Recess

Even as a young child I mostly just found it annoying.

One of my favorite cartoons as a kid. Recess stands out thanks to it's relatable cast of characters and the surprisingly flavorful world-building of kid-dom.

It features the usual group: the schemer cool kid, the nerd, the tomboy, the meek one, the good natured big kid... and that's part of the problem. It feels too formulaic. That said, it has a few clever episodes and concepts, like the savage kindergarteners. It just doesn't have enough to work with.

Literally every character is basically some sort of lame stereotype that is neither funny nor entertaining. Not to mention that the stories are so unrealistic that it makes it impossible to work as a slice of life. I have no idea why this show stuck with so many people - I guess having a show set in a setting familiar to everyone is somehow passable for entertainment.

i think in season 2 the writing got better/funnier and they started using established character stuff and lore better. some nice reminders of that age. some eps 70 or close. i think the last 2 or more seasons were consistently getting a bit worse maybe

A show full of uninspired stereotypes, but one I enjoyed nonetheless.

It captures the feeling of elementary school years enough to make me taste toaster strudels. Unfortunately, the characters are quantity over quality. It has a children's education feel like Magic School Bus, but it's just good-old-fashioned underdeveloped vanilla characters.

I think Hey Arnold! was essentially the more thoughtful permutation of this show, in which characters were less cardboard cutouts of archetypes and more fully-formed children with real backgrounds and believable development. RECESS was fun and I loved it as a child, but ultimately not that great.

This show slapped.