I just binged “Talking Tom and Friends” with my daughter and it’s easily the weirdest show I’ve ever seen

If you are unfamiliar with this show (and don’t worry if you are, I just learned about it today) it’s a kids show that’s apparently based off a popular mobile app . My kids apparently love the app and my daughter (who is six) discovered the show so we started watching.

It’s an animated series featuring talking animals. And maybe you’re thinking, ok so this is an animated show with talking animals based off a popular kids mobile app? Seems fine, right?

Well, the issue is, I have no idea who this show is actually for.

You’d think it would be for kids, who presumably would have used the app, right? Well, the characters are all in their twenties and share an apartment. And they get into situations that people in their twenties get into.

The two main characters are Tom, a cat, and his girlfriend, who is also a cat. Throughout the series, they get into many adult situations, and are constantly fighting about one thing or another. They actually feel like a real couple in many ways (the way that the Heelers in Bluey feels like a real family) but most of their plot lines are not exactly relatable for a six year old. In one episode, the girlfriend (who is a singer) gets to work with this handsome famous star singer (who is a human.) Tom doesn’t trust him but his gf thinks he’s just jealous of her success, until the famous singer gets her alone and basically sexually assaults her so she runs back to Tom.

To be honest, that’s more on the extreme side in terms of heavy content, but the rest of the themes are still pretty adult-oriented because the characters are adults. I don’t know what little kid who just liked playing a dumb cat game on an iPad is going to care what a bunch of 20-somethings do in terms of their careers or their sex lives.

And then, as I continued watching, I discovered another element to this show. It leans pretty heavily Into sci-fi. One plot involved the characters playing some computer game where the villains turned sentient and came into the real world to turn the main characters into Minecraft-esque blocks. Another featured Tom’s girlfriend thinking Tom was too boring so she went into an alternate dimension to find another version of Tom where he was a rebel.

So I mean, picture Rick and Morty mixed with Friends, packaged as an animated show with talking cats and dogs (who sometimes have relationships with humans) aimed at six-year-olds.

Like, what the hell?