8 Great Animated TV Shows Everyone Forgot About

Summary

  • There are many forgotten animated TV series with unique identities waiting to be rediscovered by audiences.
  • Shows like Clerks: The Animated Series and Ugly Americans offer clever humor and social commentary.
  • Xiaolin Showdown was a hidden gems that expertly blended Eastern and Western cultures with humor.



It’s incredible how many excellent animated TV series have been produced that audiences have forgotten about. With such a wealth of viewing options available across traditional television and streaming, fantastic shows have continually been doomed to obscurity as the conversation around the greatest animated series has been dominated by just a few heavy hitters. While it can sometimes take some digging to find underappreciated animated series, there are so many hidden gems for audiences to enjoy.

So many TV shows never got the attention they deserved, and this can just as easily be applied to the world of animation. While certain series reached large audiences while they were on the air, their impact on popular culture has been minimal in the years since their conclusion, and new viewers have never even learned of their existence. With this in mind, here are several TV shows that viewers have mostly forgotten and are just waiting to be rediscovered once again.



8 Clerks: The Animated Series (2000 – 2002)

1 season

While most indie movie lovers will be well aware of Kevin Smith’s 1994 feature debut, the cult classic Clerks, not everybody will remember its short-lived animated spin-off. Clerks: The Animated Series was created by Smith for ABC and once again told the story of Dante Hicks and Randal Graves, two hapless Quick Stop sales clerks, along with the dynamic duo Jay and Silent Bob. Just six episodes of Clerks: The Animated Series were made, and only two aired before the show was swiftly canceled by ABC, and the remaining episodes were burnt off on Comedy Central.


While the brief run of Clerks: The Animated Series was a sad turn of events, looking back on the show today, it was a creative triumph with a unique identity. One great example was the second episode, which hilariously parodied television clip shows by showing clips from the first episodes before reshowing clips from the episode itself. Smith has spoken for years about plans to bring back the series for an animated movie, but sadly, these never came to fruition. Instead, its concept was repurposed for the live-action film Clerks 3.

7 Drawn Together (2004 – 2007)

3 seasons

Drawn Together cast


By the mid-2000s, reality TV had really taken off, and series like The Real World and Big Brother had evolved into global franchises. Considering this, it made sense that even animated series started parodying these concepts, and one of the best examples of this was Drawn Together. This hilarious Comedy Central series used a sitcom format to tell the story of cartoon characters all living together and was advertised by the studio as the very first animated reality show.

Drawn Together used caricatures of established animated characters to populate their show, and it was hilarious to watch the spoof of Disney heroine Princess Clara interacting with the outdated ideals of the Betty Boop parody Toot Braunstein. Drawn Together was a crude adult-only series that pushed the boundaries of taste with excess sex, violence, and social satire. Running for just three seasons, the show returned in 2010 for the feature The Drawn Together Movie: The Movie!


6 Jackie Chan Adventures (2000 – 2005)

5 seasons

Jackie Chan Adventures two leads in the show

Many rate Jackie Chan as the greatest Kung Fu movie star of all time, but viewers of a certain age were first introduced to this Hong Kong hero through the highly underrated animated series Jackie Chan Adventures. This series followed a fictionalized version of Chan working as an archaeologist and special agent while combating magical and supernatural forces with the help of family and friends. With an enjoyable mythology, Jackie Chan Adventures featured references to Chan’s own movies and made several live-action appearances on the show, talking about his life and work.


Jackie Chan Adventures saw the titular hero fighting against demons, ghosts, and spirits while gathering a set of 12 talismans that represented the animals of the Chinese zodiac. The series features references to Chan’s work, including the Seven Little Fortunes, the performance group that Chan was part of as a child. Children and adults alike could enjoy the thrilling adventures in Jackie Chan Adventures while spotting how episodes titled parodied Kung Fu movies like Enter the Dragon, Half a Loaf of Kung Fu, and Rumble in the Bronx.

Jackie Chan Adventures

Jackie Chan Adventures

Jackie Chan Adventures is an animated television series featuring Jackie Chan as an archaeologist and martial artist. The show follows Jackie, his niece Jade, and their friends as they embark on a series of adventures to collect magical talismans and protect them from the villainous Dark Hand organization. With a blend of action, mythology, and humor, the series aired from 2000 to 2005.

Cast
Jackie Chan , James Sie , Stacie Chan , Sab Shimono , Noah Nelson , Clancy Brown , Adam Baldwin , Julian Sands

Release Date
September 9, 2000

Seasons
5

Creator(s)
Duane Capizzi , Jeff Kline , John Rogers


5 Xiaolin Showdown (2003 – 2006)

3 seasons

Xiaolin Showdown (2003 – 2006)

One amazing fantasy cartoon that completely flew under the radar was Xiaolin Showdown, a Kids’ WB show that expertly fused Eastern and Western culture. With incredible pacing and rich worldbuilding, Xiaolin Showdown followed the lives of a group of martial arts students learning important life lessons about the nature of good and evil as they sought ancient artifacts known as the Shen Gong Wu. These fascinating artifacts imbued the characters with special powers as they engaged in magical duels known as Xiaolin Showdowns.

With consistent humor, impressive action sequences, and a slowly unfolding narrative, Xiaolin Showdown was a clever series that deserved far more recognition than it ever received. Xiaolin Showdown boasted strong characterization and great villains who embodied its unique world of magic and power struggles. The series was revived in 2013 as Xiaolin Chronicles, but sadly, this failed to reach a large audience and ran for just one season.


