What do you think is the most socially damaging children's show ever released

I'll add Caillou as well. My dad loathed that fucker and banned me from watching it when I was little. He hated any show that had whining in it, or whiny voices.
My mom was like that when I was little with Dexter's Lab cause she thought Dexter did nothing but whine.

Also my parents hated me watching Animaniacs.
 
I'll add Caillou as well. My dad loathed that fucker and banned me from watching it when I was little. He hated any show that had whining in it, or whiny voices.
Good call for both your sakes.
I'd go with Adventure Time, being patient zero of many a Tumblrism and bad tropes. Shitty artstyle, references to things only adults will understand, muh deep lore, shipping, faggots, subversions of expectations and gender bending.
I'm surprised you didn't say Steven Universe. I watched that show for a couple episodes, then I saw how the creator made nude drawings of Ed, Edd N Eddy or something.

What sealed it for me was Steven Universe trying to be educational by force-feeding racial propaganda in their PSAs.


Look at this:
Screenshot 2025-09-28 at 4.25.04 PM.webp
 
I'm surprised you didn't say Steven Universe. I watched that show for a couple episodes, then I saw how the creator made nude drawings of Ed, Edd N Eddy or something.
I thought about it, but Adventure Time directly lead Steven Universe but with its own share of bad practices that SU didn't do as much in propagating.
 
My mom was like that when I was little with Dexter's Lab cause she thought Dexter did nothing but whine.

Also my parents hated me watching Animaniacs.
He did it with Pokemon too because I think Ash whined once or twice, and he had enough. He also loathed the Pokemon repeating their own names and thought it was stupid :story: To be fair, it included banning things he thought were stupid included Spongebob. Never knew much about the Animaniacs but they seemed harmless!
 
There's something about "Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug & Cat Noir"... it's way too horny & European to be a kids show. But it's also way too retarded and goofy to appeal to older kids.
 
I'd put all of anime if possible or weird internet shows like cocomelon.

TV shows haven't been as damaging as that since alot of it needed to be tested and screened before airing and really weird shows never became super popular.

Though if I had to pick only one tv show, it would be Invader Zim. It did to adolescents then what rick and morty did to man children, making them insufferable. The weirdest kid was always into it, sometimes quoting the show thinking it was cool and made the other kids hate them. I don't think any other show was as devstating without help from the internet or fucked up community as Invader Zim to a child's ability to socially interact and healthy interests from being introduced to that show.
Invader Zim is really no worse than Spongebob or Ren and Stimpy or any other Nicktoon or Cartoon Network show from the 90’s and 2000’s in this regard. I also don’t even recall many kids watching Zim back then or even knew of its existence, most of them grew out of Nickelodeon by the time it came out. All the weirdo kids at my school were busy quoting South Park and Family Guy instead. The kids in my school screaming Cartman and Stewie quotes were far more socially maladjusted and numerous than the Hot Topic mall goths who found GIR funny.

If there’s one Nicktoon to blame it would be Spongebob. Spongebob was every where back then and I knew of kids who weren’t allowed to watch it because parents found it annoying. It probably spawned all the cartoon reviewer man children who pump out videos autistically ranting about a kid’s cartoon way past its prime that they should have grown out of years ago. I had no idea there were so many man children so emotionally invested in getting into slapfights over modern vs classic Spongebob or counting how many times Squidward got tortured in the post movie seasons until I fell down the cartoon reviewer rabbit hole.
 
If there’s one Nicktoon to blame it would be Spongebob. Spongebob was every where back then and I knew of kids who weren’t allowed to watch it because parents found it annoying. It probably spawned all the cartoon reviewer man children who pump out videos autistically ranting about a kid’s cartoon way past its prime that they should have grown out of years ago. I had no idea there were so many man children so emotionally invested in getting into slapfights over modern vs classic Spongebob or counting how many times Squidward got tortured in the post movie seasons until I fell down the cartoon reviewer rabbit hole.
i love those early mysterious mr enter spongebob reviews they are pure arrested development autism i can't believe i watched him unironically when i was like 13
 
Good call for both your sakes.

I'm surprised you didn't say Steven Universe. I watched that show for a couple episodes, then I saw how the creator made nude drawings of Ed, Edd N Eddy or something.

What sealed it for me was Steven Universe trying to be educational by force-feeding racial propaganda in their PSAs.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=srfqcmDxCy0https://youtube.com/watch?v=7JheC-_8I5Ahttps://youtube.com/watch?v=PA0KTFdnBk8
Look at this:
Wyświetl załącznik 7973811
But SU audience was mostly young adults tho. No kids like that gay shit.
Johnny Test. I cannot unhear that whip sound now.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=5wT4UbxQiTg
Not to mention it has lazy writing and stiff animation with reused assets.
Johnny Test was the low quality show that CN had running the time kids were at school and they didn't want to put actual good programming. Yes a sick day with TV only was sad back then.

Thread tax: Any cartoons that try to sell toys; Transformers, He-Man, TMNT...
 
But SU audience was mostly young adults tho. No kids like that gay shit.

Johnny Test was the low quality show that CN had running the time kids were at school and they didn't want to put actual good programming. Yes a sick day with TV only was sad back then.

Thread tax: Any cartoons that try to sell toys; Transformers, He-Man, TMNT...
i watched joe dirt 2 once when i was sick and it was like fever dream lol

also one time i came home really sick and like sesame street was on for some reason and i had to listen to it for like an hour because i was too sick to get up and turn it off
 
From the UK:

The Tomorrow People was definitely scary.

Animals of Farthing Wood could be terrifying, but was meant well - very eco/green/don't destroy the countryside messaging which now would be seen as Right Wing.

Noseybonk from Jigsaw scared kids in the 80s but is today regarded as mostly fun... look up the 'Nosegays' clip, it's hilarious.

Not a kids show, but usually aired before CITV weekdays was a TV appeal called 'Crimestoppers' which was scary as fuck.
 
On the one hand: Cocomelon. It's literally ad revenue bait that's designed to be addictive, but is actually harmful for child development.

On the other hand: Blues Clues. Not because of it's content, but because of what it is. OG Blues Clues is wholesome and genuinely good for kids, but the show is the first time we really tried to scientifically design a show to force-educate children. The lessons learned with Blues Clues are the foundation for how to make child-directed propaganda material, even if Blues Clues itself was a good and decent show.

Steven Universe and Adventure Time, and all that other Frederator type cartoon network shit is bad, but it's easily filtered. Like you know a kid shouldn't be watching that, so if you're a parent, you know to block it. So I don't see them to be as threatening.
 
For all the MLP votes I'd argue it at least had the positive of directing autists into something benign. We've got Jenny Nichson, a lot of musicians, voice AI, and a funny Ghost bit. Oh, and all the WEIRD AL WON posting from his character marrying Pinkie Pie.
Cocomelon is more cancerous by design but its impact is yet to be felt. Flapjack wasn't bad itself but without it both Adventure Time and Steven Universe cease to exist.
 
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