Everyone who watches shows with kids realizes there are always winks and nods and little jokes in there for the parents, too – things your kids will never get, but earn a snort from the adults in the room all the same.

Sometimes, though, quips or moments or entire storylines in a kid’s show can make you go hmmm (like pretty much everything that happens on Bubble Guppies, if I’m being honest), and those things can really catch you off guard.

These 14 people will never forget these moments, when they had to double check whether the show they were watching was really for kids after all.

14. A tough but necessary conversation.

Gargoyles in 1994.

In the episode Deadly Force, Broadway, one of the gargoyles who likes cowboy movies accidentally shoots Elisa the cop with her own gun in her apartment. Blood is shown on the floor and a seriously well done episode commences about the dangers of guns and how Elisa should have been more careful where she left it, and Broadway understands guns are not toys.

It was banned for a while, but is now on Disney +

13. It does seem dark.

I remember that Fairly Oddparents episode where Timmy wishes he had never been born (or something along those lines), and then he ends up realizing that everyone (including his parents) is way happier without him….seemed pretty dark for a kid’s show to me?

12. Not to subtle.

The episode of Cow & Chicken where a group of very butch looking female bikers called the Buffalo Gals show up and break into Cow & Chicken’s house.

They proceed to start “munching” on the house’s carpet nonstop. They also play softball

I’d forgotten the part where the dad jumps scared into the mom’s arms and she’s like “They’re not here for YOU! Haha!” Very subtle Cartoon Network lol

11. Quite a twist, Canada.

There was a Canadian based sketch show called “You Can’t Do That on Television” that was on Nickelodeon that was crazy in a million ways.

But the most crazy to me was the recurring Firing Squad sketches where a crazy South American Dictator was trying to put children to death.

In most cases he would mess up and accidentally get killed himself.

Side note it was the show that created Nickelodeon’s famous slime gag.

10. Ducktales are hardcore.

The ducktales reboot has a scene where it cuts from one of the protagonists having her leg stuck under a heavy metal beam or something to her, 2 weeks later, walking around on a robot leg.

I think about the fact that this wholesome show canonically had a traumatized protagonist who CUT OFF HER OWN LEG all the damn time

9. Million to one shot.

Jimmy Neutron when he is talking with his dad Hugh. His dad randomly says, “Once when I was 7, I sat on a banana. And of course, that changed my life…”

Jimmy and his moms face say it all.

8. Tom doesn’t surprise me, but Jerry?

There’s an episode of Tom and Jerry called Blue cat Blues there Tom basically f*cks up his life going after a girl.

At the end it’s heavily implied that he and Jerry kill themselves.

7. I should hope so.

There was some locally made British kids show back in the 1970s, I think, which signed off one day with a card saying “C U Next Time”, with only the initial letters visible for a brief moment.

I think someone got fired over it.

6. That’s old school cartoons for you.

I used to love that show as a kid and when I was watching it with my nephew recently I realized how much of a bully Jerry was. Half the time Tom doesn’t even want to deal with Jerry he just is trying to live his life.

I now root for Tom a lot more than I did as a kid. I still like the show but it’s brutal.

5. Wait for it.

An episode of one of the incarnations of Scooby Doo in the late 2000s. My niece loved watching them, so I would sit and watch with her.

Basically, a guest character who is a cute blonde and is crushing on Fred turns coyly to him while stating, “I’m eighteen! Able to legally…vote!”

4. I don’t feel like this is that bad, though…

When SpongeBob is trying to get Gary in the bath, and he shows Gary doubloon soaps and says, “Look Gary, doubloons, don’t drop em!”

3. Those sheep aren’t worth it.

When I was a little kid we had a huge set of dozens of Hungarian stories on cassette tapes- every Hungarian kid I know had these, covering fairy tales of all sorts, and we’d listen to them before falling asleep at night.

Anyway, there are definitely a few that once I was older I was like “wait, what?” In particular, there’s a fairy tale about a shepherd that never lies, and is entrusted to watch the king’s sheep that has a golden fleeced sheep in it.

Another king makes a wager with that king that he can get the trusted shepherd to lie, and to make it happen he sends his daughter the princess to the shepherd’s field. Anyway, what then happens is they strike a bargain, and I directly translate, “go under a blanket and play together all night long.”
After which, in the morning, she leaves with the golden sheep.

I remember as a little kid really wondering what they were playing that would result in her getting the sheep. Chess? Cards?

2. Something else is right.

When Mr. Krabs goes with Spongebob and Patrick on a PANTY RAID OH MY GOD.

The sheer fact that spongebob and patrick like breaking into the homes of old ladies and stealing their underwear is something else.

1. This can’t be right.

Correct me if I’m wrong: The amazing world of Gumball, Gumball had to bl*w Alan in the school’s restroom.

Gumball also just straight murders Alan in multiple episodes

This is me showing anyone a John Hughes movie, to be honest.

Have you had a moment like this? Tell us about it in the comments!