One of Ronald Reagan's most far-reaching acts as president was appointing Mark Fowler as the chairman of the FCC in 1981. Fowler went on to massively deregulate television, especially children's television.

This ushered in a massive sea change in children's TV. Educational shows like Schoolhouse Rock got the axe; they were replaced with shows like Transformers and G.I. Joe, which were created expressly to market toys to children.

Saturday morning cartoons of the 1980s were the first time advertisers had a single dominant venue where they could market directly to children unmediated by parents or educators. They could directly tell the nation's 6-year-olds "You won't be happy unless you own this toy."

Result: The branded childhood. In-demand toys existed before the 1980s, of course, but it never had a fraction of the reach, homogeneity, and--especially--tie-in branding that was created in the 1950s.

The franchise tie-in toys are the most obvious effect; the colorful, non-IP castles and play houses of the mid-20th century fell by the wayside in favor of toys that turned every play experience into a way to reinforce brand loyalty.

What do you get when you raise an entire generation of plastic young brains to associate all their positive childhood experiences with a franchise? Well, you get this.

We now have a generation of adults in their 30s and 40s who are neurologically incapable of differentiating positive feelings from franchises--their brains are wired that way. Nostalgia has always existed, but this is the first generation where it's completely owned by brands.

Now that the creators are themselves the product of being marketed to as children, the snake is eating its own tail--both the marketers and the audience want only an endless regurgitation of a commercial for 8-year-olds from 1987.

A common line now is "remakes and adaptations have always existed," but it's a deliberately misleading narrative by people who can't accept their own emotional stuntedness. It has never been this bad. Ever.