Despite being such an old medium, cartoons are flourishing on television. However, finding good ones is like searching for a needle in a haystack. (Though in fairness, their principle audience is probably not 20+ year old college students). There are many cartoons-- ones for adults, ones for children, and ones for toddlers, each with their own subject, focus and premise.
They include those that probably shouldn’t exist:
Fun for the whole family, and 30 year old basement dwellers.
Those that have really overstayed their welcome:
Because 2 minutes of show and 28 minutes of cutaways constitutes good humor.
And those that exist solely for the inebriated:
"And Gandalf said unto the demon, 'You shall not pass', and the demon was slain."
However, I will not be talking about any of these. Instead, this article focuses on one extremely common cartooning aspect I like to call “cat and mouse.”
The golden age of cartoons has seen such duos as Tom and Jerry, and Sebastian and Tweety bird. These two cartoons are incredibly similar to one another, and the premise here may seem generally familiar. The cat (or any other large animal) gives chase to an innocent or annoying mouse (or any other small creature). Many silly antics ensue until the cat is finally defeated. There are several exceptions, however, where the mouse is defeated instead. Nothing that happens really matters because everything resets itself for the next episode. This concept is done so often with many different franchises that for simplicity's sake, I have named them “cat and mouse cartoons.”
Since its first inception, many clones have been spawned throughout the West and Asia. This form of cartoon is what I consider to be the laziest. Little writing is required. No actual substantial plot is needed, and the director is free to make them do silly acts no matter how random they may seem. In addition, these cartoons have little need for significant voice acting. Characters only require grunts, screams and some laughter and they are finished. This kills two birds with one stone, as it makes easier to promote and localize in other countries, seeing as you don’t need to hire dedicated voice actors for dubbing. The characters themselves do not require any fleshing out as well. All that is needed is an animal and a silly name, and that is the full extent of their design. Therefore the fact that such cartoons are so easy to make explain why there are so many spinoff franchises, and why Tom and Jerry can continue for so long. Indeed, over the years, many similar cartoons have been made, both in the United States and abroad. This includes one involving a cat and cockroaches, a dog and mice, a dog and an alien, and a goat and wolf. Quality of these cartoons ranges from mildly decent all the way to pure garbage.
In the past, it may have been excusable, as individually drawing each frame made little room for anything else. These days, however, such cartoons scream "lazy," with poor animation quality, soundtrack seemingly set on repeat, and bland characters. It may seem that creativity is languishing in this market.
Therefore, when it comes to searching for a new TV show to watch, cartoons are probably the last things you will think about. Yet while there may be good ones, it is important to remember that these are merely shiny trinkets floating in a sea of trash.
