You are filled with a sense of nostalgia and warmth whenever there is a rerun of a TV show you were obsessed with as a kid. Animated series and educational programs with puppets and a variety of friendly hosts, human, animal, or alien, were your go-to escape zone whenever homework, peer pressure, or family life were too overwhelming. It is not uncommon forGen Xers and Millennialsto revisit the shows and movies that meant so much to them while growing up; they helped forge their personality and outlook on life, and they taught them all about friendship, kindness, forgiveness, science, literature, art, space, and so on.
Kids’ shows evolvedwith the advancement of CGI and technology, becoming more and more interactive and relatable over the decades, and incorporating popular book characters and themes that reflected the times. It has been a long way sinceHowdy Doody’s circus and Western Frontier content between 1947 and 1960, orPlay School’s songs, activities, and stories, which aired from 1964 to 1988.
The1990swere brimming with sitcoms and procedural TV series, but they also featured a ton of educational and entertaining animated and live-action shows targeting children and tweens. FromClarissa Explains It All, toThe Magic School Bus, toTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, these are the titles that kept younger audiences glued to their TV sets, especially on Saturday and Sunday mornings.
20Clarissa Explains It All (1991-1994)
Clarissa Explains It Allwas an American sitcom that was created for Nickelodeon by Mitchell Kriegman. The premise centers on Clarissa Darling (Melissa Joan Hart), a sarcastic and geeky teenager who constantly breaks the fourth wall to comment on her eventful life and complain about her antagonistic younger brother, Ferguson (Jason Zimbler). Tween viewers loved imitating the character’s colorful and often mismatched sense of fashion and related to her drama, such as first crushes and dealing with pimples.
In an interview with Los Angeles Times, Kriegman insisted that the show appealed to girls and boys alike, stating, “That is an old idea from the toy industry that boys won’t put up with girl stuff. But I wanted to do something from a girl’s point of view from the start because they are sort of in this incredible pocket of understanding of the universe. Clarissa at this age can be both provocative, precise, and intelligent about explaining the world around her. And that can be very empowering for kids out there watching, to see somebody being themselves, not giving in to peer pressure, and taking action to get what they want.”
19Dexter’s Laboratory (1996-2003)
Created by Genndy Tartakovsky for Cartoon Network,Dexter’s Laboratorywas a highly ratedanimated series that won two Annie Awards for Individual Achievement: Writing in a TV Production and Outstanding Individual Achievement for Voice Acting by a Female Performer in an Animated Television Production. Fast-food chains included toy collectibles in their kids’ meals and special offers and gave away DVDs as prizes.
The show centers on a genius, irreverent American boy with an affected accent, Dexter, who has a secret laboratory in his bedroom, cleverly concealed from his parents behind a bookcase. His ditzy and happy-go-lucky older sister Dee Dee often tags along, much to his irritation.
Dee Dee:Dexter, wanna see my new dance?
Dexter:No.
Dee Dee:It’s called “the fanciful unicorn.”
Dexter:Girl, I have seen better steps on a ladder.
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18Bill Nye the Science Guy (1993-1998)
Anyone who watched the sitcomThe Big Bang Theoryremembers Sheldon citing the educational programBill Nye the Science Guyas a pop culture phenomenon and a source of inspiration for his interest in physics when he was a kid; he even brought the host himself to “teach” his roommate Leonard a lesson. The beloved show ran for six seasons and 100 episodes and included 17 segments, such asClever Science Trick,Better Eating Through Kitchen Chemistry,Great Moments in Science, andSoundtrack of Science.
Consistently high ratings garnered it 23 Daytime Emmy nominations and 19 wins, including Outstanding Writing in a Children’s Series, Outstanding Sound Editing, and Outstanding Performer in a Children’s Series.
The program also spawned a popular video game in 1996, titledBill Nye: The Science Guy - Stop the Rock!, and a Netflix revival in 2017 targeting an older audience,Bill Nye Saves the World.
17Barney & Friends (1992-2010)
“Hello again to all my friends. I’m glad you came to play. Our fun and learning never ends. Here’s what we did today.”
Targeting viewers under the age of eight,Barney & Friendsfeatures a purple anthropomorphic Tyrannosaurus rex and three other dinosaurs, human teachers, storytellers, writers, musicians, and kids, and several puppets. Dance routines, catchy songs, and optimistic messages abound. The show was nominated multiple times for the Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Children’s Series, and it won Outstanding Live and Direct-to-Tape Sound Mixing in 2001.
