When I was a kid, I would occasionally watch this show called Big Bag. It went off the air more than 20 years ago and it seemed to only play at five or six in the morning. If I happened to wake up early, I'd catch it. It was targeted toward preschool viewers and was fun and silly, a partnership between Cartoon Network and what is now the Sesame Workshop.
Sometimes I wonder if I'm the only person who remembers it existed. But I'm not the only one with this kind of dilemma.
People shared their thoughts with us after Redditor LegitimateMangoHeir asked the online community,
"What's a show from your childhood that no one else seems to remember?"
Sagwa The Chinese Siamese Cat (2001)
"I thought Sagwa the Chinese Siamese Cat was a fever dream for so long."
lucianfoster
Probably because it only had a single season! Might as well have vanished off the face of the earth after that.
Hamtaro (2002)
"Hamtaro. For the LONGEST time I distinctly remembered watching the show but couldn't remember what it was called or anything else. I remember having a revelation in middle school and going "IT'S REAL???"
SurrealGod
It certainly was real! And it was quite possibly the cutest thing to ever be broadcast on our television screens.
Gargoyles (1994)
"There's a specific age group that really enjoyed Gargoyles."
[deleted]
Hi, it's me. I'm the age-group. There are dozens of us!
Mummies Alive! (1997)
"Mummies Alive! That and Gargoyles were my favourites to watch after school."
DiamondEyeOctopus
Another one that aired for a single season, it was part of a general trend of "mummymania" in 1990s pop culture.
Out of the Box (1998)
"Out of the Box. So long, farewell, to you my friends."
tryharderSr
This one had a good run. That theme song is now in my head.
Count Duckula (1988)
"Count Duckula. The best damn cartoon ever!"
Belthezare
I hadn’t heard that theme song in decades and I was just transported back to my childhood room.
Maggie and the Ferocious Beast (2000)
"Maggie and the Ferocious Beast. Great googly moogly!"
peanutbutter707
O Canada! This one was cute!
Stick Stickly from "Nick in the Afternoon" (1994)
"Anyone remember Stick Stickley on Nickelodeon? I even remember the jingle but everyone I talk to looks at me crazy!"
eluzum
Write to me, Stick Stickley, PO BOX 963, New York City, New York State, 10108!
The Angry Beavers (1997)
"The Angry Beavers. People look at me like I’m a psycho when I mention it."
[deleted]
This one — along with CatDog — was super popular!
2 Stupid Dogs (1993)
"2 Stupid Dogs. Well, ain't that cute. But it's wrong!"
DeathSpiral321
I quote that line at least once a day. I loved that show.
You should probably run to YouTube and take a trip down memory lane. Thankfully, many of these are available in some capacity for you to enjoy!
Have some shows you love that you'd like to mention? Tell us more in the comments below!
People Share The Craziest 'I Can't Believe They Got Away With This In A Kids Show' Moment
Kids shows are meant to be funny and light-hearted. But when there is a NSFW punchline that easily flies over younger viewer's heads, it can be jarring for an adult watching it.
Many cartoons, while they are visually stimulating for children, are not meant for them to watch and should require viewer discretion.
I remember watching The Simpsons as a kid and I howled over the antics of Homer and Bart Simpson, and Itchy & Scratchy.
But watching the show as an adult, I realized some moments from the popular cartoon can be even more hysterical, but potentially inappropriate for immature audiences.
Wondering about some shocking moments seen on TV, Redditor pswii360i asked:
"What's your 'I can't believe they got away with this in a kid show' moment?"
Fairly Oddparents
"I remember that Fairly Oddparents episode where Timmy wishes he had never been born (or something along those lines), and then he ends up realizing that everyone (including his parents) is way happier without him....seemed pretty dark for a kid's show to me?"
"I know it's a parody of 'The Greatest Gift' and 'It's A Wonderful Life,' but to tell a child the world's better off without you. That's the road to suicidal ideation right there."
"And at one point, Timmy seems to resign himself to his fate."
Dad And The Banana
"Jimmy Neutron when he is talking with his dad Hugh. His dad randomly says, 'Once when I was 7, I sat on a banana. And of course, that changed my life...' Jimmy and his mom's face say it all."
But They Did Do That On Television
"There was a Canadian based sketch show called 'You Can't Do That on Television' that was on Nickelodeon that was crazy in a million ways. But the most crazy to me was the recurring Firing Squad sketches where a crazy South American Dictator was trying to put children to death. In most cases he would mess up and accidentally get killed himself."
