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Parent Service
It's a show that the kids can enjoy because of the cartoony action, and Dad can enjoy because he's a big ol' pervert!
— Lore Sjoberg, The Book of Ratings, on 'The Super Friends'.

So let's say your beautiful baby girl is watching her favorite show on TV. She isn't responding when you ask her if she wants to play outside, so you give up, sit down and start watching it with her. Let's see, kid heroes going around fighting bad guys, nothing too unpredictable... Ho, ho, ho, who's this! Looks like somebody has a new favorite show!

Parent Service is the simplest form of Parental Bonus, where sexiness is used a bit to catch the eyes of parents and older siblings. It's also what separates family shows/movies from children's shows/movies: While in both cases kids are the primary target, the former is specifically designed to retain elements that will keep all members of the family entertained.

This is distinct from Fetish Fuel, which is about young people finding things sexy for the first time; this trope is all about pleasing the Periphery Demographic. Although there can be some overlap (see left).

Examples

Anime
  • Parodied by Crayon Shin-Chan, in the episode where Shin's mom, Mitzi, develops a crush on the Bishonen villain of Action Bastard.
  • When you consider the fact that Magical Girl shows are (usually) aimed at the 9-13 year old female audience (ostensibly), who else but dads are the elaborate costumes, Transformation Sequences, and Panty Shots for?
  • Yotsuba has Asagi and Fuuka.
  • Yatterman.
  • The "Pokemon" anime does play around with the concept as Team Rocket, The Sensational Cerulean Sisters and Ash's Mother have more than once came off like this. There are also a pretty good amount of one-shots that can apply as well, though the Orange Island arc had a couple of very blatant examples with Professor Ivy and Lorelei/Prima. (But the show itself is generally tame compared to how certain Pokemon Manga can be, especially Toshiro Ono's handiwork.)

Comic Books
  • Disturbingly parodied in F-Minus, where a family is walking out of a showing of a kiddie movie, and the father comments that "That movie had something for everybody, talking animals for the kids, and tasteful nudity for the adults."

Film
  • In the live-action Scooby Doo films, the outfits worn by Daphne (Sarah Michelle Gellar) are pretty clearly Parent Service. The vinyl Spy Catsuit Velma wears briefly in the second film is even more so, and the cameo of Pam Anderson in a slightly sheer white top is nothing but.
    • Daphne in general, played by Sarah Michelle Gellar or not. Yes, she did end up in a bikini at some point.
      • It's in one of the direct to video Scooby-Doo movies. The one where they head to Hawaii.
  • Jareth's pants.
  • The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland has Vanessa Williams as the Queen of Trash. Period.
  • This troper had a friend who's father's favorite character in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers The Movie was Dulcea. Funnily enough, once this troper became a bit older and the next movie came out, his favorite character was Divatox.
  • Uma Thurman's part in The Adventures of Baron Münchhausen.
  • Please Don't Eat the Daisies was a light comedy movie about a family and, with moments like Doris Day as the mother leading a bunch of children in the title song, presumably intended for family audiences. One of its subplots, though, concerns the father's opinion of an actress's bottom. You can't get much more literal Parent Service than that.
  • Yeah, there are many grown people that are fans of Transformers, but for the rest of the populace that view the live action movies as properties based on toys and cartoons that they are being dragged to by their kids, the addition of Megan Fox is pretty much blatant, almost to the point of being lampshaded.
  • Elf Three words: Zooey. Deschanel. Shower.
  • Shay Stanley's presence in ''BlankCheck'' definitely qualifies for this. There's even a scene where she's dancing with the young protagonist in a series of water fountains. To quote Nostalgia Critic: THUMP!

