History WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids / LiveActionTv

* ''Series/TheRealWorld'': this trope was discussed by Danny Roberts, the gay guy from the 2000 UsefulNotes/NewOrleans season. At first he assumed the show was primarily watched by older teens and 20-somethings due to all the sex, drinking, and discussion of heavy topics. But in the decades that followed, he's been constantly getting approached by younger gay men who watched him on TV when they were 10-13 years old, saying he was their earliest gay hero. And while Danny is always touched to hear that, his second thought is, "Where were your parents?!"

* ''Series/TheRealWorld'': this trope was discussed by Danny Roberts, the gay guy from the first UsefulNotes/NewOrleans season in 2000. At first he assumed the show was primarily watched by older teens and 20-somethings due to all the sex, drinking, and discussion of heavy topics. But in the years that followed, he's been constantly getting approached by younger gay men who watched him on TV when they were 10-13 years old, saying he was their earliest gay hero. And while Danny is always touched to hear that, his second thought is, "Where were your parents?!"

** Take ''Series/KamenRiderFourze'', for example. A high school drama with hotblooded protagonist worthy of shonen anime and his group of TrueCompanions on one side and disturbingly real depiction of depression, addiction, bullying and other high school appropriate problems on the other side. And it's ''still'' LighterAndSofter compared to other series like ''Series/KamenRiderGaim'' [[note]]Fruit themed CosmicHorrorStory.[[/note]] or ''Series/KamenRiderExAid'' [[note]]Video game themed medical drama.[[/note]]
** ''Series/KamenRiderBuild'' is an upbeat story about ScienceHero and his TrueCompanions fighting for love and peace in a civil war between three regions that used to be a single country. It doesn't shy away from graphical depictions of war horrors, torture, PTSD that survivors suffer from and death. Realistic thoughts on politics, propaganda, and dehumanization of people fighting in said war are also recurring themes.

** Special mention must be given to Series 9's [[Recap/DoctorWhoS35E11HeavenSent "Heaven Sent"]]. It is an extended-length story in which the Twelfth Doctor is more or less the ONLY character, TrappedInAnotherWorld, stalked by a creature with a TouchOfDeath drawn from his childhood nightmares about a dead woman, subjected to ColdBloodedTorture, and slowly DrivenToMadness...all in the wake of [[spoiler: his beloved companion Clara Oswald being killed off]] in the previous episode "Face the Raven". It opens with a monologue that's a metaphor about Death stalking a person from the moment they're born, and the climax hinges upon, effectively, [[spoiler: the Doctor committing suicide billions of times over '''by choice''' that he may relive this Hell until he escapes]]. Jump to 0:15 of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2cP2uEyDZU this BBC One Christmas advert for 2016]] to see the Beeb pretty much acknowledge this as strong meat for children. Oh, and the episode that follows temporarily turns the Doctor into an insane VillainProtagonist.
** The Creator/JodieWhittaker seasons thus far have included historical and modern-set stories dealing explicitly with real-life racism and sexism, companions grieving the death of a loved one at length, and an extremely depressing MythArc that reveals the Doctor is [[spoiler: not a native Gallifreyan, but rather an actual immortal being who was tortured to death multiple times to create the Time Lord race, then subsequently used by a secret organization for further lives and mindwiped of their experiences again and again before regenerating into the First Doctor]]. On top of that, [[spoiler: her planet and adoptive race have been wiped out ''again'']], with her apparently not interested in trying to fix that problem as of the end of Series 12.

