11 Bizarre '90s Cartoons That Only Ran One Season
'90s Kids were spoiled, but there were some pretty notable flops.
The nineties were an embarrassment of riches for children.
Entertainment geared toward the younger generations were being shepherded by the likes of Steven Spielberg. Nickelodeon was coming into its own with a variety of gross-out game shows and sitcoms that rivalled that of Disney, and there was a general understanding amongst writers that material marketed toward kids was not to be expressly catered to them; they weren't afraid to talk to youth like grown-ups.
As a result, nineties kids got Batman cartoons more mature and well-drawn than the theatrical releases, Animaniacs would make pop culture references well out of their wheelhouse and Marc Summers was terrorized by Green Goo spraying liberally night in and night out.
There were, however, occasions when attempting to bridge the age gap between parent and child didn't work out that well; failed experiments and shows whose topics were just a little out of date, or even ahead of their time.
Whatever the reason, YouTube is afright with long-forgotten attempts to connect with nineties youth. Here were some of the wackiest that didn't last more than a season.
11. Capitol Critters
The importance of The Simpsons in the primetime market cannot be understated. An animated sitcom with risque material that angered the right-wing establishment in Washington was unheard of when it debuted in December 1989. Naturally, Matt Groening's hit inspired imitators long before Family Guy managed to succeed in aping the model before morphing into its own voice.
Capitol Critters was one of NYPD Blue creator Stephen Bochco's creations that didn't catch on. The legendary TV producer was no stranger to success, but his flops feature notable failures like Cop Rock, Riding With Death (later an MST3k episode) and the woman president what-if Commander in Chief. Bochco partnered with Hannah Barbera and created a group of mice, rats and other assorted nuisances that inhabit the walls of the Capitol Building.
This was ABC's edgy response to the FOX juggernaut. CBS' FIsh Police was even weaker.
The voice cast was impressive, featuring Bochco's other major discovery Neil Patrick Harris and Bobcat Goldthwait. Harris plays Max, a mouse forced from his home in Nebraska to D.C. and forced to deal with the white house fat cats (literal cats, of course), caricatures of Dan Quayle of George H.W. Bush.
The show's plots revolved around some fairly hot button issues like race and gun control, but the satire just wasn't biting enough to sell it. It was canceled after two months, with the Cartoon Network running what was left of the 13 episodes.