History WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids / LiveActionTv

* ''Series/AreYouAfraidOfTheDark'' featured FamilyUnfriendlyViolence by the ''buttload'', genuinely high stakes, and some truly horrifying monsters. Just to name a few, we have the Ghastly Grinner (effectively SelfDemonstrating/TheJoker with the ability to MindRape people), the Cellar Demon (a child-eating monster, who was "fed" by the previous owner of the house and then ''the protagonist'', who's implied-to-be next victim is his own bitchy little sister), and most infamously "The Corpse" (a waterlogged, rotted-out, blood-dripping corpse that's gory by Film/LivingDeadSeries standards and murders children by drowning them). Even the first episode establishes just how little chill the series has by introducing Dr. Vink and his creepy shack full of pickled human parts and Flynn, who bombastically averts NeverSayDie by spinning is own head around, yelling "I sorta died!!!" and proceeding to drive himself, and two kids off a cliff unless they answer a riddle in time.

* ''Series/TheRealWorld'': This trope was discussed by Danny Roberts, the gay guy from the 2000 UsefulNotes/NewOrleans season, in a 2022 interview. At first he thought the show was primarily watched by young adults due to all the sex, drinking, and discussion of heavy topics, but in the decades that followed, he has gotten countless messages from gay men saying he was their earliest gay role model when they were children. While Danny is touched to hear that, he can't help but wonder how their parents let them watch that show in the first place.

** ''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.

However, since ''Series/KamenRiderGaim'', the series has seen some of the darkest, sickest and bleakest seasons: ''Gaim''[='=] overall plot boils down to "fruit-themed ([[TragicHero tragic]]) superheroes fight [[GeniusLoci sentient]] [[AlienKudzu alien forest]]" with a heavy dose of [[Creator/GenUrobuchi Urobutcher]]'s signature [='=][[{{Deconstruction}} miracle]][='=], ''[[Series/KamenRiderExAid Ex-Aid]]'' is basically MedicalDrama [[CrapsaccharineWorld taking place in a world where colorful video games come to life]], ''[[Series/KamenRiderBuild Build]]'': fun series featuring a ScienceHero turned into a horrifying story about war, trauma and CosmicHorror; ''[[Series/KamenRiderZeroOne Zero-One]]'' isn't much saccharine with its bright future theme either, considering the higher body count, dysfunctional but terrifying villains and [[WesternAnimation/{{Frozen}} for the first time in forever]] -- [[HeWhoFightsMonsters the main protagonist willingly becoming the]] BigBad [[HeWhoFightsMonsters he wanted to put an end to]].

** Even when taking cultural standards into consideration, the ''Kamen Rider'' franchise's run from 2000 to approximately 2004-2005 is largely characterized by its ability to introduce mature tropes into the series. ''Series/KamenRiderKuuga'', for example, is one of the few Tokus that has gotten away with depicting the murder of minors. The peak of this renaissance can generally be agreed to exist between ''Series/KamenRiderRyuki'' and ''Series/KamenRider555'' which both subvert the traditional [[BlackAndWhiteMorality Rider Vs Monster]] scenario in their own ways. The series later returned to its more light-hearted formula, but even then didn't stop the shows from dipping into dark places. 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 seasons starting with ''Series/KamenRiderDouble''. However, since ''Series/KamenRiderGaim'', the series has seen some of the darkest, sickest and bleakest seasons: ''Gaim''[='=] overall plot boils down to "fruit-themed ([[TragicHero tragic]]) superheroes fight [[GeniusLoci sentient]] [[AlienKudzu alien forest]] with a heavy dose of [[Creator/GenUrobuchi Urobutcher]]'s signature [='=][[{{Deconstruction}} miracle]][='=], ''[[Series/KamenRiderExAid Ex-Aid]]'' is basically MedicalDrama [[CrapsaccarineWorld taking place in a world where colorful video games come to life]], ''[[Series/KamenRiderBuild Build]]'': fun series featuring a ScienceHero turned into a horrifying story about war, trauma and CosmicHorror; ''[[Series/KamenRiderZeroOne Zero-One]]''

** Even when taking cultural standards into consideration, the ''Kamen Rider'' franchise's run from 2000 to approximately 2004-2005 is largely characterized by its ability to introduce mature tropes into the series. ''Series/KamenRiderKuuga'', for example, is one of the few Tokus that has gotten away with depicting the murder of minors. The peak of this renaissance can generally be agreed to exist between ''Series/KamenRiderRyuki'' and ''[[Series/KamenRiderFaiz Kamen Rider 555]]'' which both subvert the traditional [[BlackAndWhiteMorality Rider Vs Monster]] scenario in their own ways. After four years of ''Series/KamenRiderDouble''[='=]s more light-hearted formula (which even then didn't stop the shows from dipping into dark places), ''Series/KamenRiderGaim'' steered the creative direction of the franchise back to that earlier period... via "[[Creator/GenUrobuchi Urobutchery]];" it has [[NightmareFuel/KamenRiderGaim a lengthy Nightmare Fuel page]] for a very good reason.
** 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 set in a CrapsaccharineWorld.[[/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. [[spoiler: Then there's the CosmicHorrorReveal...]]

