What's the WORST cartoon show from when you were a kid?

[Archae]

Two stand out in my mind:

"Clutch Cargo" and "Space Angel."

These were the cartoons that had human mouths on cartoon characters.

One more: "Fat Albert."
I hated that show.

[Zambero]

1. Heck, they were all good

Talking about the 50's here!

[dawg day]

3. Me too- loved them all indiscriminately

Huckleberry Hound was kind of lame, but I still loved it.

[dawg day]

5. wanna know something shameful--

When JFK was assassinated, we had the next day off (Catholic school, first grade), and I didn't really understand what was going on as there had been deaths in the family and I thought JFK was some distant cousin (I wasn't really very politically aware!).

So we had the day off from school, and I was mad because there was nothing but news on, of course-- no cartoons at all! I sat there grumping watching all this "boring stuff". And I was still watching when Lee Harvey Oswald was killed on live TV. I tell you, kids are oblivious. My parents were just stunned, and there I was whining how I really wanted to watch Woody Woodpecker.

[jpak]

18. My exact experience too

[Laffy Kat]

29. I remember seeing Oswald shot, too. I was barely five.

I knew enough to run to the kitchen and ask my mom to come to watch what was on TV, that it was something bad. I also remember watching the horses on JFK's funeral procession.

[k8conant]

33. Oswald was shot on Sunday while I was watching...

did you usually have school on Sunday?

[jberryhill]

68. Snort

Must’ve been Sunday School.

[Demovictory9]

2. speed racer

[ProudLib72]

10. I am going to agree even though it was one of my favorites as a kid

Back in the day, I would never miss an episode. I adored speed racer! A few years ago, they brought it back. I tried to watch it and was like, "Did I seriously like this schlock?"

[gratuitous]

19. Fucken Speed Racer

I was too young to realize what an insult that was to my intelligence, but I knew I didn't like it. Growing up, I guess I just figured anything put out there for entertainment was automatically worthwhile. Then the Rex Harrison version of Dr. Doolittle came out. Our teacher had read the book aloud to us, so I had a notion that I might like it. It was the first multi-level marketing vehicle I was ever aware of: The ubiquitous song, the incessant commercials, the product tie-ins, all the way up and down the line of merchandise marketed to kids.

The movie finally came out, and the kids a couple doors down went to see it right away. They weren't any more discriminating or sophisticated than me, but they came back practically retching about what a sorry spectacle it was. My brothers and I never went to see it in the theater. But it was the first time I really had got the notion that you could view an entertainment offering critically.

Some years later, Dr. Doolittle was on a weekend afternoon movie. Interrupted every couple of minutes to cram in commercials and fill the time slot allotted. I lasted about 45 minutes of the choppy presentation before realizing that I had made a good consumer choice all those years ago.

[underpants]

66. Watched it. We used to crack up how they recapped the entire episode in almost every line

My brother and I

[jberryhill]

69. Loved it

Just horrible. But I loved it.

I loved all the dreck that oozed out of that infernal tube. Much of it utterly horrid.

Go Speed!

[Demovictory9]

4. johnny quest

[dawg day]

6. I loved Johnny Quest-

But I had utterly no discrimination when it came to cartoons.

[Demovictory9]

7. has it aged well?

[EarnestPutz]

51. Looks like Mike Pence.

[hunter]

53. What? You've never ridden hydrofoil water skis or had an awesome caretaker?

[Cartoonist]

54. Great theme song

Dynamic and jazzy.

[Marcuse]

8. A few come to mind.

[Demovictory9]

9. yep.

[hlthe2b]

13. Yes... Those from the 50s were both the "best" and the WORST

The best because of the creativity, but definitely the WORST for propagating the ugly attitudes of the time. Of course, few kids would have picked up on that, but looking back, wow!

[MicaelS]

17. They were a product of the time.

Full Animation (as opposed to limited animation) is, IMO, as much an art form as any other. I consider the cartoons of the 30s to early 60s an art form, and will not tolerate them being censored. Not for ANY content. And animation is NOT just for children, no matter what most Americans think. As one animator of the time said: "I am not making these for kids, I am making them for me."

The fucking PTA in the 1960s took the lead in censoring and ruining the classic Warner and Paramount cartoons because of the slapstick violence. And I still hold that against them.

The Japanese have a much more mature attitude towards animation. They accept it as art form, and have animation for all ages from very small children to stuff that over here would get an instant X rating.

[ProudLib72]

11. Scooby Doo when they added Scrappy Doo

I liked it when they did the movie version and made Scrappy out to be the villain. He was an annoying little twit.

[jberryhill]

70. Oh god. I must have blocked that out.

This thread needs a trigger warning.