Friends are special, so important,
They make the world go ‘round.
We like helping one another.
In school or on the playground
- The Friendship Song
16Art Attack (1990-2007)
Art Attackwas a British educational and creative program hosted by Neil Buchanan on CITV that was nominated for several BAFTA TV Awards and won Best Children’s Programme in 1993. Some of the subjects covered included drawing facial expressions in cartoons, modern art T-shirt painting, origami, and bandage crafts.
This blogger recalls, “I was part of theArt Attackkiddie fans during my about-to-hit-puberty stages. Unfortunately for me, though, I was never dexterous enough to make the art stunts Neil presented. ‘It’s all on how you look at it.’ Take it out of the show’s context and what do you get? You get a mighty mantra that would guide you through life. Whenever I face problems, I look back into my childhood and remember that one thing the art show taught me.”
15The Magic School Bus (1994-1997)
Adapted from the book series of the same name by Joanna Cole and Bruce Degen,The Magic School Buswas one of the highest-rated PBS shows for children. It combined diversity, education, and entertainment, and featured the voices of Lily Tomlin as Miss Frizzle, Daniel DeSanto as Carlos Ramon, Tara Meyer as Dorothy Ann Hudson, Erica Luttrell as Keesha Franklin, Stuart Stone as Ralphie Tennelli, and Lisa Yamanaka as Wanda Li.
Per nostalgic reviewers on IMDB, “It is one of the very few educational shows to have a perfect balance of entertainment value, cuteness, and educating younger audiences in a tactful way,” “When I was in second grade, my teacher always brought in videos ofThe Magic School Bus. One of my favorite episodes was the one when the class is investigating a haunted house,” and “It’s a helpful way to begin to teach more complicated science subjects to children.”
A sequel series,The Magic School Bus Rides Again, debuted on Netflix in 2017.
14Rugrats (1991-2004)
Nickelodeon’sRugratsfollows a group of South Californian toddlers, namely Tommy, Chuckie, Angelica, and the twins Phil and Lil; they only speak among each other and can turn any ordinary activity or task into a fun adventure. Tommy is brave and loyal, but he has a habit of storing all sorts of objects in his diapers; Chuckie is bumbling, shy, and easily manipulated; Angelica, serving as the show’s main antagonist, is a spoiled, greedy, and self-centered only child; as for Phil and Lil, they often argue with one another but enjoy playing with dirt and eating bugs and worms.
The first 100 episodes were constantly rerun, garnering 20.8 million viewers a week in 1996, and that long-lasting popularity birthed three theatrical movies, in 1998, 2000, and 2003.
13Madeline (1993-2001)
Partly narrated byThe Sound of Musicstar Christopher Plummer, the animated preschool seriesMadeline, later renamedThe New Adventures of Madeline, stemmed from six specials that aired between 1988 and 1991. Voiced by Tracey Lee Smythe and later Andrea Libman, Madeline is a smart, brave, and kind redhead staying in a boarding school with eleven other girls, their nurturing teacher, Miss Clavel, and Genevieve, a rescue dog.
The episodes feature a variety of themes, both on school grounds and during field trips, from Madeline convincing the young Prince of Monaco to spend an afternoon of fun as a regular boy; to the girls taking the famous Orient Express train and competing at the International Spelling Bee; and celebrating Halloween with their New Yorker pen pals.
12The Little Lulu Show (1995-1999)
Based on Marjorie Henderson Buell’s 1935 comic strip character, Lulu Moppet,The Little Lulu Showcenters on a shrewd little girl, voiced by Tracey Ullman and later Jane Woods, and her group of misfit friends: Tubby, Alvin, Annie, and Willie.
Per contributors on Reddit, “Seeing her triggered a memory. When I was about 3.5 years old, someone gave me aLittle Lulupop-up book; I loved it,” “I remember watching this on HBO back in the day,” and “I had the show on VHS. I can still sing the song!”
11Garfield and Friends (1988-1994)
“Did I hear a pistachio, almond, nut-filled cookie with chocolate sprinkles; about eighty-seven chocolate sprinkles? Who could sleep with such a racket going on?”
- Garfield
Based on the comic stripsGarfieldandU.S. Acresby Jim Davis,Garfield and Friendsaired on CBS on Saturday morning and followed the titular lazy and greedy orange cat, voiced by Lorenzo Music, and his human owner Jon Arbuckle (Thom Huge), a perpetually frustrated romantic.
