15 Best Nickelodeon Cartoons Of All Time, Ranked

Despite Nickelodeon producing some of the best animated series of the '90s and 2000s, it's a bit hard to pin down the network's identity. Disney Channel is decidedly family-friendly and optimistic; Cartoon Network is bold, brash, and transgressive even outside of Adult Swim.

The best cartoons on Nickelodeon don't fit together comfortably on either side of the spectrum. While its biggest hits are zany, brightly colored kids' cartoons with absurd senses of humor, it also succeeds with opposite projects — quiet slice-of-life dramedies with muted palettes and grounded, soothing atmospheres; serialized action dramas with real emotional stakes and developing relationships between characters; high-concept fliers that would either become network-defining hits or quick cancellations to be enjoyed by audiences later.

What they all have in common, beyond their place in our collective cultural memories, is that they helped protect children's animation as a space where anything can happen creatively. We've ranked the 15 best Nickelodeon animated shows based on their overall quality, impact on the medium, and role in defining what a Nicktoon truly is.

Strangely, deciding what show should rank at No. 15 was the hardest part of constructing this list. In the end, however, we decided "The Loud House" deserved to be included as the network's defining late-2010s-to-2020s animated series. While it may be harder for older readers to get into now, it does everything a great kids' program should. It turns minor childhood struggles into comedically existential conflicts, speaks directly to the young audience and the world they live in (notably introducing gay characters in 2016), and juggles a large ensemble of characters while keeping each of them distinct in look, personality, and relationships.

The only real mark against "The Loud House" is that, compared to other series on this list, it wasn't around at the right time to earn a lasting cultural legacy. Despite being Nick's most popular show at one point, anyone outside of its target audience likely has no relationship with it.

Compared to the polished, safe design of modern series like "The Loud House," the look and tone of many earlier Nickelodeon cartoons can seem anywhere from rough to outright nightmarish. "Aaahh!!! Real Monsters" tests the boundaries of what a kids' show can look like, and further asks whether that nightmarish quality couldn't be used intentionally to make a genuinely spooky all-ages horror series. As a result, "Real Monsters" is fascinating to watch even if the writing and concept fail to support a particular episode.

The series was one of the very first Nicktoons ever made, and is among those produced by the animation studio Klasky Csupo (named for executive producers Arlene Klasky and Gábor Csupó, whose names will appear a few more times on this list). Though it doesn't have the broad cultural impact of Klasky Csupo's other projects, "Real Monsters" was a pioneering force by injecting horror and dark comedy into children's animation; it came before "The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy" and "Courage the Cowardly Dog" on Cartoon Network, or certain shows about an alien invader and a ghostly superhero on Nick. Those latter shows owe "Real Monsters" a nod for laying the groundwork for their success.

The 2012 reboot of "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" was the most successful of Nickelodeon's few purely toyetic efforts, moving both audiences and action figures at the same time. This success comes down primarily to two elements. First, it looks pretty incredible for a 2010s 3D animated show, with Nickelodeon Animation Studio making these models (perfectly designed for the toy aisle) kinetically feel like 3D comic book characters. The performances help to sell this effect as well — the cast is quietly stacked with A-list voice actors (ranging from Seth Green and Greg Cipes to Nolan North and Mae Whitman) who, across the board, give longtime "Turtles" fans exactly what they want in their individual vocal characterizations.

Second, this series is surprisingly ambitious in its narrative goals. In the wake of other beloved serialized kids' cartoons (like Cartoon Network's "Young Justice"), "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" invites viewers of all ages to invest themselves in an ongoing series that takes its characters seriously. It might not be "The Legend of Korra" in terms of thematic ambition, but its willingness to let the story and characters evolve — right through to its strangely haunting series finale — is laudable in the wider Nicktoons canon.

