The 30 best cartoons even adults can enjoy

25. The Critic

Back in 1994, Saturday Night Live alumni Jon Lovitz created an animated series aimed squarely at adults called The Critic. Taking place before Fox and Comedy Central started to design their cartoons towards adults, this was a series that launched on ABC, although it did wrap up its three-season run on Fox.

The Critic starred the voice talent of Lovitz as Jay Sherman, a New York film critic. The show’s creators came straight from The Simpsons, so they had a firm grasp on what was funny in animation and displayed a more nuanced look at film criticism rather than a mad dash of crazed moments like Homer, Bart and company specialized.

There were a total of 23 episodes in the series, each one of them based on parodies of particular movies or genres that Jay Sherman was reviewing on his show-within-a-show, Coming Attractions. Honestly, this was an aspect of the show that kids might not appreciate, but film aficionados fell in love with. It had wit and brains that was way before its time.

The Critic was canceled after one season on ABC. Fox wanted it and picked it up for two more seasons, adding more story to Jay’s personal life without losing too much of the satire and parody that fans fell in love with. Fox canceled it after the third season, but fans helped bring it back a few years later as webisodes.