Did I Outgrow Robot Chicken or Did It Outgrow Me?

Probably no one who reads this blog watched Robot Chicken, but it's been one of my favorite shows for about ten years.  Recently the show finished its 10th season since 2005 but I found I didn't enjoy it as much as many of the earlier seasons.

The show is on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim and each episode is only about 11 minutes long.  It uses stop motion puppets mostly of pop culture subjects in satirical skits.  A lot of the early ones featured 80s toy properties like Transformers, GI Joe, MASK, Thundercats, and Masters of the Universe.  Which as a child of the 80s really put it right in my wheelhouse.  They've also had specials dealing exclusively with Star Wars and DC Comics.

But this last season I noticed that a lot of the references were for things I didn't really know a lot about, like girl toys from the 2000s or 2010s maybe that my nieces would probably be better acquainted with.  Or references to shows on Netflix or wherever that I had never watched.  The thing about reference humor is that it works best if you're familiar with the reference.  Otherwise it might be amusing but I won't really GET it, you know?

It makes me wonder what happened.  I suppose part of it is that TV shows often have turnover with writers, so they probably brought in some new writers, maybe more younger and/or female writers who were familiar with properties and shows I was not familiar with.  And the other thing is I suppose there are only so many jokes you can get from those 80s properties and even 90s ones I was slightly familiar with like Ninja Turtles and Power Rangers.

But as I ask in the title, did I outgrow it or did it outgrow me?  I think the latter is more likely.  If they made more jokes about the properties I'm familiar with, I'd still be with it.