[Rhiannon12866]

12. I remember those, too!

My brother and I watched them all on Saturday mornings!

[customerserviceguy]

16. On TV

Only Herman Munster had a jaw like that!

[Harker]

26. That's farking sick. n/t

[Demovictory9]

44. omg. cartoons that used real mouths where weird

[Rhiannon12866]

48. I remember even thinking so as a kid!

But we watched them anyway!

[Hotler]

14. Gumby.......................nt

[Harker]

27. Not a cartoon, but worthy of a dishonorable mention.

Yeccchhh.

[Rhiannon12866]

35. My brother had Pokey, Gumby's horse.

Probably still does!

[Archae]

81. I have Gumby, Pokey and Prickle.

Have had them for literally decades.

[kairos12]

15. Clutch Cargo

[Brother Buzz]

20. Tom Terrific and his Mighty Dog Manfred

[Harker]

25. I had managed to erase that one from my memory.

Is the purpose of "worst" threads to punish those with defensive memories?

Aaaaagh.

[yonder]

37. Tom Terrific - wow, that takes me back

Tom's Thinking Cap, his Wonder Dog and Crabby Appleton. I vaguely remember one where Crabby Appleton stole all of the weekends so nobody would get any time off. Tom had to use his "Thinking Cap" to figure out a fix.

I think there was a rock band in the 70's named Crabby Appleton.

[House of Roberts]

43. Tom Terrific was part of the Captain Kangaroo show.

Everything about the Captain Kangaroo show was great.

[Rhiannon12866]

50. That's what I thought, too!

I loved Captain Kangaroo as well - Mr. Greenjeans who had the animals, Mr. Moose and Dancing Bear - and I had my very own Bunny Rabbit, pointy glasses and all, my parents must have sent away for it, I was thrilled!

[sakabatou]

21. Cow and Chicken

[hunter]

22. My mom usually made us turn off the television before Fat Albert came on.

Was it ten or nine o'clock?

On weekdays my parents would be up at dawn and fully dressed for war. Me and my siblings learned to wake up, get out of bed, get ready for school on our own rather than face the wrath of mom. (Dad left for work earlier.)

On weekends my parents would be up a few hours later than dawn.

They'd wander out into the kitchen a bit disheveled and happy before they yelled at us to turn off the television and come to breakfast, a breakfast fit for warriors.

I don't want to hear any of that from my own kids.

[Harker]

23. Krazy Kat and Woody Woodpecker

left me flat. I was born in early '59.

[JDC]

28. So agree on Woody.

[Harker]

46. I remember him as a jerk.

A totally unsympathetic character.

Can't build a worthwhile world around an annoying laugh. Many have tried.

[Clash City Rocker]

63. It was really violent, too

But I watched it because Droopy played with it, and I loved Droopy.

Tom & Jerry was also ridiculously violent. It’s amazing what they got away with in cartoons those days.

[Harker]

67. Factor in The Three Stooges

and it's amazing so many kids survived into adulthood.

[ProudLib72]

73. I really wanted to smack Woody

And now you know where I get my distaste for...damned flickers!

[Harker]

80. Now.it all makes sense.

From Woody Woodpecked to Harry Housepecker.

[2naSalit]

85. Don't blame Flickers!

Woody was a Pileated Woodpecker, way bigger and probably more annoying, though they are kind of rare and I've only seen three or four. And they are huge like a raven.

?itok=KS3GHSUB

And Woody sounds a lot like one of these...

https://www.bird-sounds.net/pileated-woodpecker/

[blue neen]

24. Kimba the White Lion.

Ugh.

[Demovictory9]

39. ..

[jberryhill]

71. Totally ripped off for Disney's Lion King, though

Kimba and Speed Racer we’re back-to-back in my area.

[mr_lebowski]

77. Pretty sure they were where I'm from too ...

Channel 44 (broadcast on Channel 12), baby ...

I liked both okay, not my fave 'toons (much preferred the WB stuff) but okay.

[El Supremo]

30. I loved Clutch Cargo!

[Harker]

42. Stop that, please.

I recall being transfixed by those hideous mouths...

Grotesque.

[liberal N proud]

31. We had the cool toons

The roadrunner and Tom and Jerry

[Generic Brad]

32. Casper the Friendly Ghost

Not funny or entertaining to me. And that was back when I was watching all that lame Hannah-Barbera stuff. Casper was lamer than Top Cat, Magilla Gorilla, or Snagglepuss.

[Demovictory9]

40. I loved Casper the ghost comic books and Richie Rich, Archie

[Generic Brad]

61. The comic books were ok

It was the cartoon that I didn’t like.

[Archae]

82. And Baby Huey!

Yuck!

