Not So Daily, Daily List: Ranking the Klasky Csupo Cartoons

Gracie Lange

I bet you didn’t even know what the heck I was talking about until you saw the title card.

I don’t know about you, but for the most part, the cartoons of Klasky Csupo were a key ingredient in my childhood. I was an avid watcher of almost all of their shows.

And got freaked out by the logos

So what is this animation company? Well Klasky Csupo was started in 1982 by the then married (now divorced) Arlene Klasky and Gabor Csupo. They did work on logos, commercials, and tv openings up until 1988 when they opened their new studio and became animators on a little segment in The Tracy Ullman show.

They even did the whole first season of the Simpsons, but where dropped when Gracie Films (hey!) moved Simpsons over to Film Roman.

They have various other animations to their name, like the Duckman show and the Edith Ann specials. But Klasky Csupo didn’t hit it big until Nickelodeon came a knocking.

They ended up not only making some commercials, but also creating a grand total of 6 cartoons as part of the NickToons lineup over the years.

Which is what we’re gonna be looking at; Ranking the 6 Klasky Csupo NickToons from Worst to Best (Keeping it to the Nick ones to keep it easy on myself. But I do like the other Klasky Csupo stuff too)

6. All Grown Up (2003-2008, 2001 if you count the All Growed Up episode that acts as the pilot to this)

{Seriously youtube? This is the best I could find for the theme? I can watch all the damn episodes, but one 30 sec theme is un-findable!}

All Grown Up is Rugrats; The Later Years. And is about the kids in Middle School. They’re supposed to be between the ages of 10-13 but the show treats them like it’s high school and is having them deal with things they don’t have to deal with yet. Like crushes and what not. Seriously, they give the 11 year old Tommy a girlfriend. What 11 year old has a girlfriend?

On it’s own it’s a mediocre show that has some different quirks to it. You could get away with watching it without watching Rugrats, but why the hell would you? And I feel it unfair to compare to Rugrats since it had different writers and developers. As for the stories, well All Grown Up did tackle such “teen” topics like “OMG How dare you have a crush on my sister!”, “OMG We have a huge test, lets study together!” and “OMG I had to take a career placement test and the answers don’t fit my personality!”

It didn’t help that the Klasky Csupo productions already had a teen-oriented cartoon that was handling teen topics better and that at one point the shows would probably share an hour depending on how slow the day was going.

It’s not bad, but compared to everything else it’s just “meh”.

5. Rocket Power (1999-2002)

{You fuckin kiddin me!?!? Again, I can watch the whole damn show in the best quality on Youtube but this is the only way I can see the intro!?}

Rocket Power is about a group of kids that do extreme sports. Why this show only came out in the butt end of the 90’s is beyond me.

Ok so here’s a no shocker, I wasn’t ever really into sports! And that’s probably why I never really liked Rocket Power. You see all the kids playing the sports and all I think of is; when are we gonna get an episode about them all in the hospital?

I guess I have to say I did like the adults and Reggie. But the rest was rather annoying.

4. The Wild Thornberrys (1998-2004)

{Yes this is from the movie (which I never saw) but it was the best I could find.}

The Wild Thornberrys was about a traveling nature show that was produced and created by a nature loving family. One day the youngest daughter (Eliza) gains the ability to talk to animals thanks to a stereotype with a magic stick.

The show would feature a new animal every episode and would just bludgeon you with fact after fact about them. Seriously, forget actually teaching, sometimes my science class would just pop in an episode of this and we’d take notes.

I didn’t like this one as much either mostly because of the whole bludgeoning of facts and I was never a nature show lover either. What does save the show is one thing….

Fuck yea TIM CURRY!

One other thing I do like was how Klasky Csupo decided to have this show within the Rugrats universe for a movie. Sure I didn’t like this show, but it did excite me for possible other crossovers. Maybe one day we could see Ickis scaring Chuckie?

3. AAHHHH!!! REAL MONSTERS! (1994-1997)

Not gonna lie, the next three were hard to place since I love them so much.

Aaahh!!! Real Monsters! is a show about 3 monsters that go to an academy to learn how to scare humans. And that’s basically it. Sure it’s a simple idea, but it gives so many ways to world build. Goddamn was this show awesome for world building. The designs of the other characters were always amazingly gross and fun.

(AND THIS ONE TOO!)

The Gromble was my favorite along with Oblina. Gromble because he was like Tim Curry and Oblina because she looked like a transvestite Beetlejuice.

It is rather a shame that the possibility for a movie was scrapped because of it being “too dark”. But it was that “dark-ness” that made the show so cool. The show, Ren and Stimpy, and Rocko’s Modern Life were the ones that tested what was “Appropriate” for nicktoons and would show how much range Klasky Csupo would have when creating content for kids.

2. Rugrats (1991-1993 {then there was a production hiatus} 1995-1996 {in which only tv specials aired} 1997-2004 {production resumed} 2005-2006 {direct to video cartoons})

{GUUGHH youtube is pissing me off with this article.}

Rugrats, one of the first 3 Nicktoons to air, was about baby adventures from the POV of babies.

This was the bread and butter of the Klasky Csupo company, this one made the money, this one established them completely. Up until this past year it was Nick’s longest running show with 173 episodes.

Despite this being one of my favorite childhood cartoons, I can’t tell you why or how a show about talking babies could have taken off like it did. But I guess it mostly has to do with the story telling. Take for instance the “Mother’s Day” episode about Chuckie’s mom.

this was the first time I had ever seen my own mother cry at a cartoon. The show did have a lot of heart and I think that’s why it became so damn popular.

1. As Told By Ginger (2000-2006 {some episodes though, didn’t air until 2008-2009})

As Told By Ginger is a show about a teenage girl named Ginger that wants to be popular, yet keep true to herself.

This show is probably Klasky Csupo’s magnum opus of children’s cartoons. It was a cartoon that dealt with things no other cartoon dealt with and dealt with them in such grace and sophistication that made each episode not only relatable, but fun to watch. When I mentioned earlier about “another teen-oriented show” this was the one I was talking about. Why even bother watching All Grown Up when As Told By Ginger would tackle almost the same topics, but a million times better?

The first two episodes alone deal with Ginger getting arrested and her brother, Carl, meeting an old lady that dies after. That’s some way to start a show if you ask me. And on top of that there was continuity going on so you had to watch the episodes in order. And the show was cool to look at, what with the characters constantly changing outfits and hairstyles, just like what real people do.

I may be on a thin limb here, but I think that As Told By Ginger is almost like Daria, but without the sarcasm and hatred of High School. It treats its audience with respect and that’s why I call it the best Klasky Csupo cartoon, hell it’s THE BEST NickToon ever produced.

You can find almost all these shows on Youtube, Netflix, and on DVD.