Live Action TV
  • The Dad from Young Dracula could count as being for the Mums... though a lot of his fanbase seems to be made up of teenage girls with Electra complexes.
  • Morticia Addams in most of her incarnations.
  • The original version of The Electric Company had this[1] that could be seen as Parent Service, Nightmare Fuel, or Nightmare Retardant depending on how you look at it (and what's really unsettling is that the writers probably didn't mean for it to be like this).
  • The mother on The Suite Life Of Zack And Cody seems to be used this way.
    • On occasion, London (Brenda Song) and Maddie (Ashley Tisdale) fall under this trope too.
  • Doctor Who is well known for using the Doctor's companions for these purposes, where it's called "something for the Dads". Some of the better known are:
  • Arguably all the dads in The Sarah Jane Adventures are distinctly "for the mums".
  • Many of the Power Rangers characters. Unsurprisingly, it always seems to be the villains that get the role.
    • This is arguably the only reason why the Pink and Yellow Rangers were around. Kat and Tanya, anyone?
    • And definitely Kimberly, what with the tight gymnastics outfits, the otherwise constant upskirts and the episode where Zedd decides to make her his queen.
  • Nearly every New Generation Kamen Rider series from Kamen Rider Agito on basically includes Parent Service for the mothers, so much so that essentially the target audience has changed from just for kids to, for kids and their moms.
  • This trope is the only explanation for the skimpy outfits worn by the female presenters on certain kids shows in The Eighties and The Nineties, in Latin America. Just google "Xuxa" and "Nubeluz".
    • An while you're at it, check "Espacio de Tatiana"
    • And Feiticeira
    • Parodied in The Simpsons, with the Brazillian children's presenter who demonstrates "clockwise" and "counterclockwise" by ... making things spin.
      • And then later demonstrates "on top of" and "beneath" while all we get to see is the family's wide-eyed reaction.
  • Hi-5, both parents but especially dads.
  • From Nick Jr., bored moms have been known to crush on the Kratt Brothers of Zaboomafoo, Sportacus from LazyTown, and Steve from Blues Clues. However, nobody seems to like Joe. This troper believes that Joe is simply not as good at Parent Service as Steve was. Joe simply panders to the Standard Kiddie Audience, whereas Steve Walked the Creepy Line.
    • Zaboomafoo was actually on PBS Kids, not Nick Jr.
  • Lots of Parent Service on C Beebies, most of it simply very good-looking presenters - although Sarah-Jane from Tikkabilla is a former contortionist, as many dads like to point out.
  • This troper is sure that John Stamos had a large part to do with the staying power of Full House.
    • And then there's Becky. Let's ask the Nostalgia Critic:
    Nostalgia Critic: "She's pretty dull, but I'd be lying if I didn't say she was kinda hot."
  • The producers of The Avengers were pretty blatant as to their motives when they brought Diana Rigg onboard as M(an) Appeal, er Emma Peel.
  • TV Guide did an article once about guys watching Captain Kangaroo because of a "luscious babe" who used to be on it, sort of like Tim Taylor's female show lead in on Home Improvement.
  • The Top of the Pops dance troupes such as Pan's People and Legs & Co that the show used when they couldn't get live footage in the era before music videos were widespread.
    • Over in America, meanwhile, we had the Solid Gold dancers.
  • Lampshaded in the third season of the HBO series, OZ, when the inmates would regularly crowd around the TV to watch a childrens' program with a rather well-endowed hostess (with more than a few commenting on how lucky the puppets were!).
  • In Australia, there was a show called What's Up Doc, which basically showed a few Looney Tunes cartoons. Where this trope comes in, however, is that it was hosted by Sophie Lee, who introduced the cartoons and tended to wear clothes specifically designed for Parent Service. Oh, and the background set was loosely based on the idea that it's a Looney Tunes set, complete with a Daffy Duck shaped hole in the wall, but who cares?
  • Some french-canadian example
    • Alia and Zalaé in Toc Toc Toc. The characters are preschollar aged children, but the parents only see the adult actress playing them, I can assure you
    • Passe-Carreau in Passe-Partout. The attractiveness of the actress at the time is still a running gag for my generation.
    • It was lampshaded very very heavily in Les Bougons, where the prostitute daughter of the family, becomes a children entertainer because of her sex appeal. Let's just say she's playing around with VERY phallic toys in her "videoclips".

