Kids shows with surprisingly adult themes

For whatever reason I got bored and wound watching a bunch of Rocko's Modern Life on Youtube. I always loved that show as a kid because it was obviously meant for kids but didn't really feel like a "kids show". Watching it now I'm picking up on all sorts of things that I never really got when I was little - in like 5 episodes I've seen things that were obvious ciphers for drugs and alcohol - Filbert's bachelor party has a "morning after" scene where Heffer keeps saying "I'll never eat ice cream again" (during the party he's obviously supposed to be wasted) and there's an episode about Rocko's "fingernail biting" problem which was pretty clearly a reference to drug addiction. Also there were a number of references to homosexuality and homophobia, plus Rocko's hobby of "jacking" - remembering this stuff I kinda felt like maybe I just had a dirty mind but rewatching it I think it's clear that this was the intention.

I thought back to some of the other shows I've watched and can't think of any more examples of this. Hey Arnold! was pretty sanitized but I did remember that no character in the show really had a stable family situation and that if it weren't aimed for kids it would be quite depressing. Obviously Ren & Stimpy counts but that show was just something else. I'm sure Animaniacs (if I could remember any of the episodes) was full of these types of things though I can't remember any offhand.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xmAC9Qu908

oh wow yeah
i'm actually really surprised that got past censors, that's worse than anything on Rocko

pretty much every late afternoon cartoon shown on Cartoon Network is like this; Adventure Time, Gumball, Mad (ESPECIALLY Mad, they did an entire riff on The Bourne Identity using Toy Story characters that turned into an extended diss on Julia Stiles and how she seemed to disappear from Hollywood after the Bourne movies)

My kid laughs the hell out of MAD and I know he doesn't get half the jokes because they're like, Lady Gaga references or whatever.

she must work there or something!

This is the one I'm thinking baout:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23VzwjpsCH0

That's why stuff like Rocko really strikes me as great, because as a kid you think its funny because people fall down and get hit with stuff, but as an adult you can appriciate how edgy the show really was, especially doing things like the pre-9/11 airport episode where their bags get "inspected" by a bunch of guys with hammers and handsaws and so on. It must be really tough to write for both.

This is not the only episode of Diff'rent Strokes that was a bit wrong.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rvmi5HO-a7A

seeing that in re-runs as a kid traumatized me for life

like a lot of 80's sitcoms diff'rent strokes had a lot of those "very special episodes"

aybe Im all fucked up because I grew up on Animaniacs but what is the "adult" joke in the finger prints/Prince thing? The implied racism of a black man being the thief? Or did I miss something else? /jaded

aybe my Typings all fucked up amirite?

Pee-Wee's Playhouse to thread, obv. Show was queer as fuck. Remember when he loved fruit salad so much that he married it in a playhouse wedding ceremony?

HAHAHAHA

(NO, but I wish I did!)

ohhh wait.. Finger Prince. hah! I blame the weather and my headache.

Or a character named Mrs. Steve, or the totally dykeish taxi driver who announced the arrival of the King of Cartoons in the first few seasons, or the watercooler hunk who wore speedos all the time

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bs81piYG2G8

ohhh wait.. Finger Prince. hah! I blame the weather and my headache.

it took me a couple seconds to get that too b/c that portion of my brain is generally just shut off w/r/t Animaniacs

Okay I watched that Different Strokes clip. WTF!! Now to look up how that episode plays out.. 0_o

Cinema Sewer (a comic/mag) about exploitation cinema did a long article about fucked up episodes of Diffrent Strokes. It's not online sadly. There were quite a few.

Seems like I remember an interview with John K. once upon a time where he admitted that the controversial Mighty Mouse cartoon actually was a veiled coke joke.

I've watched Mad, Looney Tunes Show, Regular Show and Adventure Time. They're aired so close in the day to Adult Swim that I'm starting to think they're an authentic part of the lineup before King of the Hill.

Regular Show! That was the other one I discovered last week whose name I forgot.

