Checkered Childhood

Hope you brought your popcorn and remote control, because we're taking a trip back to the year that put Cartoon Network on the Map: 1994! In today's final episode of Checkered Childhood, you'll embark on a far-out journey with BDubs and a couple of his best friends. Together, we'll enter our trusty time machine for a third time to explore one of the most pivotal years of his entire childhood. We'l...

Get to the chopp- I mean, Turbokat! Dark Kat and his goons are afoot in Megakat city! Swat Kats is an action cartoon every sugar-induced, overstimulated kid could ever want: It's got weapons, vehicles, and villains aplenty, with a plethora of feline-based merchandise to-boot. But despite how thrilling Hanna-Barbera's first foray into edgy 90s animation is, it's rise to success was gunned down befo...

Do you believe in Santa? Dee Dee sure does, but for Dexter it's one hard sell, so much so that he must go to extreme scientific lengths to find out for himself whether or not Santa is truly a man or a myth. Join BDubs by the Christmas tree and fireplace as he recollects one of the most infamous Cartoon Network holiday specials to ever emerge from the checkered channel. Has Dexter been naughty or n...

Who's that studly man in the mirror? No, it's not BDubs; It's Johnny Bravo, a man who will not give up on pursing women until one likes him back. He either must be clueless or is immune to rejection of the harshest kind. Today, BDubs visits Johnny's home in Aron City to kick back and revisit some of his favorite Johnny Bravo episodes from the series (mostly from Season 1). Which ones resonate the...

Toonami is a cornerstone in Cartoon Network history proving that overseas animation can not only survive on the checkered channel but thrive too. Before T.O.M. and all of his various upgrades and iterations, there was one man who ruled the airwaves, and his name was Moltar. Join BDubs at Ghost Planet Industries as he looks through the archives to better understand the first three years of Toonami,...

How did a modest Russian boy who couldn't even draw a circle end up being one of the cornerstones of Cartoon Network as a Master Storyteller? All great journeys have a humble beginning to their adventure, and this man is no exception. Today BDubs examines the highs and lows of the legacy that makes Genndy Tartakovsky such a remarkable man in not just Cartoon Network history but Animation history t...

Zoinks! Did you see that crazy ghost with the red rear? I'd imagine The Red Guy would scare Shaggy silly if they ever met. For Halloween, BDubs hitches a ride with the Mystery Machine with his trusty candy pail and sporting his best human being costume as he compares not one but TWO spooky 90s Cartoon Network crossover episodes: Johnny Bravo's "Bravo Dooby-Doo" and Cow & Chicken's "Halloween w...

Quick, girls! The City of Townsville is in Danger! This place sure has a lot of trouble brewing between its buildings, but luckily Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup know how to handle anything thrown their way. In this episode, BDubs takes a tour through the sprawling metropolis to see which episodes still pack a punch in our Top 10 countdown list. Plus, we've got honorable mentions, memories of wat...

Summer is in full-swing, and while many tropical or exotic destinations are packed to the brim with tourists, BDubs has decided to go somewhere more... remote - an island where nobody knows or goes but is concealing a certain show. Join me as we look under the hood of this short-lived, often forgotten hidden gem of the second wave of Cartoon Cartoon series on Cartoon Network where we'll meet some...

Just what the F**k is happening here? Well, BDubs recently found a collection of nearly forgotten, offensive episodes that pushed the envelope too far on Cartoon Network and were promptly removed from their programming schedule... that is, until now. Let's crack open the vault and remove all the censor bars to witness the beauty and the horror of these "too edgy for kids tv" episodes across variou...

Democracy is a term thrown around a lot lately, mainly whenever it's threatened in countries collapsing under the weight of unfettered capitalistic greed. But what if our forefathers chose not to fight for it in our most pivotal time in history? Today, BDubs zaps himself back to the Revolutionary War along with Otto, Larry, and Toddrussel to straighten out history's timeline before everything gets...

Oh, you little piggy! Hope you're hungry for a 3-hour block of cartoons because BDubs is serving up a super-sized portion of programming block info! Today, we sink our teeth into why this character got us gobbling up both classic and fresh cartoons long before the term "binge watching" came into being. I'll also share with you some of my own memories of watching Super Chunk back in the 90s and try...

