I goad you to find a cartoon aimed at children that has more value than Hey Arnold. This gem was a long running series that ran from the mid 90’s to the early 2000’s on Nickelodeon during what I refer to as the Golden Age of kid’s television programming. Anyone that has not seen this show is sadly mistaken, and people of all ages could benefit from watching it. My biased point of view aside, Hey Arnold was still a great TV show by any measure. It taught morals beyond the general manners and customs many kid shows preach. Arnold displayed the largely unexplained lifestyle of being a young kids growing up in a city. Many episodes of Arnold showed many of the elements of what it is like to grow up as a young man, seeing Arnold go through life facing real obstacles like girls, family, and social issues.

Although he remained perpetually 9 years old and in the 4th grade, Arnold taught me a lot about life and gave me a good perception of the world around me. In a way I always wished I could have a life similar to his. He was largely independent and definitely knew exactly who he was at a young age. Arnold saw the greatness in the small things in life and had a great appreciation for the people around him. Despite the fact that he did not have any parents, he loved his grandparents and boarding house members like they were family. This underlying value that became present in the series is something all people could stand to learn. No matter how tough your life may be, you must love the people that care about you and are in your life, be they a Vietnamese immigrant or a Czechoslovakian cheap-skate.

Arnold also taught people that they should to do their best to help others. This young man was always there for his friends no matter what was going on. He did his best to aid others and make their lives somewhat better whether the issue was social, spiritual, or emotional. Arnold did not always succeed either, his failures were just as strong as his victories which goes to show that life is a journey of learning, not successes.

The music, done by Jim Lang, is also a major part of the structure of Hey Arnold. The theme song perfectly sets the stage for every episode and despite its lack of lyrics is recognizable and can be hummed. The sound blips that signal the action of the characters is also spot on and hilarious at times. Hey Arnold also had very jazzy and urban background music that is incredibly catchy if you give it a listen. It is hinted at several times throughout the series that Arnold is a big fan of jazz music. Not every 9 year old even knows that jazz exists, which gave Arnold another quality of wiseness and interest beyond his years. Arnold was never pretentious about his interests either, he simply enjoyed things for what they were.

Many episodes of the show also tugged at the viewer’s heart strings. Certainly, life was not always easy for the characters in this show. Arnold was essentially an orphan living in a boarding house with his decrepit grandparents and random strangers. Imagine a childhood like that. Many of Arnold’s friends were unique and suffered the consequences of not fitting in, which is a rough thing to go through while growing up. There were so many touching episodes in this series that showed you why this generation of shows was so great. There was really no catch to these shows, they were simply about real people that had real things happen to them. There was rarely anything supernatural going on, and this display of real life is always something that people somewhere can relate to.

The character development of the kids in Arnold’s social circle was also something that all TV writers can learn from. After seeing so many episodes, I feel like I know so many of Arnold’s friends and what their lives are truly like. I was their when Harold had his bar mitzvah. I was there when Stinky became the Yahoo Soda spokesman. I was there when Chocolate boy overcame his chocolate addiction. I was even there when Arnold and Gerald got their first kiss from 6th grade girls. Getting to know characters leads to richer story lines and an unlimited amount of content and style that many shows do not seem to utilize nowadays.

I think Hey Arnold ran its course. I don’t want it to ever come back. In this age of TV and Film recycling, I really hope this one stays in the Nickelodeon vault. To me it was the perfect kids show. Arnold was one of the best main characters on a kid’s cartoon and his world was something to behold. I will watch this show in rerun whenever it is on because it is that good of a show. Nostalgia aside, this was an amazing program and could easily stand the test of time.