Top 10 Inappropriate Messages in Kids Shows
#10: Miriam’s Smoothie Problem
“Hey Arnold!” (1996-2004) Smoothies are great! But too many smoothies throughout the day might not be. In “Hey Arnold! ”Helga's mom Miriam is shown to be drinking them pretty frequently. And at many points throughout the series, Miriam would be shown tired and thrown off her game. She even seemed to have lost her license at one point. While kids might not have thought much about her behavior, it’s clear now that the constant smoothies suggested she was dependent on drinking alcohol. A writer for the show later confirmed Miriam was indeed living with alcohol use disorder. This mature storyline definitely added another layer to her interactions with her family, especially Helga.
#9: One Great Video Game
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“Steven Universe” (2013-19) When Sadie shares details about a video game to Steven, we get a very interesting insight into her personal life. In the memorable episode, Sadie’s coworker Lars takes the day off after getting a minor injury. Steven then volunteers to help around the store. After a hard day’s work, the two start talking about Lars. She talks about a warm memory where she got him a video game and brought it to her coworker’s house. Eventually, Sadie mentions that she spent the evening as his player 2. Her shy reaction to Steven’s followup comment suggested the coworkers weren’t just playing video games. This quick innuendo flew right over her innocent friend’s head. It’s likely that younger audiences missed the meaning of the video game too.
#8: Dr. Bendova
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“Rocko’s Modern Life” (1993-96) Despite being a kids show, the writers snuck in a ton of mature jokes to this series. The “Flu-in-U-Enza” episode was no different. When a sick Rocko goes to the doctor’s, he’s treated by Doctor Bendova. Please hold all of your giggles until the end. Outside of the name being a crude joke, Dr. Bendova makes Rocko perform a cough test for a little too long. He also sees a nude statue in the wallaby’s ear. Finally, the medical man prescribes a large pill that’s not exactly meant to be swallowed and makes him hallucinate. The entire scenario gets even darker when it’s revealed that Bendova isn’t even a real doctor. Maybe Rocko should’ve just stuck to chicken soup.
#7: Trail of DNA
“Justice League Unlimited” (2004-06) In the fantastic “Epilogue” episode of “Justice League Unlimited”, Batman successor Terry Mcginnis talks to government agent Amanda Waller about his connection to Bruce Wayne. It’s revealed that the veteran bat is the new dark knight’s true dad. Waller then explains that she secretly made this possible by ensuring Batman’s DNA got into contact with Terry’s mom. When the agent explains how she got the genetic material, she basically says it was everywhere. Waller was talking about the blood Batman left behind during fights. But she quickly realizes that her statement sounded like an innuendo. While it’s far from the most messed up part of their conversation, the line still stood out for its adult nature.
#6: Supermodel From Justin’s Bedroom
“Wizards of Waverly Place” (2007-12) Before a fashion show, Alex uses magic to turn a supermodel poster that was hanging in her brother Justin’s room into a real person. It’s not long before Bibi points out that Justin used to stare at her far too much. The knowing pause between the model and Alex speaks volumes about his private time. Later on in the episode, we get a few followup jokes after Bibi meets Justin. When she says she came from his bedroom, he’s enthusiastically high-fived by his friend Zeke. Bibi also makes a suggestive joke about a game character losing a clothing item. It’s clear the writers had a lot of fun sneaking in a series of mature gags about this supermodel.
#5: General Pandemonium’s Prison Sentence
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“Looney Tunes” (1930-) During this short, Yosemite Sam is recast as a relentless and unforgiving general Pandemonium After he starts harshly interrogating Sylvester Slazlo, Mr. Bugs steps in to help the feline. The rabbit eventually tricks the general into locking himself up. It’s bad enough that the general was outplayed and embarrassed by getting locked into his own cell. But to make things worse, he also finds out that he’s got company. When the general turns, he sees another inmate affectionately staring at him. The incredibly dark implication of this scene definitely caught us off guard when we revisited this scene. Who knew that Looney Tunes could get so grim?
#4: A Nice Set of Tomatoes
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“Drake and Josh” (2004-07) When Josh tries to whip up a fresh batch of salsa for a contest, he follows instructions from an audio recording. You’d expect the narrator to get into the specifics fairly quickly. However, he instead tells Josh first to appreciate the ingredients like they’re a beautiful woman. It was already a peculiar bit of advice to hear for making a bowl of salsa. To further highlight the joke, Josh apologizes to a few tomatoes he was holding after hearing the audio. We ultimately don’t catch any more of the instructions from the recording. However, we think that might be for the best.
#3: Lonely Space Vixens
“Rugrats” (1991-2006) One of the most infamous moments in “Rugrats” history came from a quick moment during the“Grandpa’s Date” episode. While babysitting for the kids, Grandpa Lou tells them he’s rented movies for them to watch. That in itself was a totally harmless and very kind gesture. However, Grandpa goes further and says he rented a favorite called “Lonely Space Vixens” for himself. The suggestive box art on the film cover further confirmed that the flick was definitely not appropriate for the kids. While we don’t know much about the plot of “Lonely Space Vixens”, we have a feeling Grandpa Lou isn’t watching it for the story either.
#2: Strip & Make the Bed
“The Suite Life of Zack and Cody” (2005-08) Always remember: communication is key. Sometimes it can save you from making a really big mistake! After London Tipton temporarily loses access to her considerable fortune, she’s invited to stay at hotel employee Maddie’s place. Plenty of misunderstandings ensue from their wildly different upbringings. When they’re trying to get ready to start their day, we see the most humorous exchange unfold. London completely misunderstands what Maddie meant when she said the word strip. The wealthy socialite's confusion made for a hilarious joke. At the same time, we’re glad Disney kept things PG before London’s confusion crossed any lines.
#1: Don’t Drop the Soap
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“Spongebob Squarepants” (1999-) Spongebob tries desperately to get his pet snail Gary to clean itself up in the aptly-named “Gary Takes a Bath”. Although he resorts to all kinds of wacky and weird tactics during the episode, most of them don’t pan out. One such tactic had Spongebob dressing up like a pirate and holding out two bars of soap. As the fry cook is pretending that the bath items are treasure, he gives his snail a mature warning. We were not expecting the sponge to take a joke about cleaning and make it so dirty. Although this exchange is far from the only adult gag on the show, his joke to Gary stood out for adding a grim implication out of nowhere.
