This could be a bit of nostalgia talking, but cartoonsin the 90sjust hit different. Something about that crude, hand-drawn animation just lent itself to some of the wildest concepts for “kids” shows out there. I don’t know if it was just getting older of if newer cartoons actually got worse, but I know plenty of us fell off of cartoons around the turn of the century. Still, we all look back fondly on the ones we grew up with on those Saturday mornings beforeplaying video games.
The best kids media, cartoonsand movies, all know that there’s a good chance an adult is being forced to watch along with the kids and throw them a couple of jokes not meant for youngsters. Then there are a few shows that felt like 90% of the jokes were aimed at adults. Sure, we loved these shows a ton as kids, but rewatching them as an adult lets you pick up on those more adult themes and jokes. If you haven’t gone back to these classics since the ’90s, now’s the time to give them a second watch with fresh eyes.
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1Rocko’s Modern Life
Way too relatable
Rocko’s Modern Life
Rocko’s Modern Life feels like a show that only got greenlit for Nickelodeon because someone saw it featured a cast of anthropomorphic animals. This show was all about adult life and very adult problems, but veered into some sketch areas that someone on quality control must’ve gotten fired for. There’s an ongoing subplot about Rocko’s neighbor, Mrs. Bighead, trying to have an affair with him, not to mention the episode where Rocko works ata a phone sex center.
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2Animaniacs
More than a wink and a nod
Animaniacs
There are some truly fantastic G rated episodes of Animaniacs—I still have that nations of the world song stuck in my head—but I look back and cringe at myself for repeating the “Hello Nurse!” line without understanding what I was saying. Then there’s all the celebrity cameos and jokes that no kid would understand.
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3Courage the Cowardly Dog
Existential horror…for kids
Courage the Cowardly Dog
I have been fascinated with horror for decades, and I think it all comes back to Courage. A horror cartoon for kids must’ve been a hard sell, and even harder to execute, but this show doesn’t pull any punches in presenting sincerely terrifying scenarios. There’s always slapstick and a little joke at the end to keep it light, but these could easily be tweaked into full-on horror films.
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4Batman The Animated Series
The real Batman experience
Batman The Animated Series
For almost everyone who experienced it, Batman The Animated Series is the best representation of the Dark Knight ever put to screen. This show wasn’t afraid to take its story and characters seriously. It toned down violence in a lot of places, but there were some very dark episodes where things didn’t turn out ok at the end. It not only set a new standard for Batman media, but helped legitimize cartoons as a way to tell serious stories.
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Not afraid to be smart
Coming from the same creators as The Simpsons, we all watched Futurama as kids but only pretended to really get most of what was going on. We liked the talking funny robot and weird future technology, but the best jokes here required a bit more understanding of the world. It satirized politics, science, economics, and tons of pop culture that hit so much harder with age.
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6Ren and Stimpy
Gross-out humor to the extreme
The Ren & Stimpy Show
I wasn’t allowed to watch Ren and Stimpy as a kid and, for once, I think my parents made the right call. This show is like a fever dream of animation and barely concealed sex jokes. Aside from Stimpy being kind of lovably dumb, the sheer torture and abuse these cats(?) take every episode makes me wonder how any kid could like any part of it.
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