Something about TV Programs aimed at children often invite the bizarre, with many strange, short-lived series aimed at impressionable young viewers falling by the wayside over the years. The best children’s shows are able to captivate their audiences with relatable storytelling, great characters, and stunning production values, keeping kids and adults interested for years to come. But not every TV show that aims to capture a child audience does so so successfully, and many totally weird children’s shows have languished in obscurity for good reason.
Because children are generally more willing to accept strange characters or nonsensical circumstances, some TV shows have decided to be quite experimental to determine what catches the attention of younger viewers. In many cases, standards for children’s programs are quite low, as long as they do not include any content considered too intense or unsuitable for children, which can lead to some ambitiously awkward attempts at entertainment. In fact, not all series aimed at children can achieve the same critical acclaim as the best PBS shows.
10
Angela Anaconda
There was some disturbing animation
Most of the time, TV shows aimed at children tend to be animated, with colorful cartoon characters that easily hold children’s limited attention span. Angela Anaconda took a very different path with its visual flair, featuring a uniquely bizarre photorealistic animation style that formed distorted characters from real images. Narratively, the series is nothing special, detailing the titular Angela’s misadventures in the small town of Tapwater Springs.
What really makes the show so strange is how annoyingly strange the art style looked in motion. With strange proportions, photorealistic faces, and chalky gray skin, the inhabitants of Tapwater Springs are absolutely stunning to look at for long periods of time. The incessantly upbeat orchestral soundtrack and harsh voices don’t help the show at all either. This is a shock Angela Anaconda It somehow managed to survive for six entire seasons.
9
Boohbah
A hypnotically strange sequel to the Teletubbies
One of the weirdest kids’ shows of all time is easily the British series Teletubbies, which presented the fever-dream reality of alien babies playing in a meadow ruled by the gaze of a baby-faced sun. Evidently, this wasn’t strange enough for the series’ creators, who sought to surpass their previous work with Boohbah. Centering on a new group of multicolored baby-like creatures, the Boohbahs have traded antennas and TV-screen stomachs for light-up eyebrows, retractable necks, and squeaky, squeaky language.
The absurd episodes of Boohbah to do Teletubbies it feels like a prestige drama, with hypnotically strange visuals presenting little to no coherent story to tell. The Boohbahs spend their time farting, bouncing around their totally alien multicolored environment, and snuggling up in fuzzy sleeping pods, making the entire show feel like a maddening glimpse into an alien reality. While the Teletubbies are still fondly remembered in pop culture to this day, the Boohbahs remain a lesser-known off-brand version for good reason.
8
Two more eggs
A relic of “random” Internet humor
Created by the Chaps brothers Homestar Hallway fame, Two more eggs is a relatively recent and short-lived American animated web series that aired on Disney XD. With each episode just over a minute long, Two more eggs has little concern with storytelling or classes, as it is aimed at children. Instead, the series mostly feels like an eclectic bunch of jokes featuring a variety of new characters, with a pot-bellied, scruffy guy named Dooble being the main character.
From Dooble running around singing his own nonsensical theme song to a trio of roughly 3-D animated characters called CGI Palz who spend their time “failing”, Two more eggs introduces a new generation to a forgotten brand of Internet humor that came and went before they were born. The show’s “lolsorandom” style of comedy is ironically new to kids who narrowly missed out on the opportunity Homestar Hallway genre of telling jokes. In this quest, the series is undeniably strange, firing off a haze of completely incoherent scenes.
7
Mr Meaty
A nauseatingly strange puppet show
Sometimes children’s shows can be surprisingly terrifying, with strange concepts trespassing into the territory of outright horror. This is the infamous case of Mr. Carnudo, a short-lived Nickelodeon show about two friends who work at the titular fast food restaurant. While the decision to opt for puppetry over animation should be applause-worthy, the nightmarish designs of Mr MeatyThe characters are strange to the point of being genuinely disturbing.
As if the acne, frog lips, and bulging eyes of their obnoxious character designs weren’t bad enough, Mr Meaty revels in crude humor and sick plots that have all the warm appeal of spoiled meat. One of the worst offenders is a specific episode where one of the characters swallows a dangerous tapeworm, which comes out of his mouth to steal scraps of food right from under his nose. For many who grew up with it, Mr Meaty It’s little more than a bad, uncomfortable dream.
6
Oobi
Stretched a stupid gimmick across 52 episodes
Putting a pair of googly eyes on your hand and pretending it’s a talking mouth is usually funny for five minutes. Yet somehow the TV show Oobi managed to extend this simple concept into a syndicated series spanning an impressive 3 seasons and 52 episodes, taking place in a world inhabited entirely by human hands with eyeballs. The show’s protagonist, Oobi, often teaches children various lessons on sharing, managing emotions, and dealing with similar mundane situations typical of a common educational program.
