Good Cartoons Currently Running.

For some reason I've recently been on a nostalgia trip. I've been looking back at episodes of classics like Darkwing Duck, Ducktales, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles etc, and have been thinking about how much I miss those days. I probably haven't kept up with any [non-adult] animated series since Spider-Man went off the air.

So, for those of you who remember these shows is there anything on today that can even begin to compare?

I'm not trying to turn this into a "Back in my day cartoons used to mean something!" thread. I'm seriously looking for a quality series that may be running today that I don't know about.

I do remember seeing one or two episodes of Spongebob Squarepants, and actually getting a good laugh .

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I'm the same way as you with nostalgia. Add Super Mario cartoons, Sonic, Zelda to your list.

But an example of quality now is probably the new TMNT.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Lots of people say Avatar is really good. I haven't seen it myself, though, even though one of my online friends has been wanting me to.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Venture Bros. That's the best animated show on TV right now, until new Futurama episodes come back.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Venture Bros. is over though, at least until the new season.

When do new Futurama episodes start? I must mark my calendar...

How ya doing, buddy?

I can see some kid musing about Avatar in ten years the same way my generation muses about Gargoyles and David the Gnome today.

I also like My Gym Partner is a Monkey. It remind me of Dexter's Lab, as it takes an absurd concept and just completly runs with it.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends. There is very little programming on that is better than this, cartoon or not. Fantastic humor, very odd, always funny. It helps to know people who have personalities similar to those that crop up.

How ya doing, buddy?

Spongebob is usually good, though I have to watch it sparingly. Johnny Bravo still gets a new episode every once in a while. Although I don't watch it, I will agree TMNT is a good show. I'm not sure about Avatar and Foster's, neither of which made a good impression on me within one episode, but they might be great shows overall.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Family guy is getting better too.

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Originally Posted by galen

Venture Bros. is over though, at least until the new season.

When do new Futurama episodes start? I must mark my calendar...

2008. They're half way through the writing process and about to start the animation.


And Family Guy has never been funny.

How ya doing, buddy?

The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy is surprisingly enjoyable. Its got a lot of the typical gross humor that many cartoons have, but there are a lot of references to popular culture and sometimes its funny to see how much they get away with.... Any show about the Grim Reaper loosing a limbo contest and becoming the "best friend" to two children.

Wikipedia's Entry for The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy

I'd also suggest Invader Zim, another series that seems to get away with quite a bit despite being "made" for children.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Any weekday at 10:30 just turn on Adult Swim. Their humor is really polarizing (with their original shows, anyway) but damn is it funny if that's your kinda laugh. As someone else already said, Venture Bros. is hilarious, as is Aqua Teen Hunger Force. Other than those two, there's Robot Chicken which is hit or miss, and the bunch of licensed shows they use. The best of the bunch is undoubtably Futurama, which is great no matter how many times you've already seen it.

Enjoy!

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Originally Posted by Preacher33

I also like My Gym Partner is a Monkey. It remind me of Dexter's Lab, as it takes an absurd concept and just completly runs with it.

You have the intelligence of drywall. That show is crap. And don't even bother arguing because this is one of those occasions where it's okay for me to be a dick because I also happen to be completely correct.


Anyhow, the best animated show on television right now is Drawn Together. The writing is a notch above everything else available, and is pretty much equal to Venture Bros. in total awesomeness. Drawn Together is everything Family Guy wishes it could be.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by Hotobu

So, for those of you who remember these shows is there anything on today that can even begin to compare?

I'm not trying to turn this into a "Back in my day cartoons used to mean something!" thread. I'm seriously looking for a quality series that may be running today that I don't know about.

Honestly, no...Most of the cartoons today are so painful to look at and/or are poorly written, I can't even begin to put them in the same category as all of the quality stuff from the 80's/early 90's. I've gotten an occasional laugh out of the random Spongebob episode and new Simpsons, but little more. Family Guy had its' day, now it seems like old hat. The new TMNT had potential, but the voices for the Turtles just grate my nerves to the point I can't watch it (I've read a couple episode summaries that sounded okay at least). Adult Swim's stuff used to be funny and entertaining, now their original shows just smell of lame attempts at DVD sales of low-budget (or in the Boondocks case, low-class) shows that will be forgotten a year from now (and CN's move towards original cartoons has completely over-saturated that entire network in poorly drawn kiddy crap). And the anime selection has completely dwindled, IMO...Naruto's kinda okay, but I'll never follow it with any kind of enthusiasm (I usually forget it comes on...No problem, since they constantly re-show episodes and make things move along seemingly even slower. ). It's probably been a year or so since I've watched any sort of animation on regular TV and enjoyed it.

The one thing I'm looking forward to is the new season of Futurama that's coming soon (or was announced last time I checked at least). That show's fairly new to me (I saw it for the first time when it premiered on Adult Swim) and for all the ideas that sound lame, it does a great job pulling everything off. Wouldn't break my heart for them to kill off the Simpsons and put in Futurama every Sunday night instead. Unless this new season turns out really awful (and that remains a possibility).

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Ugh, Adult Swim, where did you go wrong? I miss Space Ghost, the Brak Show, and Sealab. Of course, Venture Bros. is awesome, but all their other newer stuff is crap. I guess it's still good for old Futuramas on weeknights, though.

