143 Cartoon Shows: Best Picks From The Colorful Cartooniverse

1930 - 1969

Looney Tunes, an animated comedy short film series, marked the Golden Age of American animation. Looney Tunes, together with its accompanying series Merrie Melodies, introduced to us such iconic characters as Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Wile E. Coyote, Marvin The Martian, and plenty, plenty more! Each of these characters had their own skits assigned to them, but it was Bugs Bunny that eventually stole the show, becoming the leading rabbit of the universe. And, if you're into classic animation, Looney Tunes is basically a manual to the genre! 

1940 - 1958 | 114 episodes

Tom & Jerry is by far the most well-known animated series franchise consisting of 114 short films in its original run. Of course, you are right, there are plenty more of these comedic skits, but we're only talking about the episodes created by William Hanna and Joseph Barbera since the duo was the first to bring Tom and Jerry to life. It's the story as old as the Earth itself depicted here - the constant chase between a cat and a mouse. However, in this series, the cat never wins, and the teeny tiny mouse proves to be way smarter than the predator! The fun here never ends, and their adventures get more and more elaborate with each skit. A true classic in the world of animation!

1969 - 1978 | 3 seasons | 41 episodes

Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! is an animated comedy series created by the legendary animation studio Hanna-Barbera. The series revolves around a team of four teenagers - Fred, Daphne, Shaggy, and Velma - and their dog Scooby-Doo, as they travel around in their van, The Mystery Machine, and solve various mysteries. Each of the characters is loveable and memorable, especially the titular Scooby! Their adventures are grand, the jokes are hilarious, and there's not a thing to criticize this series for! 

1987 - 1990 | 4 seasons | 100 episodes

DuckTales is an animated series produced by Disney Television Animation that first aired in 1987. And no, it isn't a cartoon where you see ducks nesting, picking worms, or gaggling - it's full of adventures supplied by the legendary trio of ducklings supervised by their money-thirsty uncle Scrooge McDuck. And boy, what awesome shenanigans do Dewey, Huey, and Louie get into! From seeking treasures to thwarting enemies' plans of stealing Scrooge's riches, no day goes by without something exhilarating happening.

1989 | 33 seasons | 718 episodes and counting

The Simpsons, which is the longest-running American animated series, has made us laugh, cry, and feel love for the last three decades. It saw Baby Boomers laughing at hidden jokes their Millennial kids couldn't understand at the time, and it saw those same Millennials showing The Simpsons to their own kids - a staple animated series any generation can find relatable and loveable.

1960 - 2000 | 27 seasons | 684 episodes 

The Bugs Bunny Show, an animated anthology series, is proudly one of the longest-running American cartoons, having its first appearance in 1948 and ending its career in 2000. That's 52 years of runtime! Since its inception, The Bugs Bunny Show was produced in half-an-hour episodes, segmented into three shorter cartoons following the shenanigans of Bugs Bunny, Tweety Bird, Sylvester, and Road Runner, just to name a few of their Looney Tunes gang. The Bugs Bunny Show was a real Saturday morning staple and a wildly popular series that many of us watched in our early years. And maybe still do.

2005-2005 | 3 seasons | 61 episodes

Avatar: The Last Airbender is an animated action-adventure fantasy series that ran on Nickelodeon from 2005 to 2008. Avatar's world is inspired by Asian cultures, and in this world, certain people have telekinetic powers allowing them to control one of four classical elements - water, fire, earth, and air. Then there's the Avatar - the chosen one who can control all of the four and whose mission is to keep a peaceful balance among the nations. This Avatar is Aang, and together with his friends, they set out on extraordinary adventures to restore said balance. The series is ingenious with the excitement it creates, the nice moral messages it gives, and, of course, the most loveable characters in the most unexpected situations. Some critics even named Avatar one of the best animated series ever, and we couldn't agree more!

1949 - 2001

Wile E. Coyote And The Road Runner are a duo of animated characters first appearing in the Looney Tunes show and later getting their own series. In each episode that this duo appears in, the villainous coyote tries to catch its prey, the Road Runner. However, the coyote doesn't trust his instincts for catching the bird but rather creates various absurdly complex contraptions to succeed. Which he doesn't, anyway! Full of iconic recurring gags and a new scheme each time, Wile E. Coyote And The Road Runner is one truly captivating show!