The C-Word
"There was some locally made British kids show back in the 1970s, I think, which signed off one day with a card saying 'C U Next Time', with only the initial letters visible for a brief moment. I think someone got fired over it."
Everyone Crushed On Fred
"An episode of one of the incarnations of Scooby Doo in the late 2000s. My niece loved watching them, so I would sit and watch with her."
"Basically, a guest character who is a cute blonde and is crushing on Fred turns coyly to him while stating, 'I'm eighteen! Able to legally...vote!'"
Gun Safety
"Gargoyles in 1994."
"In the episode Deadly Force, Broadway, one of the gargoyles who likes cowboy movies accidentally shoots Elisa the cop with her own gun in her apartment. Blood is shown on the floor and a seriously well done episode commences about the dangers of guns and how Elisa should have been more careful where she left it, and Broadway understands guns are not toys. It was banned for a while, but is now on Disney +"
Munchers
"The episode of Cow & Chicken where a group of very butch looking female bikers called the Buffalo Gals show up and break into Cow & Chicken's house. They proceed to start 'munching' on the house's carpet nonstop. They also play softball."
"EDIT: A halfway decent copy of the scene I'm talking about. I'd forgotten the part where the dad jumps scared into the mom's arms and she's like 'They're not here for YOU! Haha!' Very subtle Cartoon Network lol."
– MikeFatz
The Subtitles
"Maybe off topic but in Iceland a few years ago the national tv showed the teletubbies with a grown up movie subtitles. That moment when tinky winky says 'I know you were high and f'ked him behind my back.'"
Amputation
"the ducktales reboot has a scene where it cuts from one of the protagonists having her leg stuck under a heavy metal beam or something to her, 2 weeks later, walking around on a robot leg and I think about the fact that this wholesome show canonically had a traumatised protagonist who CUT OFF HER OWN LEG all the damn time."
– NullMuse
What Happens Under The Sheets
"When I was a little kid we had a huge set of dozens of Hungarian stories on cassette tapes- every Hungarian kid I know had these, covering fairy tales of all sorts, and we'd listen to them before falling asleep at night. Anyway, there are definitely a few that once I was older I was like 'wait, what?' In particular, there's a fairy tale about a shepherd that never lies, and is entrusted to watch the king's sheep that has a golden fleeced sheep in it. Another king makes a wager with that king that he can get the trusted shepherd to lie, and to make it happen he sends his daughter the princess to the shepherd's field. Anyway, what then happens is they strike a bargain, and I directly translate, 'go under a blanket and play together all night long.' After which, in the morning, she leaves with the golden sheep."
"I remember as a little kid really wondering what they were playing that would result in her getting the sheep. Chess? Cards?"
"Edit: what then happens in the story is the king calls the shepherd in and asks what happened to the golden fleeced sheep, and both kings are sure he's going to lie. But then the shepherd says he traded the golden 'dear' for a black haired one. Then everyone has a good laugh about how clever he is, the shepherd marries the princess, and they all live happily ever after. Trust me guys, Hungarian fairy tales are weird!"
The Blue Cat Blues Episode
"There's an episode of Tom and Jerry called Blue cat Blues there Tom basically f'ks up his life going after a girl, and at the end it's heavily implied that he and Jerry kill themselves."
What SpongeBob Said
"When SpongeBob is trying to get Gary in the bath, and he shows Gary doubloon soaps and says, 'Look Gary, doubloons, don't drop em!'
Teamwork
"When Mr. Krabs goes with Spongebob and Patrick on a PANTY RAID OH MY GOD."
Looking back at some of these racy scenes, it is doubtful the scripting was not deliberate.
While many of the jokes may have gone over the heads of kids who were amused by the visual gags, the writers from these kids shows indubitably incorporated entertaining elements for the adults as well.
What is it about kids' shows that open the door for some really disturbing content?
We think of kids' shows as light-hearted, full of funny moments, with some teaching moments palatable for young eyes. But every once in awhile we catch a glimpse of something... and, HUH?!
One Redditor doenr asked:
What is the most f*cked up thing that happened in a children's TV show?
Here were some of those answers.
And Ms. Frizzle Did Nothing
I remember that episode of the magic school bus when that ginger dude took off his helmet in space after being told not to and his dome turned to ice or something like that. Spooked me as a kid.