I was momentarily thrilled that Devo appeared on Yo Gabba Gabba last year but then my children's reaction made me realize that it was actually kind of sad to display these creaky pensioners for the benefit of the shows pre-school audience.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2D9SU3Gw9VU

Well, even better than mistaking Adventure Time etc for part of the Adult Swim line-up, our problem is when my son is watching that block of cartoons and the time just sort of bleeds into Adult Swim. He's become a big fan of KOTH, which troubled me at first because sometimes it goes pretty far, but the talks we've had to have with him have gone smoothly. But on nights that KOTH isn't the first entry in the Adult Swim line-up, or if we're staying up a little late, my wife and I usually race to turn off whatever else is coming on.

icydk, Mothersbaugh does the music for Yo Gabba Gabba, and pops up on the show from time to time.

finger prince? so she's like...fingering prince? wait idgi

Everyone I know with kids says that Yo Gabba Gabba has awesome tastes in music. They've gotten Devo, Datarock, Cornelius, and a bunch of indie heroes. But that's a whole other area.

fingerprints v. finger prince xp

yeah so it's not sexual? okay

my toss-in is EXOSQUAD

so sad they canceled it after alien space invaders

uhhh it's definitely sexual. look at prince's face

...i'm not sure how to clarify the joke further...

he said to look for 'finger prints,' but she heard, 'finger prince,' and thought, 'hmmm, should i finger prince?' which would be sexual and then decided, 'nah,' and threw him away.

do u know what 'fingering' someone means? xp

Prince also raises a salacious eyebrow iirc

But...Everything Prince raises is salacious!

do u know what 'fingering' someone means? xp

ummm...what does it mean to you?

What it means to everyone I imagine? I don't think the meaning has changed since I was in highschool.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finger_protocol

so why are you asking?

Bc dayo seems confused

Yo Gabba Gabba is awesome btw

I haven't noticed any adult themes tho

oh you're xp'ing dayo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MZERfeh7n4Q

...i'm not sure how to clarify the joke further...

he said to look for 'finger prints,' but she heard, 'finger prince,' and thought, 'hmmm, should i finger prince?' which would be sexual and then decided, 'nah,' and threw him away.

― Mordy, Tuesday, August 9, 2011 3:52 PM (7 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

do u know what 'fingering' someone means? xp

― Mordy, Tuesday, August 9, 2011 3:53 PM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark

yakko says "dust for prints"

dot says "I found prince"

yakko says "no no no FINGER prints!"

it's okay though dot is a viking at finding prince

lol, are you trolling? dot hears it as the imperative, "finger prince."

oh lol I hear it now

god I'm such not a viking at this

what makes the joke even dirtier is the smirk on Prince's face after he says it. I'm not sure how they got away with it

The Powerpuff Girls is so guilty of this. There's a villain named Sedusa. And "Him", who is basically a transvestite Satan that talks with a falsetto. And Sara Bellum, the mayor's secretary and ostensibly the brains behind his office but who is never seen from the chest up.

Loads more examples but nothing beats the famous "Members Only" episode which is basically 20 mins of sexual innuendo ending with the girls defeating the monster (introduced as "some sort of space-bearing muscle rod") by turning into a giant flaming pussycat and rubbing up against him.

Even the really benign episodes sometimes make you question whether the show was actually made for kids, like the one where almost every line of dialogue was a Beatles reference.

Original WB cartoons weren't even aimed at kids though they later became a kids' staple on Saturday mornings. I think this is all intended for the parents/grandparents/babysitters of the kids watching so the shows aren't totally, unwatchably dud to them.

Yeah, it's like when I finally saw Goodfellas and realized how faithful (within boundaries) the "Goodfeathers" was.

the Powerpuff Girls episode I mentioned:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xs9PG-XAlsI

"Fools! I feed off your expulsions of manliness. THE MORE MANHOOD YOU BRING AGAINST ME, THE HARDER I BECOME!"

O_o

wow, I really want to watch the Powerpuff Girls now. who knew?

xp. well. thanks!

Yeah, it's like when I finally saw Goodfellas and realized how faithful (within boundaries) the "Goodfeathers" was.

