# TV Guide's 50 Greatest Cartoon Characters **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 31, 2002, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-guides-50-greatest-cartoon-characters/121749 "2002-07-31T20:20:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2002, 11:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-guides-50-greatest-cartoon-characters/121749/21 "2002-08-01T11:39:21Z")
The list is truly bizarre. Bugs Bunny being at the top I can understand (see my article on him in the new Teemings #12 – shameless plug), but Mickey Mouse at #19? Below all those lame TV characters? Donald Duck and Daffy Duck even \*lower[/i}! What were they thinking??? > [@](#): > > ## quote: > > ## Originally posted by Tars Tarkas Who the Smurf is that??? > > I believe he’s a Dr. Seuss character - didn’t know they made a TV show or special out of him. He was invented by Dr. Seuss – for a children’s record. He was a boy who could only speak in sound effects, so it was a natural for a record (and would’ve made a lousy book). The cartoon won an Academy Award, but is rarely shown, for some reason. Gerald showed up later in the TV cartoon **Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol** as Tiny Tim. But here, we was mercifully able to talk, which allowed him to say “God Bless us Everyone!” instead of, say, sounding like a bell ringing. ---
**Author:** ![OxyMoron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/e9a140/32.png) [@OxyMoron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OxyMoron)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2002, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-guides-50-greatest-cartoon-characters/121749/22 "2002-08-01T14:29:32Z")
What a strange list. Pikachu - the Empty Set, the Characterless Charcter. Woody Woodpecker - so unspeakably awful that not a single network airs his _oevre_. (At least they had the decency to skip Chilly Willy.) Arthur - the Parent-Approved Wimp. It’s clearly a _popularity_ contest, not an evaluation. The formula: hit the major characters that inspire nostalgia, regardless of how insipid they were. Hit the popular cartoons of today. Hit the cartoon the PBS parents like, even if they’re insufferable (what, no Clifford?) I do agree with their downgrading Mickey. Yes, he was the first. But he was, and continues to be, a drip. That _voice_! Ugh. As for that other mouse, Speedy Gonzalez. We can be fairly certain that he was dropped out of political correctitude: CN declines to air any of his toons, despite their enormous popularity throughout Latin America (not least in Mexico). After all, what spineless white people _think_ should offend people is far more important than whether it actually _does_. Now, the Speedy & Sylvester toons devolved into formula just as much as any WB parings- but Speedy was an inspired character. ---
**Author:** ![caveman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/caveman/32/7242_2.png) [@caveman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caveman)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2002, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-guides-50-greatest-cartoon-characters/121749/23 "2002-08-01T15:06:17Z")
_sniff_ Where’s He-Man? Freakazoid? any of the Warner Brothers (or their sister)? And who let a Rugrat into the top 10? Major exclusions: the Line (and/or the Dot), Tex Avery’s Wolf, and a bunch I can’t think of just now… ---
**Author:** ![PatrickM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7feea3/32.png) [@PatrickM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickM)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2002, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-guides-50-greatest-cartoon-characters/121749/24 "2002-08-01T16:04:57Z")
I’ve always thought that if a person complains about someone that isn’t on a this type then he also has the obligation of saying who should tossed off the list, and for saying what standards he is applying for evaluation purposes. My evaluation standards for the top 50 cartoon characters: (1) Characters have to be recurring in an ongoing series, rather than a one shot cartoon. (2) Female characters have to stir something in me other than what the US Supreme Court would call a purely prurient interest . (3) The character’s TV show must be more than just a vehicle to sell stuff - out goes Pikachu. Caveat: Except that if the show made me laugh when I was a kid: In goes Linus the Lionhearted, along with his pal Sugar Bear. Their cartoon show was banned back in the 1960s because the show was just an extended Post Cereal advertisement. (4) Current cartoons are heavily discounted until we have enough historical perspective to see if they stand the test of time. Applying those standards, I’d delete these characters from the list (TV Guide rank in parenthesis): Grinch (5) (I’m Just a) Bill (34) Josie & the Pussycats (24) Betty Boop (17) Pikachu (15) Bobby Hill (48), which I’m cutting because why would I watch a cartoon featuring a realistic, oversensitive, too heavy kid, which isn’t paying me royalties for the use of my life? SpongBob SquarePants (9) Angelica Pickles (7) Arthur (26) Wonder Woman (42) My favorites that I’d put on the list are: Quickdraw McGraw Beanie & Cecil Linus the Lionhearted (& Sugar Bear) The Pink Panther Huckleberry Hound Mr. Peabody & his boy, Sherman Freakazoid! The Animaniacs: Yakko, Wakko & Dot, Pinky & the Brain Goofy Dudley Do-Right of the RCMP & his arch nemesis, Snidely Whiplash ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2002, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-guides-50-greatest-cartoon-characters/121749/25 "2002-08-01T16:40:15Z")
Put me down for: The Ambiguously Gay Duo Best cartoon I ever saw. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2002, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-guides-50-greatest-cartoon-characters/121749/26 "2002-08-01T17:18:35Z")
No Johnny Quest? No Aeon Flux? No Son Goku? ---
