Hey Arnold! Or Arthur, which was the better slice-of-life kids show?

[Mister K]

Or the way it snuck its LGBT characters past the sensors.

Huh, which character is that? I watched the show a loooong time ago, so I don't remember every character in it as well as I used to.

OT: I never saw Arthur, but Hey Arnold! has a really special place in my heart. It had a good mix of childlike wonderfulness, but also had a lot of rather mature themes, which were already mentioned in this thread. Though I am kind of bummed by that we never got, for example, a special episode where all kids are 16 or so and Arnold/Helga lovestory is concluded by them either getting together or completely separated.

 

[Fox12]

Or the way it snuck its LGBT characters past the sensors.

Huh, which character is that? I watched the show a loooong time ago, so I don't remember every character in it as well as I used to.

OT: I never saw Arthur, but Hey Arnold! has a really special place in my heart. It had a good mix of childlike wonderfulness, but also had a lot of rather mature themes, which were already mentioned in this thread. Though I am kind of bummed by that we never got, for example, a special episode where all kids are 16 or so and Arnold/Helga lovestory is concluded by them either getting together or completely separated.

Mr. Simmons, their teacher, and Eugene, the jinxed kid. There were a couple of subtle hints there.

 

[Mr.Mattress]

Mr. Simmons, their teacher, and Eugene, the jinxed kid. There were a couple of subtle hints there.

Wait, Eugene was gay? Didn't he have a Girlfriend? That's somewhat surprising to me.

OT: While Hey Arnold! is definitely a better show, Arthur is much better at representing a realistic Slice of Life. There are too many "fantastic" elements in Hey Arnold!, especially compared to Arthur. Everything that was fantasy in Arthur was just that, flights of fantasy that the characters thought of. In Hey Arnold!, Arnold's parents are Indiana Jones-esque Treasure Hunters, the first season had a Spy character you never saw living in the house, and the movie involves Sci-Fi Spy tech akin to Men in Black.

Still, Hey Arnold! is definitely the better show to watch, although neither are bad (at least not in their earlier seasons). Although, in all honesty, I prefer Nickelodeon's Doug.

 

[CaitSeith]

Seeing how the settings were so different, I don't think I can compare them fairly. I think I lean in favor of Hey Arnold! because of pulling it of so well in a more unconventional setting than Arthur.

 

[Samtemdo8_v1legacy]

Or the way it snuck its LGBT characters past the sensors.

Huh, which character is that? I watched the show a loooong time ago, so I don't remember every character in it as well as I used to.

OT: I never saw Arthur, but Hey Arnold! has a really special place in my heart. It had a good mix of childlike wonderfulness, but also had a lot of rather mature themes, which were already mentioned in this thread. Though I am kind of bummed by that we never got, for example, a special episode where all kids are 16 or so and Arnold/Helga lovestory is concluded by them either getting together or completely separated.

Mr. Simmons, their teacher, and Eugene, the jinxed kid. There were a couple of subtle hints there.

Did the creators intend them to have thier personalities as "gay-men"

Or did you hear that from someone that looked WAY too deep into it? Because I remember hearing from somewhere that people referred to Eugene as "a kid that will grow up to be gay"

 

[Fox12]

Mr. Simmons, their teacher, and Eugene, the jinxed kid. There were a couple of subtle hints there.

Wait, Eugene was gay? Didn't he have a Girlfriend? That's somewhat surprising to me.

OT: While Hey Arnold! is definitely a better show, Arthur is much better at representing a realistic Slice of Life. There are too many "fantastic" elements in Hey Arnold!, especially compared to Arthur. Everything that was fantasy in Arthur was just that, flights of fantasy that the characters thought of. In Hey Arnold!, Arnold's parents are Indiana Jones-esque Treasure Hunters, the first season had a Spy character you never saw living in the house, and the movie involves Sci-Fi Spy tech akin to Men in Black.

Still, Hey Arnold! is definitely the better show to watch, although neither are bad (at least not in their earlier seasons). Although, in all honesty, I prefer Nickelodeon's Doug.

It was one sided. There was an episode where she was clearly trying to get him to date her, and he's clearly really uncomfortable with the idea. Later something stopped it from happening, and we see him breathe a huge sigh of relief.

Or the way it snuck its LGBT characters past the sensors.

Huh, which character is that? I watched the show a loooong time ago, so I don't remember every character in it as well as I used to.

OT: I never saw Arthur, but Hey Arnold! has a really special place in my heart. It had a good mix of childlike wonderfulness, but also had a lot of rather mature themes, which were already mentioned in this thread. Though I am kind of bummed by that we never got, for example, a special episode where all kids are 16 or so and Arnold/Helga lovestory is concluded by them either getting together or completely separated.

Mr. Simmons, their teacher, and Eugene, the jinxed kid. There were a couple of subtle hints there.

Did the creators intend them to have thier personalities as "gay-men"

Or did you hear that from someone that looked WAY too deep into it? Because I remember hearing from somewhere that people referred to Eugene as "a kid that will grow up to be gay"

I'm pretty sure it's word of God.

 

[Catnip1024]

Arthur. By far. Only watched Hey Arnold a few times, never was a massive fan.

They say everyone remembers where they were when they heard about 9/11. I was trying to watch Arthur, and didn't appreciate the news overrunning.

 

[Marik2]

I kinda liked Arthur when it was focused on the other people.

Hey Arnold is way better.

 

[KyuubiNoKitsune-Hime]

Wasn't Arthur for kids? Like, really for kids?

Anyway, all I remember was that I liked Hey Arnold better.

Arthur is a show for children, and may not pack much of the same adult humor as more contemporary kid shows like Gravity Falls do. But it still didn't talk down to kids. The show is surprisingly well-written watching it again, and managed to tackle some serious subject matter. Not as serious as some of the stuff Hey Arnold! tackled, but it still takes some serious balls for a kids show to do plots about dislexia, cancer, and even a 9-11 allegory.

That being said, Hey Arnold! was definitely the ballsier of the two. Managing to get alcoholism and LGBT characters past the censors, not to mention that Vietnam episode, and the fact that ending to the acclaimed Pigeon Man episode, was originally a lot more messed up.

For the "adult humor" aspect... Cartoons have done this for a very long time, most notably with Jay Ward and Hanna-Barbera cartoons. Both of which did jokes that were target at kids, but adults would just roll their eyes at, then they had jokes that would fly over the heads of kid's, but would crack up adults. Jay Ward did one better than Hanna-Barnera though, he would write jokes that made adults and kids laugh, just for entirely different reasons. Hey Arnold! is more in the school of a Jay Ward production, because it had that Jay Ward mix of humor, some for kids, some for adults, and some for both, that both demographics find funny for different reasons.

The reason Hey Arnold! tended to be more ballsy than Arthur will ever be is pretty simple. The former was intended as an entertainment cartoon, the latter is predominantly an educational children's show.

 

[McElroy]

Hey Arnold! never aired here. So Arthur wins by existing.

 

[MrCalavera_v1legacy]

I watched little of these shows and loooooong time ago, but Hey Arnold! is way more memorable for me.

 

[Stoakynik]

Arthur provides this gem:

 

[BrawlMan]

Hey Arnold. Arthur I enjoyed as a kid, but I stopped watching by the time I turned 10. Hey Arnold, I found myself more emotionally invested in ever since it first started airing in later 1996.