** The Creator/JodieWhittaker seasons (11-13) include historical and modern-set stories dealing explicitly with real-life racism and sexism, companions grieving the death of a loved one at length, and a depressing MythArc that reveals the Doctor is [[spoiler: not a native Gallifreyan, but rather an actual immortal tortured to death multiple times as a child to create the Time Lord race, then 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 get wiped out ''again'']], with her apparently not interested in trying to fix that problem, and her final season's StoryArc deals with a time-space anomaly wiping out much of the known universe.

* ''Series/IkMikLoreland'', the [[EdutainmentShow educational programme]] that traumatized an entire generation of Dutch children. It was specifically targeted towards six-year-olds to teach them to read and write. The plot involves Loria, a land where everyone loves reading and writing, and the one-eyed monster Carbuncle who can't do these things and [[GreenEyedMonster gets so mad]] [[SugarApocalypse that he magics away everyone's ability to read and write]], scattering the words all over the world. A girl named Mik takes it upon her to [[GottaCatchThemAll get them back]] and Carbuncle pursues her and attempts to stop her. Carbuncle was a frightening antagonist who regularly showed up in children's' nightmares, and many of the locations Mik visited on her journey were creepy and bizarre. Every year when it was rerun, debates would erupt among parents and school teachers about the appropriateness of the show. According to WordOfGod, ''Series/TwinPeaks'' was a major influence.

*** 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.
*** The second serial "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS1E2TheDaleks The Daleks]]" features a Thal committing suicide by cutting the rope that was holding him above a precipice, thus falling to his death.
*** The third serial "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS1E3TheEdgeofDestruction The Edge of Destruction]]" uses haunted house tropes and has Susan wildly stabbing a bed with scissors.
*** The fourth serial "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS1E4MarcoPolo Marco Polo]]" features another suicide, as the villainous warlord Tegana stabs himself to death after being defeated by Marco Polo in a swordfight, rather than allow himself be captured.
** A BBC audience research survey conducted in 1972 found that ''Doctor Who'' was the most violent show it had produced at the time! The show was especially violent during the first few Fourth Doctor seasons (12-14), consistently getting complaints and eventually forcing a {{Retool}} (for instance, [[Recap/DoctorWhoS13E5TheBrainofMorbius "The Brain of Morbius"]] (1976) features a man getting shot in the stomach with an explosion of blood, then crawling, dying, down a corridor).

** 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, though it also falls into this trope as while it was more clear-cut kid-friendly than its parent series, some episodes -- *cough* "[[Recap/TheSarahJaneAdventuresS2E3E4TheDayOfTheClown Day of the Clown]]" *cough* -- are not the kind of thing you'd want to let children watch alone. 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!

* ''Series/TheRealWorld'': this trope was discussed by Danny Roberts, the gay guy from the 2000 UsefulNotes/NewOrleans season, in a 2022 interview. At first he thought the show was primarily watched by young adults due to all the sex, drinking, and discussion of heavy topics. But in the decades that followed, he has gotten countless messages from gay men saying he was their earliest gay role model when they were children. While Danny is honored to hear that he meant so much to so many, he can't help but be surprised their parents let them watch that show in the first place.

* ''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/WizardsOfWaverlyPlace'' has its own unique feature, a huge amount of BrotherSisterIncest innuendo. Not to mention 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. 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]].
** ''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.]]

*** ''Series/UltramanLeo'' is sorta the ''Ultra Series'' version of ''Kamen Rider'', with one reason being that despite being primarily for children, it was a '''very''' dark series. Although kid-centered episodes were common in the series, it also featured some very gruesome displays of FamilyUnfriendlyViolence between Ultras and monsters (Leo has a tendency to kill kaiju by using their own body parts against them) or humans and monsters (eg: the father of the main two kids being sliced in half by an alien in episode 3). Its DarkerAndEdgier take on the defense team and the relationships between Ultras were also quite prominent, with officers being killed regularly and previous Ultra heroes doing acts that would have branded them as villains in their own series. And let's not even get to episode 40, which has possibly the greatest KillThemAll in the history of Toku.

