Top 10 Favourite After School TV Shows

Welcome to the first in the series of You Grew Up Nigerian If™ 
Top 10 Lists. Here we’ll be putting together a list of the top 10 favourites in different categories. This week we’re launching with Favourite After School Shows, those TV shows that kept us glued to the TV screens come 4pm and made us hate the knock at the door when the lesson teacher came around. So here it goes our Top 10 Favourite After School TV Shows. By the way, don’t hesitate to leave a comment and tell us if you feel you don’t agree with our rankings or you remember an awesome show we left out. We’d love to hear from you;

10. Batman – This Emmy Award winning series featuring the adventures of Bruce Wayne in his secret identity as Batman and his sidekick Robin fighting the rather interesting antagonists like The Joker, Two Face and so on. This was probably one of the darker cartoons that were out there back in the day, but the gunfire and the creepy villains didn’t deter us from sitting in front of the TV and watching Batman swing from rooftop to rooftop to save the day. 

9. Dodo the Kid from Outer Space – Who can forget the lovable alien from planet Hena Hydro with antennae on his head and propellers on his heels who came to earth on his flying saucer. What probably made this cartoon most interesting as a kid was the fact that the entire dialogue was in rhyme. It was like a five minute poem for kids. Awesome!

8. Power Rangers – You either wanted to be the White Ranger or you had a crush on the White Ranger. Either way, Power Rangers ruled! With their high kicking fist pumping kung fu, they could kick the behind of any villain, and when they morphed and got into their Zords, you just knew that the fight had just started. Though, this series stopped airing for a while, word on the street is that kid’s network Nickelodeon would be airing a new 18th season of the show. Is someone out there thinking how to sneak a peek with their kid cousins? 

7. Captain Planet – Originally based on an idea by CNN billionaire Ted Turner, this edutaining, environmentalist cartoon was always fun to watch. With the green haired blue skinned superhero, Captain Planet and his trusty Planeteers, it was no wonder everyone wanted a nice planet ring, even if it was made out of coloured paper. GO PLANET!

6. Danger Mouse – The lovable mouse who made a day job out of saving the world, Dangermouse was fast, furious, funny and cool and we loved him. For a minute there, we had second thoughts about setting that mouse trap lest we accidently trap the hero in disguise, but hey, the real Danger Mouse would have easily escaped, wouldn’t he?

5. Super Ted – Rejected at creation but bequeathed with magical powers by Spotty and Mother Nature, the lovable Super Ted was an awesome superhero who made us smile and cheer anytime he beat Texas Pete, Skeleton or any of the other villains. Now if only we knew his secret magic word, we too could be super heroes…yeah right!

4. Rentaghost – This fun British show featured ghosts renting out their services. Who on earth would rent ghost s for anything, I have no idea. That didn’t stop us from laughing hilariously at the jokes though.

3. Harlem Globetrotters – When you think about this cartoon, the first thing that pops into your head is that dude with the big hair that always manages to stay neat in any basketball game. Based on the real life exhibition basketball team (also called the Harlem Globetrotters), these guys always managed to get themselves into some kind of trouble, but at the same time with the help of a basketball match always seemed to get themselves out of it as well. Oh boy, if life were that easy!

2. Voltron – It’s no surprise that this is probably the favourite cartoon of all time. What was there not to enjoy about five tough space pilots who could morph their machines into the invincible Voltron and kick the daylights out of the minions of King Zarkon of Planet Doom. If only we could find out how to enroll in that pilot school.

1. Sesame Street – It was a tough one deciding between Voltron and Sesame Street for the top spot on our list, but really, Sesame Street ruled the roost. We just wanted to hug Big Bird, laugh at Ernie and give Groucho a knock on the head. Oh yes, the fact that we were learning our letters and numbers in a way far more interesting than Aunty or Uncle in school could teach us was a huge plus as well. If only our parents could understand that after watching Sesame Street we didn’t need that lesson teacher anymore. But alas, they never bought that line!