10 Mind-Blowing Facts You Didn't Know About X-Men: Evolution
8. The Producers Butted Heads With Kids WB Over The Inclusion Of Romantic Relationships
The Kids WB network made it clear to producer Boyd Kirkland from the start that they weren't crazy about including romantic relationships on Evolution.
The network had recent experience with this due to the (also fantastic) Batman Beyond, where main character Terry McGinnis had an ongoing girlfriend. Because Kids WB viewed BB as a more 'grown up' show that they wanted to get away from, they dictated that Evolution should avoid, in their words, 'icky' romances.
It should be noted that Kids WB anticipated their main audience for Evolution would be boys aged 6-10, so this word makes sense in that light.
Considering the show focused on characters in the throes of high school drama, the writers thought this kind of character development was crucial and consistent with the fact that these X-Men were teenagers. Once again, the show crew got creative, often representing obvious relationships and attraction visually as opposed to allowing characters to openly talk about boyfriends, girlfriends, or crushes.
Even after the success of the first season, the WB network kept saying no to romantic subplots, even though they now knew that the show was popular with a 'tween' audience more accepting of 'icky' storylines.