Top 5: Cartoons that Shouldn't Have Been Canceled

In my opinion, you are never too old to watch cartoons. Animated shows have been around for 50 years or so and have been targeted at adults for years (The Flintstones, anyone?) - but my favorites are the ones targeted toward kids but have tons of jokes and references only adults can appreciate. Which is either an attempt to smarten up kid's shows or a good excuse for adults to watch Nickelodeon long past their teens. Either way I'm still watching cartoons.

Unfortunately some of my favorite shows were prematurely canceled. (I spent way to much time deciding if "canceled" is spelled with one "l" or two. In the US it's one, in the UK it's two. Now you know.) We'll always have reruns of Bugs Bunny and DVDs of the entire Jetsons series but there are some shows that aren't on anymore that I really miss.

5. O'Grady

 This is a little-known show that was on The N (Nickelodeon's teen/young adult programming) when I was in high school and starting college. It was about a group of high school kids that tried to go about class while dealing with The Weirdness - a phenomenon that would cause random odd things to happen each episode. Odd like people starting to act like cats or floating like they're full of helium. The animation was purposefully sort of bad but the characters were great. I used to watch episodes online but I don't know if you can even find them anymore.



4. Daria

 I love this show way too much for my own good. I have the entire series on DVD and adore every minute of sarcasm and cynicism it comes with. As much as I love it I put it down at #4 on my list because I think it actually had a good life for a series - continuing it past 2002 probably would have ruined it. I'm actually surprised it lasted that far into the millennium without self-combusting.

*Fun Fact: they make a Daria voice for your Garmin or TomTom GPS! I need to look into this.



3. Angry Beavers

 This show is arguably stupid but I loved it and couldn't stop watching it nonetheless. It's about two brother beavers who get kicked out of the house when their parents have another litter and try to make it on their own. They're sort of like the Odd Couple - one is smart and rational, the other is goofy and spontaneous. They like to watch scary movies and have a friend named Stump who is, naturally, a tree stump. My sister and I still quote the show from time to time. "LOOOK! I'm looooooking!" Stupid but awesome, as cartoons sometimes must be (case in point: Spongebob Squarepants).



2. The Powerpuff Girls

 In my opinion, this is one of the cutest cartoons ever created ever. It's worth the double evers, it's that adorable. The Powerpuff Girls were three little girls created by mixing sugar, spice, everything nice, and Chemical X, which gave them superpowers. They have to save the city of Townsville from monsters and other gross things and have a direct line to the oblivious Mayor who knows not to call them after bedtime, since they are in pre-school, after all. How can child superheroes named Bubbles, Blossom and Buttercup not be adorable?



1. Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends

 Out of all of the cartoons I've ever seen, this was by far the most creative. Madame Foster (the tiny old lady with the round glasses) opened a foster home for all the imaginary friends children had created and then grown out of. Friends included characters like Wilt, the one-armed basketball player, Eduardo the big purple fuzzy scaredy-cat, Cheese, the weird yellow toddler-like thing, and most importantly, Blooregard Q. Kazoo, known affectionately as Bloo, the friend of Mac (the little boy in the middle). They got into lots of trouble, went on lots of adventures and had to do their chores to keep the Foster Home going. This show was full of charm and wit, and was loved by viewers of all ages - it even received 7 Emmys!

Do you have a favorite cartoon? I'd love to hear about it!

25 Days: Holiday Specials

'Tis the season for the holiday version of everything! From candy to music to spatulas, you can buy just about anything in a seasonal variety. Hollywood took this idea and ran with it and has since produced approximately 87, 205 holiday specials. I mean, even Beavis and Butthead had a Christmas special, for crying out loud. And despite horrible misfires like the Star Wars Christmas Special of 1978 there have been some really great TV holiday specials. I've embedded some clips of my favorites. What Christmas specials do you love?

Frosty the Snowman

 

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer 

How the Grinch Stole Christmas

 

Charlie Brown Christmas

Top 5: Dance Sequences in Movies

For some unknown reason they just released a remake of Footloose. Who decided that was a good idea? Why are we reinventing the wheel? Wasn't Kevin Bacon good enough for you? I just don't understand. Anyway, all this talk of musicals got me thinking about my favorite dance scenes in movies. Avoiding typical and cliche segments like Tom Cruise in Risky Business, the lift in Dirty Dancing, and the rival gang dance off in West Side Story, I came up with 5 great dance scenes. What's your favorite?