The premise is simple: Two dogs getting into too much trouble while searching for food and shelter. Is it any wonder a cartoon series like this still sticks in-between the folds our nostalgic brains decades later? Donovan Cook's cartoon may have taken inspiration from Ren & Stimpy, but there's still something unique about seeing an energetic little Dachshund and a lethargic Sheep Dog navigate...

What do a space cat, a mantis, and a dead superhero out in outer space all have in common? More than an affinity for jibberish, that's for sure! Today, BDubs joins the Space Ghost crew at the Ghost Planet and somewhere far off in the galaxy to compare two unusual, cult classic Cartoon Network Shows: Cartoon Planet and Space Ghost Coast to Coast. Just what makes them tick while standing apart from...

Is it actually good to be ugly, after all? Depending on if you're a hero sandwich or a weenie, your answer may differ. In today's episode review, BDubs attends a play to grill a 2-part Cow & Chicken episode about meat products created by a bovine and performed by poultry, along with digging up some fun hot dog-related trivia, BDubs will also relate to his own memories of the episode growing up...

The phrase, "Dee Dee! Get out of my laboratory!" may sound vaguely familiar to some 90s Kids, but to those die-hard fans who absolutely love Dexter's Lab, it's more than a common show quote, it's an enduring memory of bliss. Join BDubs today as he tinkers and experiments with the first two seasons of Dexter's Lab in the name of Science to give us an analysis of the Top 10 episodes the series has t...

Every now then comes along an underdog. Someone who's eager and full of passion but doesn't quite have the connections or know-how just yet but finds the right place to be at the right time. Enter Craig McCracken, a man whose love of comics and cartoons from the 1960s helped steer him to Hanna-Barbera studios where he would get his big break by introducing three little girls made of attitude to th...

Children's programming may be the last thing you think about when searching through Cartoon Network's Checkerboard Era catalogue of shows. However, one show proves that puppets can pack a punch full of education, creativity, and imagination when mixing in a few animated shorts in-between everyday happenings at the general store. Join BDubs as he strolls through Main Street USA to visit Molly, Chel...

What do a CGI dog, a man in flippers, and Bobcat Goldthwait have in common? Apparently, The Moxy Show, a short-lived, experimental breed of original programming on Cartoon Network. Thanks to this ambitious effort championed by Betty Cohen, Cartoon Network gained confidence in steering away from remixing old cartoons and steadily following the path to forge their own just a couple of years later. I...

Hungry for jawbreakers, Ed? In today's episode, BDubs strolls into the Cul-De-Sac to hang with his three favorite similarly named friends. Together, memories and personal picks will be shared regarding this turn-of-the-century Powerhouse Era cartoon. He'll also add in a few anecdotes and an honorable mention too so we can conjure up nostalgia sweeter than a bag of jawbreakers. Which ones from this...

Gizmos, gadgets, and classified missions aplenty, no cartoon handles the dangers of secret spy work quite like Secret Squirrel. Depending on which era of Hanna-Barberra you grew up in though, he may either be ill-equipped or sophisticated enough to outwit and outmatch the villain of the week. In today's episode, host BDubs gets a debriefing on both versions of the cartoon agent by comparing and co...

Did you ever have a dinner date where things didn't go as planned? Chances are, the consequences you faced weren't as wild, gross, or hunger-inducing as this evening shared with Casanova, Doris, and Pudge. Pull up a chair, wipe the lipstick from your teeth, and take a bite out of some fresh mystery meat. BDubs is cooking up an episode review for one of the most memorable What a Cartoon! animated s...

Courage the Cowardly Dog is a unique show that has clearly made its indelible mark on Cartoon Network and the hearts of animation fans like us everywhere. The setting of a remote dirt farm quite literally in The Middle of Nowhere makes it ripe for opportunity of weird, paranormal, and creepy occurrences to test the purple pup's might as he defends his owners and his home from constant imminent dan...

The writers who are remembered tend to make us feel something deep, something memorable. David Steven Cohen is an icon in his own right. He's spent most of his career writing for children's television, and has carefully crafted a multitude of stories leaving a lasting impression on our childhood, especially through his involvement with writing episodes for Courage the Cowardly Dog . Today, BDubs i...

Check it out, ToonHeads! Chances are, if you're a kid of the 90s, you've been blasted in the face with a spin art-style title screen, followed by a smattering of unheard of, untested animated shorts straight from Hanna-Barberra studios. What a Cartoon! Show is an anthology of shorts unlike anything else at the time, and it was the riskiest, yet most rewarding Cartoon Network took a chance on to pr...