Children's series

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Children's series is the name for a series, for example a television series , a radio play series or a book series , which is aimed at children , but is also often seen, heard or read by young people and adults . Children are also the target group in family series , but they are not the only target group there.

Themes and content of children's series

Programs for children sometimes deal specifically with children's experiences. These series are then about their peers and their age-typical problems. This ranges from trying to explore the environment around them, to making friends, to developing an independent personality. These include, for example, the series Neues aus Uhlenbusch , Luzie, the horror of the street and The red Zora and her gang . Manni, the Libero , describes a boy's efforts to become a soccer player . The TV series Goosebumps and Spook under the Ferris Wheel satisfy the need of children for scary stories .

In many children's series, the focus is on entertainment. These are series that are made for children as a target audience, but are not necessarily about children. This applies to most of the cartoon series about animal characters such as Maya the Bee , Pingu , Alfred J. Kwak , but also Heidi , Nils Holgersson and Wickie , as these do not change over the course of the series.

Types of production of children's television series

Animation

Mainly children's series were produced as animated films. Here too, popular children's books were often filmed: Maya the Bee , Wickie , Heidi . A number of science fiction books provided the templates for the adventures of Captain Future , although the latter was not designed for children.

Funny entertainment was presented by the Italian series about Mr. Rossi's vain search for happiness and Doctor Snuggles , for whose adventure Douglas Adams and Richard Carpenter wrote the books, among others .

The best-known series of this type are certainly American cartoon formats such as the Flintstones family , Tom and Jerry or The Pink Panther .

The new generation of series includes Thomas and his friends and Bob the builder .

One of the most impressive and serious series is arguably When the Animals Left the Forest , which is based on the book series of the same name by Colin Dann .

The series Once upon a time was supposed to have a learning effect, which in different seasons shows different aspects of human life, such as the history of mankind, or processes in the human body, vividly and entertainingly. The Sport Billy series tries to introduce children to the topic of fair play in sport.

Some shows, like SpongeBob SquarePants , are so full of anarchist wit that both kids and adults are regular viewers. The Simpsons, on the other hand, are aimed more at an older audience, while South Park is typical for a program that is not suitable for children and is also broadcast in the evening program. The cartoons by Tex Avery were already characterized by an ambiguity that mainly appealed to the elderly without excluding children.

An equally wide audience is reached through series based on Japanese comics (mangas), the target group ranges from 9 to 18 years. Examples are Dragon Ball , One Piece , Naruto , Detective Conan . In Japan, productions that are suitable for children can have more serious themes and more realistic depictions of violence than is the case in western productions, which means that in other countries the series are edited before they are broadcast. The procedure can differ. In One Piece, all images, dialogues and themes have remained the same, although there were occasional and moderate cuts in order to be able to show the series in the daily program. A contrast example is the series Naruto in which, among other things, all hints of death were denied.

A special case in television series are compilations of various episodes for (feature) films.

TV series with actors

Series in which younger children play the main roles are rather rare. This is due to the rapid growth of the actors, which rather hinders long-term series, but also due to the potentially rather small audience. The situation is different with regular children's television series, which have a largely similar concept and format and the same puppets and adult actors, but with different children involved.

In the 1970s, Germany began developing several independent children's television series on a large scale for the first time, and several broadcasters tried to develop new concepts. So were z. B. the play school (from 1969) and the successor Das feuerrote Spielmobil (1972–1981) from BR and ARD , Die Sendung mit der Maus (since 1971) from WDR and ARD, Rappelkiste (1973–1984) from ZDF and Kli- Kla-Klawitter (1974–1976) produced by ZDF and broadcast regularly.

Among the television series in which younger children play the leading roles, one of the few US exceptions is about Wonderful Years , where the protagonist experiences the transition from childhood to adolescence. Basically, however, it is a family series, as the series is told from the perspective of the adult who remembers his childhood. Clarissa , Lizzie McGuire and Hannah Montana are teenagers , but they are also very popular with older children. The latter in particular is an example of modern marketing, in which the producing studio starts a merchandising machine around the main character, in which the actress also gives concerts outside of the series.

In family series like Full House , The Bill Cosby Show or What's Up, Dad? Children and their emotional world also occupy a large space.

Many fantastic series achieve their effect precisely from the combination of real actors and special effects . The Czech classics Pan Tau , The Fairy Tale Bride and The Squids from the second floor were particularly successful here. There are also fantastic series for children in Germany: Meister Eder und seine Pumuckl is about a goblin who still behaves like a child himself. Timm Thaler tells the story of the boy who sold his laugh . The story of the same name by James Krüss served as a template .

The mystery series Vier gegen Z allowed children to compete against a magician who was given shape by the German Hollywood actor Udo Kier . The science fiction - genre are the New Zealand series The New Tomorrow - the sequel to The Tribe - Act. The successful crime series include the Five Friends and The Knickerbocker Gang .

Some American series liked to play with scary effects like in The Addams Family and The Munsters or use fantastic elements. Some older series like Mr. Ed , Mork vom Ork or Alf were designed as family series, but are often classified as children's series.

Other options

The Augsburger Puppenkiste resorted to the principle of puppet shows , some of which were aimed at a very young audience. A number of children's series have been created over time, often based on successful children's books . Even Jim Henson sat in the stories to Fraggle Rock a doll. The puppet film , which is also a possibility, must be distinguished from the puppet show .

Differentiation from family series

Family series not only target children, but also children. Classifying a series as a children's series or family series can sometimes be very difficult, although the point of view also changes over time. The Feuerstein family in the USA was initially a family series that ran in the evening program, while it was later moved to the afternoon program as a children's series.

See also

Web links