Growing Up 90’s: Kid’s Shows

Back in the 90s kids television shows were quite different in nature and content to its preceding two decades. I lay much of the blame for the formation of my personality on the media that I was exposed to. If I look back it’s no mystery why I have taken the paths that I have. I’m not just talking about the boom of Disney movies or its accompanying channel.

90s-nickelodeon-cartoon-characters

Geefreak @ DevianArt

The 90s were full of fun, engaging and sometimes bizarre animation, all of which was meant for “children”. My personal favorites were mostly attached to two major networks that were born (or re-born) in the early 90s: Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon. To any American 90s brat these two names bring back flashes of some of their lazy Sunday mornings eating Captain Crunch and lounging in their PJs while mom did the laundry and dad washed his car to Gilberto Santa Rosa.

Wait, was that just me? Either way I’m sure many kids all across America will smile at the memories whether their dads jammed to Salsa or rocked to Van Halen.

Let me start with the FUN:

The Rugrats

Who doesn’t remember the lovable Rugrats? These babies were reminding you that imagination was a powerful tool. Nothing can beat boredom like a valiant trip through the Amazon or an adrenaline filled confrontation in deep space. But don’t be fooled. The Rugrats also included a colorful cast of very disparate parents. Tommy’s parents could be considered your average American couple if it weren’t for the fact that they’re a little cuckoo. His dad was a toy inventor who couldn’t stay out of his basement, meanwhile his mother was the slapstick version of a family psychologist. Kids are running around the room talking to themselves while wearing their diapers on their heads? Don’t worry, there’s a psychology book somewhere that tells you that kind of behavior is perfectly fine for their age. I’m not even going to get into all the other anti-stereotypes that exist throughout the series like the single dad, the wealthy yet slightly dysfunctional couple and the role-reversed DeVille’s.

ROXY

A Caribbean Islander who wants to fly. Criminal Justice graduate with a lot to say about social injustice. An eternal scholar. I want to know everything. I blame Disney for making me a total dreamer. My head is mostly in the clouds and I have background music in real life.

6 Responses

  1. amy says:

    I only grew up with one short of Courage the Cowardly Dog, and that’s the Cartoon Cartoon The Chicken from Outer Space. I saw that, at least, a dozen of times during its 1996 premier on Cartoon Network.

  2. amy says:

    Oh, and… come on! Rocko’s Modern Life was pretty trippy in itself. The Really Really Big Man had crazy nipples.

  3. Camiele says:

    I recently watched the first episode of Rocko’s Modern Life… I was like “WHAT THE HELL WERE WE THINKING?!” Literally, I don’t know HOW we got away with watching all the stuff we watched back then. Nowadays, ALL them shows (except for maybe Rugrats) would have been on Adult Swim! And it’s like now we shelter our kids so much they have no clue about life. We survived some of the most messed up shows in the 90s and turned out relatively okay (voices in our heads notwithstanding). But it makes you wonder what kind of mind-altering substance our parents were on to think it was okay to watch these shows!

  4. mirella says:

    Man, that took me back. I loved loved Rocko’s Modern Life and Dexter’s Lab. I specially love you put the video of Zanzibar, it’s my favourite Rocko episode! Now something I also loved in the 90s was The PowerPuff Girls. Buttercup was my girl!

    • amy says:

      @mirella, but wasn’t Powerpuff Girls in early 2000s?? I only remember the Powerpuff Cartoon Cartoon debut.

      • Mirella says:

        @amy, PowerPuff Girls was actually released in 1998 until 2005. I remember watching it in 1999 because I was still in School when I first watched them. I even have a green scrunchie with Buttercup’s face XD

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