* If you log on to Creator/{{Netflix}} and enter "Kids" mode, you'll only receive child-friendly suggestions, most of which are light-hearted, animated shows... and alongside them is ''Series/ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents2017'', a series which shows characters burning to death, a character being killed by snake poison, and a character getting eaten alive by leeches. And that's just the first season!

* ''Series/TomorrowsPioneers'' was a children's show created by the [[UsefulNotes/{{Palestine}} Palestinian]] governing authority and [[UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror terrorist organization]] Hamas, [[TykeBomb seeking to groom their kids into warriors against Israel]] with a MockyMouse named Farfour and other {{Creepy Mascot Suit}}s. Because of the show's graphic language, BloodlessCarnage, and blatant attempts at indoctrination, the station airing it received [[HatedByAll international condemnation]] (as well as ''several'' Israeli missile strikes) [[EveryoneHasStandards with even non-Hamas Palestinian officials arguing that it had gone too far]].

* ''Series/TheRealWorld'': this trope was discussed by Danny Roberts, the gay guy from the 2000 UsefulNotes/NewOrleans season, in a 2022 interview. At first he thought 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 has gotten countless messages from gay men saying they watched him on TV when they were 10-13 years old and that he was their earliest gay role model. While Danny's first thought is to be honored that he meant so much to so many, his second is "Where were your parents?!"

* ''Series/TheRealWorld'': this trope was discussed by Danny Roberts, the gay guy from the 2000 UsefulNotes/NewOrleans season, in a 2022 interview. At first he thought 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 has gotten countless messages from gay men saying they watched him on TV when they were 10-13 years old and that he was their earliest gay role model. While Danny is honored to know he meant so much to so many, he's surprised so many kids' parents let them watch ''The Real World'' in the first place.

* ''Series/TheRealWorld'': this trope was discussed by Danny Roberts, the gay guy from the 2000 UsefulNotes/NewOrleans season, in a 2022 interview. At first he thought 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 has gotten countless messages from gay men saying they watched him on TV when they were 10-13 years old and that he was their earliest gay role model. While Danny is honored to know he meant so much to so many, his second thought is, "Where were your parents when you were watching this?!"

* ''Series/TheRealWorld'': this trope was discussed by Danny Roberts, the gay guy from the 2000 UsefulNotes/NewOrleans season, in a 2022 interview. At first he thought 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 has gotten countless messages from gay men saying they watched him on TV when they were 10-13 years old and that he was their earliest gay role model. While Danny is always touched to hear that, his second thought is, "Where were your parents when you were watching this?!"

* ''Series/TheRealWorld'': this trope was discussed by Danny Roberts, the gay guy from the 2000 UsefulNotes/NewOrleans season, in a 2022 interview. 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 gotten countless messages from gay men saying they watched him on TV when they were 10-13 years old and that he was their earliest gay hero. And while Danny is always touched to hear that, his second thought is, "Where were your parents when you were watching this?!" (especially now that he has a child of his own).

* ''Series/TheRealWorld'': this trope was discussed by Danny Roberts, the gay guy from the 2000 UsefulNotes/NewOrleans season, in a 2022 interview. 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 the decades that followed, he's gotten countless messages from gay men saying they watched him on TV when they were 10-13 years old and that he was their earliest gay hero. And while Danny is always touched to hear that, his second thought is, "Where were your parents when you were watching this?!" (especially now that he has a child of his own).

* ''Series/TheRealWorld'': this trope was discussed by Danny Roberts, the gay guy from the 2000 UsefulNotes/NewOrleans season, in a 2022 interview. 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 the decades that followed, he's gotten countless messages from gay men saying they watched him on TV when they were 10-13 years old and that 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 2000 UsefulNotes/NewOrleans season, in a 2022 interview. 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 the decades that followed, he's gotten countless messages from gay men saying they watched him on TV when they were 10-13 years old and 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 2000 UsefulNotes/NewOrleans season, in a 2022 interview. 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 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 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 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 6 of ''Doctor Who'' had a [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything barely allegorical]] RapeAndRevenge {{Arc}} where Amy, who didn't even know she was pregnant, suddenly finds herself strapped to an operating table, being forced to give birth by a terrifying woman who is going to steal the baby. This is such a strong AdultFear BodyHorror plot that many adult women found it genuinely terrifying, and questioned who the show was even aimed at any more. The show's handling of the aftermath of this plot with AngstWhatAngst is often criticized as unconvincing and sexist, but may have been intentional to keep the show functioning - how could they possibly have dealt with it realistically within the constraints of a children's adventure show?

* ''Series/TheHauntingHour'' often has gruesome deaths 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).