Watching iCarly with dad - OMG, am I aging or what?

[Dancemom03]

DD8 was with her grandparents the other day. When I went to pick them up, they were in the family room watching iCarly. It was at the end of the show where Carly dreams that her brother is wearing a dress dancing with football players. In the scene, you see him all dressed up, dancing up a storm, and my sophisitcated very liberal stepdad was watching with a sort of restrained disbelief on his face. He didn't say anything but it made an impact nonetheless.

I'd seen this episode before (how can you not? they run them repeatedly all day long) but it hadn't made an impact on me one way or the other those previous times. Suddenly though, watching them watch it, I wondered about the messages our kids are getting even on the family friendly disney channel. When I was a kid, there's no way we'd have seen anything like that on children's programming - or on prime time either for that matter. Heck, I remember Lucy having to always keep one foot on the floor when she and Ricky went to bed and that was prime time back in the sixties...

So... in short... does anyone else remember seeing this episode and thinking perhaps kids are taking too many differing lifestyles for granted these days? I've always been the rebel, the risktaker, adventurous to a fault. I'm still always speaking out, always going places, meeting people, exploring new things. I'm not THAT old and I've never been accused of being a prude so when I realized I was beginning to question the appropriateness of a disney show it scared me.

Heaven help me, I think I might be starting to get old & stuffy. Say it aint so guys...

 

[Disney1fan2002]

If it makes a difference, iCarly is on the Nick channel, NOT Disney.

I watch it with my kids, and we laugh. I don't see anything inappropriate.

 

[tw1nsmom]

I didn't see the episode you're talking about, and there certainly are topics on Kids programming that would never have been on TV when we were kids, BUT...Having boys/men dress up as women for laughs has been part of entertainment for years and years. Remember "Some Like it Hot" with Jack Lemon? I know Lucy and Ethel dressed up as men more than once.

Of course you can use this as an opportunity to start a discussion with your children about alternative lifestyles if you wish, or you could just have a chuckle.

 

[sbell111]

I saw that episode. There wasn't anything inappropriate to talk about.

 

[toystorymom]

While that episode didn't bother me, I have cringed on occasion w/ iCarly, Drake & Josh, etc, usually when there is alot of kissing. Drake is famous for meeting a girl and instantly they are making out. What is that?! But for the most part, I enjoy these shows, they are funny. I think Spencer is one of the funniest characters on tv.

However, I think it is important to note that these aren't really "kids" shows. The characters are all teenagers. Huge difference between what 8 year olds and 15 year olds do! Having said that, yes my 8 year old watches them all. I think it is because he is the youngest of 3. He never watched Little Bear, Barney, etc. like my oldest did.

 

[Angelhalo]

I'm not understanding what was innapropriate..... Lots of high schools even have powderpuff football where the cheerleaders dress as the football players and the football players don the cheerleading uniforms and makeup. It's just fun!

 

[merryweather20]

I'm not understanding what was innapropriate..... Lots of high schools even have powderpuff football where the cheerleaders dress as the football players and the football players don the cheerleading uniforms and makeup. It's just fun!

I agree

I guess I'm not getting the OP's examples. I see nothing wrong with a married couple not keeping a foot on the floor (The Cosby show comes to mind, they'd often have discussions before they went to bed or have the kids come in and wake them up early, just like in my house). And men dressing as women has been around since the dawn of time, never-mind Some Like It Hot, men used to play all the roles back in the day from Juliet to the Queen of Denmark.

It doesn't sound like the brother was doing any alternative lifestyles? Drugs? He was just doing an ages old sight gag.

 

[marlynnp]

DD8 was with her grandparents the other day. When I went to pick them up, they were in the family room watching iCarly. It was at the end of the show where Carly dreams that her brother is wearing a dress dancing with football players. In the scene, you see him all dressed up, dancing up a storm, and my sophisitcated very liberal stepdad was watching with a sort of restrained disbelief on his face. He didn't say anything but it made an impact nonetheless.

<snip>

So... in short... does anyone else remember seeing this episode and thinking perhaps kids are taking too many differing lifestyles for granted these days? I've always been the rebel, the risktaker, adventurous to a fault. I'm still always speaking out, always going places, meeting people, exploring new things. I'm not THAT old and I've never been accused of being a prude so when I realized I was beginning to question the appropriateness of a disney show it scared me.

Heaven help me, I think I might be starting to get old & stuffy. Say it aint so guys...

I think that ship's sailed.

I am really at a loss to explain how you jump from a dream squence of kid dressing up transgender to 'differing lifestyles'.

Heck I went to school in the 80's and we had a similar spirit day every year during homecoming week.

 

[Dancemom03]

Hi OP here, sorry, I ran out for pizza. I don't think I explained my thoughts very well in the first post so will try to clarify now.

It's not that I find it offensive, or even that unusual. It's that, until I saw my stepdad & mom's faces Friday while they watched the show with DD8, it never even occurred to me that the shows she is watching might be more mature than when we were growing up. I remember laughing when conservative SIL's kids were preschoolers and she said Smurfs were too violent. SMURFS!

I know there are plenty of things that are not appropiate for kids but I've never been one of those parents who sets the parental controls or blocks channels. Just didn't see anything that bad that we couldn't talk about and potentially learn something from. Plus my kids are active and don't watch a lot of TV. I still don't see anything bad, and I don't even think they've seen anything unreasonable that we'd need to talk about yet, but seeing the astonishment on my parents faces and intuitively knowing they disapproved was a different experience for me.

