Have You Ever Watched Superhero Shows Geared Toward Teens and Younger People?

OneEyedDiva

OneEyedDiva

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I got into the genre when I started watching Smallville, about a young Superman's daily life on what became The CW. From there I went to Arrow, which led me to watch The Flash. I also watched Supergirl and Stargirl. That spurred an interest in other shows for young adults like Merlin, Buffy The Vampire Slayer (she wasn't a superhero, but she was bad a*s) and more recently... Naomi. Most of the shows were on The CW; that was their niche.

@MarkinPhx's reply reminded me that I also really got into Kyle, XY which led me to watch Roswell. I watched it's reboot Roswell: New Mexico years later but didn't like that as much as the original.

Have you watched any of those or other shows geared to young people?

 

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Even though I was not the demographic the show was shooting for, I will admit that I liked Buffy when it came out and I stuck with it through all of the seasons. The show could make me laugh one minute and then somewhat scared the next minute. I really liked the changes in most of the characters , especially Spike and Buffy. The episode called "The Body" is the best episode dealing with the death of a loved one that I have every watched.

I also liked Roswell. I like shows about quirky small towns and the show did a good job making Roswell seem very quirky. The plot lines and characters sometimes drove me crazy but that's only because it was a show aimed at a younger audience. I was more interested in the town itself and how the show made fun of the town's background.
 
MarkinPhx said:
Even though I was not the demographic the show was shooting for, I will admit that I liked Buffy when it came out and I stuck with it through all of the seasons. The show could make me laugh one minute and then somewhat scared the next minute. I really liked the changes in most of the characters , especially Spike and Buffy. The episode called "The Body" is the best episode dealing with the death of a loved one that I have every watched.

I also liked Roswell. I like shows about quirky small towns and the show did a good job making Roswell seem very quirky. The plot lines and characters sometimes drove me crazy but that's only because it was a show aimed at a younger audience. I was more interested in the town itself and how the show made fun of the town's background.
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I watched Buffy to the end too Mark. You reminded me of other shows.... Kyle XY which I liked way more than I expected to; loved it. That led me to try Roswell, which I also go into. I watched the revised Roswell: New Mexico, which I didn't like as much as the original. I will add them to my original post.
 
Yes. I watched some of them with my g-kids.

But I mostly watch the movies. I've only watched a few of the episodic serials. I really liked the first season of Wanda Vision, and all but the last few episodes of The Mandalorian.

Right now, I can't wait for the new season of Andor. But I have to wait til the summer of 2025. :mad:
 
I watched most of those listed except Buffy which just didn't grab me at all.

I thought Arrow was weak and got weaker, and The Flash was good until it fell off a cliff somewhere in season 2 or 3 and I walked away. Merlin was ok, but I lost track when it changed nights or something.

Don't get me started on CW's more recent "Mexican Superman" thing where almost every scene was color-graded sepia and supposedly Kansas is majority Mexican. Poor Clark was as p-whipped as one could be, and as Superman he was always a dullard and in the wrong. Those kids of theirs were disasters. Lois was a witch. Which color of Kryptonite did that to him? The whole "black guy living in a van" thing seemed pretty disrespectful too. It dripped misandry.
 
The only Superhero Series I watch (and love) is the original Batman series on METV. This was geared toward teens and younger people about 50+ years ago!

Also like some superhero movies. I very much loved The Incredibles and have watched it about 4 times now. Also liked the first two Spiderman movies although these were not targeted to teens specifically. And of course, the one and only AUTHENTIC ;) Batman movie featuring Adam West and Burt Ward.
 
I don't care for most anime, but a few franchises are more palatable with better dubbing into English, better stories where something actually happens, and better characters.

The "King of Anime" is Fullmetal Alchemist, which had two adaptions from manga to video. The original in 2003 and then the more child-friendly "Brotherhood" adaptation several years later which is easier to find today.

You'll be shocked, amazed, you'll laugh, you'll cry. Many of the characters will have a strong impact on you.


 
OneEyedDiva said:
I got into the genre when I started watching Smallville, about a young Superman's daily life on what became The CW. From there I went to Arrow, which led me to watch The Flash. I also watched Supergirl and Stargirl. That spurred an interest in other shows for young adults like Merlin, Buffy The Vampire Slayer (she wasn't a superhero, but she was bad a*s) and more recently... Naomi. Most of the shows were on The CW; that was their niche.

@MarkinPhx's reply reminded me that I also really got into Kyle, XY which led me to watch Roswell. I watched it's reboot Roswell: New Mexico years later but didn't like that as much as the original.

Have you watched any of those or other shows geared to young people?
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Yes I have watched all of those shows. My love of sci fi and superhero comics, and now TV shows and movies (the Avengers series) goes back to the early 1950s when I could buy the latest Superman comic for 10 cents!
 
Michael Z said:
The only Superhero Series I watch (and love) is the original Batman series on METV. This was geared toward teens and younger people about 50+ years ago!