* The 4th and final season of ''Brødrene Dal'', ''Brødrene Dal og mysteriet om Karl [=XIIs=] gamasjer'', takes the cake. There's swearing, the kidnapping of a minor, verbal abuse, an episode where [[ClusterBleepBomb there's tons of bleeping]] (although they swear with no bleeping in the next episode). If it was ever to be shown outside Norway, it would have received an 18+ in most countries, as there's no FamilyFriendlyStripper, but a real stripper; you can [[http://youtu.be/tNbba9C1bxU?t=18m22s see her]] for yourself. Other examples make you wonder how it even managed to air, like one [[SketchComedy opening sketch]] that had the narrator sneak into the ladies' restroom (it's suddenly "okay" when he's the handsome narrator), one character believing one of the leads to be [[http://youtu.be/qzAi8Wca3dQ?t=27m33s wearing women's underwear]] (he's a man), and suddenly an ending fit for a CrimeAndPunishmentSeries, the narrator trying to make money selling [[http://youtu.be/kAg5V-ZdtxU?t=23m34s underwear based on the brothers]], a drunken general with a cabinet filled with [[http://youtu.be/kAg5V-ZdtxU?t=13m31s alcoholic beverages]], the [[http://youtu.be/qzAi8Wca3dQ?t=19m12s bleeping part]], just to mention a few.

** Averted since 2005. To get the show restarted and get it adequately funded, Creator/RussellTDavies had to pitch it to the BBC as a ''drama'' rather than as "science fiction" or "children's programme". However, the spinoff ''Series/TheSarahJaneAdventures'' (2007-2011) was explicitly aimed at kids. Although revival!Who doesn't shy away from grim themes and mature content, as noted below, it is ''still'' regarded as a family program by the masses in the U.K.
** Creator/JohnSimm stated that ''Doctor Who'' being a kids' show was the main reason why he decided to play TheMaster ([[SoMyKidsCanWatch He wanted to show his son that he could act]]). Of course, the episodes ''he'' was in involved twisted monsters from the future wiping out a good portion of humanity, the Master being [[GoneHorriblyWrong resurrected as a superpowered being]] [[HorrorHunger who devours humans to satisfy his endless hunger]], and turning the ''entire'' human population into copies of himself!

* Though more clear-cut kid-friendly than the family show ''Series/DoctorWho'', some episodes of ''Series/TheSarahJaneAdventures'' -- *cough* "[[Recap/TheSarahJaneAdventuresS2E3E4TheDayOfTheClown Day of the Clown]]" *cough* -- are not the kind of thing you'd want to let children watch alone...

* ''Series/{{Tweenies}}'': One episode has one of the characters, Bella, actually saying "I hate you", despite it being a preschool show.

** Even the first few stories could be really dark. In the first story "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS1E1AnUnearthlyChild An Unearthly Child]]" [[CharacterizationMarchesOn the Doctor is a quite morally ambiguous figure]], and there are some surprisingly violent scenes, such as a caveman with his chest ripped open and a cave of broken skulls. "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS1E3TheEdgeofDestruction The Edge of Destruction]]" uses haunted house tropes and has Susan wildly stabbing a bed with scissors.

** Even the first few stories could be really dark. In the first story "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS1E1AnUnearthlyChild An Unearthly Child]]" [[CharacterizationMarchesOn the Doctor is a quite morally ambiguous figure]], and there are some surprisingly violent scenes, such as a caveman with his chest ripped open and a cave of broken skulls. "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS1E3TheEdgeofDestruction The Edge of Destruction]]" uses haunted house tropes and has Susan wildly stabbing a bed with scissors.

** Creator/LouiseJameson, who was the producer (the term "showrunner" didn't exist) for the early Creator/TomBaker seasons referred to above has said that he was being told by medical professionals that the series was helping children to ''articulate'' fears they hadn't been able to deal with, rather than give them new ones.

** Phillip Hinchcliffe, who was the producer (the term "showrunner" didn't exist) for the early Creator/TomBaker seasons referred to above has said that he was being told by medical professionals that the series was helping children to ''articulate'' fears they hadn't been able to deal with, rather than give them new ones.

* ''Series/OddSquad'' has some pretty dark moments for being a kids' show. Among other things, it has strong implications of abuse, PTSD, child marriage, ClimateChange, and alcoholism -- and that's just in its ''first season.'' Despite this, the show has been a consistent part of Creator/PBSKids for 5 years, and is still going.

