Yes. I went ahead and bought myself an early Christmas present.

Sue me.

Day 4 - Top 10 Favourite Television Shows (Animated)

10 - South Park and Family Guy
The reason number 10 is a split between these two shows are for the impact they had on me. I’ve been watching South Park for a very long time, and only within the last few seasons my interest hasn’t nearly been peaked as often - unfortunately a lot of the newer episodes focus heavily on immediate gratification of pop culture jokes, which dates the show and makes it less funny for those trying to get into it. The same can be said for Family Guy though. I loved Family Guy, and could quote the first three seasons backwards and forwards, but ever since it came back after being cancelled for many years it has lost its lustre for me. I love Seth MacFarlane and appreciate the work he’s putting into running three shows at once, but I think he’s spreading his talents too thin now.

9 - The Oblongs
This was a great little known show that was on Teletoon many years ago and was actually the reason Meg and I started talking. The show revolves around a mutated family who lives in bio-hazardous waste, and of course the antics that follow. The writing was witty and clever, and was definitely a cartoon that could bite back. A lot of the situations that were created on the show were over the top and absolutely ridiculous, but I couldn’t imagine the show any other way. With voice work from Will Ferrell, Billy West, and the Sklar brothers, it’s definitely a show to check out.

8 - Tom Goes to the Mayor
Of course this show is on here. Tim and Eric’s breakout animated show based on Tom Peters who frequents the mayor’s office with zany ideas to stimulate the town and showcase his entrepreneurial skills introduced me to the absurdist comedy of Tim and Eric, but also has some of the best written lines in any cartoon I’ve ever heard. Everyone is incredibly cynical and offensive, and the show features the likeness and voices of John C. Reilly, Zach Galifianakis, Patton Oswalt, David Cross, Brian Posehn, Bob Odenkirk and many others. The DVD release features a lot of commentary work by Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim and for that reason alone is worth the price of the DVD to hear all the crazy stories that went on in making the episodes (in particular, the one where Gary Busey fires Tim from his own job). Full episodes here, here and here.

7 - Spongebob SquarePants
I don’t care how old I am, I love Spongebob. When it first came out I was in grade 5 and thought it was for younger kids and never got into it. Once I reached high school I started watching more frequently and really enjoyed the humour. There’s a nice balance of directing the episodes toward children, but also at an older demographic. There are also some of my favourite absurd moments of all times in the show - such as Patrick and Spongebob acknowledging that there can’t be a fire underwater, which immediately extinguishes the flames. It’s sharp, witty and hilarious, and The Spongebob SquarePants Movie is hands down one of my favourite animated films of all time. If you haven’t watched it in a while, give it another go and you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

6 - Home Movies
What an amazing show this was. For four seasons Brendon Small had free reign to create an animated show featuring three kids just living their life while spending their free time making terrible home movies (usually) based on real films. The show had excellent music and H. Jon Benjamin, one of my favourite actors ever. With his dead-pan delivery of Coach McGuirk, and for the ridiculous moments found in this show, I have to recommend it. You can find a couple full episodes on YouTube so I recommend taking them for a test run. 

5 - Futurama
What a great show. When Matt Groening created this futuristic cartoon, a lot of people were worried about the effect it would have on The Simpsons. Turns out this cartoon was way ahead of the curve when it came to wit, and established a firm hold on geek culture. The show was able to make fun of popular trends without relying solely on them for jokes. I often remark that once a show starts becoming all about pop culture jokes, it loses an audience. In the case of Futurama, building off concepts of the future relies heavily on establishing how popular culture works and how it is able to manipulate every aspect of daily life. I have to admit that unfortunately it does seem to suffer a similar fate to that of Family Guy, as once it was cancelled and brought back - it did lose some of its staying power. Nevertheless I’m still glad for more Futurama and all of its unforgettable characters.

4 - Clone High
I shuffled around a couple titles on this list to slot Clone High in at number four. When I was in high school, Clone High was a huge influence on me. I watched the episodes over and over again hoping to catch the missing “Snowflake Day” episode that no one had ever seen. It wasn’t until the DVD release that I finally got to see it… The show itself revolves around a high school established for cloned versions of famous figures - J.F.K. Abe Lincoln, Joan of Arc, etc. The writing for the show was brilliant, every episode is outstanding and creates a series that I cannot believe was cancelled. Every time I re-watch an episode I pick up on more subtleties that I missed the first time around and it still makes me laugh even today.

3 - Adventure Time
It’s really surprising to have Adventure Time this high on the list - it just came out a couple years ago and already it has earned its place on a list with other amazing cartoons. I have to admit that Adventure Time is another one of those “absurdist” cartoons that I tend to lean toward, but what gets me is how bizarre and innocent everything and everyone is in the show. There’s an ignorance and blissful unawareness that goes on in every episode that features Finn and Jake and their adventures fighting bad guys in their world. Generally every episode ends by just barely tying up loose ends, and never expands or explains anything in the following episodes. They’re all basically stand alone shorts that all create an amazing adventure that I look forward to every week.

2 - Dragon Ball Z
Need I say more? Yes, it’s a ridiculous animé aimed at young kids, but it was so important to me growing up that I’m still playing catch up with the releases on DVD and Blu-ray. I could watch it again and again. Well, almost all of it.

1 - The Simpsons
Despite a lacklustre last couple of seasons, The Simpsons has to be my favourite cartoon of all time. I can recite entire episodes, quote after quote - applying them to real life daily. Not a day goes by when I don’t use a quote from The Simpsons out loud. It applies to everything. Always. I remember being excited every week to watch The Simpsons on Sunday nights, staying up and watching new episodes and loving them more and more. Even watching the edited CFMT cuts back to back on weekdays before dinner was enough to tide me over. I made it to season 13 before I started to lose my attention and ability to look forward to new episodes. The last episode I remember watching “new” was when Bart ran away from home and moved into the flat with Blink 182. Since then The Simpsons has drifted away from its original idea, and has become much more zany and adventurous than ever before. New writers have come and gone and transformed the characters into something completely different. It’s unfortunate, but with competition from competing shows (see: Family Guy), the producers at The Simpsons try to stay ahead of the curve by changing things around, transforming a once brilliant show into something that no longer grabs the same amount of attention as it once did. For those thirteen years I watched the show religiously however, I enjoyed every single minute and will forever.

I have always loved Spongebob. There’s just something amazing about him that just makes me really happy. I can veg out and just watch episode after episode and generally get a few good laughs out of it. A couple of years ago when the Spongebob movie came out, I watched it and really had a good time. It was such a great film that took a Spongebob episode and managed to successfully stretch it into a feature film that ended up being really funny.

I don’t know what took me so long, but now that it was $10 I knew I had to buy it. Meg and I watched it and we were both laughing. It’s quirky and weird…but perfect. The kids today have it great with Spongebob by their side. Next step - I need to buy the “First 100 Episodes of Spongebob” on DVD…