Despite being one of the major Klasky Csupo achievements of Nickelodeon's golden age, "The Wild Thornberrys" is rarely held in the same tier as its contemporaries. Perhaps this relatively low nostalgic ceiling is due to timing — it arrived at the end of the '90s, riding the network's peak without having been around very long. On the other hand, it might be due to its decidedly rougher look and tone. Shows about babies, awkward tweens, and goofy animals land more comfortably for younger viewers than one about eccentric, garish-looking, adult documentarians and their children embedding themselves in the wilderness.

All that being said, the wild originality of "The Wild Thornberrys" has allowed it to age exceptionally well. Of the children's comedies on this list, this is the one you could watch for the first time as an adult and potentially appreciate more than you would've as a kid. The pace is slower and distinctly atmospheric, with only short bursts of juvenile chaos puncturing the natural environment. It's also written with a scrappy desire to protect that environment, which feels even more urgent today. And, of course, there's the Tim Curry of it all – Nigel Thornberry is by far the most memorable character in the series because of Curry's work, and remains one of the most beloved cartoon dads of all time.

Finally, our first Butch Hartman entry on this list. The prolific Nickelodeon animator, who helped define the evolving Nicktoons brand throughout the 2000s, did so primarily through "The Fairly OddParents." For 10 seasons, from 2001 to 2017, the series built and explored a parallel reality of bureaucratic fairies and magical beings who exist to grant the wishes of unfortunate kids like Timmy Turner (Tara Strong).

At its best, the series uses this premise to tell stories that are unpredictable despite adhering to the wish-gone-wrong formula. Narratives incorporate aliens, celebrities, rival magical factions, and fictional superheroes brought to life, making them all feel credible within the same world. This also wound up giving "Fairly OddParents" one of the most iconic supporting benches in any animated children's cartoon — the Crimson Chin, Doug Dimmadome, Chip Skylark, and Jorgen Von Strangle are all more distinct and memorable than the main characters of most modern animated kids' series. Later seasons of the show ran out of steam, and the most recent reboot only further proved that the idea had been exhausted around Season 5.

"As Told by Ginger" was the last gasp of a beautiful kind of Nicktoon that didn't need to announce itself with over-the-top gimmicks or high-concept genre premises. There are no mutants or monsters to survive here — only the terror of growing up.

Created by future "Suburgatory" creator Emily Kapnek and produced by Klasky Csupo, this 2000-2006 teen sitcom takes its characters as seriously as "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles," if not more so. The world of Ginger Foutley (Melissa Disney) is realistically grounded and ephemeral, breaking animated sitcom rules like having characters age (the series starts in middle school and ends in high school) and changing things about their looks and personalities. It was a show made to speak directly to a young audience whose experience wasn't totally reflected in simpler series that treated adolescence as an aesthetic and emotional snapshot to be endlessly explored.

"As Told by Ginger" was nominated for three Emmys for the episodes "Hello Stranger," "Lunatic Lake," and "And She Was Gone." The last episode, which explores Ginger's emotional state through a poem she writes, is beautifully provocative, and is the prime example of the show's extraordinary emotional range.

Right away, "Doug" deserves to be in the top 10 of any Nicktoons list by virtue of being one of the brand's three original shows. While the rest of the children's animated space was cooking up strange series with louder premises, Jim Jinkins' program was soft-spoken, sentimental, and deeply personal — the first breath of what "As Told by Ginger" would later accomplish. This was the show Nickelodeon chose to introduce its debut Nicktoons programming block, leading in two other shows on this list.

It was a bold choice. "Doug" is warm rather than fiery, and is far from the sort of series that would draw kids in today. But there's something stickier about it than an escapist premise or a grotesque aesthetic — the underlying feeling of comforting vulnerability that generates quiet drama relevant to children's lives, while at the same time giving them the perspective to appreciate it. It keeps the stakes small where most shows would comedically raise them.

Despite being Nick's first Nicktoon, "Doug" departed for ABC in 1994. The Nickelodeon seasons are far stronger, and are still stirring today.

