Get ready for a nostalgia trip through the most mind-numbing cartoons of the 1990s! From crude humor to questionable content, these shows pushed boundaries and concerned parents everywhere. Our picks include some of the decade's most controversial and beloved series that definitely didn't make us any smarter.
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00:00I'll swim to France and hire some burly French laborers.
00:08Welcome to Ms. Mojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the most mind-numbing cartoons of the 1990s.
00:15I ask you a question, but be careful if you get it wrong, you get blasted.
00:20If you get it right, you get blasted.
00:25Number 10. Timon and Pumbaa
00:30Haven't seen The Lion King? No worries. It doesn't seem like the minds behind Timon and Pumbaa have, either.
00:44The Disney Afternoon series ditched the deep emotions and musicality of its predecessor and traded them in for generic cartoon hijinks.
00:52Simba, Rafiki, and the hyenas do make occasional cameos, but so do human characters,
00:57and animals with far more unrealistic designs than the main cast.
01:01By the end of an average episode, it's hard to understand why Lion King characters were used at all.
01:08Now you are a real boy.
01:12Help!
01:13One thing's for sure, though.
01:14It doesn't take too much brainpower to appreciate the episode-to-episode antics of this broad, slapstick comedy.
01:20My tusks really are an important part of what makes me, me!
01:27Now if we can just do something about some of the other parts that make you, you!
01:33Number 9. Dumb and Dumber
01:35What's dumber than Dumb and Dumber?
01:47Dumb and Dumber, the animated series, an ABC series based on the film that included none of its original cast and added a purple pet beaver.
01:55Despite being written by the film's co-writer, Bennett Yellen,
01:58the PG Saturday morning cartoon just couldn't live up to the hype of its more adult predecessor.
02:11Its plots were uninspired to the point of being boring to watch,
02:15and the characters lacked the charm of Jim Carrey and Jeff Daniels' original duo.
02:21Unsurprisingly, the show didn't do well with audiences,
02:23lasting just 13 episodes before being unceremoniously cancelled less than a year after it began.
02:30I want that one, Daddy. Can I have that one?
02:36Oh, look, Daddy. It had puppies. Oh, boy, oh, boy!
02:39Number 8. Two Stupid Dogs
02:41Hi, one, please.
02:46Uh, ha, ha. It's just my dog.
02:49It doesn't get any simpler than this.
02:52Two Stupid Dogs focused, as its title implies,
02:56on the exploits of a duo of dumb dogs whose low intelligence often got them into trouble.
03:01The series was something of a warm-up for Hanna-Barbera before the Cartoon Network era,
03:06influenced by the runaway success of Nickelodeon's Ren and Stimpy.
03:13Yeah!
03:16Help! Help! Help! Help! Help! Help! Help!
03:19The protagonists, simply called the Big Dog and the Little Dog,
03:23were often motivated by their stomachs,
03:25with more than one episode revolving around their quest for the oversized food shown in advertisements.
03:30While some of the series' setups were undeniably clever,
03:33like its silent film-inspired finale,
03:36a typical episode of Two Stupid Dogs left viewers just as empty-headed as its two main characters.
03:42We need French fries.
03:45Where do we get those?
03:46France.
03:46Hey! How do we get the France?
03:50Air bail!
03:53Number 7. Celebrity Deathmatch
03:56Oh! Monica's hurt!
04:00I believe Hillary may have even dipped in her hair!
04:02In 2005, the world was introduced to Robot Chicken,
04:06an adult-oriented stop-motion sketch show known for its pop-culture parodies.
04:11Chock full of hits and misses, the series' remarkable staying power can likely be attributed to its variety in setups, references, and style of humor.
04:19In contrast, the earlier Celebrity Deathmatch only offered one scenario, two famous people duking it out in the ring.
04:26It was violent, gory, and occasionally just plain bad taste.
04:38No one was safe, from then-teen stars Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen to former Clinton staffer Monica Lewinsky.
04:45One cursory glance at the week's tabloids would leave you well-versed enough for the next matchup.
04:50Ready to watch another episode of mind-numbing cartoon carnage?
04:53I got you, lying bastard!
04:56Number 6. Ed, Ed, and Eddie
04:59Pink belly!
05:01Pink belly!
05:03Pink belly!
05:05This Cartoon Network classic starts out strong, with a whistling theme tune that introduces its three protagonists,
05:12alongside dynamic, personality-filled animation.
05:15It's the kind of intro that seems to promise a once-in-a-generation type of cartoon,
05:20with big laughs and memorable characters.
05:22And for many, it was exactly that.
05:25But that doesn't mean it didn't also rot our brains.
05:28As with many kids' shows in the early, edgy 90s,
05:31there were no strong life lessons to be learned from Ed, Ed, and Eddie.
05:35Hey, that's mine!
05:36Ain't it weird how wallets can tell a lot about a dork?
05:40Huh, Skipper?
05:42What'd you call me?!
05:43Characters like Kevin and the Kanker sisters were often cruel,
05:46or even downright abusive,
05:48but failed to face any form of punishment or cosmic comeuppance.
05:51You weren't expected to care too deeply for their victims.
05:55Just laugh and move on.
05:56Set me free and I, um, I will give you my macaroni art!
06:00I love a man at bank!
06:02Number 5. Action League Now
06:04Moments later...
06:07Thundergirl? Pass.
06:09Cheap? Pass.
06:10Stinky Diver? Pass.
06:11Meltman? Pass.
06:13Justice? Pass.
