5 Best Cartoon Network Shows Nobody Talks About Anymore

Whether you rushed home to watch "Dexter's Laboratory" or kept up-to-date with the latest episodes of "Adventure Time" on an iPad, Cartoon Network shaped a lot of childhoods. Whether you grew up in the 1990s, 2000s, or 2010s, the best Cartoon Network shows of all time are present throughout each generation. But while these shows are ubiquitous to a lot of people, the network has had plenty of programs fall through the cracks. 

Obviously, not every series can be a winner (the less said about that Annoying Orange show the better), but occasionally, a fantastic show will debut and not get the attention it deserves. As a result, it'll likely get canceled after a season or two before getting relegated to pop culture purgatory. 

What's even worse is that it can be difficult to track these down. Warner Bros. has already removed most classic Cartoon Network shows from HBO Max, so you have to get creative if you even want to watch the more popular series. But a look through the Internet Archive or YouTube channels for full episodes of Cartoon Network shows, and you're bound to come across some of the channel's more obscure offerings. 

There's honestly no good reason why "Megas XLR" didn't become an era-defining cartoon. The show was an American take on mecha anime where an alien race targets Earth in the far-off future. A mech is sent back in time where a lazy mechanic named Coop (David DeLuise) gives it a hot rod paint job and learns how to pilot it. Kiva (Wendee Lee) also travels back in time and teaches Coop how to work the mech just as aliens arrive on Earth. 

The 2000s saw many American productions take greater influence from anime, most notably "Avatar: The Last Airbender." "Megas XLR" was similarly in that vein, although it skewed to a slightly older audience. Young kids may not relate as much to Coop, who's basically a loser still living with his mom. But he isn't dumb, and he has a real proclivity for piloting Megas.

The untold truth of "Megas XLR" is that, in addition to reportedly low ratings, it was cancelled in part because "Teen Titans" and "Ben 10" were more popular action shows. What's even worse is that "Megas XLR" was written off by Warner Bros. for tax purposes, preventing any kind of DVD or Blu-ray release. Under better circumstances, "Megas XLR" would've run for a long time, and we would be mad at getting a live-action movie down the road. 

While some forgotten Cartoon Network shows don't make any sense, you can still watch them and say "This should've been the biggest thing ever." But with "Sheep in the Big City," you kind of understand why it struggled to capture an audience. That's not to say it's bad; it's just a bizarre children's show. 

"Sheep in the Big City" is about Sheep (Kevin Seal), who moves to the big city where he tries to escape military personnel who want to experiment on him and earns the affection of Swanky the Poodle (Stephanie D'Abruzzo). It sounds pretty basic, but "Sheep in the Big City" was more meta than Deadpool. Characters constantly broke the fourth wall, including a narrator (Ken Schatz), who would frequently point out how none of this made sense. There will be a scene where a character is talking about something important, and the words "Plot Point" will flash on screen.

Meta humor isn't unique to "Sheep in the Big City." Shows like "Animaniacs" would break the fourth wall and have plenty of other jokes only adults would notice. But "Animaniacs" also had slapstick humor and other gags. "Sheep in the Big City," meanwhile, relied almost exclusively on meta jokes and wordplay, so it's understandable that a lot of kids tuned in once, didn't know what they were watching, and flipped to another channel. 

"The Life and Times of Juniper Lee" was basically Cartoon Network's attempt to have its own "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." The show centers on the titular Juniper Lee (Lara Jill Miller), who discovers that she's actually the Te Xuan Ze tasked with protecting Earth from monsters. But she's still an 11-year-old girl, so she balances her monster-fighting duties with going to school and hanging out with her friends. 

"Juniper Lee" fit the mold of other action-oriented cartoons of the era, similar to "Danny Phantom" and "American Dragon: Jake Long." But Cartoon Network did the show dirty by the end. Although "Juniper Lee" ran for three seasons, the final episodes didn't air on TV, but instead premiered exclusively online. If you weren't aware of the change, you may have thought the series ended rather abruptly. Even if you did see those final few stories, Season 3 ends on a cliffhanger, so it's clear there was more story to explore.

With a mostly monster-of-the-week format, "Juniper Lee" could've run for a while. And it brought much-needed diversity to Cartoon Network's line-up in the 2000s with its Asian American protagonist. But now, it's hard to find anyone who remembers it even existing. 

"Time Squad" was like a modern update of "Mr. Peabody and Sherman." The cartoon follows time cop Buck Tuddrussel (Rob Paulsen) and robot Larry 3000 (Mark Hamill), who adopt an orphan from the 21st century to help them preserve the fabric of time. As history marches on, events from the past become unraveled, so it's up to them to travel back to set things right. However, in most instances, something is still slightly off by the time they leave.

On the surface, it was ideal programming for Cartoon Network. It was funny and imaginative, but also taught kids some history. The series had a ton of potential, and was even nominated for several Annie Awards. But it only lasted for two seasons before getting the boot. Paulsen would later say in an interview with ComicBook.com that its premature demise was simply due to corporate shenanigans, sharing, "That was an excellent show. Great characters, terrific scripts. Just kind of got lost in the shuffle and never got the juice it deserved."

The final episode that aired, "Orphan Substitute," also made fun of then-president George W. Bush, which might have ruffled some feathers in a post-9/11 landscape. Compared to how other shows would make fun of Bush in the years to come, it's pretty mild. But with only two seasons, "Time Squad," ironically enough, faded from history. 

The original "Teen Titans" is one of the best animated DC shows ever made with arguably the coolest theme song, with a fast-paced pop punk track performed by Puffy AmiYumi. You don't hear of too many instances when a theme song composer gets their own spin-off, but that's precisely what happened when "Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi" debuted in 2004. 

In the 2000s, anime was becoming increasingly popular in the United States, and "Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi," with its emphasis on J-pop, attempted to capitalize on this wave. Like the "Teen Titans" theme song, the show is fast-paced and kinetic. It follows Ami (Janice Kawaye) and Yumi (Grey DeLisle) who are in a band and tour all over the world. From dealing with vampires to getting jobs at a candy factory, anything could happen on "Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi," and sometimes, the real-world Japanese pop duo would appear to offer commentary. 

A ton of merchandise was made, and the show even had a couple of video games. But even with these major pushes, the show ended after three seasons, and ever since, it's seemingly faded into obscurity.