TV: What decade had the best cartoons?

[MMC]

The 3 that really stand out to me are the 40's, 60's, and 90's.

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[SJSharksfan39]

80s and 90s. You had the Disney Afternoon block (In most forms), Darkwing Duck, Batman and X-Men animated series, Animaniacs, and just so much great after school programming.

 

[iamjs]

the correct answer is the 1980s

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:1980s_American_animated_television_series

 

[Osprey]

I went with the 1940s, since nothing beats Looney Tunes, which was at its peak in that decade. Also, Popeye was still going strong, Tom and Jerry emerged and Disney cartoons were also strong. In the same way that the 1930s were the golden age of Hollywood, the 1940s were kind of the golden age of animation (largely because of animated films, but cartoons were at their peak, as well).

Modern decades have far greater quantity of cartoons, and with that, naturally, comes some quality, but nearly everything in the 40s was of high quality. They were all made for the big screen, after all. Also, for that reason, they're for all ages and, consequently, timeless, unlike most cartoons since the late 70s that target specific age ranges and lose much of their appeal once you grow out of them.

 

[Unholy]

Born in 88 so I grew up with the 90 cartoons. Had to vote that one. Batman, Tiny Toon, X-Men, Rocko, Rugrats, Dexter, Spider-Man, etc.

Even as I got older I got to watch the ones that started later that I was maybe too young for like Beavis and Butt-head and South Park.

Not even including anime which alone would take it for me.

 

[Ozz]

I went with the 1940s, since nothing beats Looney Tunes, which was at its peak in that decade. Also, Popeye was still going strong, Tom and Jerry emerged and Disney cartoons were also strong. In the same way that the 1930s were the golden age of Hollywood, the 1940s were kind of the golden age of animation (largely because of animated films, but cartoons were at their peak, as well).

Modern decades have far greater quantity of cartoons, and with that, naturally, comes some quality, but nearly everything in the 40s was of high quality. They were all made for the big screen, after all. Also, for that reason, they're for all ages and, consequently, timeless, unlike most cartoons since the late 70s that target specific age ranges and lose much of their appeal once you grow out of them.

I'd have to go with these sentiments.

That said, being born in '82 I had the pleasure of enjoying the greatness of '90s cartoons, and all the good holdovers from the 60s-80s. And of course, those mentioned above from the first half of the century. For some reason, it wasn't too long after this time period that those golden oldies were getting phased out considerably, so you couldn't exactly say the '00s were better because it had all of this plus another decade's worth of creation.

 

[Neutrinos]

80's



90's

 

[Hivemind]

Rick and Morty is 2010s, so it wins by default.

 

[kingsholygrail]

90s, easily. Probably the largest investment in cartoon programming as well.

 

[MetalheadPenguinsFan]

The 90's

 

[Stylizer1]

80's.

 

[The Gongshow]

90's

 

[FLYLine27*]

Obviously everyone is going to vote for the decade in which they watched cartoons as a kid..

 

[Shareefruck]

It's bizarre to me that people do that, especially when there are cartoons that exist that hold up today as well as anything even without the benefit of nostalgia, and arguably are every bit as good as something like The Sopranos or The Wire. Why base our opinion on that crap we used to watch when we were kids?

 

[Soliloquy of a Dogge]

The correct answer is the 90's.

 

[Dr John Carlson]

I'm gonna go ahead and call Spongebob a 2000s show.

Therefore, the choice is simple for me.

 

[left hand path]

i'd say the 40s and the 90s are the two "golden ages" of cartoons. going with the 90s due to the relative lack of racism and wartime propaganda.

 

[Supermassive]

Any decade in which you got to wake up at 6am on a Saturday morning with a box of Pac-Man cereal, 8 hours of new cartoons (on basically 3 channels in rural Canada) that led into WWF wrestling and HNIC, gets my vote.

The 80s were wonderful.

Respect to Osprey, though. The 1940s were to cartoons what the 60s were to rock n roll. Although I'm sure I got that wrong too, haha.

 

[Jumptheshark]

without the cartoons of the 70's

you do not get the cartoons of the 90's

70's Children made the ones in the 90's

 

[Cush]

80's/90's

 

[member 151739]

I'm kinda cheating since it debuted in November of 1999, but I'm going with '00s because of Courage the Cowardly Dog. I also adore Invader Zim.

I love the '90s stuff though. Grew up with them, of course.

Obviously everyone is going to vote for the decade in which they watched cartoons as a kid..

I wouldn't expect anything different.

 

[aleshemsky83]

Thats a tough one, definitely not the 80s, thats essentially one big toy commercial. I'm gonna have to go against the grain and say late 90s early 2000s

Beast Wars/Beast Machines
Reboot
Justice League

Then theres the cartoon network nickelodeon stuff. A great time.

I'm a big fan of looney tunes though and I would give my respect to that, if I even knew which decade it was. Unfortunately its the definition of timeless, so I can't.

edit:

well, not against the grain

 

[Osprey]

Obviously everyone is going to vote for the decade in which they watched cartoons as a kid..

It's funny to see the 90s running away in a landslide (with 19 votes to no more than 4 for any other decade), considering that probably the majority here are in their 20s, which would put their childhoods in the 90s. It's not that I blame them, though, since my first notion was to vote for the 80s, my decade, as well.

Any decade in which you got to wake up at 6am on a Saturday morning with a box of Pac-Man cereal, 8 hours of new cartoons (on basically 3 channels in rural Canada) that led into WWF wrestling and HNIC, gets my vote.

The 80s were wonderful.

Respect to Osprey, though. The 1940s were to cartoons what the 60s were to rock n roll. Although I'm sure I got that wrong too, haha.

Thanks. I agree that the 80s were wonderful, though I wouldn't say that because we could watch 8 straight hours of new cartoons, but because, during those hours, we were also exposed to so many cartoons from past eras. Not having enough new cartoons, I guess, to fill a whole Saturday morning gave us healthy doses of Looney Tunes, Popeye, Tom and Jerry, The Flintstones, The Jetsons, Scooby Doo and more. That's what I really appreciate about the decade. I love my Transformers, Smurfs and many other 80s cartoons, but I also love that I was exposed to the classics. I get the impression that later decades have had so many new series and less air time devoted to cartoons that the classics probably haven't been shown as much as they were when we were growing up, which is unfortunate.

 

[Eisen]

Seventies and early eighties. The anime from that time was brilliant (imho). I also loved the stuff from Czechoslovakia and Poland. Mole (Krteček) and Bolek and Lolek were simply charming.

 

[Sens Rule]

Bugs Bunny exposed pretty much everyone to great classical music.

What is a cartoon? The Simpsons? The Flinstones?

Anyway... Looney toons and Bugs Bunny are the height of classic cartoons. Timeless, smart, great art and voices.

The early Simpsons with weaker animation then later seasons by far, is the height of the show.

I don't think you can pick an era. You can only pick certain shows and even eras of those shows.