06:14I guess that's it.
06:16No way.
06:17The flesh fell.
06:18Hooray for me!
06:20You've likely heard of stop-motion animation,
06:22but what about chuck-a-mation?
06:24The tongue-in-cheek term refers to animating figures
06:26by dropping, wiggling, and yes, even chucking them into the frame,
06:31similarly to how a kid would play with their toys.
06:33That guy's waving at us!
06:35He must be one of our fans.
06:37Howdy, good citizen!
06:38Oh, help!
06:41This rudimentary style was used in combination with traditional stop-motion
06:45to create Action League Now,
06:47a comedic series about superheroes that starred a variety of action figures.
06:52Originating as short segments on the shows All That and Kablam,
06:56the charming dumbness of Action League Now
06:58eventually allowed it to graduate from short to series.
07:0290s kids could finally appreciate the no-brainer brilliance of the super-naked flesh
07:06and toilet-dwelling Stinky Diver for a full half-hour block
07:10and learn absolutely nothing from it.
07:13What is the world's most serious problem?
07:16And how would you address it?
07:18Um, 11?
07:20No, wait, yellow!
07:23Number 4.
07:24Cow and Chicken
07:25My bunnies are only 19 cents!
07:31I am so cheap!
07:33The opening lines of Cow and Chicken's theme song
07:38immediately let its viewers know that logic should be thrown out the window.
07:42Yes, a human woman birthed a chicken and a cow.
07:45No, her similarly human husband doesn't know or care how this happened.
07:49And frankly, neither should you.
07:51Getting hung up on such specifics will only slow you down.
07:55You've just got to turn your brain off and relax.
07:57Chicken, your sister's perfect for wrestling!
08:00She's so big and fat!
08:02Ew!
08:04This is pretty much the only way to enjoy Cow and Chicken,
08:07a series where chaos rules and the young animal protagonists
08:10are constantly tormented by a naked, devilish man simply called the red guy.
08:15Parents were understandably mixed,
08:17with one common-sense media review bluntly calling it, quote,
08:20a waste of time.
08:22Super cow!
08:23Arrishate!
08:25Oh, another satisfied customer!
08:28Oh, my work here is done!
08:30Number 3.
08:31Space Ghost Coast to Coast
08:33I don't know if you like to feel good.
08:35I don't know.
08:35You tell me.
08:37No!
08:39Now, well, the heck with the glasses.
08:40One for you!
08:41Ow!
08:42No, I said no!
08:42I said no!
08:43Oh, okay.
08:44In many ways, Space Ghost Coast to Coast was ahead of its time.
08:48It was like the Eric Andre show before anyone knew who Eric Andre was
08:52and brought surreal, outsider humor into the living rooms of the average American public.
08:57To the kids watching, however, it was pure and absolute brain-rot television.
09:02Many of the show's clever subversions of the late-night format
09:05were likely lost on younger audience members,
09:08making the bizarre experience all the more incomprehensible.
09:11You remember the difference between the toilet and the sofa, right?
09:14I think so.
09:15And remember how angry I got?
09:17It smells like buttocks.
09:19Because that's what happens when you boil the cushions of the couch you've been urinating on.
09:24Even knowing the celebrities featured was unlikely to help much,
09:27as the interviews were often some of the show's strangest segments.
09:31Thankfully, it's a fun time regardless of how much you understand.
09:34Sometimes, random works.
09:36What's that for?
09:37Do not disturb the judge!
09:41Ow!
09:41Hey!
09:43God, that was violent.
09:45Only the most idiotic of idiots shall possess my magic cheeses.
09:53Unless thou proveth thine stupidity in a battle of witlessness,
09:58I shall eat thee.
10:00When Nickelodeon debuted their first three original Nicktoons,
10:05The Ren and Stimpy Show was easily the standout.
10:08While contemporaries Doug and Rugrat certainly had their fans,
10:12Ren and Stimpy was unlike anything that had ever been seen on children's television before.
10:16And while it's possible that this was because it was barely children's television at all,
10:21its success ushered in a new era of edgy tunes all the same.
10:29Hey!
10:30What's happening to me?
10:33The series was the antithesis of educational children's series like Sesame Street or Mr. Rogers' Neighborhood,
10:42featuring crass protagonists that were as gross as they were violent.
10:46There were no lessons to be learned here.
10:49Audiences were too busy laughing and cringing instead.
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11:13Number 1. Beavis and Butthead
11:17In 1993, Newsweek wrote of Beavis and Butthead, quote,
11:31The downward spiral of the living white male surely ends here.
11:35Harsh? Maybe.
11:36But it was only the tip of the iceberg.
11:38Beavis and Butthead was not only rotting brains, it was influencing them.
11:42At least according to the series' most vocal critics.
11:45Yes, we're also going to be talking about venereal disease.
11:49Although the series was made with an adult audience in mind
11:52that didn't stop kids from watching
11:54or from mimicking everything from the boys' obnoxious laugh to their dangerous antics.
11:59At least two deaths were thought to be caused by the series,
12:03forcing MTV to push it to a later time slot
12:05and accompany its more controversial scenes with explicit warnings.
12:10Maybe there is such a thing as too much brain rot.
12:12Do you think any shows from your childhood rotted your brain?
12:22Let us know in the comments.
12:24You think it's a penis?
12:26Yeah.
12:26Yeah.
12:27You think that he said penis?
12:28Yeah.
12:29Yeah.
12:30Mm-hmm.
12:30Yeah.