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Adult humor would almost always go over the heads of kids looking for nothing more than funny sounds and action. However, all these years later, some shows are harder to watch than others. Here are seven classic Nickelodeon TV shows that were actually traumatizing.
1) SpongeBob SquarePants
The adventures of the characters who call Bikini Bottom home are usually pretty tame. The worst that one can expect in a regular episode is that SpongeBob and Patrick get off at the wrong bus stop and run into some shady characters. However, SpongeBob SquarePants also houses its fair share of creepy moments, including Nosferatu’s appearance in “Graveyard Shift,” which prepared many for Robert Eggers’ horror film.
2) The Fairly OddParents
Like SpongeBob, Timmy Turner deals with wacky situations more than he does terrifying ones in The Fairly OddParents. The show takes a dark turn in Season 8, though, when it reveals that Timmy made a secret wish that kept him 10 years old for 50 years. Timmy tricked the entire world despite knowing the ramifications and went back to business as usual after getting away with it.
3) Danny Phantom
In most situations, someone has to die to become a ghost, but Danny Fenton finds a workaround when he enters a Ghost Portal. But gaining superpowers doesn’t mean Danny’s life is all that great, as he deals with plenty of powerful foes who want to conquer the real world. For a kids’ show, Danny Phantom has massive stakes and puts a lot of pressure on a teenage hero.
4) CatDog
CatDog is an underrated animated show that ran on Nickelodeon from 1998 to 2005, following conjoined brothers who can’t stay out of trouble. What makes the show traumatizing is the design of the main characters, who are a cat and a dog combined at the hip. CatDog doesn’t get too into the weeds about the quality of life of its titular characters, but it’s hard not to think about it when watching them move around.
