'Doctor Who is a kids show' - Stigma?

I don't think it's so much "Doctor Who is a kids show" as a statement that riles people up, more "Doctor Who is just a kids show," and that stems from an entirely different stigma. Namely, one directed at children's shows. There's this widespread belief that the quality of a show doesn't have to be particularly high if it's made for children because they're unobservant. To put it a bit more bluntly, the show's stupid, but so are the kids, they won't notice. However, this idea becomes pretty bunk and void when you look at very intelligent series like Steven Universe that are directed at children and explore things like gender identity, processing grief or the confusion of adolescence. Really mature concepts and ones that even adults struggle to reconcile with themselves.

Consequently, it not only comes across as condescending and dismissive as theotherjosh points out, but it's also... well, rather wrong, really. Because any good children's show should be able to appeal to adults on some level as well. I'm twenty-two and I love The Amazing World of Gumball, which I'm certain is aimed at a demographic half my age. Hell, the new Crash Bandicoot remaster has people coming back to replay a video game twenty years after it was originally released. Whatever it is, it should never be just a kids show.

Hello again.

We were or indeed are children. Children are the most challenging audience to engage. To write for children is a privilege. You have an opportunity to challenge, entertain or inform a young mind.

There is no such thing as 'just a kid's show'. Just because a programme is aimed at or created for children does not mean it can be dismissed. Children are the viewers of the future and the quality, particularly in this world of endless choice, of children's TV must be maintained.

We are fortunate in this country that our children's television for all ages is so good. As a parent I take a great deal of interest in what my children watch.

Examples of excellent preschool programmes: Balamory, The Tweenies, Something Special, Show me Show me, The Clangers... The list is huge and includes examples of learning programmes, fun programmes, storytelling programmes and that's only on CBeebies. Channel 5's Milkshake has examples of children's programming that also treats children not as consumers of any old tat, but just as discerning, sometimes more discerning than the adults.

If we move to the older age group programming offered by CBBC. Here once again, building on the work of pioneers such as Anne Wood, Biddy Baxter, Edward Barnes, Clive Doig, Anna Home and many others; there is much to learn and enjoy.

Take a look at dramas such as Eve, Wolfblood or The Dumping Ground all imaginative, clever and thought-provoking programmes.

Factual programmes such as Show Me What Your Made of which takes children to see how and where everyday items are made, Blue Peter which is still a good example of a magazine programme and Newsround, a children's news programme that tells children about the news and involves them in discussing it or reporting on it.

Finally, CBBC has produced some of the best sitcoms of recent years. Clever and hilarious shows such as Dani's House, The Four O' Clock Club and of course Horrible Histories which is quite simply the best sketch show of recent times. The song spoofs in particular are a notable highlight.

What I am trying to say is that to dismiss something as 'just for kids' sends a message to children that what they watch or read is inferior to adult media. Often this is not the case. Children are a canny audience they do not watch things that are patronising or poorly realised for long.

People who dismiss programmes like 'Dr. Who' as being 'just for kids' are missing out on one of the most creative, positive, challenging and sometimes ridiculous experiences on television. We must feel a bit sorry for them as they are the ones missing out. After all, you can be child-like without being childish.

If Doctor Who was purely a kids show it wouldn't be shown in a 7pm (ish) Saturday evening slot on BBC1. So I'd see it as a general family entertainment programme in that slot. But even if Doctor Who was a kids show, so what? A label shouldnt stop you from enjoying something. Like what you like and f*** the begrudgers. I'm 51 and still read comics!

Because it's not a kids show. It's a primetime family drama.

Like the 'wobbly sets' and 'bad acting' memes that get thrown around about the classic era, the statement is made by people who don't like / watch / comprehend 'Doctor Who'.

I've been watching the show ever since Robert Holmes scared the socks off me with 'Terror of the Autons' in 1971, aged 6. (Thank you Mr. Holmes! )
At every age it delivers new interest to the viewer, from 'Arrgh big monster!' to appreciating the finer points of the writing, characters, performances, design and modern/historic TV methods, there is always something new to enjoy even from the the nth re-watch of an old favourite.

We know this, so we would never say something so plain wrong as 'kids' show' with the implied 'only a'. But when faced by those who do, there are three possible responses:

Option 1: Tell them that 'Doctor Who' from its very beginning was made by the BBC Drama department, not BBC Children's televison. So the BBC says they are wrong, it's Drama.
Option 2: Sit them down and show them 'The Caves of Androzani', 'Heaven Sent' or similar.
Option 3: Summon a Special Weapons Dalek.

That's great, I don't have to keep my collection of Whizzer & Chips secret so!

Just don't mention that collection to Pat Mills!

I also think there's a bit of a strange contradiction at play here:
geekdom is the first to praise the merit of cartoons and kids-targeted media (Steven Universe, 90s Batman, Spectacular Spider-Man, Animaniacs, Zootopia, anything with Laika or Aaardman's name) and yet, have no qualm throwing around 'like a kids show' as a cheap derogative that, really, means nothing.

Well, as C.S. Lewis once said:
More broadly, I think it's part of people's assertions towards adulthood and maturity. They can put a bit of distance between their more awkward period of life, by saying the things that ruled it didn't matter in the first place. It's a division. This was a piece of media that spoke to them as a child, but emphatically no longer being a child, they've rejected it. Usually applied as a form of self-validation and maybe that's useful. Comforting for that particular period of life. Funny thing, though... That quote by Lewis there, that's not it in its entirety. Here it is in full:
A friend of mine and I were chatting about this just the other day. We were talking about how childhood stories can have a great deal of resonance for grownups, if grownups let them. They can be reassuring touchstones to their identities as they've become. There's one woman, who grew up in Malaysia, reading a children's book about the Northern Lights. Decades later, she travelled to the Arctic Circle to see them for herself as the central focus of a travel programme. A desire implanted and then later realised, all because of this one book. The woman in question? Joanna Lumley. I'm certain there are other examples, thousands upon millions, out there in the world where the same thing has occurred.

The action sequences in the Indiana Jones films, for instance, would look very different if it wasn't for Lupin III's The Castle of Cagliostro; the animation influencing Spielberg quite significantly. So, the idea of dismissing things for being "just/like a kids show" is a very peculiar non-derogative derogative. It relies on a mindset that puts value into the idea of a "strict division" between childhood and adulthood, when there really isn't one. It's all equally just as valuable.