What was 'THE' show of your generation?

I think the definitive show of MY generation is The Simpsons because while other shows came and went, that property remained a constant for 21 of my 30 years of life. I was in elementary school when the first shorts aired on The Tracey Ullman Show (a third-grader to be precise). When the actual series began, I was starting middle school. I clearly remember knowing "Do the Bartman" by heart in the seventh grade. Some of the best episodes came on when I was in high school. It hit syndication months before graduation.

The success of The Simpsons changed the television animation industry in my opinion. It inspired the creation of the Cartoon Network and other networks to at least try to create their own medium-changing programs. And a bulk of those that grew up with the series are still fans. I know I still watch every Sunday night.
 
For younger kids, I think. Pokemon was an interesting cartoon for my generation. I was 11 when it first aired and everyone was into it. But then when the second season premiered everyone had moved on to TRL and stuff like that.



I remember that Rugrats hype. It was kinda sad to be honest. The show became HUGE once it had already jumped the shark. Rugrats was at its best when I was a kid back in the early `90s. Those late `90s/early 2000 episodes were horrible.



Well...yea...but we're talking about kids stuff. If we went into adult stuff we might as well include Baywatch, Seinfeld, and Xena: Warrior Princess.
 
THE show for my generation, at least in my opinion?

I'd say He-Man and Thundercats for the early 80s, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for the late 80s and The Simpsons for the early 90s.
 
Its not really about opinion. Its about what show was the most popular. And sometimes that show isn't really good. I mean...looking back on Power Rangers it was a piece of crap, but in 1993 it was the most popular show on children's television.
 
A lot of kids grew up with The Simpsons. Don't see how it's invalid.

Anyway, I would say Pokemon/Powerpuff Girls/Rugrats and maybe Spongebob. The former three were huge and Spongebob started off pretty quietly, but then got big as well.
 
I understand why the show was popular. The "actors" were real martial artists, so during the unmorphed fight scenes you got some great stuff. The Japanese footage, while it didn't match with the American shot stuff, was still impressive in its own right. AND there was eye candy for both genders. The boys had Kimberly to drool over and the girls had Tommy (and Zack) to drool over.

But...you know...has popular as that show was it really started falling apart rather quickly. Half way through season two they started making cast changes and it backfired on them. And the movie wasn't all that great and it didn't really make that much money either. However, the toys did continue to be good. I have no complain about the toys. I was buying PR toys till Zeo in `96.

Overall, the Ninja Turtles were a much more successful franchise. The first five seasons were successful and the first two movies were good and did well at the box office. Thats why I give the Turtles credit at THE show. It was just bigger and successful overall.
 
Personally, I'd say Rugrats (early-mid 90s, especially the first three seasons), though if you asked 5 people from my generation you'd probably get 6 different answers.
 
How could there be 6 different answers. The entire decade only had three extremely popular shows. TMNT, Power Rangers, and Pokemon. Rugrats (although great and popular in its early seasons) didn't reach that level till early 2000s.
 
Yes, it did. The first film reached $100 million, making it the first non-Disney made animated film to make that much in the box offcie straight-up.
 
there was Goldorak then I already mentionned, but also Albator (Captain Harlock), Candy Candy, Capitaine Flam (Captain Future)

and also because it was re-runed very often along with the 1967 Spiderman cartoon, Rocket Robin Hood.
 
Yea...a good 7 years after the show had been on the air. The show was popular in `91 but not to the level it reached in later years. Which is kinda funny since the show actually got worse as it went along.



Sort of. They made the Flintstones and then make a bunch copycats like Jetsons for example. Then they had Jonny Quest and made a bunch of copycats like Harvey Birdman or whatever. Then they have Scooby-Doo and make a bunch of copycats like Josie and the Pussycats.
 
Ren and Stimpy hands down.

Actually, any cartoon from Nickelodeon's golden years--Rocko's Modern Life, Rugrats pre-Dil, etc.
 
Honestly I'd say Rugrats was at its peak from 94-96, the years it was cancelled. Why? Well, the ratings during that two year span for the reruns were good enough to inspire the bringing back of the show for new episodes in 96.
And I'd pretty much say SpongeBob had taken over as the "crown-jewel" of Nickelodeon by the early 2000s.
 
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