Almost since the earliest days of television there has been been programming specifically aimed at children, both to entertain and educate.
Children represent a large, impressionable audience with a great deal of free time, and these facts have led advertisers and producers to bank heavily on the demographic. The result has been countless timeless kids shows over the decades.
Since the early of television programming, children were entertained by pioneering shows like “Howdy Doody” and “Captain Kangaroo,” which paved the way for many children’s shows. If it was through purely entertaining programs like “Scooby Doo” and “Looney Tunes” or more educational shows such as “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” and “Sesame Street,” kids remained glued to the TV throughout the decades.
The 90s-era Nickelodeon programs were no different and continued to help build the imaginations of young people who are now adults. The characters, plots, gags, and theme songs of these programs often remain burned in our memory long after other — arguably more important — memories fade.
For the current generation of young people, modern hits like “Adventure Time” and “Steven Universe” will likely fill the same place in their hearts.
24/7 Wall St. reviewed the ratings of hundreds of television programs throughout history directed at children to identify the 50 most-loved kids’ shows of all time. Every reader is likely to have never heard of some of these, while others on this list they will probably never forget.
We ranked all programs based on their average user rating on the Internet Movie Database (IMDb). We considered all shows listed on IMDB with a “Family” tag, as well as all programs listed by the website commonsense.com tagged as appropriate for children eight and under. To make the list, the show needed to have received at least 3,000 ratings on IMDB.
Click here to see the most popular kids’ shows of all time.
50. Malcolm in the Middle
> Release year: 2000
> Genre: Comedy, Family
> Starring: Frankie Muniz, Bryan Cranston, Justin Berfield
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49. Phineas and Ferb
> Release year: 2007
> Genre: Animation, Action, Comedy
> Starring: Vincent Martella, Thomas Brodie-Sangster, Ashley Tisdale
48. Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated
> Release year: 2010
> Genre: Animation, Action, Adventure
> Starring: Frank Welker, Mindy Cohn, Grey DeLisle
47. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
> Release year: 2012
> Genre: Animation, Action, Adventure
> Starring: Sean Astin, Rob Paulsen, Greg Cipes
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46. The Transformers
> Release year: 1984
> Genre: Animation, Action, Adventure
> Starring: Frank Welker, Peter Cullen, Corey Burton
45. Voltron: Defender of the Universe
> Release year: 1984
> Genre: Animation, Family, Sci-Fi
> Starring: Jack Angel, Michael Bell, Peter Cullen
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44. The Magic School Bus
> Release year: 1994
> Genre: Animation, Adventure, Comedy
> Starring: Lily Tomlin, Daniel DeSanto, Erica Luttrell
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43. Rocko’s Modern Life
> Release year: 1993
> Genre: Animation, Comedy, Family
> Starring: Carlos Alazraqui, Tom Kenny, Charlie Adler
42. Boy Meets World
> Release year: 1993
> Genre: Comedy, Drama, Family
> Starring: Ben Savage, Rider Strong, William Daniels
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41. SpongeBob SquarePants
> Release year: 1999
> Genre: Animation, Comedy, Family
> Starring: Tom Kenny, Rodger Bumpass, Bill Fagerbakke
40. We Bare Bears
> Release year: 2014
> Genre: Animation, Comedy, Family
> Starring: Eric Edelstein, Demetri Martin, Bobby Moynihan
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39. The Amazing World of Gumball
> Release year: 2011
> Genre: Animation, Action, Adventure
> Starring: Jacob Hopkins, Terrell Ransom Jr., Dan Russell
38. Gargoyles
> Release year: 1994
> Genre: Animation, Action, Adventure
> Starring: Keith David, Salli Richardson-Whitfield, Jeff Bennett
37. Dragons: Riders of Berk
> Release year: 2012
> Genre: Animation, Adventure, Comedy
> Starring: America Ferrera, Jay Baruchel, T.J. Miller
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36. DuckTales
> Release year: 1987
> Genre: Animation, Adventure, Comedy
> Starring: Alan Young, Russi Taylor, Terence McGovern
35. Green Lantern: The Animated Series
> Release year: 2011
> Genre: Animation, Action, Adventure
> Starring: Josh Keaton, Kevin Michael Richardson, Jason Spisak
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34. The Spectacular Spider-Man
> Release year: 2008
> Genre: N/A
> Starring: Josh Keaton , Lacey Chabert , Joshua LeBar
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33. Star vs. the Forces of Evil
> Release year: 2015
> Genre: Animation, Adventure, Comedy
> Starring: Eden Sher, Adam McArthur, Grey DeLisle
32. Sesame Street
> Release year: 1969
> Genre: Animation, Comedy, Family
> Starring: Jim Henson, Frank Oz, Caroll Spinney
