50 Interesting Facts about Iconic Cartoon Series

Every episode of Family Guy includes at least one instance of a character saying “What the hell …”

27. Jerry Seinfeld once refused to play a turkey on South Park. However, George Clooney was totally fine with playing a dog.

28. The ‘Family Guy’ episode in which Stewie drinks horse sperm with cereal caused FCC to receive 188,368 complaints.

29. Mr. Hankey from South Park was inspired by Trey Parker's Father who told him that if he didn't flush the toilet, Mr. Hankey would come out and eat him.

30. Trey Parker stated that Mr. Mackey is based off his old school counselor Mr. Lackey. On South Park season 1 commentary Trey said “[Mr. Lackey used to say], ‘Trey, quit fooling around and get back to your school work, m’kay’ ‘but, now, I'm making millions out of him’”.

The song Chocolate Salty Balls from South Park reached No. 1 on the UK Singles Charts.

32. Moe from The Simpsons was only given the surname Szyslak so that he would have the initials M.S., and hence be a suspect in the Burns shooting.

33. The producers of The Simpsons considered aborting the series if the second episode's animation turned out as bad as the first, which was so appalling that after seeing it for the first time, they had to redo 70% off before it could go to air.

34. In two episodes of the first season of ‘The Simpsons’, Lou the cop was yellow colored. It wasn’t until Season 2 that they kept him black permanently.

35. Simpsons characters Lenny and Carl both possess master's degrees in nuclear physics.

XXX on cartoon jugs of alcohol originally denoted three-time distilled, resulting in almost pure alcohol content.

37. There is a Cartoon Network special crossover episode called The Grim Adventures of the Kids Next Door, also featuring Ed Edd n' Eddy, with cameos from the Powerpuff Girls and Dexter's Lab among other shows.

38. Space Ghost Coast to Coast was the show that launched the late night television block we know today as Adult Swim on Cartoon Network.

39. The Nickelodeon cartoon series, ‘The Angry Beavers’, is one of the only cartoons where a clock on the wall that is visible in most episodes updates in real time.

40. Doug's neighbors on the 90's cartoon Doug were named Mr. and Mrs. Dink because "DINK" means Double Income No Kids.

“The Flintstones” sparked a lot of controversy by being the first cartoon series to show a couple together in the same bed as well as dealing with matters such as infertility and adoption.

42. From 1904 to 1925, a cartoon called “Dream of the Rarebit Fiend” ran in a New York paper. It featured bizarre nightmares, and among other things pioneered the idea of giant characters destroying a city. It has been called "perhaps the most bizarre newspaper feature in American history."

43. There was an episode (Blue Cat Blues) of Tom and Jerry where they both commit suicide, it is narrated by Jerry.

44. Scooby-Doo was a triplet who had 5 brothers total and 1 sister. His sister is the mother of his nephew, Scrappy-Doo.

45. Scooby Doo's full name is "Scoobert Scooby Dooby Doo."

Arthur is the second longest-running animated series in the U.S., behind 'The Simpsons.'

47. During the ending theme to Cartoon Network's The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, some strange, somewhat creepy gibberish is heard at the end. The gibberish played backward is Maxwell Atoms, the creator of the show, saying "No, no. This is the end of the show. You're watching it backward!"

48. In the unaired series finale of "Angry Beavers": Dag and Norb realize they are cartoons, discuss that they are getting canceled, and even end up both repeatedly calling each other by the voice-actors' names.

49. Pig-Pen from the Peanuts cartoon was a parody of "Piggy" from Lord of the Flies (Novel). In his premiere, he said, "I haven't got a name...people call me things...real insulting things."

50. Ed, Edd n Eddy is Cartoon Network's longest-running series, running for almost 11 years.