I'm pretty sure I'll receive shit for this one, but . .
17b. Recess
Recess is a show about a group of six fourth graders and their adventures on the elementary school playground. It is 100% oriented towards kids (in contrast to the Powerpuff Girls, which had occasional elements that only adults would pick up on), but to be fair, I still find it pretty funny I still see it on when I work and it is basically the only show from my childhood that I will actively sit down and watch when I come across it. In fact, when it doescome on at work, I find myself thoroughly distracted from my serving tables. It was really from a different era of my life than Rugrats was, so I decided to just give them a tie.
As I mentioned earlier, the show is about six friends, but each is very different (and fits a particular stereotype). TJ is the leader/cool kid, Vince was the jock, Spinelli was the tomboy, Gretchen was the brain, Mikey was the sensitive fatty, and Gus was the wimp (though that does him no justice). The six characters were all really different, but were really tight knit friends. The show was mostly about how they spent their daily recesses (duh).
The coolest aspect of the show was the way that the playground was set up. It was modeled like a kingdom in fact there actually was a character named King Bob (a mighty sixth grader). There were a huge amount of secondary characters, ranging from the Diggers (guys who spend all their recess digging holes), the Ashleys (a clique of bitchy girls), the kindergarteners (who are portrayed as a crazy prehistoric tribe). There were also other noteworthy people such as the Upside Down girl, Swinger Girl, Randall the tattle tale, and probably at least 15-20 others that were somewhat recognizable.
The teachers were also quote funny, and often were the butt of the jokes. Principle Prickley and Miriam Finster were the mean authority figures that were constantly outwitted by the gang (especially TJ). All the more likable adults in the show let their inner-child come out from time to time. The overall message of the show was to let kids be kids.
The plot of the shows (which were also set up in the dual 10 minute episode format) were really relevant to things I remember from my child hood. They ranged from being the only one to have not seen a movie out of all of your friends, to dealing with the dilemma of being a cool kid and finding out you have a geeky older brother/sister, to having a first crush etc.
The messages that it sends out for kids are actually quite solid. They were almost always about embracing differences and playing nice. And it is probably one of the first Disney related programs that had strong female characters.
Again, it had good animation and sound, but nothing too groundbreaking. It wasn't as successful as Rugrats, but it still achieved some recognition for its amazingness.
This show (and Rugrats for that matter) do not end up higher on the list because they are kids shows, so there is a limited amount of depth that they are able to achieve. I just can't justify putting them above some of the masterpieces located above it. They were definitely the best kids shows I remember watching though.