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31. Superman
> Release year: 1996
> Genre: Animation, Action, Adventure
> Starring: Tim Daly, Joseph Bologna, Dana Delany
30. TRON: Uprising
> Release year: 2012
> Genre: Animation, Action, Adventure
> Starring: Elijah Wood, Tricia Helfer, Bruce Boxleitner
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29. The Wonder Years
> Release year: 1988
> Genre: Comedy, Drama, Family
> Starring: Fred Savage, Dan Lauria, Daniel Stern
28. The Avengers: Earth’s Mightiest Heroes
> Release year: 2010
> Genre: Animation, Action, Family
> Starring: Eric Loomis, Colleen O’Shaughnessey, Brian Bloom
27. Courage the Cowardly Dog
> Release year: 1999
> Genre: Animation, Comedy, Family
> Starring: Marty Grabstein, Thea White, Peter Fernandez
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26. Spider-Man
> Release year: 1994
> Genre: Animation, Action, Adventure
> Starring: Christopher Daniel Barnes, Sara Ballantine, Edward Asner
25. Anne of Avonlea
> Release year: 1987
> Genre: Drama, Family, Romance
> Starring: Megan Follows, Colleen Dewhurst, Marilyn Lightstone
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24. The Adventures of Tintin
> Release year: 1991
> Genre: Animation, Adventure, Crime
> Starring: Colin O’Meara, Thierry Wermuth, Christian Pellissier
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23. Life with Louie
> Release year: 1995
> Genre: Animation, Family, Comedy
> Starring: Louie Anderson, Edie McClurg, Justin Shenkarow
22. Shaun the Sheep
> Release year: 2007
> Genre: N/A
> Starring: Justin Fletcher , John Sparkes , Richard Webber
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21. Steven Universe
> Release year: 2013
> Genre: Animation, Action, Comedy
> Starring: Zach Callison, Deedee Magno, Michaela Dietz
20. Anne of Green Gables
> Release year: 1985
> Genre: Drama, Family
> Starring: Megan Follows, Colleen Dewhurst, Richard Farnsworth
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19. The 10th Kingdom
> Release year: 2000
> Genre: Adventure, Comedy, Family
> Starring: Kimberly Williams-Paisley, Scott Cohen, Dianne Wiest
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18. The Muppet Show
> Release year: 1976
> Genre: Animation, Comedy, Family
> Starring: Jim Henson, Frank Oz, Richard Hunt
17. Invader ZIM
> Release year: 2001
> Genre: Animation, Comedy, Family
> Starring: Andy Berman, Richard Steven Horvitz, Rikki Simons
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16. Salute Your Shorts
> Release year: 1991
> Genre: Comedy, Drama, Family
> Starring: Trevor Eyster, Danny Cooksey, Michael Bower
15. Bill Nye, the Science Guy
> Release year: 1993
> Genre: Documentary, Comedy, Family
> Starring: Bill Nye, Pat Cashman, Jaffar Smith
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14. Megas XLR
> Release year: 2004
> Genre: Animation, Action, Adventure
> Starring: David DeLuise, Wendee Lee, Steve Blum
13. The Bugs Bunny/Looney Tunes Comedy Hour
> Release year: 1985
> Genre: Animation, Family, Comedy
> Starring: Mel Blanc, June Foray
12. Trollhunters
> Release year: 2016
> Genre: Animation, Adventure, Comedy
> Starring: Kelsey Grammer, Anton Yelchin, Lexi Medrano
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11. Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood
> Release year: 1968
> Genre: Family, Fantasy, Music
> Starring: Fred Rogers, Betty Aberlin, David Newell
10. X-Men
> Release year: 1992
> Genre: Animation, Action, Family
> Starring: Cedric Smith, Cathal J. Dodd, Lenore Zann
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9. Adventure Time
> Release year: 2010
> Genre: Animation, Adventure, Comedy
> Starring: Jeremy Shada, John DiMaggio, Tom Kenny
8. The Legend of Korra
> Release year: 2012
> Genre: Animation, Action, Adventure
> Starring: Janet Varney, P.J. Byrne, David Faustino
7. Justice League
> Release year: 2001
> Genre: Animation, Action, Adventure
> Starring: Carl Lumbly, Phil LaMarr, Michael Rosenbaum
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6. The New Batman Adventures
> Release year: 1997
> Genre: Animation, Action, Adventure
> Starring: Kevin Conroy, Tara Strong, Mathew Valencia
5. Avonlea
> Release year: 1990
> Genre: Drama, Adventure, Family
> Starring: Zachary Bennett, Lally Cadeau, Mag Ruffman
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4. Swat Kats: The Radical Squadron
> Release year: 1993
> Genre: Animation, Action, Family
> Starring: Barry Gordon, Charlie Adler, Gary Owens
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3. Gravity Falls
> Release year: 2012
> Genre: Animation, Adventure, Comedy
> Starring: Jason Ritter, Alex Hirsch, Kristen Schaal
2. Batman: The Animated Series
> Release year: 1992
> Genre: Animation, Action, Adventure
> Starring: Kevin Conroy, Loren Lester, Efrem Zimbalist Jr.
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1. Avatar: The Last Airbender
> Release year: 2003
> Genre: Animation, Action, Adventure
> Starring: Dee Bradley Baker, Zach Tyler, Mae Whitman
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