These 8 Classic Cartoons We Grew Up With Feel A Little More Questionable Today

It really wasn't okay that Smurfette was the lone female in a village of 100 guy Smurfs!

Fact checked by Sarah ScottFact checked by Sarah Scott

If you grew up like I did, you had a sacred Saturday morning ritual: Bounce out of bed around 7am (sometimes earlier—no alarm needed), grab a blanket, pour a giant bowl of cereal, and plop down on the couch. Why? To settle in for Saturday morning cartoons, of course!

This was the only time my younger siblings and I agreed over what to watch on TV. I don’t think I blinked until at least 11am, enthralled with 80s “classics” like The Smurfs, The Snorks, The Care Bears, Inspector Gadget, . . . the list goes on.

As time went on and animated series weren’t regulated to Saturday mornings, they began to feel snarkier, darker, more mature, and even violent. Not the funny kind of violent, but violent, violent. In my adult rearview mirror, many cartoons are still classic, iconic and nostalgic—but also perhaps a bit more problematic?

Let's take a jaunt down memory lane to revisit eight of the animated series from our childhood that may have been a bit more questionable than we realized.

The Smurfs (1981–1989)

Who didn’t grow up loving the adorable blue creatures and their mushroom village? I had an entire collection of Smurf figurines and was most excited to watch their adventures on Saturday mornings.

Yes, there’s creepy Gargamel in his relentless pursuit of capturing, terrorizing, and eating the Smurfs. But what's more disturbing is the show's singular female Smurf, aka Smurfette, in a village of 100 males! As the lone female, she was fawned over by a village full of males, which maybe it’s just me, but definitely reads as a touch misogynistic today.

Beavis and Butt-Head (1993–2011)

At its core, Beavis and Butthead is about two directionless teens who speak in grunts, are obsessed with fire, and make crude comments while watching videos on MTV. I’m sure many of us Millennial parents remember watching with fascination and horror as this foul-mouthed duo let sexual innuendos roll freely off their tongues. In fact, their views of women and sex were immature and just wrong.

I know the characters had a tiny cultural resurgence after Ryan Gosling spoofed one-half of the duo on a recent Saturday Night Live skit. But, as for the cartoon, itself, I think we can leave it in the ‘90s where it belongs.

The Tom and Jerry Comedy Show (1980–1982)

I know, there's nothing more classic than the literal cat and mouse game that Tom and Jerry played against each other in every episode of this slapstick comedy. But there was so much violence, even though it was done in cartoon-y fashion.

The larger issue though is there were no consequences for the violence. While viewers laughed at the characters' attempts at electrocution as well as using guns, knives, saws, axes, and explosives on each other, they just bounced back, barely harmed. But you know what bothers me even more than the way Tom and Jerry terrorize each other? The fact that there's a lot of episodes where the characters smoke cigarettes!

G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero (1983)

I think it’s great that the G.I. Joe team wanted to save the world from the evil Cobra organization. They really are swell for taking that battle on—but the underlying message seems to be glorifying guns and physical altercation as the only tools to use to get your point across. In 2024, that just feels like the wrong message to convey to our kids.

Jem (1985–1988)

Listen, Jem is one of my childhood idols! With a touch to her star-shaped earrings, Jerrica—owner of Starlight Music AND a foster program called the Starlight House—magically transforms into her rock star alter ego Jem. Her band, Jem and the Holograms are on top of the world, living out their rock star fantasies—but their rivals, the Misfits are really are cruel! And not in a friendly, competitive kind of way.

The Misfits try to sabotage Jem and the Holograms by doing things like trying to force their car over a cliff and setting fire to their house! It’s a level of bullying that's horrifying to think about casually airing on TV today.

The Simpsons (1989–today)

I know. The Simpsons has been on the air since I was in middle school and has always drummed up controversy. The thing is, the jokes usually are so quick and fast that they not only go over the heads of kids watching, but the parents too! I guess the main beef with the show is how disrespectful Bart Simpson is to his parents, friends, teachers, and overall community. Oh and how Homer will discipline Bart by, you know, choking him?

Otherwise, there’s a reason the show has been a cultural juggernaut for generations—it’s never taken its finger off the pulse of what people are talking about and what buttons need to be pushed. Yet, it’s a show that you should watch with your kids and pause during the scenes that need a bit more explanation.

King of the Hill (1997–2010)

King of the Hill is an animated show about a lower middle-class family in Texas. If it wasn’t animated, I’m not even sure kids would be interested in a show about a propane salesman and how he and his family deal with everything from trouble with the law to money issues.

There are adult situations and lessons that weren’t necessarily terrible for kids to watch—but it's just questionable whether it was necessary to bring into their worlds. Also, the characters drink plenty of beer on screen.

Ed, Edd n Eddy (1999–2008)

This is literally a show about three friends with the same name (their nicknames differentiate them) that spend every episode scheming and plotting ways to scam others out of money so they can buy their favorite treat—wait for it—Jawbreakers.

Yes, they usually fail miserably and end up humiliating themselves. But I really don’t want my daughter thinking fraud and tricking friends is good behavior!

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