- 2 months ago
Some shows were clearly made for adults — but that never stopped us from watching. Join us as we count down the wildest small-screen favorites we definitely discovered way too early! Our countdown includes "South Park," "Beavis and Butt-Head," "The Ren & Stimpy Show," "Family Guy," "Jackass," and more! Which childhood favorite made you feel like you were getting away with something? Let us know below!
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Oh, whatever, you ain't tough, hoe. I run with gays.
00:03Oh, yeah? I run with 12 gangs, and we only commit hate crimes. Whatever, I'll do what I want.
00:09Welcome to Ms. Mojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the wildest small screen favorites we definitely discovered
00:16way too early.
00:17Giggity, giggity, giggity, giggity, ooh, ee, ooh, ah, ah, ting, tang, walla, walla, bing, bang.
00:23Number 10, Tales from the Crypt.
00:24Long before streaming platforms served up horror on demand, HBO was haunting living rooms with one of the most gleefully
00:32disturbing anthology series ever made.
00:34It's a simple matter, really. Removing a gland from a common cad and surgically grafting it into your brain.
00:42Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. Into my brain?
00:46Oh, so I can die nine times?
00:49Hosted by the wisecracking, decomposing Crypt Keeper, this show, based on EC Comics stories, delivered tales of murder, betrayal, and
00:58supernatural terror wrapped in a thick layer of dark comedy.
01:01Each episode was essentially a short horror film, complete with visceral special effects, morally bankrupt characters, and gruesome twist endings.
01:11Niles, I'm terribly sorry. It's come to this.
01:21Kids who caught reruns probably felt like they'd hacked into forbidden television.
01:26Looking back, it's a miracle any of us slept through the night.
01:30We had a deal, man. Look.
01:35All that's worth more than $100,000.
01:38Now I want it back!
01:40Number 9. Cow and Chicken
01:42Cartoon Network's Barnyard Fever Dream was basically a dare disguised as children's programming.
01:48Mama had a chicken!
01:49Mama had a cow! Dad was proud! He didn't care how!
01:53Created by David Feist, the series followed two wildly mismatched animal siblings and their eternal tormentor, the Red Guy, a
02:02pantsless devil figure who kept reappearing in cursed disguises.
02:05That is my sister! You got your mitts all over! And if you know what is good for you, you
02:10will pop!
02:14Come now, my little meadow muffin. My studio is just over here.
02:19The gross-out humor was relentless. Screaming, butt jokes, bizarre visual gags, and plots that treated childhood anxieties like absurdist
02:29carnivals.
02:30Most famously, the segment Buffalo Gals aired only once in 1998 before being pulled from future broadcasts after complaints about
02:39lesbian stereotypes, overt innuendo, and double entendres.
02:43Don't let them get me!
02:44They're not after you!
02:46Um, excuse me, sir. But who are you guys?
02:54We're the Buffalo Gals!
02:57Kids loved the lawless energy of the show. Adults re-watching now may wonder how it cleared children's TV.
03:04Number 8. Celebrity Deathmatch
03:06MTV turned fame into a clay-splattered cage match, and somehow a generation of kids treated it like standard after
03:14-school viewing.
03:15Can a beret-wearing intern topple the most powerful woman in the free world?
03:19Will a rubber-faced funnyman outbash a jimpy-faced songbird?
03:23And can the master of tools put the screws to the master of nothingness?
03:27Created by Eric Fogle, this stop-motion series staged fake celebrity matches with wrestling-style commentary, outrageous caricatures, and excessive
03:36slapstick.
03:37Johnny Gomez and Nick Diamond called the action, while referee Mills Lane dropped his signature Let's Get It On before
03:44each match spiraled into chaos.
03:47Now remember, life is but a stage, and death is what comes at the end of this match. Let's get
03:52it on!
03:53Violence in animation has always occupied a gray area, but Celebrity Deathmatch pushed that envelope so far, it practically mailed
04:01it to another dimension.
04:02It was satire technically, but 12-year-olds weren't exactly watching for the cultural commentary.
04:08Hey, Aguilera! What's up with that Catholic schoolgirl outfit? Now you're copying my videos, too?
04:14Copying? But you're not even a Catholic schoolgirl! Why would I bother copying a phony like you?
04:19Number 7. The Simpsons
04:21Few shows in television history have blurred the line between family entertainment and adult content quite as masterfully or as
04:29sneakily as this one.
04:30Hello, is Homer there?
04:31Homer who?
