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Adult Swim's gleefully nonsensical cartoon about three anthropomorphic fast-food items — a milkshake, a box of fries, and a wad of meat — sharing a house in New Jersey. It made no sense on purpose, and it accidentally shut down Boston.
A timid pink dog protecting elderly Muriel from genuinely terrifying supernatural threats on a Kansas farm. Courage the Cowardly Dog was a kids' show that made no apologies for being *scary*—featuring the King Ramses curse, creepy spirits, and a level of psychological horror that had no business airing at 3 p.m.
Marshall Teller's family moved to a town of 16,661 where the neighbors stayed young inside giant Tupperware, the dogs were plotting and Elvis lived down the street. NBC cancelled it after one season; Fox Kids reruns in 1997 turned it into a cult.
Nickelodeon's cult-favorite series about two red-haired brothers, both named Pete, navigating a suburbia that was equal parts mundane and magical. Between the deadpan narration, the indie-rock soundtrack, and Artie, the Strongest Man in the World, it was a kids' show smart enough for adults.
A public-access nightmare on Adult Swim: fake commercials for useless Cinco products, amateur actors recruited off Craigslist, John C. Reilly as the dazed newsman Dr. Steve Brule, and editing that made every frame feel slightly broken. Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim called it "the nightmare version of television," and from 2007 to 2010 it was either the funniest or the most hated thing on the block.