Hey Arnold!

[Eddy]

Arnold's supposed to be the straight man, and, like a LOT of other shows, animated or not, the writers seem to forget that straight men can be fun. Although I don't think Gerald is a whole lot better as a character myself.

Something I just thought of, one of the only exceptions to this I can think of Hank Hill in King of the Hill. Hank was the straight man, the most sane character, and the most reasonable (most of the time) but he was probably the funniest and best character in the show.

Television needs more Hank Hills.

[Avaitor]

Hank's a good one. I always go back to Kermit when it comes to leading men though.

Lana Kane is another great one too.

[Eddy]

Kermit is another one, yeah. He's an hilarious character.

Arnold? Not so much. And it's a shame because he was pretty likable in the first season. Not sure why Helga liked him. He was such a bore.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Hank Hill had faults of his own (mostly due to his temper and stubbornness), and most of his advice came from places where he had learned those lessons prior.

Characters like Arnold frequently have no faults and just seem to somehow know the right answer to any problem. (And no, IMO 'too nice' is not a proper fault; it's a lazy one.)

[SSJ Jake]

I still like the show, but as I get older I notice how flawed it is. Yes Arnold is a boring character, I would even go as far as saying he becomes not just a saint but a plot device in later seasons. Not only the kids, but the entire neighborhood seeks Arnold to help them with their problems, whether it be mere advice or helping the fucking butcher become councilman of the city. One could say that Arnold is supposed to be a role model, however when that character is meant the be an average kid and does things an average kid literally can't do they're just as bad a role model as the delinquent character. Aside from Arnold, there's a lot of continuity plotholes that make King of the Hill's forgivable. One is Harold being a held back student. In the first season he was shown among the kids laughing at Torvald, another held back student,'s incorrect answer to Miss Slovak's math question. Later seasons when it's revealed that Harold himself is 13 years old, the same age as Torvald, you would think that he would have sympathy for the guy. Then again maybe it was just Harold being a dick as usual. Also whatever happened to Coach Jack Wittenberg's son Tucker? The Coach and his wife became recurring characters in later episodes with each episode starring them focusing on their rivalry and no where is their son ever mentioned or seen, not even at their second wedding.

My ramblings aside though, what makes the show is the kooky side characters. The episodes starring Harold and Oskar are the funniest in my opinion, though the best ones are the episodes starring Helga, showing just far she would go to hide her secret crush on Arnold and just how obsessed she is with him, as well as her neglectful family.

[Avaitor]

What do you guys think about this list?

I'm starting it now myself.

[Kiddington]

Hey Arnold is a pretty good little show, the more I think about it. It's not perfect, but it does certainly hold its own with other Nicktoons of the day. At the very least, it holds up way better than Doug.

Admittedly though, I haven't seen a good chunk of that list in years (aside from the Season 1 entries). One of these days I need to get around to giving some of the later stuff another look.

[Rynnec]

Well, the The 90's Are All That are having an HA! marathon for the whole week, but I'm not sure if they'll show any episodes outside season 1.

[Daxdiv]

This week I do recall them showing Downtown as Fruits, Stoop Kid, and Helga's Makeover already. Still good episodes as always. I think they'll probably stay Season 1 unless Season 1 ends soon.

[Daikun]

R.I.P. Oskar

[Avaitor]

Fin-a-fucking-ly.

[Commode]

Wow, that looks cool.  Might look into it.

[Avaitor]

Yeah, I mentioned before how I stopped collecting after season 1, since Shout! cut the second season in half, then went to online-only releases. I still enjoy the show pretty well, more than a lot of the Nicktoons from the same era, so if WalMart has it for less than $25, I'm down.

[LumRanmaYasha]

So, I went to my Wal Mart to grab Courage season 2, which they didn't have, unfortunately, but I was able to grab the complete series set of Hey Arnold! for  $18. Which, for 100 episodes, is a pretty darn great deal. Having rewatched some of the show on Teen Nick this summer, it holds up a lot better than I thought it would (most of it, at least), so I'm glad to finally have the show on dvd. Hopefully I can give this and some of the other Nicktoons sets I have a complete watch over my winter break (which is a ways off, obviously, but I won't have time until then).

[Avaitor]

Wow, that's less than what I got my Rocko set for! I actually can't find a WalMart where I'm currently living, but for a price like that, I'd definitely consider the set.