Top 10 Things from the 20th Century that Majorly Jumped the Shark During the 21st Century

The Top Ten

  1. Nickelodeon

    Nickelodeon is an American basic cable and satellite television network that launched on December 1, 1977. It is owned by Paramount Global and is based in New York City. The network is widely known for its original children's programming, including iconic series like SpongeBob SquarePants, Rugrats, and... read more

    Granted, the 1990s Nick lineup wasn't really THAT great overall, but for cartoons alone, it gave us Ren & Stimpy (horribly written show, yes, but unbelievably brilliantly animated), Rocko's Modern Life (easily one of the top ten, if not top five, best all-ages satire shows ever. I really don't care what anyone else says), Hey Arnold (deeply relatable), Rugrats (also pretty deeply relatable), The Angry Beavers (one of the most underrated slapstick shows EVER), and Doug (the show that started it all).

    And that's not even mentioning all of the live-action shows, most of which were also pretty terrible in the 2000s, believe me.

    Now, moving on to the 2000s, we have Spongebob (great show but nowhere even near the writing level of Rocko or the artistic level of Ren & Stimpy), Jimmy Neutron (sorry to break it to you guys, but I probably wouldn't have developed my brain fetish in the first place if not for this ugly CGI dung-heap and Spongebob), Fanboy & Chum-Chum (needs no explanation), and Planet Sheen (also needs no explanation).

    I mean, yeah, sure, we still had the occasional diamonds in the rough like Invader Zim (EASILY the channel's darkest and most sardonic show to date, and I say that even after watching the Fan Club episode of Ren & Stimpy), Avatar (literally anime by any other name), and Harvey Beaks (if only for its adorably innocent promotion and encouragement of autism awareness), but overall, it just isn't enough to compensate.

  2. Cartoon Network

    Cartoon Network is an American basic cable and satellite television channel that was launched in 1992 by the Turner Broadcasting System. It is now owned by Warner Bros. Discovery and is known for airing animated programming targeted primarily at children and teenagers. The network has been home to many... read more

    Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon switched places with the advent of The Loud House and Teen Titans Go, respectively.

    Luckily, they seem to at least be somewhat recovering from it. Teen Titans Go, being as dreadfully abysmal as it is, notwithstanding.

  3. Transformers

    I normally don't like to beat dead horses here, but Michael Bay is a film director who (at least as far as these films are concerned) genuinely sucks with his stupidly oversized interpretation of Devastator's "ball bearings."

  4. Star Wars (Movie Series)

    Pretty much all of the good stuff became relegated specifically to the extended universe surrounding the films, besides Episode III. Even then, it was still a pretty hugely "middle-of-the-road" type of good.

  5. The Simpsons

    The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening. It originally aired as shorts on The Tracey Ullman Show starting April 19, 1987, and debuted as a standalone series on December 17, 1989.

    As of 2026, it remains the longest-running animated sitcom. The show follows Homer Simpson... read more

    Yes, honestly, even more so than Futurama. Technically, Futurama was from 1999, so making it count for this list is stretching quite a bit.

  6. Alien (Movie Series)

    Well, the games are starting to recover from it, at least.

  7. Disney

    The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. It was founded on October 16, 1923, by Walt and Roy O. Disney. Disney is known for its film studios, theme... read more

  8. The WWE

    It slowly went downhill during the 2000s and was decent up until 2009, where another decline began.

  9. Sonic the Hedgehog (Franchise)

  10. Toad

    Toad, known in Japan as Kinopio, is a major character in the Mario Bros. franchise. He assists Princess Peach in the Mushroom Kingdom and first appeared in Super Mario Bros. (1985). Toad is a recurring character in many Mario games, including New Super Mario Bros., Super Mario 3D World, Captain Toad... read more

    11. The Newcomers
  11. ?

    Hollywood

  12. ?

    Funimation

    13. The Contenders

  13. Metroid

  14. Rocko's Modern Life

    Rocko's Modern Life is an American animated television series created by Joe Murray for Nickelodeon. The series centers on the surreal life of an anthropomorphic Australian-immigrant wallaby named Rocko, along with his friends: the gluttonous steer Heffer, the neurotic turtle Filburt, and Rocko's faithful... read more

  15. The Terminator (Movie Series)

    The whole timeline of this series is in chronic disarray.

    The fanbase is at war.

  16. Jurassic Park

  17. Sega

    Sega Games Co., Ltd., originally short for Service Games and officially styled as SEGA, is a Japanese multinational video game developer and publisher headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, with multiple offices around the world. It is known for franchises like Sonic the Hedgehog and Yakuza. Sega has undergone... read more

  18. D.C. Thomson

  19. Metallica

    Metallica is an American heavy and thrash metal band formed in 1981. The original lineup included James Hetfield (vocals and rhythm guitar), Dave Mustaine (lead guitar), Lars Ulrich (drums), and Ron McGovney (bass). They first gained mainstream fame with their 1991 self-titled album (The Black Album... read more

  20. PaRappa the Rapper

    I don't know. Something about Parappa 2 was just completely lacking the very distinctively one-of-a-kind "labor of love" charm of its predecessors, even if it WAS technically a much better game with music that was instrumentally composed in vastly more complex ways. The amount of features the game had when compared to previous sequel UmJammer Lammy (which was on PS1 as opposed to PS2, for Christ's sake) was also quite pathetic.

    And after that game completely flopped, the series got merchandised and "kiddie-fied" literally to death and was never properly heard from ever since. Sad, I know.

  21. Radiohead

    Radiohead are an English rock band from Abingdon, Oxfordshire, formed in 1985. The band consists of Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood, Colin Greenwood, Phil Selway, and Ed O'Brien.

    Known for their experimentation and sonic evolution, they rose to international prominence with OK Computer and continued... read more

    Please tell me this is a popular opinion. No offense to the band, it just quite frankly strayed a bit too far from what traditional music is supposed to be for my liking.

  22. SpongeBob SquarePants

    SpongeBob SquarePants is an American animated television series created by marine biologist and animator Stephen Hillenburg for Nickelodeon. It has become one of Nickelodeon's most popular and longest-running shows, attracting both children and adults... read more

  23. Power Rangers

    Just another show about random Americans dressing up in costumes and beating up monsters. For the kids.

  24. Final Fantasy

  25. Pokemon

    Pokémon, abbreviated from the Japanese title Pocket Monsters and currently marketed in English as Pokémon: The Series, is a Japanese anime television series adapted for international audiences. It was first broadcast in Japan on April 1, 1997, and in the United States on September 8, 1998.... read more

    Sword and Shield were what killed most of my love for Pokemon.

  26. Cable TV

    Reality TV and bad use of politics. Enough said.

  27. Crash Bandicoot

    Until its revival (the releases of N. Sane Trilogy, CTR: Nitro-Fueled, and It's About Time), at least.

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