There are probably a few shows you grew up watching that will always stick with you. They might be shows that you can still watch today like "Spongebob Squarepants" and "Recess" or they might be shows that taught you something like "Sesame Street," but rarely is there a show that is intended for children and adults. "Animaniacs" is an exception.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with the show, "Animaniacs" is about three wild cartoon characters, Yakko, Wakko and Dot, who were locked in the Warner Bros. tower for being too out of control and dopey. We see in the opening credits that they have escaped and each episode focuses on their wacky adventures on the Warner Bros. Studio and across the globe. Watching this show as a child, I was able to pick up on all the things that were suppose to be funny for children. There was an episode about Wakko trying to find a bathroom before he peed himself, an episode where a clown was beaten and blown up by dynamite and anvils and one where the characters parodied "The Cat in the Hat."
What I didn't notice until I started re-watching when I was older was how many jokes there were, dirty or not, that adults would have an easier time catching. One cartoon was a song about Lake Titicaca and how the trio loved saying the name. Another episode took a jab at politics, where Wakko appears to be looking at a map saying that they have lost their way, only for Yakko to correct him telling him that he is looking at a flyer for the Republican party. Perhaps one of my favorite episodes was one where Yakko, Wakko and Dot made fun of pop culture trivia nerds, even going as far as petrifying one of them by introducing him to Barney the Dinosaur.
Some of the more subtle nods in the show were rather interesting. Yakko and Wakko are supposed to embody the personality traits of Groucho and Harpo Marx respectively, who are known from The Marx Brothers. The lab mouse, Brain, is supposed to be a cartoon version of Orson Welles and the clown I mentioned earlier is suppose to represent comedian Jerry Lewis. Two of my favorite nods is in one episode where the trio uses box office bombs as actual bombs and another episode where "Beauty and the Beast" and its songs are parodied, with one going, "Certain is what we are of what you like the least. Snails on your lawn, songs that go on and on, Beauty and the Beast".
Remembering shows like "Animaniacs" makes me realize how lucky we were to have such great 90s to early 2000s television shows. Our cartoons weren't just cartoons; they were shows that really shaped us into who we are. They taught us how to laugh, be sarcastic and how to learn from our mistakes. Sadly there aren't a lot of shows like that for children to watch today. A lot of it is rushed CGI crap with no story or investment in the characters. It has gotten so bad that networks are bringing some of our old shows back. Hopefully, the ones that come back will be consistent with how they were in the past. As for the shows that aren't coming back, you can bet that I'll be buying them on DVD and showing them to my kids instead of the shows that are out now.
