15 Dark Jokes Hidden in Nickelodeon Shows

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15 Dark Jokes Hidden in Nickelodeon Shows

Sadly, kids aren’t experienced enough to create entire TV shows for themselves. Usually networks give the adults the green light to make them, and that comes with their adult take on the world. They know that life isn’t all gumdrops and roses. It can get dark from time to time, and little nuggets of that darkness can find its way onto the screen. 

We may not have picked up on it as kids, but maybe we got a little nostalgic, or had kids of our own, and stumbled upon a cloudy theme just under the surface. Nickelodeon — a network synonymous with great kids shows and cartoons for all ages — was no stranger to the dark side. Themes like kidnapping, suicide, and BDSM (and inter-species seduction and adultery, thanks Rocko's Modern Life for that visual by the way) are a few of these 15 dark jokes hidden in Nickelodeon shows.

Fairly Oddparents explore a dismal alternate reality.

Kids, your parents are better off without you! FAIRLY ODDPARENTS CRACKED.COM Season 5's It's a Wishful Life is an incredibly dark take on the classic film, It's a Wonderful Life, where Timmy is shown how much better everyone's lives would be if he was never born.

Grunge / Youtube 

Helga's mother clearly had a drinking problem on Hey, Arnold!

Helga's mom was a boozehound. HEY, ARNOLD! CRACKED.COM Helga's mother on Hey, Arnold! routinely slurred her words, and could barely stay awake. Her many community service bids had adults thinking possible DUl's.

Diply / Buzzfeed 

Tommy Pickles gets kidnapped

A kidnapping was just a funny little mix-up. RUGRATS CRACKED.COM Tommy Pickles is kidnapped by two men, but it was all a big misunderstanding, since they meant to kidnap a different baby. Hilarious.

Youtube / Fandom 

David the Gnome breaks every kid’s heart in the end.

David the Gnome dies in the finale. CRACKED.COM David, Lisa, and Casper are 399 years old and explain that gnomes die at 400. In the finale, they accept their deaths and turn into trees (what gnomes do when they die) while Swift (and every child viewer) cries.

MTV / Reddit 

Victorious pokes fun at serious mental health issues

Ariana Grande demeans mental health. VICTORIOUS CRACKED.COM On Victorious, Cat (Ariana Grande) jokingly states, Doctors don't even know what's wrong with me, and, My brother's going back to the clinic tonight. Не could be there for a while.

Yahoo / Fandom 

Ren and Stimpy take cartoon violence to new heights.

Ren explodes on Stimpy. GRACKED.COM Jealous of Stimpy and Sven, Ren threatens to rip off their lips, gouge out their eyes, and tear off their arms. Не then urinates on their electric fence board game, which kills them all, and lands them in hell.

Grunge / Flickr 

Heffer goes to hell.

Gluttony, Hell, and cannibalism on Rocko's Modern Life. CRACKED.COM In the episode, To Heck and Back, Heffer goes to Hell for gluttony, then still wants a bite at Beef Barge. Heffer... Beef... Cannibalism.

Youtube

Nora holds Carly captive.

An iCarly fan is arrested for kidnapping. CRACKED G COM The fan, Nora, invites Carly to her 16th birthday party, and locks her in the basement. She is rescued and Nora is sent to juvie.

Youtube

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