My favorite after school cartoon

Get ready for a flashback. From the years 1993 to 1998, I had to rush home after school to watch my favorite cartoon: The Animaniacs. God, I loved that show. Hell I STILL love that show. It's just too bad they stopped running the reruns. But come on, I think that show was popular enough. Where's the freakin DVD set??? Oh well, I saw every episode that show ever made, so I can replay them in my head if I want. Seriously, Animaniacs kicked ass. It came during a time beginning around '88-'89 known as the animation renaissance where cartoons began to gain in popularity, seeing the return of Disney, Warner Bros. entrance into animation, and the introduction of the cartoon icons, the Simpsons. You can probably see now that the age of cartoons is coming to an end, since the Simpsons should've given it up LONG ago before they got stale and annoying, and the fact that the future of animation is in computer graphics, not hand drawings. But in the midst of this cartoon popularity, Animaniacs came out at the height of animation's creative power. The cartoon starred the Warner brothers, Yakko and Wakko, and the Warner sister, Dot, as three former Warner Bros. film stars who were so crazy they had to be locked up in the Warner Bros. water tower. Of course, the trio escapes and wreak havoc on the studio lot. Hilarity ensues. The show also included a cast of characters not related to the Warners, who appeared in animated shorts throughout each episode, such as Pinky and the Brain (two lab mice bent on world domination), Rita and Runt(a stray cat and dog team looking for a home), Mindy and Buttons(an oblivious baby who walks into danger and her dog who has to continuosly save her), Katie Ka-Boom(an overemotional teenager who turns into a raging monster and explodes when she gets upset) among many others. Which was your favorite? The most popular was Pinky and the Brain. They eventually spawned their own spin-off show which was pretty good. My personal favorite was Slappy the Squirrel. Slappy was a former beautiful move star during the classic Hollywood golden age. She's now old and bitter, and sits alone at home and complains about television these days. Her life would be without any cheer if not for her peppy nephew, Skippy. Her adventures revolve around her and Skippy's battles with Slappy's old cartoon enemies. Each episode is full of intelligent, sarcastic commentary on modern television and movies, while at the same time catches cheap laughs at making fun of old people. A bit Roadrunner-esque, the old villains conjure various elaborate traps to kill Slappy, but of course, nobody beats the master. Slappy out-foxes them(or should I say out-squirrels them) each and every time. Skippy was also a common target for the bad guys, but he always saves himself by becoming so cute and innocent that the bad guy can't bring himself to off the little guy, which usually leads him into some kind of trap by Slappy. It was great. The whole Animaniacs show was simply outstanding. They had some of the best musical numbers of any show ever. Anybody remember when Yakko sang a song naming EVERY country in the world? Or when Wakko sang all fifty states and their capitals? I have to admit, that episode taught me state capitals better than any teacher or textbook. The show was so smart. They perfected the art of random pop culture references, an art to which Family Guy owes its success. It also included so much social satire that my parents even loved it. I wish I could go back and watch them all again so I could get many of the jokes I missed as a kid. Animaniacs was always funny, always smart, always creative, and it knew when to quit. The show left the air before beating the dead horse. It came, it saw, it conquered. And then it passed the torch to other cartoons, but unfortunately, they couldn't hold up to the Animaniac's greatness. For all these reasons and more, Animaniacs was my favorite after school cartoon. Oh, and I JUST read five seconds ago that it will be released this summer. There is a god.