Also like some superhero movies. I very much loved The Incredibles and have watched it about 4 times now. Also liked the first two Spiderman movies although these were not targeted to teens specifically. And of course, the one and only AUTHENTIC ;) Batman movie featuring Adam West and Burt Ward.
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For an animated film I thought The Incredibles was quite good. I liked the second one too but not as much as the first. The original Batman was a hoot. POW...BANG....OOF! 😂
 
OneEyedDiva said:
I got into the genre when I started watching Smallville, about a young Superman's daily life on what became The CW.
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I am watching Smallville as we speak for the 6fth or 7th time. I was not into superhero comics as a kid, but for some reason, these movies became much more important to me when I was 60. Superman, Batman, Iron Man, Spiderman, and Dr. Strange are my favorites. But I like them all. Smallville as a TV series is at the very top of my favorites list, even though it's definitely for the younger crowd. I bought the entire series for my own.
 
Yes, and my favorites are Buffy & Smallville. Watched Nancy Drew as well, then forgot about it even though I liked it. She's not a superhero but the show was geared at a youthful audience. I look forward to watching Penguin on HBO when it ends I will begin to stream it.
 
JustDave said:
I bought the entire series for my own.
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Yeah, I got tired of trying to find Smallville a few years ago because I wanted to watch it all again at my own pace.

I finally found a deal on a new-in-box DVD boxed set cheaper than renting the episodes on streaming services. I watched the price over a few weeks and when it bottomed I jumped.


Another good show many haven't seen all of (or in decades) is The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles:
The series was designed as an educational program for children and teenagers, spotlighting historical figures and important events set during the Progressive Era of the 1900s, and the 1910s.
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Lots of history there you may not have gotten in school. For example events that eventually led to the Vietnam War (during the Paris Peace Conference post-WW I).
 
dilettante said:
Yeah, I got tired of trying to find Smallville a few years ago because I wanted to watch it all again at my own pace.
I finally found a deal on a new-in-box DVD boxed set cheaper than renting the episodes on streaming services. I watched the price over a few weeks and when it bottomed I jumped.
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The "boxed" set I got weighs a ton. It comes in a heavily hard bound book form with two disks on every page. It takes up half a shelf of my disk storage shelves, and only fits sideways. I've never seen the likes of such before or after. I watch it between streaming subscriptions, and I only have a subscription to one provider at a time. For the months I have not paid for streaming, I have maybe broken even on the investment, and the convenience is a plus.
 
Gotham is 5 seasons and pretty good too in my opinion. Not really like any of the Batman movies made, focuses more on other characters of the city while Bruce Wayne was still coming of age. Big focus on James Gordon's origin story. Takes us from organized crime into the eventual "super villian" era of Gotham City.


Pretty sure Tubi still has it, maybe The Roku Channel too?
 
JustDave said:
The "boxed" set I got weighs a ton. It comes in a heavily hard bound book form with two disks on every page. It takes up half a shelf of my disk storage shelves, and only fits sideways. I've never seen the likes of such before or after. I watch it between streaming subscriptions, and I only have a subscription to one provider at a time. For the months I have not paid for streaming, I have maybe broken even on the investment, and the convenience is a plus.
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I think some of my favorite episodes were those with "Kid Flash" (Bart Allen) and Ryan James (younger kid, a "reader" i.e. one-way telepath, but he had a fatal brain tumor).
 
dilettante said:
Gotham is 5 seasons and pretty good too in my opinion. Not really like any of the Batman movies made, focuses more on other characters of the city while Bruce Wayne was still coming of age. Big focus on James Gordon's origin story. Takes us from organized crime into the eventual "super villian" era of Gotham City.


Pretty sure Tubi still has it, maybe The Roku Channel too?
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Tried watching, but not from the first episode. Maybe that's why I couldn't get into it. That wasn't necessarily geared towards younger people though, was it?
 
dilettante said:
I think some of my favorite episodes were those with "Kid Flash" (Bart Allen) and Ryan James (younger kid, a "reader" i.e. one-way telepath, but he had a fatal brain tumor).
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I've got so many favorites, that I couldn't name them all without looking at list, but those two you mentioned would be on it. I especially liked the Green Arrow, played by Justin Hartley, who I liked even better than the Green Arrow in the dedicated DC series. I like episodes where Clark reveals his powers to his close friends. I have an emotional response to that, but as luck would have it of course, most of the time the writers wipe their memories in one crazy way or another so that Clark's secret remains hidden.

And I love the episodes that deal with time travel, be it just a day or far into the future. And then of course there's Lois Lane, who cannot be ignored. I always look forward to when she first appears around season 4 or 5, and after that, things start to roll.

I thought I had never heard of Erica Durance (as Lois) before, until I started researching, and realized she played a role in just one episode of Stargate SG1, where she was a less brassy and more diminutive character, who still managed to steal the episode. But that must have been 10 years earlier, and she was a much younger adult. Almost barely recognizable as the older more self assured Lois Lane.

Smallville is definitely aimed at the high school crowd, but I love it.
 
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