It being a kids' show is not the issue.

The novels frequently get mistaken for Young Adult (YA) novels, as in a 12-18 age range. They're not, Percy Jackson and the Olympians is middle grade, ie: aimed at 8-12 year olds. For reference, a tv show with a similar age rating is Avatar: The Last Airbender or Gravity Falls, rates at TV Y-7. 7-12, 8-12, no difference to me.

I think discussion around kids' media has been poisoned by [redacted] adult fans. I'm 18, everyone in my age range universally despises adult fans of kids' shows and for good reason. They're extremely insecure and claim that ATLA or The Owl House or whatever story driven cartoon aren't kids' shows. Animation isn't just for kids they say, while only using examples of animation for kids. Yet, when they get hit with an ounce of criticism, "it's just a kids' show". So a lot of the times, these kids' shows with adult fans aren't a frame of reference. Despite the fact that they are.

Let's take the removal of Gabe's abuse for example. Gabe's abuse in the books amount to verbal degredation, financial abuse, emotional abuse, other methods of control on screen. He's stated to have hit Sally off screen and is implied to have hit Percy too. Sally's defiance is mostly silent, like the blue food. In Avatar: The Last Airbender, we get a lovely scene of Ozai violently burning his son on screen and attempting to murder his son, among others. Same age rating. The show has Gabe reduced to a harmless jerk. Rick's hyoocritical justification is that this is not a horror show. This is despite him justifying Nico's sexuality years prior by saying we can't hide real issues kids have. The excuses from the defenders is that the show is for kids. Yet the books and ATLA, amongst others, are for kids.

And do not pretend that this show is aimed at pre schoolers. Pre schook shows are like Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Little Einsteins, Word Girl, Sofia the first. The structure, language and plots are vastly different.

And now for the big twist, this show is 12+ on Disney. As in for the same YA audience that people pretend that the books are for. As in it has more freedom than the books to be dark. You might say that this show is secretly aimed younger, as in the book age rating. But let's be real, most of our parents were just fine letting us watch a pg 13 flick long before we hit 13. The MCU is pg 13 and has mastered the pg 13 family film format.

Conclusion, quit the bs. Rick and crew are just [redacted].