As far as regular ol' Cartoon Network goes, they're not in a great state of affairs either, now that they only show Dexter's Lab and Johnny Bravo once in a blue moon, and Megas XLR is gone. Heck, even Courage was pretty good compared to their current stuff. Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends exceeded my expectations, but that's about it for me these days. Alternately, Grim Adventures looked like it had a lot of potential at the start, but I think failed in execution.

Spongebob used to be pretty good, but I think they ran out of ideas a long time ago.

A lot of people rave about Avatar, and I've never understood why. It's not bad or anything, per se, but I've never found it to be particularly interesting in any way, shape or form.

FELIPE NO

I loved Sealab.

"This I Can't Believe It's Not Debbie Butter is delicious! *smears all over face*"

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

For the last few years I haven't watched much on TV aside from whatever is really worth the time, which for me translates to Futurama, Venture Bros and Drawn Together. I regretfully do not know any "kids" cartoons that are actually good, so I can't recommend any of those; the last Spongebob episode I watched was in Welsh ;_;.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I recently got into Avatar, as it's pretty good despite being a children's show. The characters manage to be very likeable, which few shows today (to me, anyhow) fail to do. The show has some really cool fight scenes in the second season, although I wasn't very fond with the 'bending' moves and sometimes rigid fighting styles of the earlier episodes. They quickly grew on me, and I'm looking forward to what the show produces next season.

Of course there's also the obligatory Venture Bros' mention, since it's all kinds of awesome in one thirty-minute package. Not much to really say there. It's just kind of unfortunate that it took so long for season two to arrive. Venture Brothers is clearly one of the few shows on Adult Swim that maintains a sense of high-quality entertainment. I'm still a fan of Aqua Teen (in before 'shit sucks'), but I haven't bothered watching the latest episodes. From what I hear they're lacking compared to previous seasons, but I'll wait to see for myself.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

'Shit sucks'

No really...I like Aqua Teen, but I don't think its' shelf life is that good. It's a good (and refreshingly bizarre-done-right) show if I have the TV on and nothing else compelling is on (which unfortunately happens quite a bit with a regular cable package), but I would never buy the DVD sets or use up a VHS tape to watch at my leisure. In 2020 or whatever, it'll be synonymous with the the '00 decade's 'bad taste' as opposed to a classic. I think a lot of the bad AS shows that keep popping up try to capture the magic Aqua Teen has.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

No love for Metalocalypse? In my opinion, this show is just a notch below the superb Venture Bros, and is a true gem amongst the sea of crappy original content on Adult Swim.

Also, this technically doesn't count since it went off the air last year, but as for recent cartoon excellency, count in Teen Titans.

- WraithTwo -

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Try Justice League Unlimited. I find it quite entertaining and it's not fully for kids. I like it because it's not like "good vs evil" on every episode. It shows how the superheroes get along (not very good it seems) and takes the series to a more dark atmosphere.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by Crash Landon

Anyhow, the best animated show on television right now is Drawn Together. The writing is a notch above everything else available, and is pretty much equal to Venture Bros. in total awesomeness. Drawn Together is everything Family Guy wishes it could be.

I hope you're being sarcastic. If not, can I punch you in the face REALLY HARD?

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Originally Posted by GoldfishX

Honestly, no...Most of the cartoons today are so painful to look at and/or are poorly written, I can't even begin to put them in the same category as all of the quality stuff from the 80's/early 90's.

Protip: Transformers, He-Man, and Thundercats don't count as quality cartoons.

The '90s were better off in the cartoon department, what with stuff like Exosquad, Batman and other Timm cartoons, Beast Wars, Gargoyles, Dexter's Laboratory, and Rocko's Modern Life. The '80s don't really compare.

FELIPE NO

Venture Brothers gets another mention because it's just THAT good.
Seriously, check it out. Every so often when it takes some of the corn ball from the old Hanna Barbara cartoons (Scooby Doo, Johnny Quest, etc.) and recycles them you get a good laugh. I remember the episode where Dr. Venture met up with the grown up Johnny Quest and he was a psychotic shut-in living in an underwater lab. Hilarious.

Another one I like is Metalocalypse.
Funny show, pretty grotesque though so watch out if you're not into that sort of stuff.

Speaking of Brendon Small's stuff, check out Home Movies. It's not on the air but all the seasons are on DVD and its worth a look. It's definitely one of my favorite animated shows.

American Dad is FOX's best animated show on currently.
It's got all of that old Family Guy humor that left the show in lieu of the continuous flashbacks and pop references that bloat that show into a meaningless 30 minutes of stoner humor.
In other words: unlike Family Guy, it's genuinely funny.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Originally Posted by Matt

American Dad is FOX's best animated show on currently.
It's got all of that old Family Guy humor that left the show in lieu of the continuous flashbacks and pop references that bloat that show into a meaningless 30 minutes of stoner humor.
In other words: unlike Family Guy, it's genuinely funny.

You've got to be fucking shitting me. I thought Crash's apporval of Drawn Together was full of hot air but this takes the cake. Family Guy is second tier animation while American Dad is ninth level tier animation which ranks around cave paintings and retarded children using finger paint, and taking seemingly random images putting them in motion and calling it animation. It's nothing more than the creation from the uncreative mind of Seth MacFarlane. The show is not funny, edgey, clever, unique, offensive or anything else. Yeah it's stupid, but not even stupid funny. Watching people get hit in the crotch with a football is funnier.

Jam it back in, in the dark.