Entertainment

11 Shows You Loved As A Kid & Forgot About

by Mary Grace Garis

I feel like one of my weird resume lines is “nostalgia breaker.” That is, my job is to point out absurdities in your favorite old movies, or dirty things you’ve missed in Disney films. But sometimes, nostalgia breaking involves more positive things, like dusting off childhood shows that you've forgotten, despite how much you loved them at the time. That’s right. For every Nicktoon that you'll still set aside time to marathon in your deep 20s, there's a veritable melange of kids' shows you've forgotten about.

And why? I mean, there are a couple of reasons beyond “they weren’t that great.” Perhaps they zoomed in on a really specific demographic. Maybe they only lasted a season or two. Or maybe you had to be a certain age to appreciate it, and it doesn’t age as well as, let’s say, something like Adventure Time (which is the first thing I’m gonna watch when I get home today, BTW). Whatever the reason, it’s plausible that you may have been aaaaaaall about these shows as a kid, but they’ve since slipped from your memory. Well, I’m here to remind you about them.

With no discrimination towards style, here are 11 potentially awesome retro shows that you haven’t thought about in forever.

1. The Secret World Of Alex Mack

Of all the things on this list, you're most likely to remember Alex Mack. Personally, though, I have to take a long train of thought before I remember it's a thing. It starts with Melissa Joan Hart's Sabrina the Teenage Witch, moves to Clarissa Explains It All, and then ends with "Wait, was she on Alex Mack, too? No, that was baby Larisa Oleynik."

2. Caitlin's Way

I honestly thought that this was Moody's Point, before I remembered that was an Amanda Show sketch. Fair mix-up, though. Caitlin's Way was like 1/3 angst, 1/3 hair dye, and 1/3 horses.

3. Allegra's Window

So the thing about Nick Jr. shows is that you had to be a little tiny baby child to watch them, and, subsequently, remember them. So TBH, I don't remember if I was really in love with this show. But I did fully appreciate that her hair was made of cheese doodles.

4. ReBoot

This had to be one of the first (if not the first?) shows to use 3D animation. It looks hokey in retrospect, but back in the day, I was like, "Whoa, the future."

5. I Am Weasel

I Am Weasel is a spin-off of the amaaaaazing Cow and Chicken (Which basically co-starred Satan. Does anyone remember that?), and it was pretty boss on it's own.

6. Lamb Chop's Play Along

For all of us cool kids stuck watching PBS, there was Lamp Chop. I was so enamored by the fanciful sock puppet that I had Lamb Chop sheets for my first non-crib bed.

7. Hercules: The Animated Series

Disney put out a lot of spin-off shows of their movies. Timon & Pumbaa, anyone? This one was cool, though, because it served as an unofficial prequel to Hercules. Cassandra served as a pretty chill proto-Meg in terms of personality, and Herc's other neurotic best friend was endearingly awful.

8. Pepper Ann

Speaking of endearingly awful! Pepper Ann has what my dad calls "the best worst theme song of all time." Don't really remember a lot about the show itself, aside from her sister being named Moose.

9. State of Grace

Gone too soon, and also the origin of the Alia Shawkat and Mae Whitman BFF combo that you wish you could be a part of.

10. Histeria

It's like Animaniacs, but you could pretend it's educational.

11. Angela Anaconda

This had the trippiest style in all of children's shows, so props for that. Not sure what it was about, but I'm pretty sure the blonde one was a monster.

Now, having gone through this list, I want all of these shows to be back on TV again so I can marathon my way through all of them. The small child in me is crying through my nostalgia filter, but then, that's not unusual.

Images: Fox Family (1)