“Regular Show,” “Mad” both zany, oddly mature additions to Cartoon Network

I watched a ton of cartoons today, all in anticipation of Regular Show and Mad. To be honest, I was more excited about Regular Show,even if I’m not too crazy about having Adventure Time cut down to 15 minutes on either side of Regular Show, but both turned out to be wildly entertaining.

as I stated in an earlier post, Regular Show is about two roommates/animal slacker friends who do whatever it takes to shirk from their work as golf course groundskeepers and have fun. Mordecai (a blue jay) and Rigby (a raccoon) go through random things all in the effort of entertaining themselves. Their antics get on the nerves of Benson, a high-strung gumball machine (and their boss), and Skips, their yeti coworker. However, Pops, a lollipop-headed man (and owner of the park), loves them. On the other hand, MAD is exactly what its magazine counterpart is like; brash, humorous, and attacking everything pop-culture.

Like I said, both shows are oddly mature for Cartoon Network’s primetime lineup. Obviously, their stats must show that young adults between 18-30 watch their regular programming (not just Adult Swim) more than society would lead one to believe. Also, their stats must show that most of those young adults are men, since their programming (and their marketing) cater to that demographic. Also shown is how important Cartoon Network thinks viral marketing is, since many of their shows, especially shows like Regular Show, have humor that could be shortened into smaller videos for people to send to others.

In any case, this importance shown on the mature set is shown in these two new shows. In Regular Show, Mordecai outwardly states how old he and Rigby are (23 years old), thereby showing the audience exactly who and what age-group this show is targeted towards. Also, within the first five minutes of the show, along with Mordecai saying their ages, they also call each other “holes” (two guesses as to what that means), Rigby employs letters in place of curse words (“How the H are we going to fix this S!?”) and drinks what looks like beer (with the can not labeled, it could be soda, or even an energy drink, since they’re play-wrestling in this scene). Tons of other  tactics, such as a wizard relieving himself in a bush, an old Casio keyboard Mordecai and Rigby name “The Power” (according to Mordecai, he always wanted to date a girl named “The Power”), using the word “pissed”,referencing ’80s era wrestlers and music (there is a record with “’80s Metal” written on it in neon colors being used as a segue into the next scene) and seeing the two get raises, only to have then taken away, further prove the post-post-modern, ironic-without-a-cause crowd its aimed towards.

MAD is much more traditional in its approach toward the same age-group, but it still manages to have the same hook that Regular Show has. By poking fun at Lady Gaga, Avatar, and revisiting the classic Spy vs. Spy, MAD makes viewers nostalgic about their childhoods as well as entertain them by jabbing a finger at today’s pop-culture.

All in all, watching these cartoons won’t make you feel infantile. In fact, it might make you feel more grown-up.