What Makes a Good Kids Show

I could be totally stingy about this and push my nose in the air and ramble about how cartoons aren't what they used to be but I will try not to get

to that route although I do think they used to be better than they are.

Not to say there aren't awesome cartoons today.

Although I do think cartoons had a pretty rad peak back in the 90s-early 2000s. There just aren't shows like Animaniacs anymore, one of my most favorite shows of all time, I could pop in a DVD and sit down and watch every episode. Animaniacs had the classic cartoon violence, it had content adults could enjoy, it was clever, the humor was intelligent and it was a great show.

Other great shows that I miss are shows like Ren & Stimpy, Invader Zim, Ed Edd n Eddy, Danny Phantom, Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends and so on. And by the way if you have not seen the Ed Edd n Eddy movie, it is so stunningly emotional and gets so dark at the very end and I recommend it. Even the earlier seasons of shows that are still alive like Spongebob and Fairly Odd Parents were better than the more recent episodes.

Ren from Ren & Stimpy

Zim in his "human" disguise from Invader Zim

This is from the Ed Edd n Eddy movie: Eddy has

a breakdown in the middle of their adventure

Danny Phantom's transformation into a ghost

Blue from Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends

Cartoons nowadays can lack greatly, CGI-knock-off shows of movies like Kung-Fu Panda and Monsters VS Aliens are difficult to watch and really seem more like cheap knock-offs than follow-ups. But there are a few brilliant gems. Phineas and Ferb is hilarious, formulaic, but entertaining. Gravity Falls is remarkably "dark" with sci-fi mystery paranormal happenings and a background mystery going on the entire show with hidden codes at the ends of credits and so on; it also includes several references to various geekery like video games, old paranormal movies, anime, etc. The Amazing World of Gumball is hysterical, the style is very unique and there are also a lot of geekery references in it like video games and various internet jokes. And each of these shows are laced with adult and maybe more specifically young adult content, jokes and references they'll understand and enjoy.

Doofenshmirtz, the 'villian' from Phineas and Ferb

Gravity Falls: Dipper brings a Street Fighter-parodied character

to life

The Amazing World of Gumball: The dad of the

main characters

I will be honest, I don't care much for Adventure Time. The Regular Show I sort of connect along with Adventure Time because, to me, they are both shows that can be very dull and watching it you feel kind of stoned. That's me, I'm sure other people greatly enjoy them, but shows like Regular Show and Adventure Time are shows that I enjoy not to the point I'd make an effort to catch every episode, but rather that if I don't have anything else to watch and I want to watch something that doesn't take a lot of brain power I'd maybe hunt down an episode of it online.

All of these shows I mentioned here have one thing in common: they
all push the boundary of "kid-friendly." They are laced with adult/young adult jokes and references and equally entertain and even teach a lesson
for kids. Amazing World of Gumball has great lessons about telling
the truth and being nice and avoiding fights and peer pressure.
At the same time it speaks to the young adult and adult with it's
other references and keeps everyone entertained.

Thus ends my rambling about "kids shows" and no clear conclusion. xP I hope you enjoyed my ramblings, and will check out Phineas and Ferb, Gravity Falls, and The Amazing World of Gumball if you haven't already seen them. I greatly recommend them.