Animation is best when someone of any age can bask it , and the good way to achieve that is by mixing intelligence with humor ( no , not like the Big Bang ) . Few thing are better than get to laugh and feel smart at the same clip , or watching a character do something so unexpected even the smartest among us would never see it coming . And sometimes it ’s nice to see a show that manages to be funny and deal with real problems . Well , here are eleven TV show that have done and extend to do all of those things in one fashion or another .
11 . The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show
This show was a pioneer of intelligent animation back in the early ’ 60s , full of clever humor and a generous use of punning . Rocky and Bullwinkle oftentimes butt against head with their Russian - caricatures of enemies in way that both tiddler and adults could enjoy . The humor may get off a slight ripened or tired today , but that ’s only because we ’ve seen the style of humor used in Rocky and Bullwinkle before . What many fail to realize , though , is that this show was blazing a track . What ’s more , it also incorporated Peabody ’s Improbably History , which just saw an on full stop revivification . It may not always appeal to modern audiences , but no one could abnegate that it took brains to make this show as good as it was .
10 . Doug
For the pre - teen of the early ’ 90s , Doug was like a TV Torah . No other show dealt with the kinds of problem adolescent faced on a daily basis with the same mix of humour and sincerity . Like the king of embarrassing kid , Doug stumbled through middle school and proffer something different to every age group . He show the younger gang what to watch out for in the future , offered the pre - teens someone they could sympathize with , and devote adult a window into their youth . Such a feat would be impossible without sharp writing and a real enough humor that the stories did n’t feel enlarged . And while few people got tricked into hunt for nematodes , everyone could refer with a similar narration . That ’s what made Doug such a impudent show .
9 . Daria
If Doug was the teenage former testament , Daria was the raw . In what can be described as nothing unretentive of sodding timing , Daria started in 1997 only a few years after the original run of Doug ended . This offered the now slightly - older Doug crowd a similar experience , but with the kind of dry sarcasm they ’d need to survive high school without going insane . And even though it was a Beavis and Butthead spin - off , the sense of humour was endlessly more subtle and witty . This show basically obliterated all its competition too and rose to be not only one of the highest rated shows on MTV , but also one of the most cherished , clever cartoons of all time .
8 . Death Note
When it come to anime , few are as well - known for extreme genial - tumbling as Death Note . The story of a teenage boy find a Bible that can kill anyone whose name is spell in it does n’t immediately sound like it contribute itself to anything other than rampant slaughter of bullies — but Light Yagami is not your fair high - school day kid . rather of using it for petty revenge , Light tries to create a utopian society where he penalize the wicked with death as “ God . ” But even that plot does n’t necessitate smart . Where things get super sharp is how Light dances with Interpol and the star detective L. Light joins the investigation team and pull off some pretty harebrained feat of ingeniousness to avoid catching . There are plenty of other witty anime out there ( and please apportion them below ! ) , but this one is straight cerebral .
7 . Archer
This show is garish and raunchy , but that does n’t mean it is n’t smart or cagy . In fact , despite a regular air of rampant bedlam running through the serial , each episode is jam - packed withall kinds of referenceson everything from classical literature topopular euphony . You either have to be the most cultivated person alive or have google opened to understand every laugh that gets cracked in any return episode . And what is perhaps most telling is that all these reference flee by a ) without most mass noticing and b ) without making the show any less screaming .
6 . The backwoods
Having started off as a comic strip , it makes sense that this show does an excellent task of fit both subtle humour and bite unfavorable judgment into most half - hour episode . The Boondocks has also seen its just share of disceptation , which is often a signaling that the writer are hit some nerves worth hitting . This show is n’t afraid of tearing anyone down in a way that prune right to the center things , and it ’s also smart for the expert way in which its characters are used to make playfulness of everything . Every character pulls their weight when it comes to creating a smart but suspicious TV instalment , but they do it in a way that seems lifelike . The Boondocks characters do n’t demand to break the fourth wall or use home narrative to make their spot . They just use good characterization .
5 . Family Guy
A lot of people deride Seth MacFarlane for using base comedy and tangential cut - away gags in his most popular series , but you ’d have to be as stupefied as Peter Griffin to call Family Guy anything short of clever . The show picks its share of low - hang fruit and is happy to indulge in the highly idiotic body fluid , but there ’s something innately particular about the way the show does it . In fact , it ’s Family Guy ability to take something that is n’t funny , apply it in a chip , and make your stomach smart form laughing so heavily that puddle it stand out . But even if it was n’t capable of doing that , MacFarlane does an excellent caper of satirize all kinds of things in any given episode . Brian does most of the body of work in that section , but Lois , Stewie , Meg , Chris get their fair share — and even Peter gets to point out the earnest truth from sentence to time . So even though Family Guy occasionally get stick up its own ass and light flat , it has been , on the whole , one of the most clever cartoon around .
4 . Futurama
I ’m trusted a lot of citizenry would rather The Simpsons be here instead of Futurama , and it certainly is a wise show . Still , Futurama edges it out for having just as much brains with even more centre . Not that The Simpsons does n’t have its moment , but any lineament on that show pales in comparison to Phillip J. Fry . His stupidity allows everyone else ’s tidings to shine by line , create some of the funniest moment in cartoon history . And even when the show is n’t trust on character relationships for humor , it cope to be smart in the ground . All of Professor Farnsworth ’s inventions are singular but clever takes on future science , and the show actually has this whole , involvednumber thing . And any clip a show is so beloved that meshwork executives will bring it back from the drained think it has to have been doing something right .
3 . Looney line
Much like Rocky and Bullwinkle , the Looney Tunes pioneer much of the independent - current alive humor that ’s used to make us laugh today . But unlike Rocky and Bullwinkle , the bequest of the Loony Tunes has become so deeply ingrained in societies collective memory that few people can go through childhood without knowing and bang Bugs Bunny and the pack . And it was the show ’s humor that earned its hold out place in story . The affair about the Looney Tunes was that it was saucy and simple at the same clip . By mix smack - stick violence with thing like dewy-eyed reverse psychological science , the Looney Tunes dug their way of life into our bosom . And at the clock time , the joke did n’t have to be referential or satirical in anyway . Audiences were just as happy to watch an anvil get dropped on Wile E. Coyote as they were to watch “ What ’s Opera , Doc ? ” But the Looney Tunes did both anyway , and they did it damn well .
2 . Animaniacs
It kills me not to give Freakazoid its own touch on this list , but it take a back seat to the king of witty cartoons aimed at nestling . Animaniacs is easy more clever than most anything that ’s ever been on television , and it can and will make masses of all age express mirth more consistently than almost any other show on goggle box . It can not be overstated how great show is . From its big and diverse form to the dozens of educational musical figure , Animaniacs almost pulls double - responsibility as a comedy holy Sangraal and a decent substitute for history class . Despite being more than 20 year old now , the show ’s joke have hardly senesce and that will probably never change . If you ’ve get by to go without watching this show yet , kibosh what you ’re doing and get the fuck on it .
1 . South Park
As if any other show could round out this lean . South Park ’s creator Matt Stone and Trey Parker are the form of satiric masterminds that come around once every few generations . The kind of humour they ( as well as the other writers ) upchuck out in almost no time at all just makes their employment even more impressive . But regardless of whether you like the show or not , South Park is the most topical thing on the air every hebdomad , expertly dismantling everything from elementary pop culture to the most complex political dilemmas . And though the show did n’t start off as a vehicle for the sharp and most hilariously raunchy humor on TV , it certainly has acquire into an unstoppable force .
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