Who doesnât love cartoons? From early childhood all the way into adulthood, the animated art form continues to draw us in. This is especially true for millennial and Gen Z-aged Canadians, who grew up with a richer variety of animated entertainment than earlier generations.
To pay tribute to the nostalgic favourites of our youth, OntarioBets,.com took a break from our reviews of Ontario gambling sites to discover the top childhood cartoons in the nation. We used Google Trends data between March 26 and April 2, 2024 to compile a list of the top 10. Check out the full results below.
Not only are these shows the most fondly recalled nationwide, but they were all Canadian-produced shows too.
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According to our search, "Arthurâ was the fan favourite, with a search interest score of 35 (search interest scores were measure against search interest in other topics).
Arthur, the worldâs most lovable anamorphic aardvark, has been a staple of Canadian childhoods for 25 years. Arthur hails from the fictional American city of Elwood, but the series shares a strong connection to the true north. In fact, the show has been produced primarily in Canada since its inception in 1996. It wrapped up its 25-season run in 2022 (the same year that Ontario sports betting and online casinos launched), but the series is sure to remain a favourite among Canadians for decades to come.
Next up, âTotally Spiesâ lands second on our list of Canadaâs top cartoons. This animated series originated in France in 2002 and it was a big hit in English and French-speaking Canada. The show had over 150 episodes across six seasons, following three teen girls from Beverly Hills who travel the world to defeat supervillains. Fans will be delighted to hear that Season 7 is set to be released sometime in 2024, nearly a decade after the last episode aired in Canada.
âMy Little Ponyâ is third on our list. The Hasbro toy horse franchise inspired two series and a number of animated specials in the 1980s and early â90s, before languishing for nearly two decades. That is, until the reboot âMy Little Pony: Friendship is Magicâ exploded in popularity during the 2010s. This âMy Little Ponyâ renaissance was led by an unexpected demographic. For reasons still largely inexplicable, a community of adolescent boys and young men galvanized around the new series, calling themselves âbroniesâ (an amalgamation of âbroâ and âponyâ). This unlikely cohort began producing âMy Little Ponyâ fan art and fan fiction, organized conventions, and even helped raise money for charitable causes.
The fourth-most popular throwback cartoon show is âToopy and Binooâ â or âToupie et Binou,â as itâs known in Quebec. Based on the French-Canadian books aimed at preschoolers, the series premiered in 2005 and follows a whimsical mouse named Toopy and his pet cat Binoo. The series was short lived, but in 2023 a film adaptation, âToopy and Binoo the Movie,â debuted in theatres. That is now available to rent or stream.
Kudos to creators Jennifer Pertsch and Tom McGillis, who earn the fifth and sixth spot on our list with â6Teenâ and âTotal Drama Island,â respectively. For its part, â6Teenâ follows six teenage mallrats with part time jobs at a mega-mall inspired by Torontoâs Eaton Centre and the West Edmonton Mall. Meanwhile, âTotal Drama Islandâ is about a group of teens whose summer camp is transformed into a reality competition show that invokes âSurvivor.â Both series aired on Teletoon in the mid-2000s.
The rest of the list is rounded out by beloved animated shows âJohnny Testâ at No. 7, âEd, Edd n Eddyâ in eighth, then âRuby Gloomâ and âFugget About Itâ taking the final spots.
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Author
Jeff Parker is an entertainment writer for OntarioBets.com. A writer for film, television and the internet, Jeff is a life long movie buff, with a Masters Degree in Popular Culture. He lives in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where he works full time as documentary filmmaker and producer.
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