[C_U_L8R]

34. Davey and Goliath

Last edited Fri Jun 21, 2019, 10:51 PM - Edit history (1)

Churches should not be in the kids entertainment biz.

[Freelancer]

79. Gag, Puke -- I remember -- Upchuck, Retch -n/t

[Harker]

36. I'll add "Popeye."

A great deal of unintelligible drivel from a creepy, violent weirdo who ate canned spinach.

[yonder]

38. Don't remember the name but the one that used marionettes

for either a space captain and crew or a submarine captain and crew. Awful

[Demovictory9]

41. thunderbirds

[yonder]

45. Well done Dv9! And it's not only as bad as I remember, but creepy too.

[DBoon]

64. Supercar??

[yonder]

75. probably produced by the same folks. weird.

[Codeine]

86. I absolutely loved Supermarionation.

I’ve been very careful to avoid looking any of the shows up as an adult because I know they're not going to be as good as I remember.

[Harker]

47. Having grown up with Rocky and Bullwinkle

has cast a lot of mediocrity into the gutter of my memory.

[Glorfindel]

49. "Winky Dink" - from the early 50's (yes, I'm older than dirt)

You were supposed to have a plastic sheet to put over your TV screen and draw ways for Winky Dink to get out of trouble. I had one, but you didn't really have to use it. Thankfully, the show only lasted a few years.

[Harker]

52. And Jack Barry went on to infamy on "Twenty-One." n/t

[Sancho]

55. It's a toss up...

[jberryhill]

72. Josie and the Pussycats sent me into early puberty

Everyone in this thread should try the experiment of doing an image search of their worst and best childhood cartoons, joined with the search term “porn”.

It’s a mind bending experience.

[mr_lebowski]

78. Oh, man ... I LOVED those girls! (nt)

[Zoonart]

56. Beanie and Cecil

Anyone?

[Zoonart]

84. WOW! Forgot those.

Real blast from the past.

[yellowdogintexas]

92. my favorite, if only for the atrocious puns

which littered the script.

My mom thought it was hilarious.

[50 Shades Of Blue]

57. The "new" Popeye where Bluto's name was changed to Brutus and the animation was cheap.

That was the third iteration of Popeye. For some reason I liked watching the two older, full-animation versions.

[Lithos]

58. Several

The Osmonds
Partridge Family 2200

There were also some in the early 80's which probably sucked worse ex. Laverne and Shirley in the Army, but I was no longer a kid then.

[Politicub]

59. There were lots of weird ones in the 80s on Saturday morning

Rubik, the Amazing Cube - they actually made a cartoon about a cube.
Shirt Tales - Shirt-ta-ta-tails. It was a Care Bears knockoff I think... baby animals and their cra-azy hijinks
Snorks- a knockoff of the smurfs about weird sea creatures with snorkels growing out of their heads
Teen Wolf - there were no original ideas in the 80s
Goldie Gold and Action Jack - a republican morality tale

It was so much fun to have cartoons all Saturday morning and after school.

[True_Blue]

60. I was a kid in the 60's

So the cartoons were still pretty good. Luckily I didn't watch cartoons anymore in the 70's. The 70's cartoons seemed more like they were made for tweens rather than little kids.

As a kid, my least favorite was Huckleberry Hound. I loved Mighty Mouse, Prince Planet and Bullwinkle. I can't decide which one was my favorite.

[Archae]

83. And those awful "Globetrotter" cartoons.

The worst was the "Super Globetrotters."

[JonLP24]

74. Gross cartoons

I think Ren & Stumpy I don't know I just hated it.

[trev]

76. Yes, the whole mouth thing was very disturbing to me.

I also hated Johnny Quest, and the current version is even worse.

OTOH, I loved Space Ghost Coast to Coast.

[2naSalit]

87. BOZO the f'ing clown!

I hated that cartoon and the boring ones that had no animation but had part of "Pictures At An Exhibition" as the theme song, which has contributed to my life-long lathing of that piece of music. Most of the offerings above were later for me but I saw them because of younger siblings, and I hated most of them, they just didn't hold up to the older WB toons with full orchestral background music... my introduction to classical music.

[Totally Tunsie]

89. Heckle and Jeckle

Talking Magpies? Really?



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heckle_and_Jeckle

[Archae]

90. From "Terrytoons."

Who defined "cheap" long before Filmation.

[DinahMoeHum]

91. Methinks you mean the Terrytoons of the 60's. . .

The Terrytoons of the 1940s and 50s had better animation and sound effects, with my all-time favorite sound-effect of the combination of drum and cymbal to symbolize a splat.

[Wolf Frankula]

93. The Archie Show.

I hated that crap. I wasn't made to watch Davey and Goliath.

Wolf

[dustyscamp]

94. Beavis and Butthead