[Blubatt]

Very subjective, I would argue the mid/late 80s is more nostalgic for me having grown up in that period.

Anyway more choice doesn't necessarily make it a better experience. The days of Children's ITV/Children's BBC was purely a case of "this is what we're showing, if you don't like it, then [as the TV show said] Why don't you just switch off your television set and go and do something less boring instead?"

Absolutely, and I am not trying to say that my era or your era are better or worse than any other era. If my Grandad were alive, he'd probably say that Children's entertainment went down the drain when Watch with Mother was introduced. Nostalgia is a funny thing like that. Kids today will remember streaming their equivalent of 'my childhood TV'. I am just saying that it seemed like, when I was a kid (Born 1997, and stuck with kids TV up until 2010-2011), we had a lot more to choose from, and there were a lot of options that kids these days don't have.

[Brekkie]

I don't have that much nostalgia for CBBC and CITV but then there weren't any shows I made the effort to tune into every week. I knew that the kids blocks were on during certain times though as well as that TV wasn't all about what I wanted to watch. When the blocks were removed from the main channels, I feel that sent the wrong message to a lot of adults that TV was just for them and they have been spoiled since as not just kids programmes but a lot of young-skewing shows were axed and replaced with shows aimed at them.

The ratings for the CBBC block were poor in the end and whilst that was partly to do with content elsewhere, what was showing on the BBC wasn't of the same quality as before.

Looking at the current CBBC schedules, I don't see the same variety of programming that was once available. Where are the game shows? The Grange Hills and the Byker Groves for older kids?

I do think older kids are less well served now - most the big commissions in kids TV seem to be for the CBeebies age bracket.

[Flux]

Absolutely, and I am not trying to say that my era or your era are better or worse than any other era. If my Grandad were alive, he'd probably say that Children's entertainment went down the drain when Watch with Mother was introduced. Nostalgia is a funny thing like that. Kids today will remember streaming their equivalent of 'my childhood TV'. I am just saying that it seemed like, when I was a kid (Born 1997, and stuck with kids TV up until 2010-2011), we had a lot more to choose from, and there were a lot of options that kids these days don't have.

I think that’s partly because you’re expecting those choices in the wrong places (i.e. Where they used to be!)

Kids today arguably have way more choices than were available in the 2000s, 90s, 80s (without a doubt the best era for kids TV ) or earlier and it’s available any time at their fingertips through apps, websites and streamers. That’s why more traditional forms of broadcasting - mainly linear channels or broadcasters - are struggling to find an audience with children.

CBeebies continues to thrive because it’s the parents who switch that on, and there’s always an ease in having a linear channel full of wholesome/worthy output for kids of an age where they aren’t yet tech savvy or independent. Turn it on, leave it on, the child will watch whatever plays. Older kids don’t sit and wait in the same way, they want to pick and choose. As soon as my (now 5 year old) nephew was old enough to understand his tablet, I hardly ever saw him watch a traditional channel again. He chooses to watch or interact with whatever shows or games take his fancy on a whim. iPlayer and CBBC are still a part of his repertoire, but he doesn’t see them any differently to content churned out on other services (See YouTube’s Blippi as a prime example).

[Neil Jones]

The question is like asking who your favourite Blue Peter presenter(s) is/are. Its a loaded question. Your era will always be "the" best.

If we had internet*, streaming, iPlayer, millions of TV channels and YouTube back in the 1980s, then our favourite programmes as we know them now may not have been made, and even if they had, they may not have been on whatever the alternative children's output would have been in that reality.

*internet did exist as such in the 1980s, but was very much an internal thing, though you did have the likes of Prestel which wasn't quite the same thing

[Kunst]

Whether or not the children's shows you watched growing up are the best is subjective, usually you think they are unless you watch a lot of kids TV later in life.

However I would say that I think I lived through a couple of "golden ages" with regards to kids TV. The first would be that when I was growing up, CBBC, CITV, Nickelodeon and even the Disney Channel all had live, studio-based in-vision continuity between the programmes. It's really hard to describe the special quality that this adds. It adds to the feel that this is a special corner of TV, just for you, and in the case of Nick and Disney made the channel feel more alive rather than just a playlist of shows one after the other. It's one of the first things that was cut when junk food ads were banned, which I still feel is such a shame.

The second would be that I was a CITV viewer when it was arguably at its peak. It had great presentation, studio, presenters, and original programmes. I was a huge fan of the science shows The Big Bang and How 2. CITV even had its own successful sitcom My Parents Are Aliens. And having rewatched several old episodes recently, I still believe SM:TV Live is the greatest Saturday morning show ever (a genre sadly now virtually dead). It lasted a very short period of time of course, but it really was great during that time.

With regards to modern day kids TV, having seen a fair bit of it in recent times, most of the programmes being produced by CBBC/CBeebies, and also Disney, Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network are well produced and do appeal to children. The only thing I would say is do not let your 4 year old have unfettered access to YouTube, even YouTube Kids. The amount of bizarre stuff on there is shocking. e.g. weird, homemade violent versions of Paw Patrol. Restrict to iPlayer, Disney+, Paramount+ etc.

