The Family Guy, Simpsons, and Aqua Teen Hunger Force: Continuing the Tradition of Bettering America

Every evening, millions of Americans, young and old, tune in to view the major television networks' nightly offerings. Among the current trends are reality television, supernatural thrillers, and cartoons. But, what happens when the aforementioned cross paths? You get a whole new brand of viewers: our generation. All is well in the plastic, consumer-based genre of adult cartoons. But, where did all of these grown up animations come from, and why do people like them so much?

It would be safe to state that adult-oriented cartoons began on the one place on TV originally intended for the opposite of adults: Nickelodeon. The year was 1991 and the show was Ren & Stimpy. Even though the program was produced under the same means as innocent shows like The Chipmunks, it was a far cry from a children's show. Ren & Stimpy was heavily laced with anger, violence, threats, and clinical insanity. How is it that this show succeeded? It got ratings for the same reason as The Simpsons: it was scandalous.

Such a TV dynasty as The Simpsons is world-renowned for its stylistic violence and vulgarities. As much as parents and lawmakers complained about TheSimpsons, it's still on the air after 17 seasons. Then, it's no surprise that even more controversy could come from elsewhere within the Fox Television Network's programming.

Family Guy debuted in 1999 to a curious audience. No one really knew what to think of the program, as it was the first cartoon to be built around such subtleties. How could an animated series be so sophisticated? The answer is simple: target audience. The cartoon was not intended for children under 16, but rather adults aged 17 to 35. However, Family Guy was not the first controversial animated series to come out of a Paramount subsidiary. Back in 1997, South Park fought its way onto the scene and captivated a massive audience with its slapstick, horribly vulgar humor. What was it about South Park that audiences liked? Perhaps it was the outright obscene language, or maybe it was the routine killing off of the character Kenny McCormick. Either way, Comedy Central had found its bread and butter in a relatively untapped market: adult cartoons.

Though adult-oriented animated series have indeed come a long way, our culture has digressed to one which highly appreciates "sophisticated" vulgarities and violence in a drawn-out form. Now, large primetime slots are dedicated to such shows. Cartoon Network has launched Adult Swim, which is obviously aimed at 17-35 year-olds and features such off-the-wall cartoons like Aqua Teen Hunger Force and Sealab 2020, all tied together in a savvy, chic time block. The Japanese might have their anime and the Europeans might have their techno and their swed-metal, but we Americans have the funniest adult-oriented cartoons.