Growing up as a child all I did was watch Cartoon Network to my heart’s content.  Now fast forward 12 years later and I’m still doing the same thing, but I noticed that I’m not the only one.
Some of you reading this may be thinking that I’m a nerd for watching cartoons, but how many people do you know watch shows like “Adventure Time” or “Regular Show” every now and then?  If you don’t watch cartoons that’s understandable but surprisingly there are a lot of students on campus that watch these shows and can make quotes from this without any time to think about it.  You may be wondering why this is possible and my answer is that the humor for the show is finally appealing to a wider age group than it was once intended for.
“Regular Show,” for instance, is about a blue jay and a raccoon who are both 23 years old who are working for a park so they can make a living while like most people in that age group, hang out while getting into adventures that will entertain children but at the same time have subtle humor which adults will find hilarious.  The supporting characters are also satires that most people in their 20s would find funny.  The character of muscle man is a mildly plump college age adult who is a reminder of someone who always makes “your mom” jokes but messes up the joke.  An example would be “you know who else hates work…my mom.”  Although some people think that the humor is just poor it may actually just be all one big Meta joke, as the creator and writer J.G. Quintel’s short film starring some of the characters was not intended for children as two of the characters took illegal substances and experienced an unusual day at work.
The show “Adventure Time,” however, is a different story as it’s clearly intended for children, yet most people I know my age can’t seem to stop watching it.  One reason for this may be that the humor is just unusual so that adults can’t help but laugh since we didn’t have this growing up.  To give an example of this would be that the main character Finn’s solution to most problems is with his fist and he isn’t afraid to be up front about it. Even the intro is a little bit corny but in the making fun of itself kind of way.  The intro song itself has six sentences and that’s if you’re counting the words “Adventure Time” by themselves as sentences.  Most college students are not even afraid to show their love for this show as some people buy the hat that Finn wears and wear shirts that say “mathematical.”
One more reason most adults are still watching Cartoon Network is  that they brought back the anime programming block known as toonami.  This has brought many old viewers to Cartoon Network as toonami was once the only source for anime to most Americans.  The programming block was first teased as an April Fool’s prank but was brought back due to the amount of support fans gave.  This is not the only case where fan support brought back something cancelled by a network, as “Family Guy” and “Futurama” are shows that proved that adults watch cartoons even though the intended audience is in fact for adults in those cases.
Whether cartoons are intended for children or not, it seems that they are still an aspect of the lives of adults that won’t be changing anytime soon.  Some people may not like this but in the end it is all for the sake of entertainment.