In general early 2000s (I'm in my thirties, so I remember that fondly) was a kind of golden age for children's TV

But as for nostalgia, it depends on the one's age

For instance, many people remember fondly Disney Channel for High School Musical,Hannah Montana and all that stuff, while, for me, Disney Channel starting in 2005-6 suffered a huge downgrade, especially due to it not being a family channel anymore but a tween one and the drop of live presentation.
It was much better before that

That was in Italy, I'm only talking to international channels (Disney's in western Europe were similarly shaped) because I had obviously, no experience with CBBC , CITV and the likes

I feel like the Internet and streaming has killed much of the special side of the telly in general, but obviously nothing stays forever, especially when it comes to children's TV!

[Gary Baldy]

In general early 2000s (I'm in my thirties, so I remember that fondly) was a kind of golden age for children's TV

But as for nostalgia, it depends on the one's age

For instance, many people remember fondly Disney Channel for High School Musical,Hannah Montana and all that stuff, while, for me, Disney Channel starting in 2005-6 suffered a huge downgrade, especially due to it not being a family channel anymore but a tween one and the drop of live presentation.
It was much better before that

That was in Italy, I'm only talking to international channels (Disney's in western Europe were similarly shaped) because I had obviously, no experience with CBBC , CITV and the likes

I feel like the Internet and streaming has killed much of the special side of the telly in general, but obviously nothing stays forever, especially when it comes to children's TV!

And the Internet had started to become a key part of everyday society by 05-06 and linear children’s TV wasn’t really abandoned- it was actually thriving with all the different channels.

[Kunst]

And the Internet had started to become a key part of everyday society by 05-06 and linear children’s TV wasn’t really abandoned- it was actually thriving with all the different channels.

Indeed, but obviously channels in general started becoming a bit more repetitive by then; more staples, more multichanneled repeating the same stuff, and so on.
That was a quite international trend in general, especially seen in the US

Nevertheless, TV was still creative in general especially (not exclusively) among older people, viewership still depended on linear viewing; illegal downloads, DVDs, partly even YouTube as a distraction, were gradually starting to replace linear media for CERTAIN things, especially with dissatisfied younger people, but TV was still the main place to go, just not your ONLY distraction, as before 2005-6

Of course everything's completely different now

[ViridianFan]

I assume the plan is still for you be cbbc channel to move online. I do wonder if they’ll go back to my childhood of a cbbc one in the afternoons and possibly a cbbc two block in the morning.

I do worry children are missing out on that “watch together” experience we all had when we were younger. I can remember talking at school the next day about programmes we watched then the excitement building and guessing what we think would happen next. I remember the demon headmaster (the original series) being one we spoke about. If you’re just picking and streaming people may be a different points and those opportunities to discuss breakdown.

Looking at it as a teacher point of view, it is actually useful with helping children with their discussion skills, forming arguments as well as making them have to remember what’s happened.

Also with a dedicated block, you get exposed to a variety of programming you may never select to watch. I remember as a kid you’d have gameshows, cartons, art programmes, wildlife, news round and blue Peter.

It’s something I think we are loosing with this push for streaming. People are experiencing less and less variety as they often stick with the same sort of things and even as adults we are missing rhat comint together experience.

[CCFG]

I assume the plan is still for you be cbbc channel to move online. I do wonder if they’ll go back to my childhood of a cbbc one in the afternoons and possibly a cbbc two block in the morning.

I do worry children are missing out on that “watch together” experience we all had when we were younger. I can remember talking at school the next day about programmes we watched then the excitement building and guessing what we think would happen next. I remember the demon headmaster (the original series) being one we spoke about. If you’re just picking and streaming people may be a different points and those opportunities to discuss breakdown.

Looking at it as a teacher point of view, it is actually useful with helping children with their discussion skills, forming arguments as well as making them have to remember what’s happened.

Also with a dedicated block, you get exposed to a variety of programming you may never select to watch. I remember as a kid you’d have gameshows, cartons, art programmes, wildlife, news round and blue Peter.

It’s something I think we are loosing with this push for streaming. People are experiencing less and less variety as they often stick with the same sort of things and even as adults we are missing rhat comint together experience.

We've had this "Kids programmes returning to afternoons on BBC1/ITV1" discussion many a time at this point.

There is absolutely no chance of the BBC changing it's very successful afternoon schedule on BBC1 to accommodate children's programmes, something they want to move away from it's linear schedules. If there is going to be a linear presence, it will be similar to what ITV are doing with CITV at the moment, tucked away during mornings on BBC2.

[ACTV]

I think there's only a small chance of BBC2 showing children's programmes in the afternoon, let alone BBC1, who since 2013 have built up a reliable afternoon schedule.

Of course ITV1 have the gameshows that pick up a nice audience as well, and ITV2's afternoons appear to have settled into a routine of 00s US dramas, which I can't see CITV replacing.