04:34Homer...sexual.
04:36Wait one second, let me check.
04:39Uh, homosexual?
04:41Come on, come on, what do you guys just gotta be homosexual?
04:44From its earliest seasons, The Simpsons operated on two distinct frequencies simultaneously. A surface level that kids could enjoy for
04:53its slapstick and silly characters, and a deeper layer dense with political satire and cultural references.
05:06Every generation seems to discover The Simpsons at an age when they're probably a little too young for it. And
05:12that's precisely what makes it a timeless cornerstone of television history.
05:16To alcohol! The cause of, and solution to, all of life's problems.
05:23Yeah!
05:25Number 6. Jackass
05:27Here's a show that didn't hide behind clever writing or animated characters. It just pointed a camera at a group
05:33of fully grown men doing extraordinarily dangerous things and dared you to look away.
05:38Johnny Knoxville and the Jackass crew turned self-inflicted pain and bodily humor into an art form, launching on MTV
05:45in 2000 and immediately becoming must-watch television for every kid who was absolutely not supposed to be watching it.
05:53MTV slapped warning labels all over every episode, explicitly telling viewers not to attempt anything they saw on screen, which
06:00of course only made it more appealing to the exact demographic they were supposedly warning.
06:05Four score and seven years ago, our fathers founded upon this continent a new nation. Conceived of liberty and dedicated
06:14to the proposition that all men are created equal.
06:18The show even drew criticism for allegedly encouraging copycat injuries among young viewers.
06:24Stop it! You can't do that!
06:27Why?
06:28What do you mean why?
06:28We're training!
06:29No, come on. We can't do that in here. This is not a gym.
06:31Can I have my stuff? Can I have my stuff from you, man?
06:35Can I have my stuff from you, man?
06:36So what happened? What's wrong?
06:38Number five, The Jerry Springer Show.
06:41Daytime television rarely felt more forbidden than this syndicated circus of secrets, screaming and security guards.
06:48I don't want either of you guys.
06:50Oh, so it's just hit and quit and run, huh?
06:52It's pretty much hit and quit and run.
06:54Wow, that's, that's love for real.
06:56Well, I guess you do what you gotta do.
06:57What began in 1991 as a more traditional talk show eventually mutated into one of TV's most notorious tabloid spectacles,
07:06built around infidelity, family feuds, shocking revelations, and onstage confrontations.
07:13For kids homesick from school or watching when adults weren't paying attention,
07:18the chant alone felt like a gateway to grown-up chaos.
07:21You cannot make this stuff up.
07:27Terry! Terry! Terry!
07:30The show's bleeped profanity, sexual topics, physical fights, and messiness made it wildly inappropriate for young viewers.
07:38Naturally, that only made its Anything Can Happen energy harder to look away from.
07:42Let's look at it like this.
07:44You was telling me you wanted to be with me.
07:46And I'm telling you, man, I don't know what I want to do.
07:47I still want your sister.
07:48Your sister dumped me, right?
07:50So all of a sudden I'm sitting there, I'm alone and by myself, and here comes you, Antoine.
07:54We slept together last week, didn't we?
07:56Number four, Family Guy.
07:58And Peeta, you brought this on yourself by putting on those filthy shows.
08:02Oh, Lois, you are so full of c-
08:04What?
08:05No, I can't say c-
08:06My own c-
08:07House?
08:08Great, Lois.
08:09Just c-
08:10Great.
08:10Seth MacFarlane's animated powerhouse arrived in 1999 with the energy of a show that had absolutely nothing to lose and
08:18no interest whatsoever in playing it safe.
08:20Where The Simpsons used adult themes as a backdrop, Family Guy shoved them directly into the foreground, using cutaway gags,
08:28shock humor, and relentless boundary pushing to tackle deliberately provocative topics.
08:34A bottle of Jack Daniels, please.
08:36There you go.
08:36Thanks.
08:37What's this?
08:38That's your gun.
08:39Buy some liquor, get a free gun.
08:41Is that like a special you have on now or something?
08:44Nope.
08:44Texas State Law.
08:45The Griffin family's adventures were frequently a delivery mechanism for jokes that would be considered edgy even in a late
08:52night standup special, let alone in a cartoon that many kids assumed was in the same category as other animated
08:58sitcoms.
08:59Peter stumbling through life as a profoundly irresponsible father figure was funny, yes, but it was also a crash course
09:06in adult dysfunction that no elementary schooler needed.
09:09You actually won?
