When we were kids we indulged into cartoons after school and on Saturday mornings which transported us into an imaginary world of colors and innocence. Most animated shows on channels like Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network from the early 2000s sent kids into consequence free adventures with kid-like characters who we dreamed of being friends with. Some got bored of those repetitive shows and moved on, but then there’s some who continued watching but evolved to a type of animation many thought was not possible: Cartoons for adults.
In the world of adult cartoons the wackiest and wildest things people could imagine came true. There were adult cartoons which used profanity and obscene visuals making these programs irresistible for teenagers, especially since that there was no way parents wanted their kids to watch them for obvious reasons. As these teens grew older and watched more adult cartoons some noticed a message and satirical theme the show was making underneath all of the humor and violence. Many adult animated shows today put their odd show on a platform to deliver a message on anything from politics, society, and humanity. The advanced nature of these shows put adult cartoons in a unique place in between people’s escape into a more colorful world and pondering deep themes about the world we live in.
With that being said, here is a list of ten adult animated shows, regardless of when they first aired or if still airing, that I think best suits those themes.
Honorable Mentions:
Venture Brothers on Netflix and Adult Swim.
Aqua Teen Hunger Force
King of the Hill
10. Family Guy
Where to Watch: FOX, TBS, Netflix
Seth McFarlane’s most popular show gets on this list out of respect paving the way for other shows to be bold and graphic on a major channel like FOX, but that still doesn’t make up for how each episode has become hit-or-miss nowadays. In it’s prime, Family Guy was one of the funniest shows in the world and had audiences dying on the ground laughing for every short gag clip randomly put into the middle of an episode, and also memorable characters like Stewie Griffin, Brian the Dog, and Quagmire. The show also gets credit for conveying some respectable liberal messages and ideals albeit in an odd way.
9. American Dad
Where to Watch: TBS, Netflix
Seth McFarlane’s second most popular show might be his best as American Dad is still going strong with its second home on TBS. It still falls into some of the trappings of Family Guy but still stands strong its own, while also doing a better job at satirizing the American family with a Republican idealist dad, a trophy housewife, nerdy son, and hippie-green daughter. Roger the talking alien who wears numerous disguises to hide himself and the talking fish Klaus Heissler have been among the best parts of the underrated series that has been going for over a decade.
8. F Is For Family
Where to Watch: Netflix
Comedian Bill Burr’s Netflix-exclusive cartoon may have only six episodes so far, but F Is For Family is a more realistic and profane version of Family Guy. Bill Burr voices the dad who we find out in the opening credits fought in the Korean War after finishing school and is now middle-aged with a wife and three kids. Burr goes on occasional outbursts of anger and rage that make the show must-see TV as he struggles in the purgatory that is 1970s suburbia. Season 2 is expected to be released on Netflix in 2017.
7. Futurama
Where to Watch: Comedy Central, Netflix
Futurama is Matt Groening’s American Dad as in less popular but just about as good as his biggest show. In a time like today where the world is in chaos and shambles, wouldn’t it be nice just to be frozen and awaken one thousand years into the future? That is the premise of Futurama as pizza delivery boy Phillip Fry accidentally falls into a frozen chamber pod on New Year’s Eye in 1999 and is suddenly in the year 3000. He joins a delivery company led by his descendant Professor Farnsworth, an alcoholic arrogant robot named Bender, and a one-eyed kick-ass alien named Leila who he has been pining for her love for the entire series. The delivery crew go on some remarkable and wacky odysseys through time and space while also satirizing themes of society and humanity as classic science fiction novels of the twentieth century did. The show may have ended in 2013 but the entire series can still be watched on Netflix and reruns air on Comedy Central.
6. South Park
Where to Watch: Comedy Central
South Park today has an advantage over Family Guy and The Simpsons because they produce content at a faster pace and each episode is up-to-date with the most current issues at hand to satirize in ways no one thought possible. The show started out as a typical crass and cheap cartoon with fart jokes and poop gags, but it eventually evolved into a thought-provoking and satirical look at the world we live in today that is constantly changing on a daily basis. The show will probably provide some incredible content over the next decade considering the state American society is in today.
