The Animaniacs’ Greatest Hits
By: Keith
We had stupid cartoons when we were kids (He-Man being a prime example). The mid 80′s were a dead zone of educational programming. MTV still played music and was awesome – but not educational. Cheap Japanese cartoon imports like Voltron and homegrown stupidity like the aforementioned He-Man made the cartoon programming of that era really absurd, excluding reruns of The Jetsons and The Flintstones, and redeeming only for the sake of nostalgia. Then came The Simpsons. I was in 8th grade (I think). The show made smart cultural references that appealed to adults while remaining funny for the kids. It was the first family cartoon worth watching since The Flintstones. The Simpsons, sadly, has been around too long; somewhere around season 6 or 7 it stopped being funny. However, at the height of the Simpsons’ success, we got another great cartoon that only ran several seasons but will forever be remembered for being one of the smartest cartoons ever made — The Animaniacs! In 2006 the whole series became available on DVD. I have recently re-discovered them through Netflix. The Animaniacs feature length movie, Wakko’s Wish, is available on Netflix through instant view. The series itself is on Netflix as well, but you have to get it in the mail. 15 years after the fact, the Animaniacs is a new favorite for my boys.
If you want your kids watching quality and captivating cartoons, you can’t go wrong with the Animaniacs. And wouldn’t it be nice to be entertained yourself, for once, while watching the shows your kids watch? Here is a YouTube collection of some of the funniest, educational songs from the series (The Nations of the World song has some interesting fan attempts on YouTube which might be worth you time to view for a chuckle):
Presidents:
Nations of the World:
US Capitals:
Yakko’s Universe Song:
The Ballad of Magellan:
The Senses:
Panama Canal:
Our Solar System:
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i am ashamed to say that i’ve never heard of the animaniacs. but, once again, you open my eyes to something that can help our parenting. solid work.
.-= john cave osborne´s last blog ..My Interview With Lovie =-.
I use to love that show. Very clever and kid friendly.
Oh wow! Last year I read to my kids “Magellan’s Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe, Over the Edge of the World”, I had to read it aloud to them, bcuz there are explicit details of torture and sex, so…but anyway-GREAT book! We all learned alot. and so then I went to Youtube to find any documentary items on Magellan and came across the Animaniancs. We all cracked up SOOOOO hard! And we’ve been hooked since. I’m so glad you posted more, never saw the nations of the world one…and I will definitely get the series on Netflix now. Thanks again Keith!
He-man was pretty stupid, I was always a fan of GI Joe and Mask. Never really had the opportunity to watch Animaniacs, but I’ll have to check ‘em out.
.-= PJ Mullen´s last blog ..Toddler Haute Cuisine =-.
Wow! My older two children used to watch Animaniacs. They would sing the tune and everything. Boy does that bring back memories! I’m going to send this link to them. =)
Mitzi, thank you for the book suggestion. I am a bookaholic and can never have enough books or read enough. I’ve added it to my tbr list.
OMG I *loved* Animaniacs! I’d rush home from high school every day just to watch it, it was the high point of my day! The terrible part was that I loved the songs, but could never remember The Nations of the World past Peru. All I could do was repeat that one line until I finally got bored or found another tangent.
I *absolutely* need to get my kids hooked on the series – as you said, it’s both actually funny AND legitimately educational. I still can’t figure out why it got canceled. Thanks for posting all those song links together – that saves me some time when looking for class-related content!
I never liked the animaniacs when they first aired, and don’t like them now.
Even the Simpsons at their unfunniest beats this annoying show hands down.
(All but Pinky and the Brain of course)
+1 for Pinky and the Brain! Narf!
.-= Chris´s last blog ..Crossing The Pond – Martial Expo 2010 Review =-.
I LOVED the Animaniacs. I didn’t know they could be so educational.
.-= Que´s last blog ..Another Year Better =-.
You’re right. I did watch a lot of stupid cartoons when I was a kid, but I didn’t realize how awful they were until I saw old re-runs as an adult. Quite embarrassing when I tell my kids how cool they were and then realize after I show it to them that today’s cartoons seem better. And there seems to be billions of shows now.