how do you make an episode of the little rascals preachy?
When MGM took over the series in 1938, the shorts went from "two-reelers" (20 minutes) to "one-reelers" (ten minutes). At the same time, the most famous kids were getting too old to stay in the series (Spanky was 14 when he left the series, still wearing that beanie hat) and were replaced by lesser talents like Mickey (better known as Robert "Barretta" Blake) and Froggy, most of the better writers and directors had stayed with Hal Roach or moved on to other things, budgets for short features were being slashed to nothing with every passing year (which is why you'll see a lot of later Three Stooges shorts using the same footage over and over) and the country was gearing up for war. Basically, the decision was made at the studio that every Little Rascals short had to have some kind of moral or lesson tacked on - bullshit like "look both ways before you cross the road," "kids are starving around the world so quit whining about hash for dinner," "don't be afraid of the dentist," "don't play hooky from school," etc. Just fucking awful, and the kids all look miserable.