** ''Wizards vs. Angels''. Not so Christian-friendly, considering the fact that demonic angels try to invoke the beginning of the Apocalypse. Over half of all modern fictional angels do this. [[WhatDoYouMeanItsnotDidactic It's probably symptomatic of the increasing millennialism of the devout, and the widening gap between them and the secular.]]

** The first episode contains a song where the Crybabies compare goblins to "itches you can't get near". Stein then comments "Don't give them any ideas!".

* ''Series/ThirteenReasonsWhy'' is aimed at teenagers but deals with some pretty dark and distressing subject matter that even some adults find hard to deal with, namely [[DrivenToSuicide suicide]] and [[RapeAsDrama rape]]. The violence in the show gets pretty graphic, including showing the entirety of Hannah's suicide [[note]] which was subsequently heavily edited in 2019 [[/note]] and ''three'' rape scenes (which we also get flashbacks to). The show's content earned it a TV-MA rating on Netflix, meaning that anyone under 18 — aka, ''the target audience'' — should probably only watch the show accompanied by a parent/guardian, if at all. Because of its graphic content and its target audience, New Zealand’s Office Of Film And Literature Classification board introduced the [=RP18=] classification for streaming services.

* ''Series/ThirteenReasonsWhy'' is aimed at teenagers but deals with some pretty dark and distressing subject matter that even some adults find hard to deal with, namely [[DrivenToSuicide suicide]] and [[RapeAsDrama rape]]. The violence in the show gets pretty graphic, including showing the entirety of Hannah's suicide [[note]] which was subsequently heavily edited in 2019 [[/note]] and ''three'' rape scenes (which we also get flashbacks to). The show's content earned it a TV-MA rating on Netflix, meaning that anyone under 18 — aka, ''the target audience'' — should probably only watch the show accompanied by a parent/guardian, if at all. Because of its graphic content and its target audience, New Zealand’s Office Of Film And Literature Classification board introduced the [=RP18=] for streaming services.

* ''Series/ThirteenReasonsWhy'' is aimed at teenagers but deals with some pretty dark and distressing subject matter that even some adults find hard to deal with, namely [[DrivenToSuicide suicide]] and [[RapeAsDrama rape]]. The violence in the show gets pretty graphic, including showing the entirety of Hannah's suicide [[note]] which was subsequently heavily edited in 2019 [[/note]] and ''three'' rape scenes (which we also get flashbacks to). The show's content earned it a TV-MA rating on Netflix, meaning that anyone under 18 — aka, ''the target audience'' — should probably only watch the show accompanied by a parent/guardian, if at all. Because of its graphic content and its target audience, New Zealand’s Office Of Film And Literature classification board introduced the [=RP18=] for streaming services.

* ''Series/ThirteenReasonsWhy'' is aimed at teenagers but deals with some pretty dark and distressing subject matter that even some adults find hard to deal with, namely [[DrivenToSuicide suicide]] and [[RapeAsDrama rape]]. The violence in the show gets pretty graphic, including showing the entirety of Hannah's suicide [[note]] which was subsequently heavily edited in 2019 [[/note]] and ''three'' rape scenes (which we also get flashbacks to). The show's content earned it a TV-MA rating on Netflix, meaning that anyone under 18 — aka, ''the target audience'' — should probably only watch the show accompanied by a parent/guardian, if at all. Because of its graphic content and its target audience, New Zealand’s Office Of Film And Literature classification board introduced the RP18 for streaming services.

