Animaniacs

Animaniacs felt like somebody handed a cartoon unlimited caffeine and let it loose. Yakko, Wakko and Dot bounced through songs, movie jokes, historical nonsense, slapstick, and jokes that somehow landed differently when you watched them years later. Pinky and the Brain made an already deep bench even harder to beat. Against Batman: The Animated Series, the tonal whiplash is perfect. Against Rocko’s Modern Life, things get wonderfully weird. If laughs and replay value are driving your vote, Animaniacs can wreck a lot of brackets.