Though it didn't last as long as "The Fairly OddParents" or even "T.U.F.F. Puppy," "Danny Phantom" is arguably Butch Hartman's best work. It was essentially an attempt to keep the superhero subgenre going beyond the DC Animated Universe and Marvel's "X-Men" and "Spider-Man" animated series, audaciously utilizing brand-new characters. As a result, Hartman and Nick are responsible for one of the best and most original non-Marvel, non-DC superheroes ever created.

While the recurring characters aren't as memorable as those of "Fairly OddParents," the main ensemble is supreme. Danny's (David Kaufman) relationships with his ghost-hunting family and his friends-slash-accomplices, Tucker (Rickey D'Shon Collins) and Sam (Grey DeLisle), are the engine of every episode, elevating "Danny Phantom" above Harman's other work. The introduction of Vlad Masters (Martin Mull) also gives us the series' most threatening and psychologically complex recurring antagonist. To fans, he's an all-time cartoon villain. Ask any of them today, and the only thing they'll complain about is the show's limited run — it's probably the series on this list we're most eager to see rebooted.

Alongside "Aaahh!!! Real Monsters" and "Danny Phantom," "Invader Zim" stands as one of the most successful horror-adjacent kids' programs of all time. It's arguably the subgenre's pinnacle, rivaled in terms of genuine, lasting creepiness only by "Courage the Cowardly Dog" and some scarier installments of "Batman: The Animated Series."

The series was created by Jhonen Vasquez, at the time a little-known comic book creator behind the bluntly titled "Johnny the Homicidal Maniac." "Invader Zim" isn't as graphic, but is certainly as unhinged at points. Consider an episode like "Dark Harvest," which is written around Zim (Richard Steven Horvitz) stealing organs from his classmates and replacing them with... "stuff." Characteristically, the horror relies on hopelessness rather than gore — children wandering the halls, clearly unwell, as the adults around them barely seem to care. It's this nightmarish tone that makes "Invader Zim" an eerie and unpleasant watch regardless of how old you are. It's also what makes it so distinct in our memories.

It's impossible to write about the best Nicktoons of all time without addressing "The Ren & Stimpy Show." It is, unfortunately, also impossible to not address the man who created it. We'll start with the series.

"The Ren & Stimpy Show" is, inarguably, one of the most influential cartoons created in the 1990s. It was one of the two other original Nicktoons to air alongside "Doug," and was the most striking of the bunch. Visually, it's gnarly, upsetting, and antagonistic — the boundary-breaking sense of humor followed suit. Though it aired on a kids' network, it's the kind of show you'd be nervous to watch with your parents in the room — which is probably what makes it all the more hilarious to its target audience. This show is owed a debt not only by other, even better Nicktoons, but also by subsequent cartoons like "Beavis and Butt-Head" and "South Park."

That being said, the show is barred from our top five due to the allegations surrounding its creator. Suffice it to say, much of the series is difficult to impossible to enjoy once you know more about the mind it came from.

Of the bygone slice-of-life Nicktoons, "Hey Arnold!" was the best. Its title is a bit misleading, in terms of the tone. "Doug" and "As Told by Ginger" are exactly what you'd expect "Hey Arnold!" to be — a story that explores the emotional reality of a unique kid. Rather, this 1996—2004 series blends its young protagonist into a bustling world around him, allowing the viewer to immerse themselves in it through his experiences.

It's a deeply nostalgic watch, though not merely because it reminds one of when it was airing. The fictional city of Hillwood and its residents transport you back to a more honest and connected era of city life in America, when neighborhoods still felt like neighborhoods. Arnold himself underscores this feeling through his characterization by creator Craig Bartlett. He's usually more concerned with solving other people's problems than his, like in the tear-inducing holiday episode "Arnold's Christmas." Every episode depicts the relatively invisible importance of everyday, often unextraordinary acts of kindness, which hit harder than the unbelievably grand schemes of most animated heroes.

