7 Classic Kid's TV Shows Clearly Conceived on (Bad) Acid
Most children's TV producers know that to get kids to watch, you have to terrify the little bastards. Looking back at the weird-ass shows they've cranked out over the decades, it's a wonder that we all grew up to be such, stable, well-adjusted adults.

Slim Goodbody was a friendly Jewfroed health nut who saw nothing wrong with showing you his innards in a way that is both intimate and vomit-inducing.
What The Hell Were They Thinking?
If you ever found yourself wondering what a Steve Gutenberg/Horshack hybrid would look like on the inside, this is the show of your dreams.
Slim Goodbody is here to force you to make good nutrition type choices, or he'll feed you to his robot-man.
Don't get us wrong, we're pleased when the neighborhood exhibitionist takes a unhealthy interest in vulnerable children. The scary part is when the animated picture of the red-track-suited man magically bursts into a nude man who utilizes an inappropriate wide-legged stance.

Note the shiny animated highlights to accentuate the fact that yes, this man has shed his clothes to teach you about love and life.

And we wonder why we have an obesity epidemic? Slim Goodbody utilizes his lumpy flesh-covered unitard to teach all the terrified children of the world why they should eat as much as possible, in order to cover the monstrosities which lurk beneath their skin.

Pay close attention to the part where the animated Goodbody goes through the trouble of turning around to show his half-muscularly-buttocked backside. We contend this visual assault subconsciously prompted millions of children to eat uncontrollably, as they never, ever wanted to be as healthy as Slim Goodbody. Never. Ever.
You know you want some of this lower intestine that is covering my private parts.

Let's see if you can make it past :16 of the intro without collapsing into a scared little ball of tears and urine.
Nice how they suck you in with the jaunty little sailor theme, then slam you with the nightmare fuel.

What The Hell Were They Thinking?
The "Sigmund" in the title is a sad little lettuce heap of worthlessness who, in the course of the tune, is literally beat out of his home by his abusive family. The sea monster dad tells Sigmund to "go out and scare some humans, or you're through!"
No doubt traumatized by his parents' death threat, Sigmund makes a pathetic attempt at scaring some unsupervised children. The children mercilessly taunt Sigmund, laughing as his limp little tentacles attempt to catch a ball they callously fling at his googly eyes. Watch them mock as they force the little blob to hula hoop. He has no torso, you dicks.
Deserving of your sympathy.
Let's all thank the show's creators for turning a disgusting family dynamic in which the parents beat and deride their monster kid out of the home into entertainment. Entertainment for children.
Of course these same children grew up to believe their abused and neglected offspring would become the playthings of laughing beach goers! Hooray! Hooray for deadbeat dads and emotionally abusive moms! Your children are hilarious!

Meet The Osmonds, a clan of sex-crazed Mormon children with extraordinarily large heads.
What The Hell Were They Thinking?
The decade of the Seventies owes the universe a serious apology. In this instance, it's for defying the laws of nature and presenting the many, many Osmond boys as cartoony Jonas Brothers-type sex symbols. Which is ridiculous as soon as you take a look at the size of their ginormous heads or the way they sadly flail their arms and legs around in what has to be the worst animated dancing ever created.

Maybe the most shocking thing about this program, however, was not the audacity of presenting the Osmonds as sex symbols, it was the reality that the Osmonds were sex symbols. Seriously. These guys had your mamas having all kinds of wicked, dirty thoughts back in the day:
Yes, these guys.
We'll pause for a second so you can go wash that little bit of vomit off your teeth.
Not only were the Osmond boys major sex symbols in what will forthwith be known as "The Most Retarded Decade of the Twentieth Century" ("TMRDTC" for short) but they rubbed our noses in it by showing the toothy seven on their knees trying to woo all the women of the world while they fly around in their psychedelic airplane.

Memo to Mormon Church: don't let your little boy members animate themselves wooing the hands of many, many little girls from all over the world. It doesn't look good, you know, on the whole "polygamy" thing. And PS: floating detached heads of little girls in the sky doesn't look good either.


There are no words to prepare you for what you are about to see. This is the type of thing only the Japanese have words for.
What The Hell Were They Thinking?
After being lovingly blinded by their SuperBible, two children and a toy robot thingy are sucked into a dark vortex that deposits them in Bible Times. And while they are never dropped off in the middle of Lot's encounter with his daughters, the SuperMeanSpiritedBook seems to be A-OK with forcing children to battle flying Devil Serpents. Because that's WJWD.

Initially conceived by Pat Robertson as a way to get the Gospel to Japanese children (who are historically enamored with characters who look nothing like Japanese people and also live in American suburbs) SuperBook is among the first anime programs aired in America.

