“Kids” in quotations because sometimes “kids” shows aren’t really just for children, judging by their nuanced jokes.
Could be old, could be new.
I like a lot, two that stand out lately are Star Wars: Skeleton Crew, and Star Trek: Prodigy.
Going back a ways, Reboot and Beast Wars. (Reboot, upon relatively recent revisit earlier this year, has a few jokes that I certainly wouldn’t have gotten as a kid nor even as a teen.)
You?
Gravity Falls and Steven Universe are the first two to pop into my head. Both start out having pretty self contained episodes before opening up to a big story arc. I think Star Wars Rebels gets overlooked even though it has seems to have less filler than Clone Wars did.
My kids are no where near the target demo anymore, but we’ve watch all of Bluey as a family too. The number of times I’ve teared up at that show is ridiculous.
I’m also a fan of the Adventures of Pete and Pete, Rocko’s Modern Life, Invader Zim, and Magus XLR but they all have a heavy dose of nostalgia for me too.
Oh yes, Gravity Falls and (at least the first couple seasons of) Bluey!
I rather liked Prinze as Kanan in Rebels. (Also just enjoyed it in general.)
Clone Wars has an (IIRC official) episode guide I used the last time that was pretty good to get past most of the filler. Last few seasons were amazing for the most part.
Avatar: The Last Airbender
The Owl House, for sure.
Also, Infinity Train comes to mind.
Steven Universe has a really special place in my heart it’s really a show for all ages with the themes it grapples with in many episodes.
My personal favourites are ATLA and The Owl House, I know they were already mentioned though.
Adventure Time and Spongebob had a lot of stuff that only adults could catch. Also, a lot of shonen anime deal with mature subject matter.
Definitely SpongeBob! I don’t even think this was intended to be a kids show in the first place. Anyhow, SpongeBob is clearly a teenager or even young adult.
I really liked Adventure Time, too. Probably very much intended to be high quality children’s content, suitable for adults as a side effect.
i’ve tried watching spongebob a few times but couldn’t get into it. could you recommend a specific episode?
No specific episode. I can totally understand that somebody wouldn’t like it. First time I saw it was when my 5yo son was watching it, I found it horrible. Many years later I tried for myself and found it increasingly funny. As ever so often, I’d say the first few seasons are best.
Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts is goated with the sauce. Love the themes, the artstyle, the soundtrack, the characters… No joke, it made me cry on three occasions on my last watch (my 3rd). It’s all even better when you’re stoned.
She-ra and the Princesses of Power is really good. I like toxic yuri, and characters who just keep digging every time you think they’ve hit rock bottom.
Like others have pointed out, ATLA, Steven Universe, Infinity Train, Gravity Falls and The Owl House are all good, too.
Hello fellow gay person.
Azumanga Dioh
The Sisters Grimm
Darkwing Duck
Gargoyles
Fraggle Rock
Phineas and Furb
Animaniacs
Just some off the top of my head that I have enjoyed rewatching recently
Animaniacs? Well now that I think about it, yes.
Rob Paulsen is a fucking genius of words though, even after his throat cancer…
Starblazers.Battle of the Planets.Interestingly, these were Japanese imports that were re-edited and dubbed well. One of these days I’m going to watch the Japanese versions because supposedly they are a little more adult.I’m not sure what exactly you’re referring to, but if you find a couple relevant links, please share, I’m curious now…
I missed the “jokes” part of the original question. These are just kids cartoons I grew up with and enjoy rewatching as an adult.
Oh come on, you know Gadget Hackwrench was about one of the sexiest Disney characters…
Just as an aside, recommendations of good Japanese dubs (not a big fan of subs despite being a fast reader) are always welcome too.
Gargoyles
Been meaning to rewatch that for a long while now.
I do love me some Keith David. Despite seeing (hearing…) him in many roles before he’ll always be Commander Anderson from Mass Effect to me first though. Dunno why, but it’s the most memorable role for some reason. (For me.)
Invader Zim (obviously…)
Phineas and Ferb
Powerpuff girls
A couple not posted yet… Bluey, Foster’s Home For Imaginary Friends
Bluey is top tier for this. They can get parents and kids laughing at the same joke for different reasons. Fosters also rips.
Avatar both Aang and Korra, easily some of the best characters and world building for a kids show
Zoids
Teen titans
Lot of the nickelodeon shows around early 2000s SpongeBob, fairy odd parents, jimmy neutron, Danny phantom. They kinda were releasing bangers for awhile
Adventure time I watched as an adult and really enjoyed it
PRODIGY is a good nutrek, unlike the 3 “live action ones”, lower decks can be considered for teens? and good for adults. SGU wierdly try to target teens, but it failed poorly. young justice, some of the newer animated x-men spinoffs.
I liked the first couple seasons of SNW. Spock Amok had me in stitches and Pike is the captain we’ve needed for a while now.
Lower Decks is… frighteningly good as the seasons progress. Their ability to target and poke fun at Trek-tropes was better than any YT channel I’ve seen, yet they respected the source material and mimicked it with commensurately great ability. I was torn between laughing and crying while they did laps around DS9. (DS9 being my fav trek.) And I was genuinely surprised they got Jolene Blalock back given I thought she hated the franchise after her time in it. Even if the humour was more miss-than-hit for me early on in the series.
SGU was weird and originally felt like a BSG knockoff, but I loved their big sci-fi hook and wish we got to know what it was. (BIG spoiler for it below. It’s an old show but still. If you haven’t seen it don’t click.)
spoiler
Pattern in the cmbr, really cool sci-fi idea
That said, most of SGU, aside from the early eps when critical offline systems were important, didn’t really land with me. High concept; poor execution.
Prodigy was the Voyager continuation we apparently all needed but didn’t know. (At least I didn’t.) Was glad to hear a lot of familiar voices in S2, reprised.
Dexter’s Laboratory.
Can’t believe no one’s mentioned SpongeBob!
I did a rewatch of Avatar: the Last Airbender with my kids this summer leading up to the Magic the Gathering set, and I forgot how good it was.
