Classic ’90s Cartoon Is The Perfect Comfort Show Today

Hey Arnold! has become a classic of the ‘90s cartoon era and for good reason. It tells the story of a football-headed elementary school student doing his best to navigate the chaos of school, and a homelife filled with colorful characters at his grandma and grandpa’s boarding house.

As a kid, who couldn’t identify with feeling like you just wanted normalcy while everyone around you was introducing some new daily drama into your life?

For children, Hey Arnold! is light and funny, with some smart and snappy humor to keep each episode entertaining. But it is also a cartoon with depth and heart, and that is something that becomes all the more evident when you revisit it as an adult.

Arnold himself lives with his grandparents because he doesn’t know what happened to his parents. It is one of the core mysteries of the series. He assumes they are dead but wants to find them.

And Hey Arnold! shows his grandparents torn between wanting to be supportive, while also wanting to protect Arnold. His grandparents even feel a little hurt that Arnold is not satisfied with them as surrogate parents.

Hey Arnold! is a rare cartoon that does not shy away from messy emotions. The challenges of being an immigrant in America, being bullied and ostracized for how you look, unrequited love, and so many more difficult life moments are all tackled in the show.

But what keeps the cartoon so light is that Arnold is such an excellent moral compass for wanting to do the right thing even if does not make him popular.

We see time and time again throughout Hey Arnold! that Arnold’s compassion for others is often the domino effect that gets others to have a change of heart as well. In “Jamie O in Love”, Gerald’s titular brother stops bullying him upon falling in love with a girl.

But Arnold and Gerald learn that she is just using him. Initially they take advantage of the situation and figure Jamie O is getting what he deserves. But they take pity on Jamie O and tell him the truth, which results in him vowing to be kinder to his brother for looking out for him.

That is not to say Hey Arnold! doesn’t also have fun, silly moments. The series is filled with classic goofy scenarios like Stoop Kid being scared to leave his stoop, Chocolate Boy’s insatiable chocolate addiction, and Arnold’s grandma always being into mischief.

But what makes the cartoon stand the test of time is that it has heart beneath all the jokes.

People remember Hey Arnold! because it was one of Nickelodeon’s shows that didn’t just have whacky humor. It had smart writing, memorable characters, and an unbreakable optimism that doing the right thing will make the world a better place.

That is why Hey Arnold! is the perfect comfort show to return to in 2024, regardless of whether you are a kid now or grew up with it in the ‘90s. With the world of today feeling like it is in constant upheaval, we all need something we can return to that tells us everything will be okay in the end.