In years past, I'd never have noticed - and if I did would have thought it funny & stuffy. It's sort of scary that instead of being amused at their discomfort, I remembered Lucy's foot on the floor. One of those "Oh no, I must be getting old" moments like when I tell people my first new car cost $2600 right off the showroom floor. Thank heavens I've still got a few lil whipper-snappers around to give me a push & help me get my rocking chair started...

 

[Dancemom03]

I think that ship's sailed.

I am really at a loss to explain how you jump from a dream squence of kid dressing up transgender to 'differing lifestyles'.

Heck I went to school in the 80's and we had a similar spirit day every year during homecoming week.

"Differing lifestyles" was my mother's word for the show in a conversation as I was paying for an iCarly backpack with DD8's school supplies. By differing lifestyles she's not singling any particular thing out but a lot of things - kids living w/no parents in the home, kids kissing/making out, the situations, freedom & independance modeled on kids' shows that most kids in the real world today don't experience - which is why the term came to mind when I posted.

It's not so much a question of are they appropiate as much as a "wow, have things changed and I just stopped to realize it" commentary....

 

[dicar123]

I'm a little surprised that your parents were surprised at Spencer dressed as a woman. They never saw Milton Burle? Flip Wilson?

As for "family situations", Spencer is an adult and is Carli's guardian while their father is serving in the military. Mom died.

Don't you remember Party of Five?

 

[catycatcat4]

I didn't see the episode you're talking about, and there certainly are topics on Kids programming that would never have been on TV when we were kids, BUT...Having boys/men dress up as women for laughs has been part of entertainment for years /QUOTE]

Yea lol thousands of years theater was started by the greeks ALL actors where men so men played women if it was meant to be funny or not.


Btw op that was the brothers dream and earlier in the show carley had the same dream only it was her.

 

[Dancemom03]

I'm a little surprised that your parents were surprised at Spencer dressed as a woman. They never saw Milton Burle? Flip Wilson?

What adults watch and what seniors expect their grandchildren to watch are very different things. They don't realize how fast the children grow and DSD never had kids. DD8 begins third grade this month. Just today, DM lectured me b/c I was getting rid of the car seat & stroller. DSD even took down a piece of renaissance art when DS31 was a toddler b/c he thought the child shouldn't be exposed to nudity. We tease him about finding it in the attic and selling it for a fortune someday after they're gone.

As for "family situations", Spencer is an adult and is Carli's guardian while their father is serving in the military. Mom died.

Don't you remember Party of Five?

Now I know I've got to watch TV more. I just searched it online and discovered it was an "American Teen drama television series that aired on FOX for six seasons, from September 12, 1994 until May 3, 2000." Somehow I must have missed it altogether though I'm not sure how...

As for Spencer, he seems like another kid, albiet an older one. I know he's supposed to be an adult b/c I've seen most of the episodes with DD but that isn't always made clear to new viewers. I was just thinking about it, wondering if I'd just forgotten other shows but the only kid I remember who lived on his own in the sixties/seventies was Charlie Brown and he still had parents & a grandmother - you just never saw them...

 

[Shutterbug]

Drake is famous for meeting a girl and instantly they are making out. What is that?!

Remember Happy Days and how the fonz would just snap his fingers and a girl would come over and they would start making out?

 

[lovetoscrap]

As for "family situations", Spencer is an adult and is Carli's guardian while their father is serving in the military. Mom died.

THANK YOU! I have been asking my kids for months what happened to the parents! I like to at least know the backstory! Loved it when on My Two Dads they explained the premise in the opening each week so you could understand the concept.

Now, can anyone tell me why Zach and Cody are now living on a boat and what happened to mom?

 

[Shutterbug]

When my nephew and niece was over we watched an episode where the ICarly show really poked fun at Disney. That one was funny

 

[karibritt01]

It's not that I find it offensive, or even that unusual. It's that, until I saw my stepdad & mom's faces Friday while they watched the show with DD8, it never even occurred to me that the shows she is watching might be more mature than when we were growing up. I remember laughing when conservative SIL's kids were preschoolers and she said Smurfs were too violent. SMURFS!

I remember watching Addam's family (horny married couple), Three's Company (unmarried young adults living together, gay jokes, cross-dressing), Tom and Jerry (violent cartoon), Dukes of Hazzard (need I list the details!)... there were plenty of shows out geared for the same age group as iCarly and all the other shows of that nature. And personally, I think the shows on Disney and Nick are way better about treading lightly on the issues than the ones I grew up with.

 

[toystorymom]

Oh, I loved Party of Five!

Back to iCarly - On the episode when the friend of Carly's dad came to visit and they explained that he was serving overseas I remember thinking "oh, that's where dad is, what happened to mom?" Had they ever explained that before this episode? Like on Hannah Montana - mom passed away but they do have flashbacks and Miley talks to & about her. I had never heard anything about the parents before on iCarly. Just curious.

 

[marlynnp]

I remember watching Addam's family (horny married couple), Three's Company (unmarried young adults living together, gay jokes, cross-dressing), Tom and Jerry (violent cartoon), Dukes of Hazzard (need I list the details!)... there were plenty of shows out geared for the same age group as iCarly and all the other shows of that nature. And personally, I think the shows on Disney and Nick are way better about treading lightly on the issues than the ones I grew up with.

And what about Soap??? That show really pushed the envelope.
Though not marketed to the same age group.... I was about 10 when I was watching it.

 

[moon]

What adults watch and what seniors expect their grandchildren to watch are very different things.

I always thought Milton Berle was a family show, that children watched?