World Television Day: An ode to the 2000s tween-show era

MUMBAI: Under the era of Youtube, Netflix and along with it the access to a lot of international and hyper local content, is buried a little piece of our tween and teenage self which used to wait for the 6 pm marathon of Disney, Channel V, MTV shows. The 6-7 pm slot was our prime time, when homework and household chores came to a standstill and the world of Miley Stuart (Hannah Montana), Alex Russo (Wizards of Waverly Place), Zack and Cody (The Suite Life of Zack, Cody), the Jonas Brothers (Jonas Brothers) became our own. 

Woven from the same thread, were some homegrown favourites such as Shararat Ki Shararat, Karishma ka Karishma, Kya Mast Hai Life, Humse se hai life, Dil Dosti Dance, Dil Mil Gaye, Cambala Investigation Agency, Dhoom Machao Dhoom, Miley Jab Hum Tum, The Suite Life of Karan and Kabir, Best of Luck Nikki, Art Attack, M.A.D which gave birth to a new era of tween and teenage content. 

Today’s tweens, the Gen Alphas, are watching shows like Stranger Things and Wednesday, which are built on bigger budgets. There was something undeniably special and captivating about the early 2000s shows. Budgets were tighter, sets were smaller and the wardrobe comprised stripes, shapes and every colour in the crayon box. And yet, the eccentric Y2K fashion, glitter eyeshadows and wired headphones are all making a comeback, as the 90s and 2000s still have a massive chokehold on today’s Gen Z and Gen Alpha aesthetics.

Indian tween shows, however, are in a prolonged slumber, becoming relics of a particular cultural moment. Why did this entire category fade away? Was it the exposure to more adult-leaning content at a younger age? The dominance of social media influencers who now serve as the “relatable content” that TV once offered? Or the shift in economics, where kids’ programming no longer promises the same advertising returns? 

Disney and Nickelodeon still exist, but mostly for nostalgia-wrapped reruns, serving more as comfort viewing for young adults than destination content for actual tweens.

To throw some light into why this type of content hasn’t seen the light of day since 2012, actor Varun Vazir, who played Manu in The Suite Life of Karan and Kabir, talked about how the downfall isn’t due to lack of demand, but a change in our lifestyle and the way kids consume content these days. 

“There’s been a major shift in how content is consumed. Back in the 2000s, television was the only form of entertainment for kids. Today, they’re watching YouTube, and OTT all at once. The landscape has completely changed. The attention span has reduced. Content is shorter, snappier, watched vertically on phones. We never imagined people would watch the shows vertically now it’s normal.” 

Today’s kids have grown up around devices and the social media savvy environment, whereas the 90s and 2000s kids grew up with Pokemon and WWE cards, Disney themed sippers and pencil boxes, board games, beyblades, yoyos, iPods and the sony MP3 players. 

“Children are growing up before their age. An eight-year-old today is already watching content meant for 13-year-olds. Earlier, there was innocence in the shows and in the audience. That innocence is missing now,” he added. 

“The characters weren’t extravagant. They were real families and real kids dealing with simple problems in a fun, warm way. That’s why people connected to them,” Varun recalled. “It wasn’t superheroes and VFX. It was storytelling at its purest.”

Vazir explained that the way these shows were made reflected the same heart.

“So much love and passion went into those shows. Now everything is about ROI and virality. Back then, the foundation was storytelling.”

Shows like The Suite Life of Karan and Kabir and Best of Luck Nikki, were shot like classic sitcoms: multi-camera, sync sound, minimal post-production. 

“We didn’t dub anything. No retakes for sound. Whatever you did on set went straight to the screen and that gave the show a certain honesty you rarely see today,” he recalled. 

Perhaps the most conspicuous shift is this: the idea of “tweenhood” itself has changed. Where we lingered in that space for years — our childhoods were slower, simpler and shielded from the noise of the online world — today’s kids leap across it quickly. They mimic teen behaviour earlier, consume mature content earlier, and pick up digital-world cues earlier. In that acceleration, the demand for gentle, goofy, aspirational tween content has quietly disappeared.

What remains is a collective memory: one built on shows with laugh tracks, school crushes, matching friendship bands, and theme songs that still live rent-free in our minds.