Gravity Falls
I didn’t really get into Gravity Falls until much later in the show’s run, due in large part to Disney’s bizarre scheduling of the show. Yet when I finally did manage to sit down and watch it, I was enthralled. Gravity Falls is a case study in “How’d they get away with this?” It seems implausible that a Disney Channel cartoon could be aimed directly at children while avoiding looking down and never question itself or be questioned. Multiple times, Falls takes things to an edge where it might seem to be too much for its target audience, but that was always the point. Gravity Falls was without a doubt about the moment in adolescence where reality begins to creep in and maturity arises to face it. Magically, that reality is replaced with its opposite to personify that struggle that we all can identify. Very few shows get to have as much fun with the audience as well. Where most shows use clues and external sources to tease fans, Gravity Falls encouraged its audience to start solving mysteries on their own, culminating in the show’s best moment: a real statue of series villain Bill Cipher hidden in Oregon and discovered by two intrepid young fans. Top that, Westworld. – Travis Hymas
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