Fred Rogers met with a child psychologist every week for 22 years to build his show. She shaped everything: every script, prop, and song. The whole point was to give a child's nervous system time to slow down. In 1984, a single regulatory decision ended all of it.
The psychologist was Dr. Margaret McFarland, who co-founded the Arsenal Family and Children's Center alongside Benjamin Spock and Erik Erikson. She and Rogers understood that the prefrontal cortex in children, the part of the brain that controls impulse, emotion, and attention, takes decades to fully develop. At the start of every episode, Rogers tied his sneakers and changed his sweater while children settled in. Those pauses were intentional, designed to help a child's nervous system shift into a calmer, more focused state.
What ended it had nothing to do with child development science. In 1984, Reagan's FCC chairman Mark Fowler abolished the advertising limits that had protected children's programming from commercial pressure. Toy companies moved within months. Between 1984 and 1985, cartoons tied to toy lines increased by 300%, from a handful of shows to more than 40 animated series. In almost every case, the toy was designed first. The cartoon was built to sell it.
Researchers later put numbers to what parents were already noticing. A 2011 study in Pediatrics from the University of Virginia tested 60 four-year-olds across three groups: one watching SpongeBob, which cuts scene every 11 seconds; one watching a slow PBS show, which cuts scene every 34 seconds; and one drawing. Nine minutes later, all three took tests on attention, impulse control, short-term memory, and problem-solving. The SpongeBob group scored significantly worse across every measure.
In the 1970s, children began watching television around age 4. Research from pediatrician Dimitri Christakis found that by 2009, the average age of first screen exposure had dropped to 4 months, as the content got faster and the audience got younger. Researchers separately found that each additional hour of daily screen time at ages 1 or 3 raised the risk of attention problems at age 7 by 9%.
"You remind me a lot of Elton John these days!" - gram
"Oh because of my like, energy? My wit?" - me
"No because of how fruity you are." - gram
OKAY SO WE'RE CHECKING GRAMMAMUTT INTO A HOME THIS WEEKEND GOT IT VERY COOL
Greg Baldwin, the voice of Uncle Iroh in ‘Avatar: The Last Airbender,’ criticizes Paramount and Nickelodeon over the state of the franchise:
“Paramount doesn’t care about ATLA. The new regime at Paramount is straight up evil.”
Matthew Lillard criticized the industry for prioritizing celebrities over voice actors in animation:
“The ability to carry a film, as the lead of a film with only a voice, is a power very few people have. The idea that they keep hiring crappy celebrities to carry huge films is killing us.”
The same parent group bastards sanitized Saturday morning cartoons from 1970-1982 so severely that American Animation never recovered. They were so butthurt about any kind of action that they wanted even things like conflict removed.
The past few days have been heartbreaking for animation, anime, and gaming fans around the world. 😔
We grew up hearing their voices, watching their creations, and experiencing stories they helped bring to life.
Even if many people never knew their names, their work became part of our childhood forever.
• Tom Kane — One of the most recognizable voices in animation and gaming, best known as Yoda in Star Wars: The Clone Wars and Professor Utonium in The Powerpuff Girls. His voice shaped an entire generation of cartoons and games.
• Yuji Ohno — The legendary composer behind Lupin III and Space Adventure Cobra. His jazz-inspired sound became inseparable from anime history and influenced generations of music.
• Wakana Yamazaki — Beloved voice actress known for roles like Ran Mouri in Detective Conan, bringing warmth and emotion to some of anime’s most iconic characters.
• Bill Wise — Veteran actor and voice actor remembered by many fans as the first English voice of Knuckles the Echidna and Bunta Fujiwara.
• Ted Turner — Founder of Cartoon Network. Without him, countless fans may never have discovered the animation and anime that defined the 90s and 2000s.
• Koji Suzuki — The author who changed horror forever with Ring, inspiring an entire generation of psychological horror across film, manga, and television.
Their work entertained millions, inspired generations, and left a legacy that will never be forgotten.
Rest in peace to the people who helped shape our childhoods. 🕊️
@ERodBuster1 That's a thing I've noticed with MCU movies lately, they've slowed down A LOT (which is both bad and good), as they're also doing TV shows too. Dr. Strange is kind of the last "first run" Avenger that we haven't seen in so long, that I hope they're working on a good story for it
@ERodBuster1 It looks like the "days of going to movies" is close to being like it used to be for getting a great variety of titles once again, but still a long way to go to being like it used to be before 2020 and having a lot of quality movies.
There seems to be some confusion. VAC is NOT shutting down! We're just closing one of our social media platforms (in 6 months), as the vast majority of voice actors prefer to use Discord now.
Guides/articles & resources will be moved to our official website.
If you are deceived by a sponsorship or company about them using AI, this is exactly how you handle it.
You vocally make your stance known and withdraw support, even if it costs you a contract.
Brava to @ironmouse for this action. I hope others do the same.
To save Xbox, Asha Sharma doesn't have to defeat PlayStation or Steam — she has to defeat Microsoft itself.
Microsoft's insane 30% profit margin aspirations have devastated Xbox more than people realize, and it will take years to fix. Microsoft under Satya Nadella has shown itself to think in months, rather than years, and that's a huge problem for a platform that needs a long-term, consistent solution.
Asha Sharma needs to do the unthinkable: defeat Xbox's biggest enemy, which is Microsoft itself.
OPINION: https://t.co/0cxYlZYPWF 👇
Instead of making an episode about Static going against some big bad that they've built up over the course of the season, they chose to use the season 2 finale to address the affects and motivations behind school shooting.
A message that (unfortunately) is still relevant today.
⚔️ DEVIL MAY CRY SEASON 2 MUSIC REVEAL ⚔️
Papa Roach ft. Hanumankind - "See U in Hell"
Casey Edwards & Amira Elfeky - "Bazooka"
Korn - "Freak On A Leash (Power Glove Remix)”
Evanescence - "My Immortal (Band Version)"
Avril Lavigne - "Sk8er Boi"
Papa Roach - "Getting Away With Murder (Power Glove Remix)"
Drowning Pool - "Bodies"
Amy Lee - "Meet Me in the Afterlife (Power Glove Remix)”
Bryce Vine - "Street Punks On A Freight Train"
Capcom - "Dante's Office (7 Hells Battle)"
Gunship- "The Gates Of Disorder (Power Glove Remix)"
Power Glove ft. Gunship - "Shall Never Surrender"