* ''Series/ThirteenReasonsWhy'' is aimed at teenagers but deals with some pretty dark and distressing subject matter that even some adults find hard to deal with, namely [[DrivenToSuicide suicide]] and [[RapeAsDrama rape]]. The violence in the show gets pretty graphic, including showing the entirety of Hannah's suicide [[note]] which was subsequently heavily edited in 2019 [[/note]] and ''three'' rape scenes (which we also get flashbacks to). The show's content earned it a TV-MA rating on Netflix, meaning that anyone under 18 — aka, ''the target audience'' — should probably only watch the show accompanied by a parent/guardian, if at all.

* Creator/DisneyPlus is explicitly framed as a family-friendly service to the point[[mote]]the Star sub-section was launched in 2021 to feature the adult stuff[[/note]] that there have occasionally been content edits to certain shows/films, but the three charter original series that were renewed for second seasons all qualify as this trope in varying ways.

* Creator/DisneyPlus is explicitly framed as a family-friendly service to the point that there have occasionally been content edits to certain shows/films, but the three charter original series that were renewed for second seasons all qualify as this trope in varying ways.

* ''Series/OddSquad'' has some pretty dark moments for being a kids' show. Among other things, it has strong implications of abuse, PTSD, child marriage, GlobalWarming, and alcoholism -- and that's just in its ''first season.'' Despite this, the show has been a consistent part of Creator/PBSKids for 5 years, and is still going.

** ''Series/TheMandolorian'' is not only an extension of the ''Franchise/StarWars'' franchise (see Films -- Live Action) but also one of its DarkerAndEdgier ones, based as it is around a bounty hunter. Even the KidAppealCharacter of The Child [[spoiler: Force chokes a protagonist]] in Season Two.

* ''Series/HighSchoolMusicalTheMusicalTheSeries'' has merchandising like clothing aimed at children, but the show itself isn't as kid-friendly as the film it's based on. One of the first lines in the series has a student using the word "hell" and a girl swears with a censor beep over what she says towards the end of the first episode.

* Although the previous [=series/seasons=] [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar got Crap Past The Radar]], the 4th and final season of ''Brødrene Dal'', ''Brødrene Dal og mysteriet om Karl [=XIIs=] gamasjer'', takes the cake. There's swearing, the kidnapping of a minor, verbal abuse, an episode where [[ClusterBleepBomb there's tons of bleeping]] (although they swear with no bleeping in the next episode). If it was ever to be shown outside Norway, it would have received an 18+ in most countries, as there's no FamilyFriendlyStripper, but a real stripper; you can [[http://youtu.be/tNbba9C1bxU?t=18m22s see her]] for yourself. Other examples make you wonder how it even managed to air, like one [[SketchComedy opening sketch]] that had the narrator sneak into the ladies' restroom (it's suddenly "okay" when he's the handsome narrator), one character believing one of the leads to be [[http://youtu.be/qzAi8Wca3dQ?t=27m33s wearing women's underwear]] (he's a man), and suddenly an ending fit for a CrimeAndPunishmentSeries, the narrator trying to make money selling [[http://youtu.be/kAg5V-ZdtxU?t=23m34s underwear based on the brothers]], a drunken general with a cabinet filled with [[http://youtu.be/kAg5V-ZdtxU?t=13m31s alcoholic beverages]], the [[http://youtu.be/qzAi8Wca3dQ?t=19m12s bleeping part]], just to mention a few.

* ''Series/TheHauntingHour'' often has gruesome deaths, frequent moments of GettingCrapPastTheRadar, and episodes that rely more on [[AdultFear real-life scares]] along with the usual use of ghosts, ghouls, vampires, and freaky creatures. Then there are episodes like "Head Shot," "Sick," "The Cast," "The Weeping Woman," "Checking Out," "Red Eye," and "Terrible Love" that show that sometimes the scariest things we experience are real and the monsters we encounter are people with warped personalities (which "Head Shot," "Red Eye," and "Terrible Love" showed with all the subtlety of a bitch slap upside the head).