5. The Simpsons
Where to Watch: FOX, FXX
Ladies and Gentlemen, it’s time to kiss the ring. Adult animation and their path to greatness began with the Simpsons when they were a short on the Tracey Ullman Show in 1987 before becoming their own program and have never looked back. While the show hasn’t produced as many memorable episodes over the past decade as they did during their peak in the mid-1990s, watching at least fifty epsiodes of The Simpsons is an American tradition each citizen should partake in like memorizing The Bill of Rights or the last twenty U.S. Presidents. Considering how long the show has been running, The Simpsons is nearly out of gas, but fans can still watch classic episodes thanks to the FXX channel rerunning old episodes and occasionally the entire series from beginning to end.
4. Bob’s Burgers
Where to Watch: FOX, Netflix
FOX’s Bob’s Burger’s is the channel’s best show today and in many ways a heir to The Simpsons (sorry Seth McFarlane.) because it's a funny but somehwhat heartfelt portrait of the American family. It’s the network’s best program because it satirizes the modern-day life without relying on gross gags and obscene language. (Unless you count paintings of animal anuses.) The great voice cast includes the likes H. Jon Benjamin as Bob Belcher, the dad and fry cook of the show-titled restaurant, and Kristen Schall as Louise Belcher, the nine-year diabolical daughter who is always wearing a pink bunny ears hat. The son Gene Belcher is another wild kid who likes to play an electric keyboard and wear a burger outfit while occasionally blurting out random and obscene phrases no eleven year old is supposed to know. And the oldest kid Tina Belcher, is the perfect portrayal of an awkward thirteen year old girl with odd attractions to horses and butts. It may not be as wild as Family Guy but Bob’s Burgers is pretty much everything Family Guy should be.
3. Archer
Where to Watch: FX, Netflix
Speaking of H. Jon Benjamin, he does his best voice-work as an A-Hole loudmouth secret spy. FX’s Archer focuses on the title character Sterling Archer as he goes on secret missions akin to James Bond movies from the 1960s and 1970s. The difference between Archer and Bond however is that Archer is such an arrogant and irrational man-child of a spy that he finds himself and his spy-crew in deeper and even more ridiculous situations. Fellow characters like his boss and mom Mallory Archer and ex-lover Lana Kane along with several characters with absurd personalities and weird kinks make Archer the best voice cast of an animated show today. The dialogue they share is so intelligent and belly-laughing hilarious that it’s remarkable how a 2D cartoon about spies can have dialogue like this. Also of note: the organization Archer worked for was called ISIS in early seasons, but when the terrorist ISIS group became well-known the show dropped the name, so if you start the show on Netflix and wonder why Archer is working for ISIS, it’s coincidental.
2. Rick and Morty
Where to Watch: Adult Swim on Cartoon Network
So last week I bought season 1 of Rick and Morty on DVD to see what the fuss was all about and I finished the entire season in one night. This show is UN-BE-LIVE-ABLE. Rick is a crazy scientist who lives with his daughter’s family and takes his grandson Morty on adventures through different dimensions and alternate universes. What happens on this show is so insane and absurd that you will have to see it to believe it. Community creator Dan Harmon goes deep inside his complex mind to bring an adult animated show unlike any other. The visuals are and storytelling methods walk a fine and narrow line between insane and brilliant.
1. BoJack Horseman
Where to Watch: Netflix
The real reason I wanted to write about adult animation was so I could write about what I think is the best show on Netflix and one of the best shows in the world today and of all-time: BoJack Horseman. In three seasons and thirty-six episodes, BoJack Horseman has gone from being a funny and absurd world with talking animals living with humans in Hollywood to one of the most philosophical and existential think-pieces about life. I’m not even kidding, or should I say, Horsin’ Around. The premise starts out simple: The titular character is a washed-up 90s TV actor whose career has gone down the drain. All he has as friends is his stoner roommate Todd, his pink cat agent Princess Carolynn, his feminist ghost-writer Diane Nguyen, and a dog another 90s actor who he resents for being happy all the time, Mr. Peanutbutter. In season one Diane and BoJack work on a biography about his life that he hopes will make him famous again. Seasons 2 has him cast in his dream movie role, and in season 3 he campaigns for an Oscar nomination. But the show is more about a has-been acting trying to rejuvenate his career; it’s also his never ending journey towards finding peace and happiness within himself, and the dread that he may never get it back because of his arrogant and selfish decisions which hurt his only friends. At first glance people will say it’s another adult cartoon, but after watching the entire series it is so much more, a hilarious yet deep experience that can be relived over and over again.