**Author:** ![tarragon918](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d26b3c/32.png) [@tarragon918](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tarragon918)\ **Post date:** [August 1, 2002, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-guides-50-greatest-cartoon-characters/121749/27 "2002-08-01T17:23:12Z")
The list is, honestly, quite bizarre in composition, at least IMHO. There are ensemble cartoon casts that should have counted as one (why just Alvin and not Alvin and the Chipmunks, including Dave?!); there are glaring omissions, such as Crusader Rabbit - what kid who grew up in the fifties didn’t watch Crusader Rabbit?! - although I was glad to see Tom Terrific included. And where was Mr. Bill?! If they can put Gumby (again, they left out Pokey!) the claymation, then they should have included Mr. Bill, who in fact is still “working” (LOL doing commercials for a hotel/motel chain, I think). There are more, but I don’t have the list with me to work from right now, unfortunately. Suffice to say that I too (and I’m not all that “big” on toons, am dis-satisfied with the list. I honestly don’t know why TV Guide keeps doing these lists–they seem to get progressively worse at them too. JMHO ~~tarragon~~ ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2002, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-guides-50-greatest-cartoon-characters/121749/28 "2002-08-02T01:44:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Philster Put \* > Put me down for: > The Ambiguously Gay Duo I would have settled for Dr Quest and Race Bannon. Nothing ambiguous about those two. ---
**Author:** ![aramis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e68b1a/32.png) [@aramis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aramis)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2002, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-guides-50-greatest-cartoon-characters/121749/29 "2002-08-02T02:43:10Z")
Where the hell’s Tennessee Tuxedo (and Chumley and Mr Whoopee)? And howsabout George Jetson? ---
**Author:** ![dwc1970](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a183cd/32.png) [@dwc1970](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwc1970)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2002, 5:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-guides-50-greatest-cartoon-characters/121749/30 "2002-08-02T05:29:40Z")
I wish **Heathcliff** had made the list. Heathcliff is one of my favorites, and I wish he had become more popular. As a cat lover, it’s good to see that somebody (George Gately) had the good sense (along with the creator of Felix the Cat, whom I was glad to see make the list) to characterize a cat as the protagonist after seeing how cats such as Sylvester and Tom (of Tom and Jerry) are often potrayed in cartoons as the bad guys. ---
**Author:** ![p\_cific\_812](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@p\_cific\_812](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/p_cific_812)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2002, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-guides-50-greatest-cartoon-characters/121749/31 "2002-08-02T05:45:45Z")
This list is pathetic. Case and point: Where is **The Tick**? How about **Danger Mouse**? Has the world gone mad!? ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2002, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-guides-50-greatest-cartoon-characters/121749/32 "2002-08-02T12:40:14Z")
My first thought was “Where are Itchy & Scratchy?” ---
**Author:** ![Rodd\_Hill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3ab097/32.png) [@Rodd\_Hill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodd_Hill)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2002, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-guides-50-greatest-cartoon-characters/121749/33 "2002-08-02T13:55:43Z")
What, no **Samurai Pizza Cats**? ---
**Author:** ![Honey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honey/32/5074_2.png) [@Honey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Honey)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2002, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-guides-50-greatest-cartoon-characters/121749/34 "2002-08-02T15:14:03Z")
What? no **Magilla Gorilla Snagglepuss Deputy Dog The Jetsons Foghorn Leghorn** I’m happy to see **Underdog** made it though. ---
**Author:** ![MyFootsZZZ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/myfootszzz/32/12580_2.png) [@MyFootsZZZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MyFootsZZZ)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2002, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-guides-50-greatest-cartoon-characters/121749/35 "2002-08-02T15:50:48Z")
“Where’s Pootchie”? ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [August 2, 2002, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-guides-50-greatest-cartoon-characters/121749/36 "2002-08-02T19:39:01Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by p@cific@812 \* > \*\*This list is pathetic. Case and point: Where is **The Tick**? How about **Danger Mouse**? Has the world gone mad!? \*\* The Tick is a comic book character. The show was good, but it will always be second rate compared to the original run of comics. ---
**Author:** ![Lok](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e8c25b/32.png) [@Lok](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lok)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2002, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-guides-50-greatest-cartoon-characters/121749/37 "2002-08-03T04:16:09Z")
What about **Inspector Gadget**? They should have had the Simpsons all together and lower. If it is **Tom and Jerry** , **Heckle and Jeckle** , and **Rocky and Bullwinkle** , then it should have just been **The Simpsons** all together. ---
**Author:** ![Banger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8491ac/32.png) [@Banger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banger)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2002, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-guides-50-greatest-cartoon-characters/121749/38 "2002-08-03T05:50:55Z")
This list truly sucks on so many levels. I didn’t have much respect for TV Guide to begin with, but whatever respect I may have had is definitely gone. This list is a joke, and not a funny one. ---
**Author:** ![hazel-rah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/73ab20/32.png) [@hazel-rah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hazel-rah)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2002, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-guides-50-greatest-cartoon-characters/121749/39 "2002-08-03T08:01:22Z")
I would have listed fifty characters from the Simpsons. None of the others even come close. -fh ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2002, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-guides-50-greatest-cartoon-characters/121749/40 "2002-08-03T08:13:58Z")
They’ve got Donald Duck listed far, far lower than Mickey Mouse. That alone ought to prove that this list is useless. Mickey may make more moolah for the Disney Empire, but as a character, Donald is far more interesting and developed. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-guides-50-greatest-cartoon-characters/121749.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-guides-50-greatest-cartoon-characters/121749.md?page=3)