** ''Series/PowerRangersSamurai'' was nearly a ShotForShotRemake of the DarkerAndEdgier ''Series/SamuraiSentaiShinkenger,'' but occasionally, the endangered-kid-of-the-week would have a less tragic story (Dad is never around vs. Dad died in a MonsterOfTheWeek battle we didn't see.) leading many to cry "{{Bowdlerization}}" and "DarthWiki/RuinedFOREVER" at first. However, why is the dad not around? Work? Or "never around" just means "out all day for two or three days 'cause he's looking for the perfect birthday present" or something like that? Nope, he's in the military, busy with a little something we like to call UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror. Other cuts to ''Shinkenger'' footage are more surgical, less "turn the bad thing into kittens and rainbows" and more "get the bad thing [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar past the radar]] while keeping its impact." The past team who sealed Master Xandred, Jayden's dad included, still died, and apparently, a car with a guy in it being crushed is okay if it happens quickly enough. Deker and Dayu's story is very different from Juzo Fuwa[[note]][[spoiler: revealed to be a mass-murdering BloodKnight ''before'' he was a Gedoushuu (Nighlok)]][[/note]] and Dayu Usukawa [[note]] [[spoiler: jealous that the man she loved married another, she burned down the wedding. Her would-be love's soul being trapped within is what makes her shamisen - there's such a thing as a harmonium and ''that ain't it,'' Tzachor! - so important to her.]][[/note]] but it's a doozy on its own, and as such it's ''much'' more tragic than Shinkenger when [[spoiler: in the end, they cannot be saved.]] When [[spoiler: Dayu]] dies in the same manner as her Shinkenger counterpart, [[spoiler: she doesn't resist at all because she just wants to be with Deker again.]] Also, the especially torturous effects of KnightOfCerebus Akumaro Sujigarano's (Serrator's) monsters on the populace remain. Victims perpetually feel like you're starving to death and food makes it ''worse?'' Stays. People's souls placed in inanimate objects, still conscious? Yup. Bug critters force their way into your mouth and while they're in you feel mind-numbing agony? Ditto.

* ''Series/WizardsOfWaverlyPlace'' has its own unique feature, a huge amount of BrotherSisterIncest innuendo. Not to mention the [[Radar/WizardsOfWaverlyPlace crap past the radar]], and the [[NightmareFuel/WizardsOfWaverlyPlace Nightmare Fuel]][[note]]Yes, it has such things; the ''Wizards vs. Werewolves'' episode was rated PG, something that has never been done on the Creator/DisneyChannel before.[[/note]], the fetish potential and there is much more. Before the trope was cut and locked, it had its own Incest Yay page. A character was also murdered on this show, and perhaps even more than one seeing as some scenes were downright ambiguous. In a Disney Channel children's show. [[{{Squick}} Yeah]].

* ''Series/OddSquad'' has some pretty dark moments for being a kids' show, and has more GettingCrapPastTheRadar and DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything moments than most might believe. Among other things, it has strong implications of abuse, PTSD, child marriage, GlobalWarming, and alcoholism -- and that's just in its ''first season.'' Despite this, the show has been a consistent part of Creator/PBSKids for 5 years, and is still going.

* ''Series/{{Tweenies}}'': One episode has one of the characters, Bella, actually saying "I hate you", despite this being a preschool show.

* ''Series/Tweenies'': One episode has one of the characters, Bella, actually saying "I hate you", despite this being a preschool show.

* ''Series/ThirteenReasonsWhy'' is aimed at teenagers but deals with some pretty dark and distressing subject matter that even some adults find hard to deal with, namely [[DrivenToSuicide suicide]] and [[RapeAsDrama rape]]. The violence in the show gets pretty graphic, including showing the entirety of Hannah's suicide [[note]] which was subsequently heavily edited in 2019 [[/note]] and ''three'' rape scenes (which we also get flashbacks to). The show's content earned it a TV-MA rating on Netflix, meaning that anyone under 18 — aka, ''the target audience'' should probably only watch the show accompanied by a parent/guardian, if at all.