Xiaolin Showdown (2003)

Xiaolin Showdown (2003)

Xiaolin Showdown is an animated television series that follows four young monks in training—Omi, Kimiko, Raimundo, and Clay—as they search for mystical artifacts called Shen Gong Wu. Guided by their wise master, the monks use these artifacts to combat the evil boy genius Jack Spicer and other villains. The series showcases their journey to protect the world while mastering their elemental abilities and growing into Xiaolin warriors.

Cast
Tara Strong , grey delisle , Tom Kenny , Jeff Bennett , Wayne Knight

Release Date
November 1, 2003

Seasons
3

Creator(s)
Christy Hui

4 Jeff & Some Aliens (2017)

1 season

Jeff and Some Aliens

Jeff & Some Aliens felt like it was charting familiar territory as its absurd blend of sci-fi, philosophy, and crude humor had already proved its mainstream popularity potential due to the unprecedented success of Rick and Morty. However, unlike that show, Jeff & Some Aliens sadly did not find a large audience and was doomed to be canceled after one season. This was a real shame, as those who tuned in were rewarded with a unique adult animated sitcom filled with unique insights into the human connection.


Jeff & Some Aliens was a Comedy Central series created by Sean Donnelly and Alessandro Minoli based on TripTank sketches. The story involved three aliens who visited Earth to find the world’s most average man and evaluate the human race based on what they learned from him. While most episodes revolved around Jeff trying to solve a problem with the help of a strange alien device, the appeal of Jeff & Some Aliens was its hidden depth, as its buried moralistic lessons had a lot to say about the woes of modern existence.

3 Ugly Americans (2010 – 2012)

2 seasons

Ugly Americans


Ugly Americans was truly one of the most underrated Comedy Central series, as it was full of dark humor, parodies, and social critiques. Set in an alternative reality of New York City, Ugly Americans followed a social worker at the Department of Integration in a world inhabited by strange creatures and monsters. With impressive but often grotesque animation and a unique concept, Ugly Americans delivered intelligent humor that had much to say about cultural integration and diversity, workplace culture, and personal identity.

However, as much as Ugly Americans tackled heavy themes, it was also consistently funny and used its world full of every type of creature imagination to deliver one visual gag after another. Ugly Americans may not appeal to all viewers, as its gaudy style could be off-putting to those more used to clean-cut animation. Although it only ran for two seasons, Ugly Americans left quite an impact across its brief 31-episode run.


2 Tuca & Bertie (2019 – 2021)

3 seasons

Tuca and Bertie Netflix

Tuca & Bertie was a fantastic animated series about two anthropomorphic birds, Tuca the toucan and Bertie the song thrush, created by the BoJack Horseman producer Lisa Hanawalt. Tuca & Bertie maintained much of the unique visual humor of BoJack as the visual humor potential of its animal-filled world was fully exploited; however, despite its high quality, Netflix sadly canceled the show after just one season. Luckily, Tuca & Bertie was picked up by Adult Swim, and the series continued for two more critically acclaimed seasons that mostly fell under the radar of mainstream viewers.


Dissapointably, Tuca & Bertie never managed to entrench itself in popular culture in the same way that BoJack did, as it similarly touched on themes of alcoholism, existentialism, and sexual abuse. At its core, Tuca & Bertie was about female friendship, and throughout its three seasons, the dynamic between its two leads only deepened in complexity. Tuca & Bertie was a show with a lot to say, and those who did not hear it the first time around should do themselves a favor and check it out.

Tuca & Bertie

Tuca & Bertie is an animated series created by Lisa Hanawalt, focusing on the friendship between two anthropomorphic bird women living in the same apartment building. Voiced by Tiffany Haddish and Ali Wong, the series explores themes of friendship, adulthood, and personal growth, balancing humor with more serious topics.

Cast
Tiffany Haddish , Ali Wong , Steven Yeun , Nicole Byer , John Early , Cole Escola , Lisa Hanawalt , Reggie Watts

Release Date
May 3, 2019

Seasons
3

Creator(s)
Lisa Hanawalt

1 The Midnight Gospel (2020)

1 season

The Midnight Gospel promo image.


As an insightful mix of the unique worldview of comedian Duncan Trussell and the iconic animation style of Pendleton Ward, The Midnight Gospel was just one of many examples of Netflix shows that were canceled too soon. Running for just one season, The Midnight Gospel mixed audio from Trussell’s real podcast, The Duncan Trussell Family Hour, and created an alternative reality out of them. In the series, Duncan’s conversations were animated and presented as the adventures of spacecaster Clancy Gilroy, who traveled to different planets with his universe simulator.

The power of The Midnight Gospel was the way it mixed narrative-driven animation with podcasting, blending the two into a strange but effective experience where each complimented the other. With vibrant visuals and illuminating philosophical discussions, The Midnight Gospel won’t appeal to all viewers. Still, it will be a hidden gem for those who enjoy its unique combination of psychedelic and intellectual ponderings.


The Midnight Gospel

The Midnight Gospel

The Midnight Gospel is an animated series created by Pendleton Ward and Duncan Trussell. The show follows Clancy Gilroy, who hosts a spacecast from a colorful, multidimensional universe called the Chromatic Ribbon. Through surreal and philosophical conversations, each episode explores existential themes. The Midnight Gospel combines intricate animation with introspective dialogue, drawing viewers into its unique narrative style.

Cast
Phil Hendrie , Duncan Trussell , Joey Diaz , Doug Lussenhop , Steve Little , Christina Pazsitzky , Stephen Root , Maria Bamford

Release Date
April 20, 2020

Seasons
1

Creator(s)
Duncan Trussell

Fuente

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