I know the feeling, I was a massive fan of the Simpsons but didn't watch any Kubrick movies until like 5 years after I memorized every episode

the powerpuff girls was an awesome show, especially the first season

<3 HIM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfTD1NDNFIg

:D

dayo iirc you were on the wrong side of that viking debate and i think this 'fingering' scandal indicates why

this is sort of off topic, but i saw this yesterday and was just like o_O

http://thelc.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8341ed61453ef0120a8b7f080970b-320wi

holy shit that is really funny

sounds like my prom night amirite

Good call on "Hey Arnold". Obviously they never came out and said it, but it's clear that Helga's mother is an alcoholic. The creator planned a follow-up series "The Patakis", focusing on an older Helga, which would develop mature themes further (the network turned it down on the grounds that it sounded too similar to Daria).

Animaniacs wasn't amazingly deep, but they did a lot more of those moments than you'd expect. tbh my mom enjoyed it enough that I started watching for hidden context and was rewarded pretty well. I was in middle school by that point, I think, though.

mordy can I finger you?

Ok I just remembered a scene from Rocko where Heffer has an on-screen orgasm when he's hooked up to an automatic milking machine. Can't find it online but yeah that was pretty O.o

apparently hanna montana or whomever does an homage to the wire.

there are a lot of weird hey arnold people on The Internet. like if you are too normal to fixate on sonic the hedgehog but you're still a weird adult 90s cartoon obsessive hey arnold is your thing

Most of these examples seem much more like extremely brief double entendres that would fly right over the heads of kids, than, like, you know, the theme of the whole show.

Xuxa, cuz i found her attractive

man, i made/heard a lot of "loads" jokes re detergent in college

Remember another episode of Rocko where Heifer and Rocko are obviously trying to book a room at a sex motel

my favorite dialogue from Rocko:

"My teacher says that every time a replacement gas cap is found, an angel gets his wings"
"WELL YOUR TEACHER'S FULLA SNOT!"

i used to watch this show when i was a child http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Animals_of_Farthing_Wood_%28TV_series%29

a lot of death in it, often violent.

as in main characters being killed by other animals, shot, run over, getting ill and dying.

Remember another episode of Rocko where Heifer and Rocko are obviously trying to book a room at a sex motel

"wait, you guys are going to stay the whole night?" - that one?

I never really noticed as a kid how much Ms. Bighead was obviously trying to seduce Rocko and his pals, but it's definitely there. There's one where she's playing strip poker with them and you can see all their clothes on the table.

i remember tons of rocko episodes where he'd like walk down supermarket aisles and everything would be cold and large and alienating and i think that really resonated for me as a child such that when i finally read idk marx i was all about that. rocko's most adult theme was probably about the emptiness and alienation of modern life, right? (nb I haven't seen it since I was a kid.)

This show sounds amazing! It was on when I was in high school, apparently.

Will search it out.

apparently hanna montana or whomever does an homage to the wire.

It was actually iCarly and I'm not sure why I know that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CoaCR0mL4Gg

Again, that's not an adult theme. It's just the writers of iCarly trying to be clever

i remember tons of rocko episodes where he'd like walk down supermarket aisles and everything would be cold and large and alienating and i think that really resonated for me as a child such that when i finally read idk marx i was all about that. rocko's most adult theme was probably about the emptiness and alienation of modern life, right? (nb I haven't seen it since I was a kid.)

That's definitely a big part of it, though the sheer absurdity of everything that ever happened on that show covered that up. Practically every character besides had some major flaw to them (if you read into the subtext a little) - Heffer was a dumb alcoholic with an identity problem, Mr. Bighead was sexually frustrated, Filbert had pretty major OCD, etc. etc. Besides Rocko I don't think there were really any "nice" characters on the show whatsoever.

Didn't he often get stuck in that giant hippo's cleavage? "HOW DAAAAARE YOOUUUU"

"whatever you do... don't get the fat guy!"

The combination of Alan Thicke's death and Tom Scharpling referencing the episode on a recent Best Show finally nudged me towards checking out the infamous "Bicycle Man" episode of Diff'rent Strokes. Holy shit, what a cringe-fest! I suppose that there was no better (if that's the word) way that they could have gone about doing this episode if they were gonna do it, but having Arnold continue with his wisecracking throughout, even after things get quite serious, somehow only added to the "ick" factor.

The "pedophiles do not = gay" discussion at the end did surprise me a little bit, considering the era.