Much to my father's chagrin, cartoons are an ever emerging and evolving source of entertainment and social commentary for fully developed humans. My dad, like many dads out there, still operates under the assumption that anything animated is for children and to keep cats company when their owners leave.

This outlook on animated television was a lot easier to maintain in the pre-'Simpsons' culture that my father grew up in. Easier, but certainly not justified. The implication that cartoons were initially exclusively "for kids" indicates more ignorance than truth about the nature of the medium. Look at almost any old 'Looney Tunes' short -- as a representative example -- layered with cultural references and parodies that only adults have a shot at understanding.

But now, with the wealth of grown-up animated series available on TV, it's impossible to brush off animation as anything less than a legitimate form of television series. What follows is a broad discussion about animated television, including a list of some of the toons that illustrate best this change in perception.

The fact that animation can span both worlds is kind of the beauty of it. The best shows allow the viewer to grow into them without losing appreciation, but rather developing it. Take 'Spongebob Squarepants,' for example. As a youngster, it's the talking yellow sponge and the sheer surreality of everything that makes for laughs. An older child will start to understand some of the base humor and wordplay -- how dumb Patrick is, how cheap Mr. Krabs is, how lame Squidward is -- and ideally as a teenager and into adulthood you pick up on the cultural sensibilities and subtleties of the show: Krusty Krabs, sponges, Sandy Cheeks, starfish, and squids... all in a Bikini Bottom? Wink.

In recent years, though, animation has lost sight of this all-encompassing approach. The specialization of networks and channels has contributed to this greatly, and fostered a need for "mature" cartoons. Now everyone goes to their specifically and appropriately engineered channel to get their cartoons: kids hit up Nickelodeon and Disney, teens visit adult swim and Comedy Central and adults tune in to FOX and anywhere they can find Hanna-Barbera reruns.

Here's a list of some of the best animated series (of all varieties) on TV right now:

'Bob's Burgers' - This new series has a subtle irreverence that separates it from the 'Family Guys' of the world. 'Family Guy' is irreverent for irreverence's sake, but 'Bob's Burgers' uses irreverence as a complement to the characters and narrative development in a much more organic way. 'Bob's Burgers' also incorporates the voice acting of H. Jon Benjamin of 'Archer' and 'Dr. Katz' fame.


'The Ricky Gervais Show' - It's simple, really. Two hilarious gentlemen mocking one seemingly oblivious and impervious buffoon into submission. Ricky Gervais and Steven Merchant (creators of 'The Office') host a podcast that amounts to nothing more than three men sitting in a sound studio. That third man is Karl Pilkington, the unwavering butt of jokes. Watching a podcast generally ranks just below eating hair on the "fun things to do" list, but the animation gives a depth to the humor and the relationships between the three participants that makes it delightfully edifying. This and 'The Life & Times of Tim' mark HBO's most recent forays into the world of animation.

'The Simpsons' - This piece would be mad easy to write if I just wanted to tell you about things you already know. "'South Park' is so cutting edge, and 'Family Guy' is 2 Legit 2 Quit!" But really, I could lose my job if I didn't mention 'The Simpsons.' It's as if 'The Simpsons' had a really promiscuous phase in the '90s, giving birth to the plethora of animated series peppering the televisual landscape. There isn't a shred of cultural ground that 'The Simpsons' has not tread, and it's still a show that transcends.


'The Boondocks' - This might be the most important show on television that nobody knows about, and not just from a racial politics perspective. It's a cartoon that is decidedly "about something," and that "something" changes with every episode and tends to interject many of the conflicted intricacies of American race relations. I would argue that it represents a center out of which all other adult swim programming shoots. Hilarious, socially conscious, and overtly controversial, 'The Boondocks' is a template for the future of good television, animated or not.

'Venture Brothers' - Most of adult swim's programming could be mentioned in this article. That channel, more than anyone else in broadcasting, recognized the shifts in perception of animation and built a small empire by exploiting or embracing, however you choose to look at it, those seismic changes. 'Venture Brothers' seems to embody that phenomenon as much as any, putting a contemporary spin on 'Jonny Quest' and the other Hanna-Barbera produced shows that unknowingly established the youthful stigma in the first place.

'The Mighty B!' - Even though it isn't technically on right now -- there are talks of new episodes appearing on Nicktoons -- 'The Mighty B' is one of those catch-all cartoons that offers something for an all-encompassing demographic. The brainchild of Amy Poehler, 'Mighty B' carries with it a theme of female empowerment not seen since 'Daria' and at a time and within a framework (Disney/Nickelodeon) that send mixed messages about what it means to be a young woman. On more than one occasion I have used it to explain issues of identity and gender to my own daughter. I'm not sure what that says about me, but it says a great deal about the show.

The Mighty B!
Tags: The Mighty B!: Sweet Sixteenth, NICK

I realize this list is incomplete, but I wasn't going for a "top ten" thing or a "greatest of all-time" thing. There are countless other shows that belong in this discussion -- 'South Park,' 'Family Guy,' 'Archer,' 'Titan Maximum,' 'Futurama,' 'Robot Chicken,' 'Squidbillies,' 'Flapjack,' 'Metalocalypse,' to name a few -- but the important thing is that we are having this discussion and extending it beyond the old stalwarts.

Animation provides the perfect platform for ideological change because, while on television, they are all encompassing metaphors, reflecting our culture back at us without the consequences of being real people. The animation provides a buffer between the ideas and the people behind them, promoting a sense of freedom of expression that is more difficult to achieve with live action. It allows cartoons to be the brash and irreverent arbiters of social commentary, taking liberties many people wish they could take themselves. After all, it's hard to stay mad at a cartoon.

What cartoons would you put into this framework?

Dr. Vaughan teaches English/Media/Humor courses at Binghamton University in upstate New York, and he's so fresh and so clean. You can also check out his blog or find him on Facebook.