[TV] Ren and Stimpy is for kids...?

[Salandrin]

This cartoon is so fucked up like holy shit, to think this aired on the same channel where Spongebob airs is what makes me freaked out.

[Agent Mercury]

Different times and have you watched Spongebob or Rockos Modern Life? Filled with adult humor. As a kid it all went over my head.

[Youarefired]

Kid's can't tell the difference. Just like when Spongebob has adult puns too.

[Radux]

Moved to CTMB.

[Deleted]

On the cover of the DVD it says that parents should be advised, and that the show is recommended for mature audiences. The author of the show also released some adult episodes, and their content proves that he was not in the right of his mind when he did the normal ones either.

The 90's were quite different. I was also watching Beavis and Butthead cracking jokes about whores and genitalia. It wasn't too unusual back then.

[Anshinritsumai]

When I watched them as a kid when they were airing on TV, it was all over my head. Nowadays, I see it and wonder what the hell was wrong with me as a kid; because that show was terrible for a children's show. Rocko's Modern Life was barely any better, but as times changed the people's views changed did too; and now we've got Spongebob, Fairly Oddparents, Regular Show, Adventure Time; and all those preteen live action shows for the 9-13 year old girls.

[Deleted]

It's definitely more an adult show than a kids show, but kids probably can't tell the difference anyway. However, I remember when I watched the show as a kid it did mess with my head a lot, and sometimes it even scared the shit out of me. These days I just find the show pretty hilarious, in it's own mentally crazy way.

[Butler to Baby Sloths]

Many cartoons and children's TV shows did that. It was so that the parents could watch it while supervising their kids and not be bored out of their minds while the kids would watch it and not get all the "adult stuff" because they didn't recognise it.

[Zonas]

On the cover of the DVD it says that parents should be advised, and that the show is recommended for mature audiences. The author of the show also released some adult episodes, and their content proves that he was not in the right of his mind when he did the normal ones either.

The 90's were quite different. I was also watching Beavis and Butthead cracking jokes about whores and genitalia. It wasn't too unusual back then.

Wasn't Beavis and Butthead always meant for a late-teen/young adult crowd though? If I remember right, Ren and Stimpy showed up alongside a lot of other children's cartoons back in the day.

Really though, I think there were only a few instances were the show was really risque in the sense of children watching it, at least compard to what other cartoons did at the time. I've seen the Nude Beach "episode" on the internet once, was rather strange. I don't think it was actually released alongside the normal show though.

I will admit though, it was one of the strangest cartoons I had ever seen at the time, always leaving me scratching my head as to what the hell I had just seen.

[slime]

I lived off this show as a kid when it aired only on MTV at like 11:00PM. Albeit I am a strange one, but I loved this show. In my opinion it was the first "weird" cartoon that seems to be the formula for all cartoons nowadays. You know what I mean, the ones that simply make no sense what-so-ever....

RUBBER NIPPLES!!!!!!

[Reg]

Totally for kids.

[Deleted]

That's from the Adult Party Cartoon. It also contains words like "fucking", "bitch" and "shit".

Wasn't Beavis and Butthead always meant for a late-teen/young adult crowd though? If I remember right, Ren and Stimpy showed up alongside a lot of other children's cartoons back in the day.

I've no idea, I watched both of them as a kid. I've seen them both on MTV and on a TV channel that no longer exists, since there is no Nickelodeon in Europe.

As for Ren and Stimpy, it didn't contain harsh language(crap was the most severe one). The political, sexual, violent jokes and dark humor were still there though. Obviously if the characters said things like "asswhipe" and "dumbass" like in Beavis and Butthead, it wouldn't had been shown to kids. Beavis and Butthead was less disgusting and dark, but it had harsher language.

[Orby]

ahh the 90's, a very rebellious decade for kids. I sort of think it was around the whole grunge, nu-metal period. Before everything went over the top PC.

