Spoon!

I grew up watching Bugs Bunny cartoons and it took a long while before another cartoon could match some of the complexities in comedy and entertainment that Bugs and friends could pull off. They tried to produce new Bugs Bunny series but it just wasn't the same. The latest futuristic superhero version is overly cynical and condescending in its humor. Plus the road runner talks!

Animaniacs was an excellent grandchild in the WB lineage of cartoons. Silly and goofy for children, smart and witty for adults along with very catchy musical numbers. It was most like the Bugs Bunny cartoons. Plus children around the nation learned their state capitals by singing their ditty.

Another that hits my all time fabulous cartoons is The Tick which is finally out on DVD. It put the superhero genre of kid cartoons on its head! If Superman gets Metropolis and Batman gets Gotham, then where do all the class C and D superheros go? Well, they go to The City. Only here you can find the Tick with his sidekick, Arthur, an accountant in a moth suit and the other City superheros: American Maid, Der Fleidermaus, and my all time favorite, the Civic Minded 5! It's what superheros would look like without any alter egos and the kind of life they'd live. Even the evil blob formed villains must deal with roommates who gross them out by drinking straight out of the milk carton.

I think this is why I liked Arrested Development so much as it had the same kind of quick rapid fire wit that was not just one laugh but half a dozen laughs in one line. But alas, this too, we can only enjoy on DVD. But maybe it's better this way. I'd have to watch these shows a few times over just to catch every laugh and giggle.