Pinky and the Brain

Pinky and the Brain began on September 14, 1993, as a recurring segment on Animaniacs, the Warner Bros. cartoon variety hour produced with Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment. Created by Tom Ruegger, the premise was a perfect two-line pitch: two genetically enhanced laboratory mice live in a cage at Acme Labs — the Brain, a dome-headed genius dripping with arrogance and bitterness, and Pinky, his good-natured, feeble-minded cellmate — and every episode the Brain hatches another scheme for world domination. Maurice LaMarche gave the Brain his clipped, Orson Welles-flavored gravitas; Rob Paulsen gave Pinky his 'Narf!' and 'Poit!'

The mice proved popular enough to escape the anthology: a standalone half-hour series ran on Kids' WB from September 9, 1995, to November 14, 1998 — 65 episodes across four seasons. The show's engine never wore out, because the joke was never really the plan; it was the double act. The Brain's catchphrase setup — 'Pinky, are you pondering what I'm pondering?' — existed solely so Pinky could answer with a non sequitur, and the writing was sharp enough to win over adults, taking a Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Animated Program in 1996 for the series' Christmas special.

The ending was less dignified. In September 1998 the network pressured the show into a retool, adding Tiny Toon Adventures' pet-smothering Elmyra as Pinky, Elmyra & the Brain and dialing back the world-domination plots; the format lasted 13 episodes and was openly disliked by the original crew. The mice themselves outlived it — the duo kept resurfacing in Animaniacs revivals and remain one of the '90s' most quotable cartoon pairs. What are we doing tomorrow night? Same thing we do every night.