Theater
  • This Troper's brother-in-law was in a Jungle Book stage play mostly aimed at children, but had the actress playing the (female version of) Bagheera in a very sexy catsuit (no pun intended). Said brother-in-law explained this as being a way of keeping the children's fathers interested, and in fact said that her outfit was originally supposed to be skimpier.
  • A newspaper article this troper once read speculated that the 1904 play Peter Pan was a source of Parent Service in that young women generally played the title role. Remember, a woman in leggings was very racy in Edwardian times.
    • Most Pantomimes (where the Principal Boy is always played by a woman) is a source of this, even today.
      • Let's go back even further, when the laws loosen up to allow women to perform, they were often put in roles that includes 'disguising oneself as a boy' for this reason.
  • This Troper's 9th grade English teacher was involved in an... interesting performance of Romeo and Juliet in high school. He did not play a title role. However, a Wardrobe Malfunction was discovered on opening night. Apparently, the costume for Juliet, who was rather buxom, became a bit...translucent/transparent under the stage lights. Now this wasn't all that noticeable from the audience, up close it was a bit more so. During her soliloquy crying over Romeo's "corpse", shall we say that Romeo ''did'' notice, which the audience also noticed.

Web Comics
  • Jason invokes this to justify a certain casting choice in this Something Positive strip.

