37 years ago today, Tim Drake debuted in Marv Wolfman and Pat Broderick’s "#Batman Year 3 - Different Roads", published in 1989’s Batman #436. Drake would become the third canon Robin, officially introduced in 1990’s Batman #457, then take up the Red Robin mantle in 2009. #Robin
'Obsession' director Curry Barker wants studios to understand that Gen Z audiences are 'tired of slop'
“We want good movies back. People are still hungry for movies that are original without some big IP, as long as the story is good"
(via @THR)
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%.
We just lost another legend today 😔
Anime studio Eiken announced that legendary animation director, and artist Hiromitsu Morita has passed away.
Throughout a career spanning decades, Morita contributed as an animator, storyboard artist, episode director, animation director, and chief director on numerous beloved productions.
His known works include:
• Astro Boy
• Sazae-san
• Ashita no Joe
• Monster
• Kobo-chan
• Cardcaptor Sakura
• Claymore
• Space Battleship Yamato
• Metropolis
• Heart Cocktail
• The Story of Saiunkoku
And many more!
From early classics to long-running family anime, Morita’s career quietly connected multiple generations of Japanese animation.
Rest in peace, legend 🕊️