If you grew up watching Cartoon Network shows, prepare to get hit by a major wave of nostalgia. While Nickelodeon and Disney cartoons get most of the love, Cartoon Network offered up some quality animated series in the late '90s and early '00s, and chances are you were obsessed with most of them. I'm talking wake up at eight on a Saturday morning, confiscate the remote from your sibling, and make yourself a giant bowl of sugary cereal to get you through the full block obsessed.
Now, a few of the Cartoon Network shows are universally beloved. For instance, The Powerpuff Girls and Dexter's Laboratory were in no way underrated. Even the most die-hard Nick kids had to give those shows major props. However, shows like The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy were a bit more niche, but no less deserving of love.
This list is all about the unsung heroes of your cartoon-loving youth. These animated shows were weird, daring, and made your weekends so much more fun. As a bonus, your parents probably didn't want you watching most of them. Cartoon Network kids, this list is for you.
I present to you the 13 most underrated Cartoon Network shows you watched as a kid. Let's do this.
1. Courage The Cowardly Dog
It may have been responsible for 98 percent of your nightmares when you were growing up, but Courage was still a groundbreaking animated horror series. Somewhere between the aliens and zombies plaguing Nowhere, Kansas, a cowardly dog always did his best to protect his oblivious family from danger, and as a result this genuinely scary show was funny too.
2. Cow And Chicken
This is the one show that might be capable of rivaling Ren & Stimpy for the most surreal and, at times, gross kid's cartoon on TV. It was also compulsively watchable, especially when you were 11.
3. Ed, Edd n Eddy
The Eds never-ending quest for cash to feed their jawbreaker obsession was a simplistic premise that led to high quality slapstick comedy even your parents couldn't resist.
4. Samurai Jack
Like The Powerpuff Girls, Samurai Jack made a comeback recently, but it is hard to imagine the show ever completely recapturing the magic of the astounding storytelling and animation of its original run.
5. The Grim Adventures Of Billy & Mandy
Thanks to her sardonic sense of gallows humor, Mandy was definitely one of your early life heroes.
6. Johnny Bravo
In retrospect, Johnny could have been the poster boy for toxic masculinity, but his attempts at getting women to adore him as much as he adored himself always failed in spectacularly hilarious ways. The show was ultimately an extended Elvis joke, but at least it was a reliably entertaining one.
7. Time Squad
History has never been more fun than it was when Time Squad's trio of time cops were trying valiantly to get the likes of Abraham Lincoln back on the right path.
8. Codename: Kids Next Door
Being one of the Kids Next Door was the dream. There would have been nothing cooler than being a child spy with access to a tricked out tree house and classified missions.
9. Mike, Lu & Og
Island living and a classic tale of a new kid adjusting to unusual surroundings made this show one of Cartoon Network's sweeter offerings.
10. Sheep In The Big City
Delightfully meta, most of Sheep in the Big City's humor was lost on its kid audience, but chances are you loved it anyway.
11. Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends
A clever premise combined with some seriously ingenious storytelling made this show about a home for imaginary friends addictive, no matter your age.
12. Duck Dodgers
This is the show that made Daffy Duck cool.
13. Whatever Happened To Robot Jones?
Thanks to an '80s setting, Robot Jones wasn't exactly tapped into the early '00s youth culture, but it had a lovable robot hero at its center, making it a true unappreciated Cartoon Network show.
Cartoon Network was full of amazing shows, but these 13 deserve extra love since they often get overlooked in favor of all the timeless Scooby Doo reruns and everyone's favorite feminist superheroes, The Powerpuff Girls.
