Back in the 80’s, cartoons are usually characters from a budding toy franchise. With shows like the Transformers, GI Joe, Thundercats, Silverhawks and a host of other team based, good-versus-evil series, they pretty much defined an entire generation so much so that more than one of those titles are still being rehashed, rerun, and remade even today. There is no denying that a successful franchise is truly timeless.
As television evolved and the audience grew up, a need for more mature, complex, storylines are more in demand. Even when it came to children’s shows, cartoons themselves took a different approach. With networks like Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon capturing a slew of cartoon lovers both young and old, the diversity of programming these days is nothing short of impressive. From a kindhearted sponge who lives in a pineapple under the sea, to a boy genius with a secret laboratory within his household, cartoons have become enticing to adults as well as children. This of course, paved the way for cartoons that are catered specifically for a more mature audience.
Shows like Robot Chicken, Sealab 2021 and others got to be shown on-air primarily during late hours. This of course worked under the assumption that this air time would prevent many youngsters from seeing the thematically unfit for kids. With the success of these programs, there is a recognizable chunk in the audience who still enjoy the gaiety brought upon by animation.
Now, there are talks about testing the level of freedom of content when it comes to cartoons. Unconfirmed reports state that a major television network is in the development stage of producing an animated series featuring teen pornstars as superheroes, fighting evil when they are not being filmed having sex. It is also rumored that the show would feature the voice talents of actual teen adult film stars for this ground breaking project.
Sex has been an underlying theme in many adult oriented animated shows in the past. Pam Anderson’s Striperella comes to mind, a show about a stripper/superhero. But never has the adult film industry been placed on such a mainstream medium. The potential for publicity seems limitless, and that fact tends to make the launch of such a project pessimistic.
Perhaps the level of success a show of this magnitude could achieve depends on how the entire concept is handled. Despite the liberal front of today’s society seems to put up, a great number of conservative groups exist out there that would not something like this push through.
