Animaniacs

Animaniacs was produced by Steven Spielberg in 1993 as a deliberate revival of Looney Tunes energy, and it went considerably further than that. The Warner siblings are chaos agents with no goals, and the show is structured as a variety programme so it can do absolutely anything for seven minutes.

Its real reputation comes from how much it smuggled past the censors and over the heads of children. There are jokes in Animaniacs that a nine-year-old cannot possibly understand and a thirty-year-old cannot believe aired. The show knew exactly what it was doing.

It also taught a generation genuinely useful information through song. The nations of the world, the American presidents, all fifty state capitals - set to music at a tempo that made them impossible to forget.

Yakko's fast-talking, Wakko's appetite and Dot's cheerful vanity give the trio three distinct comedic registers, which is why they never get repetitive.

This collection covers all three Warners. Hello, nurse.