The Firebug’s in his teens now, but here’s what I remember liking:
- Phineas and Ferb. It’s the Rocky and Bullwinkle of its generation.
- Sesame Street
- Little Einsteins (haven’t watched it in a decade, and can still sing the theme song)
Ones not mentioned, that my kids watched and I liked: - Sarah and Duck and Abney and Teal. I liked their aesthetic.
One word: Xuxa. She was a Brazillian hottie that was a huge star in South America. They tried to transfer that success in US, but it was doomed from the start. She was beautiful and spoke several languages but English was really not one of them. The show was built around children’s games. She had a troop of young ladies called Paquitas who would wrangle the children during the games and get them out of the way during the songs. As she spoke little English, they hired a couple dudes in animal costumes to explain the games or assist Xuxa. Not sure how good the show was, but I was working third shift and it was on in the morning before I went to bed.
Here’s the sizzle reel and a sample show.
Always like Tiny Planets with Bing and Bong as they flew around the universe on their couch.
Not a parent but an uncle.
Spongebob is still great and full of humor both adults and kids enjoy, I sometimes watch it by myself in my apartment.
For littler kids - Bob the Builder.
For slightly older - Arthur.
For pre-teens - Spongebob (first 3.5 seasons, mainly), Powerpuff Girls, Phineas and Ferb.
My kid’s now 8 and mostly wants to watch YouTube videos of overcaffeinated teens playing Minecraft. Also, “The Floor Is Lava”, which is fun for the whole family.
The two shows I actually enjoyed when he was younger were the Wiggles and Curious George (surprised no one else has mentioned CG yet, it’s such a good show). I would also add Spongebob and The Loud House, which he hasn’t exactly outgrown but doesn’t care for much any more.
In college, living like a goddamned Ninja Turtle, I stumbled onto the coach one morning with a bowl of cereal allowing time for the booze fog to clear and the headache to start. My roommate was watching Telletubbies because it was on the only channel we got consistent reception. Ten minutes later she said, “You know…I think I’ve seen this one.”.
For so many reasons that memory sums up my first two years of higher education.
Peppa Pig is by far the best of the pre-school shows my daughter watches. It is actually genuinely funny for grown-ups with jokes put in there for them ( Peppa Pig Episodes - Daddy Pig's best bits | Peppa Pig Official Family Kids Cartoon - YouTube ). As tends to be the case my daughter was completely obsessed with it for a while, but then got bored with it.
Most of the ones she watches now are goddamned awful 
Paw Patrol (and the 26 million different Paw Patrol rip offs featuring different animals and/or antropomorphic vehicles), Rainbow Ruby, Rain Rangers, etc…
The highlight of the ones shes into now are:
Octonauts: Actually super accurate from a marine biology point of view: Octonauts - The Siphonophore | Full Episodes | Cartoons for Kids | Underwater Sea Education - YouTube
Twirlywoos: Trippy british pre-school show.
I liked Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego with Greg Lee, Lynne Thigpen and Rockapella. I even learned some geography.
Oh and if anyone in the UK here has a kid under 10 or so, watch Andy’s Dinosaur Adventures and his other series. My step-daughter loves them (I made her an Andy outfit) and they are genuinely educational and enjoyable even for an adult.
Really, check out Hermitcraft. Start with Grian. Little boys adore him. A new season just started, so you can jump in at Season 8 Episode 1.
If you like any of the others you’ll meet, they have series, too.
I realised after posting this that it is vitally related to the ages of one’s children. Stupid of me not to realise that in the beginning. Sorry all.
Having said that, for my girls “Mickey Mouse Clubhouse” was very popular (especially the younger one) , and I didn’t mind it.
As an example, every parent of a young one raves about “Bluey”. I have never seen one episode because my daughters have aged out of it. However I am glad that sophisticated kids’ TV is still available.
Another one I liked was Wonder Pets.
My kids grew up in the 00s.
When they were in preschool, I enjoyed Thomas the Tank Engine (Ringo/George Carlin years), first 35-40 minutes of Sesame Street until Elmo shows up (loved suddenly seeing REM doing Furry Happy Monsters - that came out nowhere).
Elementary school -
- Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends
- Spongebob (first 3 seasons + first movie are excellent, the quality started dropping in Season 5 and took a nose dive in Season 6)
- Chowder - we still quote George Takei’s Foie Gras - imagine a Japanese lucky cat statue that only says “meow” in George Takei’s voice.
- Kim Possible
- Emperor’s New School
- Ben 10 (original). Like X-Files for kids. The sequel shows messed up by imposing canon and consistency - every supernatural or cyptoid thing was retconned to be aliens - and were too serious and boring.
- Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack - in my youngest was in high school we found some episodes on demand. “You let me watch this when I was 7? I never realized how messed up this show was”
- Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy
- Adventure Time
- Regular Show - at least until it became the Mordecai/Margaret/CJ love-triangle soap opera.
- Gravity Falls
- Invader Zim - another messed up one that wasn’t really for kids
I’d never heard of it until this thread (my kid is 15). The first few times I saw it mentioned upthread, I figured maybe they were talking about Blue’s Clues.
Nope, it’s an Australian show that got picked up by Disney, and is reaching a huge audience. Here’s an overly-effusive article about it:
I liked Carmen Sandiego more than my kids. (Fun Fact - Lynne Thigpen was in the 1973 production of Godspell)
The shows both my kids and I could enjoy were Nick’s All That and KaBlam! Both featured the animated short “Action League Now,” which had enough stupid humor to keep my convulsed in laughter.