“Great” is an understatement. Pulling from history has allowed this list to blossom into the greatest Kids TV shows of all time. It’s full of absolute classic. Grass fed GOATS. With that in mind, here are our picks for 13 old TV shows that both kids and adults can enjoy today.
1. Avatar the Last Airbender
Avatar: the Last Airbender may just be the greatest children’s show ever made. When it aired on Nickelodeon, it was the first of its kind. Most kids’ TV series were slapstick cartoon sitcoms with no over arching story or complex characters. Avatar changed all of that. Set in an ancient Asian inspired world where humans can bend elements with their minds, Avatar follows an Airbender named Aang who is called to save the world from the Fire Nation empire.
2. Over the Garden Wall
Over the Garden Wall came out of absolutely nowhere to become the greatest animated miniseries ever. Brining together legends like Tim Curry, Elijah Wood, John Cleese, and Christopher Lloyd, this whimsical series tells the tale of two boys who are trying to find their way home after becoming lost in fairytale world. The pair must contend with pumpkin headed villagers, axe-happy woodsmen, and a mysterious Beast that threatens to steal them away.
3. Batman: The Animated Series
The hits just keep on coming. Batman: The Animated Series is one of the best pieces of superhero fiction ever put to screen. A myriad of classic Batman stories, along with some skillfully written new tales, coalesce into a series that is brooding, hilarious, and unexpectedly deep. The series features the legendary voice acting talents of Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill as Batman and The Joker respectively, and are practically the dictionary definitions of the characters.
4. Gravity Falls
Gravity Falls is melds humor and horror together in a series revolving around a pair of twins who solve mysteries in the Pacific Northwest. While staying with their grumpy Grunkle Stan the the tourist trap Mystery Shack, the pair investigate manly minotaurs, lab-grown boy bands and rainbow-vomiting gnomes. 2013!!! (If you know you know)
5. Samurai Jack
Genndy Tarkovsky is practically the patron saint of Western animation, and Samurai Jack is one of his greatest works. It’s a dark, foreboding series about the titular samurai, who is flung into the far future by the evil demon Aku. The future is anything but bright, as Aku’s forces have turned it into a cyberpunk hellscape, and poor Jack has to fight his way back home again.
6. Hey Arnold
Hey Arnold is the closest that American kids animation came to the slice-of-life anime genre. Taking place in a city that’s part Brooklyn, part Seattle, and part everywhere, the football headed Arnold and his friends navigate the vicissitudes of their preteen lives. They build incredible tree houses, grow award winning pumpkins, and ride ghost trains. In short, they live their fleeting youth to the fullest.
7. Spongebob SquarePants
Spongebob SquarePants is still airing, but real ones know that seasons one through three were the pinnacle of TV comedy. Despite being decades old, Golden Age SpongeBob frames are still responsible for half the memes on the internet today. It’s the only series that’s ever successfully been able to get away with dropping the f-bomb on kids TV while simultaneously teaching children a lesson about not using foul language. Legendary.
8. Adventure Time
Adventure Time is a hallmark of fantasy, a modern day children’s odyssey as sweeping as Lord of The Rings. Finn the Human and his beloved best friend Jake the Dog while away their days hunting for treasure, diving into dungeons, and rescuing princesses from the mad clutches of the Ice King. What starts as a silly little story of adventure unfolds into a sweeping epic that ends in cosmic battles won by lesbian love.
9. Looney Tunes
Looney Tunes is the seed from which comedy animation bloomed. Eat your heart out, Walt Disney. Bugs Bunny, Elmer Fudd, Daffy Duck and the myriad others are simply unbeatable. Slapstick shenanigans abound endlessly, glued together by the incendiary talent of that God of Voice Actors Mel Blanc. Tweety Bird. Foghorn Leghorn. Bugs. Sylvester. Taz. Porky Pig. Yosemite Sam. That “yeah see” ganster guy. They were all voiced by THE SAME MAN. What a legend.
10. Codename Kids Next Door
Codename Kids Next Door turned the cultural war between youth and age and made it literal. The Kids Next Door are a paramilitary group of preteens waging guerrilla warfare against adult forces from their treehouse. Using 2 x 4 technology (cobbled together from wood) they battle adult villains seeking to destroy the magic of childhood – evil dentists, Cheese-themed Shoguns, and of course the anything-but Delightful Children From Down The Lane and their villainous father. Oh, and all the teenagers. KND‘s got smoke with them too.
11. Dexter’s Lab
Dexter’s Lab is a love letter to feuding siblings everywhere. It’s the story of the precious scientist/elementary schooler Dexter and his older sister DeeDee… who makes up for what she lacks in brains with sheer, unbridled enthusiasm. Dexter creates a genius invention in order to tackle a childhood problem, and DeeDee somehow manages to muck it up every time.
(Featured Image: Cartoon Network)
Published: Oct 13, 2024 09:00 pm