It's Real Life
Too many episodes of Hey Arnold. Like finding out Stoop Kid stayed on his stoop because he was abandoned there and was homeless but hopelessly waiting for someone to come back for him. How Monkey Man was mentally ill and also homeless. That one where you learn Grandpa and his sister had a lifelong rift because the only good thing in their life as children, their puppy, got killed by a car in front of them and they each blamed the other. How Lila and her dad are squatters to keep from being homeless. How the kids on the show routinely get mugged.
Or how Mr. Hyun hates Christmas because that's the anniversary of the day he handed his baby daughter off to an American soldier to get her out of the war zone because he wasn't sure they'd survive, then spent the rest of his life working to immigrate to America to try and find her only having the name of the city to work from and ended up missing her whole childhood because he was too poor to hire a private investigator. Until Helga literally sold the shoes off her feet to hire one to make Arnold happy.
Oh, and how Helga is obsessed with Arnold because she grew up neglected by an alcoholic mother and aggressive narcissistic father who only cared about her older sister, and Arnold was literally the first person in her entire life to show her any kindness when, as a preschooler, he offered to share his umbrella because her parents forgot to take her to her first day of preschool and she had to walk in the rain, by herself, with no coat, as a 4 year old in what we can only assume is New York City.
So yeah, that show was supremely jacked up.
Nature's Order-Friendly?
There was a story from Chicago's golden age of children's television, at WGN in the 1950s. A chimpanzee was the sidekick to a host, and would do interstitials to Three Stooges shorts. One time they had a guest who had a parakeet that could perform various tricks. Here's the quote from the book:
The bird, perched on the woman's hand, went through a series of of routines as Greyson [the host] and Chatter [the chimpanzee] looked on. In the middle of the act, Chatter suddenly grabbed the bird, bit its head off, and, without missing a beat, placed the carcass back on the shocked woman's hand. As his guest crumpled to the floor, a stunned Greyson stared at his partner and the station cut quickly to a commercial.
What Even IS Britain?
For us in the UK - The Animals of Farthing Wood.
Graphic, gruesome death was a regular feature.
https://www.digitalspy.com/tv/a778928/6-most-traumatic-moments-in-animals-of-farthing-wood/
It included:
Mr & Mrs Hedgehog getting run over ("whatever you do, dearest, don't curl up"......Squishhhh)
Mr Pheasant is shot dead as he stares in horror at his dead wife, shot earlier, who has been cooked and roasted...
Sinuous the Adder is choked to death by rats
The baby mice are impaled on thorns by a shrike....
There were 24 deaths across 39 episodes, everyone of them a major character...
After School Special
There was a "very special" anti drug episode of the 80's cartoon BraveStarr. In this episode, a couple of kids get hooked on a new drug. At the end of of the episode, one of the kids died from an overdose. 30+ years later and I'm not sure how many Children's Shows even today would kill a kid.
The Problem With Sentient Objects
That episode of Thomas the Tank Engine when Thomas visits the scrap heap where all the dead/dying trains are, I remember watching it as a kid and not even thinking about how Thomas is basically surrounded by a bunch of corpses or people left to die.
Who Knew Gnomes Were So Deep
As a child I remember being fairly traumatised over a series called David the Gnome where he and his wife reach 400 and die together in the finale. They actually become cherry trees intertwined together in the next plain. I remember trying to explain to my mother why I was crying so hard watching the TV but she didn't get it.
Not Just A Wrap
There is an episode of Scooby Doo (one of the ones with Scooby, Shaggy and Scrappy only) where they are being chased around a pyramid by a mummy and they beat him by unravelling him. But then when they are leaving they turn round and FOOTSTEPS ARE FOLLOWING THEM IN THE SAND. They run away, footsteps return to the pyramid and then the episode ends. Only example in classic Scooby I think where the monster was real.
Fair to say I've been scared of mummies ever since...I'm in my 20s.
Also, What Even Is Adventure Time?
I think that lemongrab from adventure time was pretty messed up, but especially when he swallowed the other lemongrab after he broke his toy. The other lemongrab screaming in terror as he was being swallowed always got to me when I was a kid, and it still gets to me now.
Yeah, Looney Tunes.....
The Looney tunes where the bulldog I think his name is Cesar or Romeo any way he wants to keep a kitten his owner is already mad so he tried to hide kitten stuff happens and he ends up believing the kitten was baked into cookies and the owner gives him a cat shaped cookie and hes crying puddles of tears and grabs the cookie pretending it's the kitty completely traumatized.