2003-2006 | 5 seasons | 65 episodes

Teen Titans, an animated superhero series, follows the lives and adventures of the five main members of the eponymous team. Each one of them has a set of very specific abilities, from being able to communicate with animals to having psionic abilities. The team all live together in the Titans Tower and protect their neighboring city from various threats and criminals, all the while trying to live their adolescent lives as normal teens. Teen Titans soon became one of the most acclaimed Cartoon Network series, praised for its character development, humor, and serious themes. In fact, it pretty soon became so famous that multiple spin-offs, video games, music albums, and collectibles were released.

2007-2015 | 4 seasons | 129 episodes

Offbeat and very original, the animated series Phineas and Ferb might have never seen the light of day if not for the persistence of its writers - it took about 16 years of pitching the concept to various networks before securing a run on the Disney Channel. This cartoon follows Phineas Flynn and his stepbrother Ferb Fletcher on their summer vacation; the boys embark on a new grand and impossible project every day. To make it even more unique, the boys own a pet platypus Perry, who's an undercover detective. Definitely a show that never gets boring!

1975 | 16 episodes 

Tom And Jerry's exploits could be added to a list of basically any list mentioning TV shows, as the duo, in various incarnations, has been gracing our screens from the ‘50s right up to this day. The Tom And Jerry Comedy Show, though, ran for half an hour and included two segments of our favorite pair's antics and also a Droopy cartoon right in the middle. Unfortunately, this Tom And Jerry embodiment lived only for a couple of months in the ‘70s, but the episodes were later added to syndicated Tom And Jerry packages.

1999 | 13 seasons | 271 episodes

So, it's a sponge living under the sea in a pineapple, hanging out with a starfish, a crab, a pet snail, and a squirrel. And that's just to name a few odd characters from SpongeBob SquarePants, an animated series that became a real phenomenon throughout the years of its run. Created by the legendary animator and marine science educator Stephen Hillenburg, this series is full of imagination and the most unbelievable adventures experienced by the weirdest characters. It was, and still is, something completely different compared to all the rest of the animated series, mostly because of its originality that stems from an unexpected setting, ingenious characters, and the beautiful message underneath it all.

1996 | 4 seasons | 52 episodes

Courage The Cowardly Dog, an animated horror/comedy series, follows Courage - a kindhearted yet easily scared orphaned dog whose parents were sent into outer space by a crazed veterinarian. Now Courage lives with an elderly couple, Muriel and Eustace, in the middle of Nowhere. Somehow it seems that the trio always gets into some bizarre, nightmarish misadventures with various entities, monsters, and occurrences haunting everything they do. Courage The Cowardly Dog is a truly one-of-a-kind series filled with surreal humor, an eerie atmosphere, and always original happenings.

1999 - | 7 seasons | 140 episodes

If Futurama has always seemed oddly familiar to you, then you're right, as you definitely have seen the other famous creation by the same writer Matt Groening, and, yes, it's The Simpsons. But, though such a prehistory of Futurama might lead you to imagine the same Simpsons just in space, boy, are you wrong. From gut-wrenching events (don't tell me I didn't warn you about The Dog) to subtle and not-so-subtle adult humor, this show is not just another animated series but an excellent sitcom undoubtedly worthy of being on this list. And if seven seasons of Futurama aren't enough to quench your thirst, you can always watch one of the series-based movies, play a video game, or collect the official merchandise.

1996 | 4 seasons | 78 episodes

Dexter's Laboratory follows a boy genius Dexter, who, unbeknownst to his parents, runs a high-tech laboratory in his room. Here Dexter invents various useful and useless devices and materials with his older sister Dee-Dee constantly trying to sabotage his plans. There's also a rival boy genius and Dexter's superhero pet monkey. And you know the rest - time for misadventures! Dexter's Laboratory was probably one of the earliest Cartoon Network series known to attract not only kids but younger adults too and proved again that animated series should be given the credit that they deserve.