Nicktoons in the 90's was pretty crazy looking back on it

The Ren & Stimpy Show (1991--96)
Rugrats (1991--2004)
Doug (1991--99)
Rocko's Modern Life (1993--96)
Aaahh!!! Real Monsters (1994--97)
Hey Arnold! (1996--2004)

The only kid friendly Nicktoons I remember were Doug and Hey Arnold. and Hey Arnold came out when the 00's was coming around so the whole 90's phase was kinda in that transition stage.

Cartoons in general were pretty dark and didnt look down on kids, it treated them as grown ups and we loved them. Even if they were like the biggest sugar high.

Beavis and Butthead was for the early/mid teen demographic, looking back on it you can see that. The early/mid teen demogrpahic now is high school musoic and Glee. So there's a huge contrast that TV has trusted into our kids. I do think the suits maybe had a meeting and though that kids TV should be more family friendly top please moms who feel they should be monitoring what kids watch.

Back when I was a kid I remember when my dad first sat down with me and watched Ren and Stimpy. I was probably 12 or 13 at the time. I just remember him saying "what the hell is this?"

So yea I dont really know what kids TV is really like now, I dont really watch it but very interested to see if some of those traits still remain.

[Vacuous0]

Spongebob vs Ren and Stimpy is a great comparison on how shit's changed in the last decade or so. Both great cartoons with plenty of humor for adults, one from the 90s when political correctness hadn't quite taken over, one a decade later when rights groups and parent organizations turned everything into holding hands and making friends.

[KCguy]

The thing is though that Ren and Stimpy was not for kids, but for adults, which is why it was on later at night. Many people seem to think that because it was a cartoon, it was labeled for kids. It wasn't. haha. I thought it was pretty strange show when it first aired. I was around 11 years old and wondered what the hell I was looking at. But, I soon figured out it wasn't for kids, which made me want to watch it even more. lol.

Family Guy is pretty darn crude nowadays as well. It doesn't go as far in some things, but then at times it actually goes overboard. They do toilet bowl humor and turn to "shock value" all the time. Not sure why people think an airplane going down in flames, crashing into a school and having little kids running out screaming and on fire is considered funny. I'll never understand the fascination with it.

[Adam Jensen]

Ren and Stimpy actually freaked me out as a kid so I never watched it

[Mormolyce]

Yeah Ren and Stimpy wasn't really for kids... I think kids laughed at the gross bits and all the weirdness kind of went over their heads.

The 90's were quite different. I was also watching Beavis and Butthead cracking jokes about whores and genitalia. It wasn't too unusual back then.

I highly recommend going back and watching Beavis and Butthead. The show was actually brilliant and I was too young to really get it :P

---------- Post added 2013-05-27 at 03:22 AM ----------

Ren and Stimpy actually freaked me out as a kid so I never watched it

Even as an adult it still freaks me out lol. I think it's supposed to!

[Mechazod]

No mention of Invader Zim?

[Anshinritsumai]

No mention of Invader Zim?

Invader Zim aired from 2001 to 2002 with only 27 episodes. While it has it's own form of weird content that probably shouldn't be labeled as a "kids" show, it's beyond what has become the topic of this thread, which is primarily a commentary on the image of very late 80s and early to mid 90s cartoons that were far more liberal in their content.

[Grand Crusader Absalom]

Strong bump but I love ren and stimpy.
It definitely went over my head as a kid but looking back? weird as shit. Even when me and my friends would smoke weed regularly we'd watch ren and stimpy.
Now the term "tripping out" gets thrown around loosely while one is high but there is one moment where we really did trip out and that's when stimpy goes insane playing with his belly button (strong masturbation reference) and he goes inside it

That's right.
He climbs inside his belly button and cue the music (belly button bean bag plastic world)

When he's inside gilbert Gottfried does his voice for the elf who goes absolutely psychotic and turns into a giant pork chop and eats both ren and stimpy (the pork chop grabs ren from outside the belly button) and that's it lol
No plot twist or someone to save the day, they just die lol

Truly a messed up episode