Western Animation
  • Jessica Rabbit.
  • Obligatory Avatar The Last Airbender example: In the first season, when the main cast was at its youngest and most childish, the creators gave us Commander Zhao, introduced with a Shirtless Scene, and voiced by Jason Isaacs. Mmmm...
    • It is worth noting that Zuko is older than the rest of the main cast, and shared that shirtless scene (not like that; get your mind out of the gutter!). My, oh, my.
      • Not to discredit his sister Azula. She sounds like The Vamp and does not look 14 at all.
    • Later on there's both Hakoda and Ozai for a double-dose of DILF.
    • June. The black clad, whip-wielding, pouty-lipped and stacked bounty hunter. Despite only appearing in one episode, she was quite popular, and got to make an appearance in the Grand Finale.
  • Miss Sarah Bellum in The Powerpuff Girls. You never see her face, but the rest of her more than makes up for it.
  • Shego and Mrs. Dr. Possible in Kim Possible. Well, and Kim Possible herself. She is a cheerleader after all.
    • There is, of course, an entire Ho Yay fan movement around this one, primarly pairing teenaged cheerleader Kim and older dark action girl Shego... Clingy Catsuit + pet names = Fetish Fuel
    • Hey, don't leave Mr. Dr. Possible out! Every kids' show should have a brilliant but nerdy silver fox.
  • Obligatory Teen Titans Example: This show is for kids? Yeah, right. That's why Raven runs around in the equivalent of a one-piece swimsuit all the time.
    • Raven's leotard gets mentioned but Starfire's bellybutton goes ignored?
      • Starfire's sexiness was toned down immensely for the cartoon. Comic◊; Cartoon◊.
  • Just about every Disney Princess ever. Special wolfwhistles go out to Snow White, Ariel, and Jasmine.
    • Some popular leading males, too - and exactly how many people like the Beast? Only in his beast form?
    • This troper can't help but admit she has a bit of a crush on both John Smith from Pocahontas (partially because Mel Gibson used his sexiest voice for the character) and Phoebus from Hunchback of Notre Dame.
    • No love for Tinkerbell and her miniskirted leggy figure? People speculated that she was modeled after Marilyn Monroe!
    • This reached a new level of blatancy in The Great Mouse Detective. The only major female character is a five-year old girl, but the creators still managed to work in the number "Let Me Be Good To You", sung by a scantily clad mouse dancing girl. This song is probably the inspiration for a lot of furries.
    • Certainly helped.
  • The villainesses in Batman The Animated Series. Extra points go to Harley and Ivy's blatant Les Yay, and, in later episodes, Harley's attempts to seduce the Joker, which involved pies and nighties and were about as risqué as they were unsuccessful.
    • Not to mention Bruce Wayne himself.
    • Also Barbara Gordon, really.
  • In Animaniacs: Hello Nurse and Minerva Mink. That is all.
    • In Minerva Mink's episode, the nerdy Wilford Wolf transforms into a gorgeous hunk of a werewolf who turns the tables on Minerva. Could just as easily be considered Parent Service.
    • There's also Trudy's cousin at the end of the first Minerva episode, who also causes the same reaction. With his leather jacket, pompadour, and total immunity to Minerva's charms, this troper wishes he could have been more than a one shot...
  • Before that, Babs Bunny in Tiny Toon Adventures had a habit of adding a load of curves when she did some of her costume changes. The two most blatant being the Elvira costume when trying to get an acting gig from Shakesphere, and the time she (somehow) disguised herself as a human to get a role in the "live-action" series "Thirteen-something", and spent half the episode with a pair of double-D's (on a two-foot body, no less!).
  • Post-timejump AndrAIa in ReBoot. I mean... just look◊ at her. And it didn't help matters when she got Brainwashed and started calling Matrix "lover".
    • This troper fondly remembers a drinking game from her Booter days with the following lines:
    "Take one drink every time AndrAIa uses her sex appeal to cloud men's minds.
    Take one drink every time AndrAIa uses her sex appeal to cloud the viewers' minds."
    • And, despite the crazy, Hexadecimal had to be the original Parental Bonus. Yikes.
    • AndrAIa's brainwashing and the adoring tone of her voice when first addressing Daemon as "Milady!" were instant Fetish Fuel for this troper.
    • Daemon's skimpy clothes and several "rebooted" attires for Dot Matrix (Elvira comes to mind) also qualify.
      • Lampshaded hilariously when Dot and Bob find themselves in a Tomb Raider like game, and Dot Reboots as a hot Egyptian chick, checks out her new form and accessories for something she doesn't find and, at Bob's enquiry, replies "Well, I was hoping for a couple of Forty-Fives."
    • Matrix is this for the women viewers.
      • For that matter, so's Bob, Ray, and even Megabyte to a select few. They all had their moments.
    • No love for Mouse yet? I'm shocked and dismayed.
  • After the Movie, Spike. Starscream. Blackarachnia. Starscream. Possibly Kicker. Mischa.. Mikaela. . Starscream again. Blackarachnia again. Megatron.
  • Danny Phantom is not immune; Desiree, I'm looking at you. There's also Vlad for the girls - he gets a Shirtless Scene at one point. Also pay attention to how the Fenton parents often react to one another.
    • "Man, that's hot!"
      • Yah, especially early in the show the 'rents are very into one another on a level that should make the target audience go "ewww!"
    • Just hit up Deviant Art for fanart of ANY of the female ghosts, Sam, Maddie, or Jazz to get your Fetish Fuel fix if you doubt the Parent Service going on here.
  • This 17-year-old troper enjoys Justice League Unlimited because of the great writing and her abiding geekiness. Her father watches it with her because of Wonder Woman, Black Canary (voiced by none other than Morena "Space Hooker" Baccarin), Huntress, Fire, etc. Add together the lists that the show has both in Fetish Fuel and Getting Crap Past The Radar, the luscious,scantily-clad leggy/busty women and strong muscular men (who frequently have lots of their strong, muscular chests on display, and you have a show MADE of Parental Bonus. I myself will admit to finding both Green Lantern and J'onn strangely hot...
    • Not to mention one episode this troper remembers, in which the League was launching some kind of mass attack. Atom was a vital part, and was unable to quickly transport himself. As a result, he shrunk down immensely so that he could be carried by Wonder Woman. Based on the trope at hand, you can guess where.
    • Also consider the scene of Black Canary putting on her boots at the end of 'Initiation'. That was definately NOT just for Green Arrow's benefit.
  • Some dads enjoy watching Totally Spies with their daughters mainly because of Sam and Clover.
    • And this troper's teenage brother. This may have something to do with the fact that most of the series is Fetish Fuel of one kind or another.
      • just about any hetro male who has seen more than five minutes of this show gets hooked on the veild quips and fetishy super-spy style
  • The Secret Saturdays: Drew Saturday. Form fitting Spy Catsuit? Check. Hartman Hips? Yep. Hot Shounen Mom? Oh yeah.
  • This Troper's dad was walking by when he saw Ahsoka on TV, remarking "What a Fox!" ...Imagine his decidedly negative reaction when informed that "she's, like, thirteen."
  • This Troper has heard a similar accusation made towards the character Chel in The Road To El Dorado, a South American woman who gets around in a flimsy pre-Columbian halter top and sari. The film also contains a scene that could almost be consider controversial where the two main (male) characters are having a bath in a hot spring during a musical montage and an armadillo steals their clothes, leading to a brief exposition of nude Spanish buttock as they chase after it. The director of the film, during an interview, compared the negative reception of this to the uncriticised ubiquity of male nudity in The Simpsons - although a nude Homer is somewhat less sexy in comparison.

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