As if the unconventional approach to the presentation wasn’t off-putting enough, Oobi made the equally bizarre decision to have all of its characters speak with broken grammar, referring to themselves in the third person with an undeveloped sentence structure. This seems quite counterintuitive for a TV show that aims to educate children about various topics. There’s also something uncomfortable about watching human fists with eyes use tools and eat food with their “mouths,” creating a strong uncanny valley effect of uncanny that has led many to block Oobi from the mind to adulthood.
5
Jigsaw
A spooky variety show with a spooky mascot
Not to be confused with the violent slasher villain of the same name Mountain range franchise, Jigsaw is an obscure children’s show for good reason. Airing on the BBC in the 1980s, the British children’s variety show featured a wide variety of different acts, from animated segments to live-action sketches. The whole thing was organized by a giant orange floating puzzle piece with a bored face named “Jigg”, who acted as arbiter of the festivities.
Jigsaw features an eclectic cast of characters that would present viewers with puzzles to solve alongside them, from a puppet pterodactyl to a pair of superheroes who can only be summoned by saying six words with two O’s in a row. By far the most famous character was Mr. Noseybonk, a mime with a frightening face mask, long, bulbous nose, and an eerie smile. The character was so well known for being scary to children that he was parodied in an episode of The X-Files.
4
Biblical Man
A Christian superhero with some surprising villains
Vegetables is widely considered the gold standard of Christian media aimed at children, with relatable characters, witty jokes, and a non-authoritarian approach to its theological lessons. Perhaps taking inspiration from Batman’s “Larryboy” parody Vegetables, the direct-to-video series Biblical Man offered a live-action alternative to Christian children’s programs. The show followed the adventures of Bibleman, a biblical superhero wearing the “Armor of God”, using scripture (and, to top it off, a lightsaber) to defeat his enemies.
The low-budget lighting and strange costumes Biblical Man makes for an extremely strange viewing experience, not to mention the strange combination of Christian imagery and childish superhero fanfare. Bibleman also had some questionable villains, including a frightening copy of the Joker called The Fibbler and a terrifying green-skinned demon man known as Primordius Drool. By far the most alarming was the villain The Gossip Queen, who was criticized for being representative of Jewish stereotypes – a pretty bold move for a children’s show that promotes Christianity.
3
Pee-Wee Theater
A carnival of sensory overload
Paul Reuben’s iconic character Pee-wee Herman was first introduced to many in the film Pee-wee’s Big Adventurea childish man and inventor of the elaborate Rube Goldberg breakfast machines. Pee-wee’s Playhouse gave children’s audiences an expanded view of the character with an episodic glimpse into Pee-wee’s everyday life. Pee-wee’s Playhouse It worked like a variety show, with human, puppet, and cartoon characters working together to entertain and confuse.
Attending Pee-wee’s Playhouse as an adult, it produces some bizarre realizations, like the show’s penchant for innuendos of dirty humor that went over kids’ heads or the whiplash of seeing Laurence Fishburne as Cowboy Curtis. Pee-wee’s entire house was made of living furniture and other inanimate objects, which screamed in unison each time the designated “word of the day” for that episode was said. The colorful settings, quirky characters, and second-hand knowledge of Paul Reuben’s arrest and ensuing controversy contribute to a strange legacy for the series.
2
The large and comfortable sofa
A comforting yet strange children’s show
Not every “weird” children’s program necessarily leaves a bad impression, as best demonstrated by The large and comfortable sofa. The 1992 live-action series centered on a clown named Loonette, who would navigate various situations and life lessons with the help of her silent puppet companion, Molly. Although the titular Couch always set aside each episode as a sort of narrative foundation, Loonette routinely left her living room to meet with other characters, such as Grandma Garbonzo, the roller-skating mailman, and Major Bedhead.
Leaving aside the fact that everyone is some kind of clown in The big, comfortable sofa, The series’ low-budget sets, grainy sound quality, and slow pacing lent it a kind of liminal strangeness that’s hard to replicate. The presence of lively, mischievous bunnies and Loonette’s habit of stretching her legs on a clock-shaped rug also contributed to the undeniably strange atmosphere. Yet, The large and comfortable sofa it is undeniably charming to those who remember it fondly.
1
Grizzly Tales for Horrible Children
Introduced horror to young audiences
It’s difficult to balance horror stories for children, as these projects need to be scary without being too intense for young viewers. Many modern children’s horror shows achieve this quite well, but previous attempts like Grizzly Tales for Horrible Children we were still figuring out how to effectively market scary stories to kids. The anthology series utilized traditional animation and stunning stop-motion to convey a variety of spooky stories, with the spooky Narrator’s framing device presenting each segment via a roll of film.
True to its name, Grizzly Tales for Horrible Children I wasn’t afraid to go dark with the subject. The series featured vignettes ranging from undead grandmothers, young artists terrified by their own creations and even a barber who mutilates misbehaving children. Thanks to the off-putting animation and macabre themes, Grizzly Tales For Gruesome Kids was decidedly weird. TV show, even by British standards.