5. Olive's dance at the talent show in Little Miss Sunshine (2006)

 

This is one of those so-awkard-you-have-to-love-it moments. Olive is so innocent, she has no idea that what she's doing is vastly inappropriate.  She's just having an awesome time dancing like she did with her grandpa. You know, before he died and they drove him around in their van.

4. Napoleon's talent for Pedro's campaign in Napoleon Dynamite (2004)

 

Apparently the early 2000s were the epitome of so-awkard-you-have-to-love-it moments, because this movie was basically an hour and a half of them strung together. Somehow it became the biggest cult hit of the year, inspiring kids everywhere to wear Vote for Pedro shirts and complain about Tina being a fat lard. And re-enact this dance at their high school talent show (at least that's what we did in my hometown...)

3.  The Barn Raising Dance in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954)

 Seven Brides for Seven Brothers is one of my all-time favorite musicals. It's about a set of brothers living in the mountians that decide they need wives, so they do the only logical thing - go to town and kidnap some. They find the girls they like and bring them home just before an avalanche closes the pass for the winter, keeping all of them on one side and all the angry fathers with shotguns on the other. Doesn't sound like a happy movie, but it's fantastic. Also, if I am remembering Robert Osborne from TCM correctly, this scene was shot in one really long take. Beat that, new Footloose.
 

2. Jon Cryer's Otis Redding lipsync in Pretty In Pink (1986)

 

This is one of the best scenes of this movie. Duckie is one of the greatest John Hughes characters and it always made me sad that he didn't end up with Andie at the end - apparently the original ending brings them together, but test audience's didn't like it so she ends up with Blane. Lame, if you ask me. "His name is Blane? Oh! That's a major appliance, that's not a name"

 

1. Gene Kelly with Tom & Jerry in Anchors Aweigh (1944)
 

 

 My grandma has a big collection of musicals and this is one I loved watching as a kid. I don't really remember what else went on in the film, but at one point Gene Kelly dances with cartoon characters. Tom and Jerry, right there on screen with him! It's like they're in the same room, but one is real and one is animated...it blew my 8-year-old mind. And considering it was released in 1944, it's still pretty cool. Family Guy parodied it a while back. When a prime-time cartoon with the coveted 18-40 demographic references a musical from the 40s and people still get it, you know that it's a legendary dance scene. (Sorry about the German subtitles!)

"Bronies"?

I came across this article on Wired the other day about grown men who are die-hard fans of the new  cartoon My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. These were my thoughts, presented to you in the style of Jon Acuff's list-of-consciousness:

1.  Seriously, there are men who watch My Little Pony? That's just creepy and weird.
2.  Into sentence: "Each day, out-of-work computer programmer Luke Allen self-medicates by watching animated ponies have magical adventures." There are so many awkward things happening in that line.
3. I get the term "bromance", but "bronies"? These men like ponies, they aren't turning into them. Like some sort of weird sparkly pink centaur.
4. That will probably be the next trend, now that we've gone past wizards and sparkly vampires. I hope not. There are too many mythological-creatures-turned-pop-culture-hearthrobs as it is.
5. Did you notice in the photo caption that the Pony is referred to as an "action figure"? Does that make it more manly?
6. I'm pretty sure I had a pony just like that when I was a little girl. Back in 1990. 
7. Young adults are really nostalgic for the 90's right now, maybe that's why the ponies are back.
8. Wait a minute, the woman behind the show is the same girl who did storyboards for The Powerpuff Girls? I loved that show! 
9. If the animation is anything like The Powerpuff Girls, then it's probably fantastically adorable. 
10. I vaguely remember web cartoonist Jeph Jacques posting a Pony illustration on his blog a while back (here it is!) - is he a "brony"??
11. The show has good reviews - It has a 9.1 out of 10 stars on IMDB (compared to Glee's 8 and The Office's 9.2), which has to stand for something. 
12. Where can I watch this show? I bet I would like it. I watch kid's shows like Wow Wow Wubzy and Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends unashamedly. 
13. Dang it! I found what channel it's on, but it's not one that I can get.

Who knew My Little Pony had such a cult following?

"Alma"

Alma from Rodrigo Blaas on Vimeo.

Beautifully animated. I love this style of video!