That's right. Pat Robertson forever has the title as one of the guys who introduced anime to American children. We'll be sure his epitaph will read something like this:
Pat Robertson
Ultimately responsible for dirty fan fiction featuring Sailor Moon.
Rest in peace, sweet soldier of the Lord.








Wow, the Osmonds were a real J5 ripoff eh (I'm assuming J5 came first without checking Wikipeida)?
ReplyOn the music tip, sounds like the banana splits uses a riff from Bob Marley's 'Buffalo Soldier'
The first anime series in the US... was about the Bible!?? You learn something new every day, especially when reading cracked
ReplyUgh, The Banana Splits used to scare me sooooo bad as a kid. That lion thingie was just not normal!!
ReplyI remember watching Slim Goodbody in elementary school and I can still remember a song he sang about the pituitary gland.
Reply"Superbook" is not among one of the first anime programs ever debuted in America. Not even close.
ReplyThe earliest anime I can find to be broadcasted on American tv is Three Tales aka Mittsu no Hanashi in 1961, two years before Astro Boy.
I remember "The Osmonds"! They had a Japanese cartoon dog named Fujiyama whom they called "Fooj" (rhymes with "spooge"), and he had voiceovers in the most godawful stereotypical "Confuscious say" dialogue ever. Lord, it was bad.
ReplyGlad I never watched any of these ON acid...
ReplyMy brother described The Banana Splits to me when he was little, and I thought he was lying. I was glued to the TV all day, how did I miss that?
ReplyAlso, the hell is with that Tigger voice?
OMG! I used to LOVE to watch Slim Goodbody on PBS on days when I was home sick as a kid! It didn't bother me at all, it was funny and entertaining!
ReplyThis list is HORRIBLY incomplete without the Gigglesnort Hotel. I'm still traumatized by that one and its been 30 years.
ReplyTo me there is nothing wrong with any of these programs we coddle children to much these days. Try to protect them from 'scary things' which A). they enjoy B). build good imaginations.
ReplyHow the HELL is H.R. Pufnstuf not on this list? The theme tune even goes "H.R. Pufnstuf/ He's your friend when things get rough/ H.R. Pufnstuf/ Can't do a little 'cos you can't do enough."
ReplyI know, The name is H. R. Pufenstuf! It is about a magical flute that when you use it whisks you away to a fantasy land. s**t man this show is an allegory for all the drugs Sid & Narty Kroft do that it is pants shittingly retarded that it was left off. Maybe it will be #1 in the sequel acticle. They also left out Conan the barbian, the cartoon show.
I don't imagine a bear sticking flowers in its vagina. Also by #2, I'm convinced you're getting your ideas from procrastinating and watching old MST3K episodes. Thanks for advocating violence though! Thanks for providing your internet audience with your moral censure, Cracked. You sure are morally superior to everyone else.
ReplyWanna see modern AcidTV? check out "Adventures of Gumball." It is a trip. Seriously.
ReplyI love that show!! Also The Regular Show, Chowde and Flapjack.
I love Adventuretime!!! That show is a trip!!
I loved the Wuzzles back in the day! Man, the eighties was weird. Seem like every toy had a cartoon. Kids these days don't know what they're missing.
ReplyI was thinking the same thing. 80s cartoons/ shows were the best. The Wuzzles were one of my favorites, but they didn't have anything on Fraggle Rock.
omg lidsville was terrifying- also that tomorrow people looks f*****g well good- god bless the bbc and their terrifying child scaring tv shows.
ReplyHey, I loved The Banana Splits! They aired down here (in México) in the 90's and it was fantastic IMO. LOL.
ReplyNumber 3 is BUMBLELION. Half BEE half LION all PURE AWESOME. >.< WUZZLES = Win. I had both Butterbear and Eleroo. Damnit.
Reply Hide All See All 4 RepliesWhat disturbs me the most with that show is the themesong clearly thinking 'living with split-personalities' is a good thing.
My sister and I still have the Butterbear and Hoppopotamus soft toys around here somewhere. We also had Moosel at one point too, can't remeber if we still have it.
Also, my sister and I never saw the cartoon. We just were given the toys as a present when we were little, and thought that they were awesome.
Update: We do still have the Moosel. How about that.
I missread butterbear as butterbeer. Man I could use a drink right now.
You gotta be kidding me. Wuzzles=AWESOME!
ReplyAH! The Wuzzles! I had a Wuzzles book and a stuffed Elroo toy as a kid.
ReplyAs for some of these other ones...thank god I missed out on the '70s, is all I can say.