09:10You actually won?
09:11Wow, congrats, Stewie.
09:12I thought you being a mistake ruined your chances.
09:14How'd you pull it off?
09:15It turns out 70% of the kids' parents aren't married and 30% are mistakes.
09:20Nobody gets married anymore.
09:22One kid doesn't even have parents.
09:23He just kind of appeared.
09:24Number three, Beavis and Butthead.
09:27The future of Highland High is at stake, not to mention my personal career.
09:32Beavis and Butthead must not be allowed within three miles of the president.
09:37Few shows in the history of animation have caused as much moral panic among parents and advocacy groups as this
09:42one, and Mike Judge's creation wore that notoriety like a badge of honor.
09:47Do you think nachos taste good?
09:50Yes, yes, I do.
09:51Whoa.
09:52That's my thing.
09:54Okay, let me think of one.
09:55Um, do you want to score all the time?
09:58I sure do.
09:59Whoa!
09:59Two dimwitted, snickering teenage metalheads stumbling through school and giggling at anything even remotely resembling a double entendre.
10:07It sounds harmless enough on paper.
10:09Still, Beavis and Butthead was a genuine cultural lightning rod in the 1990s.
10:14Kids loved it because it felt anarchic and transgressive.
10:18Adults hated it for precisely the same reasons.
10:21After the show was swept into controversy surrounding a fatal 1993 fire, MTV removed fire-related content from several episodes
10:30and shifted it to a later time slot, though the alleged connection was later disputed.
10:35Beavis, you suck as a liar.
10:38Liar, liar, liar, liar, pants on.
10:41Whoa.
10:42Number two, The Ren and Stimpy Show.
10:45You gave away 47 million dollars?
10:52You, you fat, bloated, idiot, into the world.
10:58Nickelodeon has often walked a fine line between kid-friendly and questionable, but few things the network aired came close
11:05to the sheer audacity of this one.
11:07Get it off of me.
11:09It's the happy helmet, Ren.
11:11Now you'll always be happy.
11:13And this is the remote control.
11:16And I use this dial to control how happy you are.
11:21You sick little monkey.
11:22Created by John Crisfalusi, the series followed a Chihuahua and a Manx cat through grotesquely detailed close-up animation, disturbing
11:31psychological undertones, and humor that ranged from absurd to unsettling.
11:36Top of the morning, old paint.
11:40Hey, uh, Stimpy?
11:42You forgot my toast.
11:43Toast!
11:45Here's your toast!
11:48How do you like your coffee, Ren?
11:50It was the kind of cartoon kids watched for weirdness, only to realize later how aggressive its chaos could be.
11:56Crisfalusi himself was later accused of deeply troubling misconduct, casting an uncomfortable shadow over the show's legacy.
12:06If you love games, be sure to check out WatchMojo's new game, Terrible Influence, just launched for purchase at TerribleInfluence
12:13.com.
12:14Terrible Influence is a satirical board game about the dark side of fame from the writer of the most popular
12:19girls in school and us, WatchMojo.
12:21Boom!
12:21Burn!
12:22I can make an apology video.
12:24Oh, you so would!
12:25Click on the link in the description to check out the game and be the first to play Terrible Influence.
12:31Number 1. South Park
12:33You wanna know what time I woke up this morning?
12:36What time?
12:37Around 6-7!
12:386-7!
12:396-7!
12:40No show on this list better proves that kids will absolutely watch something just because they're told not to.
12:46Created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the Comedy Central series follows Stan, Kyle, Cartman, and Kenny through a Colorado
12:53town where childhood innocence gets steamrolled by profanity, violence, satire, and every taboo subject imaginable.
13:02Just because your parents can afford better toys than ours doesn't make you better than us.
13:05Yes, it does so.
13:09Gah!
13:10For younger viewers, the crude animation and kid protagonists made it look weirdly accessible.
13:16For adults, the targets were religion, politics, sex, celebrity culture, moral panic, and hypocrisy.
13:23We've had enough!
13:24We're gonna hit the government where it hurts!
13:26Right in the Federal Express!
13:28What exactly are you angry about?
13:30We're angry about this stupid liberal government and fascist lies, media control!
13:36The show was never pretending to be child-friendly, but that didn't stop kids from quoting Cartman in schoolyards everywhere.
13:44Which childhood favorite made you feel like you were getting away with something?
13:47Sound off in the comments!
13:49Love that.
13:53Mind your friends!
13:54Good Storage!
13:54Aável