"Rocko's Modern Life" has seen the most dramatic critical reevaluation of any show on this list. As critics have noted in retrospect, the feeling back in 1993 was that Joe Murray's new series was too similar to "Ren & Stimpy" without being as transgressive, and thus signaled the waning days of the "let's see what we can get away with" school of animation.

While that last part is true at least for Nicktoons, the series has since earned a reputation as one of the most underrated animated shows of all time. Through an Australian expat wallaby named Rocko (Carlos Alazraqui), Murray satirized the absurdity of American culture and those who choose to embrace it. It skewers everything from consumerism to callous corporations, all with a flamboyantly silly tone that makes the banal dystopia of it all grimly amusing.

"Rocko's Modern Life" was, unsurprisingly, a hotbed for the future of animation, despite its diminutive cultural stature. It's the connective tissue between the early Nicktoon days and the rest of the network's legacy.

Starting off our top three is the last (and best) of the original Nicktoons. "Rugrats" aired between "Doug" and "The Ren & Stimpy Show." While the latter had a much wider impact on the world of animation, "Rugrats" was acutely impactful in the development of the Nicktoons brand. Not incidentally, it is the original Klasky Csupo Nickelodeon series, having been created by Arlene Klasky, Gábor Csupó, and Paul Germain.

Where "Doug" went earnest and "Ren & Stimpy" went weird, "Rugrats" went ingeniously high-concept (a trend future successful Nicktoons would follow closely). It's a family sitcom told from the perspective of intelligent, self-aware babies. The comedy comes from the fact that, despite their lack of understanding about the adult world, their imagination allows them to conjure up bizarre theories to explain everyday life — in many instances, those theories are as laughable as they are accurate. The show was also notable for its then-remarkable cultural diversity and its depiction of non-white, interfaith, multiracial, and blended families.

The only Nicktoon bigger than "Rugrats" is "SpongeBob SquarePants" — and when we say bigger, we mean by a Bikini Bottom mile. The series has been running for over a quarter of a century, airing 17 seasons and over 340 episodes since premiering in 1999. It is the defining Nickelodeon animated series — and, perhaps, the defining animated series period — of the 2000s.

It isn't just the sheer endurance of its lifespan and cultural ubiquity that makes it our No. 2 pick. It's a meme generator because its best moments are so funny and unforgettable that you can hear them with just an image or line — "May I take your HAT, sir?," "CHOCOLATE," "Imaginaaaaaatiooon," "Firmly GRASP it!", etc. Of course, this largely comes down to the voice cast, with the entire ensemble (especially Tom Kenny, Bill Fagerbakke, Clancy Brown, Rodger Bumpass, and Mr. Lawrence) delivering performances that stand among the medium's best.

"SpongeBob SquarePants" is a once-in-a-generation behemoth that, frankly, has no direct peers in children's programming. It stands alongside the likes of "The Simpsons," "The Flintstones," "South Park," and others in the pantheon of industry-changing animated series.

As massive as "SpongeBob SquarePants" is, and as unbeatable as its earliest episodes are, only a tiny handful of TV shows can be described as truly perfect. Among them is "Avatar: The Last Airbender."

Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko's series is the best thing Nickelodeon has produced in any medium. The concept and world were unique to Western animation, as was the art style (though it all owes much to the tropes and aesthetics of Japanese anime and Chinese folklore). The characters and themes were richly developed and genuinely relatable to audiences of all ages, to the extent that fans can credibly and enthusiastically recommend the series to new, adult viewers over most modern fantasy TV series.

No animated series since has been able to deliver such a perfect blend of action, humor, worldbuilding, and compelling character drama episode to episode — and those that attempt it can't do it as breezily as "Avatar" (even the show's successors have struggled to capture the same magic). And, with a sequel series now streaming on Paramount+, there's no better time to start or revisit Nickelodeon's greatest animated series of all time.