age of tiny audiences, the impact of multi channel broadcasting and online catch up probably makes it easier for commerical broadcasters not to bother. Both C4 and C5s children's output is largely pre-school, with nothing much on offer for anyone over the age of four.
*whilst managing to catch a re-run of Fun House (Pat making awful , awful unfunny jokes - on purpose, but just embarrasing himself!), there was an advert for McDonalds, but the focus was on the milk you can get as a drink with a Happy Meal, so is this how they get around the 'ban'? 'Look! Its healthy really! Honest!'
RE: RTD and the Beeb. Good point, and interesting that the Beeb comissioned him to come up with something to fill the void left by the premature ending to the SJA and he's come up with ...Wizards Vs Aliens, which seems a bit of a desperate throw of the dice and shamelessly populist.
I would disagree that imports are the way forward. I hate the creeping Americanisation of the world. We really are heading towards a depressing monoculture. I think the problem comes when programmers directly mimic US tropes. The most successful British tv shows are the ones that come from our own history and culture (I loved those weird Chidren's Film Foundation movies the BBC went through a phase of showing - the dead children in the mine being my favourite). RTD also did SJA as the Beeb's original pitch was for a Harry Potter style the Doctor and The Master growing up on Gallifrey and getting into scrapes - can you imagine how awful that would have been? They clearly wanted something (Totally Doctor Who being a terrible show designed purely to capitalise on Who's huge popularity), and I think the compromise was a good one. It's just a shame that as with adult telly, its not lead to more experimental kids tv, but has rather put something of a full stop on it.
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