History AdultsAreUseless / WesternAnimation

* ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'': This is probably one of the best examples of this in media, as aside from the fact that the adults are never shown physically throughout the series, the titular trio's parents also don't seem to be cognizant of their troubles.

** Eddy probably has the worst parents of them all. His brother has bullied him all his life, and their parents did ''absolutely nothing'' to stop him, possibly due to obliviousness[[note]]That said, they ''do'' show ToughLove for them, and are shown to displine him to not be his brother[[/note]].

* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'': All of the adults have become complete idiots in recent years who will follow anything anyone with a microphone or megaphone says, even if it's really dangerous or completely idiotic. Even Lois is now incompetent, turning Brian into the OnlySaneMan, and he too flip-flops between that and this trope with startling regularity.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'': Every adult (or anyone above 10, really) is either incompetent (Mr. Turner, the Mayor), clueless (Mrs. Turner, Principal Waxaplax), indifferent (the Dinklebergs, the Buxaplentys), cowardly (Vicky's parents), or flat-out evil (Crocker, Doug Dimmadome). Even on Yugopotamia, Mark's parents are utterly useless in an emergency (such as the Gigglepie invasion or the attempted assassination of Grippulon). Fairy adults (bar Cosmo) seem fairly competent, albeit eccentric. The Show ''is'' a parody of abusive, negligent, self-centered modern parents, after all, to the point that Timmy has to dream up fairy-''godparents'' since he's functionally an abused orphan.

* ''WesternAnimation/RyanDefratesSecretAgent'': Averted. Deb Defrates, despite not having any previous experience, becomes a valuable ally to her son because of her cautious approach.

* ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'': This is probably one of the best examples of this in media, as aside from the fact that the adults are never shown physically throughout the series, the titular trio's parents also don't seem to be cognizant of their troubles. Ed's mother apparently favors his little sister over him, and his dad is implied to be little more than apathetic of his kids, let alone his son. Edd's parents are hardly ever there for him and only communicate through sticky notes. Eddy probably has the worst parents of them all. His brother has bullied him all his life, and their parents did ''absolutely nothing'' to stop him. On top of all that, the kids seem to take great pleasure in unnecessary cruelty towards the Eds, and the adults don't seem to punish them in any way for their troubles. [[spoiler:This is taken further in the movie, where the kids actually tried to ''murder'' the Eds due to what their scam did to them.]]

** Principal Damocles shares Ms. Bustier's problems and is easily cowed by Chloé's ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections routine.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'':

* ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'': This is probably one of the best examples of this in media: Aside from the fact that the adults are never shown physically throughout the series, the titular trio's parents also don't seem to be cognizant of their troubles. Ed's mother apparently favors his little sister over him, and his dad is implied to be little more than apathetic of his son. Edd's parents are hardly ever there for him and only communicate through sticky notes. Eddy probably has the worst parents of them all. His brother has bullied him all his life, and their parents did ''absolutely nothing'' to stop him. On top of all that, the kids seem to take great pleasure in unnecessary cruelty towards the Eds, and the adults don't seem to punish them in any way for their troubles. [[spoiler:This is taken further in the movie, where the kids actually tried to ''murder'' the Eds due to what their scam did to them.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'': Aside from the fact that the adults are never shown physically throughout the series, the titular trio's parents also don't seem to be cognizant of their troubles. Ed's mother apparently favors his little sister over him, and his dad is implied to be little more than apathetic of his son. Edd's parents are hardly ever there for him and only communicate through sticky notes. Eddy probably has the worst parents of them all. His brother has bullied him all his life, and their parents did ''absolutely nothing'' to stop him. On top of all that, the kids seem to take great pleasure in unnecessary cruelty towards the Eds, and the adults don't seem to punish them in any way for their troubles. [[spoiler:This is taken further in the movie, where the kids actually tried to ''murder'' the Eds due to what their scam did to them.]]

** Gabriel Agreste and Audrey Bourgeois are both [[AbusiveParents abusive]] to their children, with the former [[spoiler:even being the show's BigBad]].

** Ms. Bustier is seen as the CoolTeacher by her class, but employs a teaching philosophy that leaves the class bully [[KarmaHoudini completely unchecked]] and is easily duped by [[ConsummateLiar Lila]], leading to a ''lot'' of hardship for Marinette.

** Principal Damocles, shares Ms. Bustier's problems and is easily cowed by Chloé's ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections routine.

* ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'': Pick any adult, and more often than not they'll be this trope. You have Lieutenant Raincomprix, the epitome of PoliceAreUseless who sees nothing wrong with the [[AllTakeAndNoGive abusive friendship]] his daughter is in; Ms. Bustier, who's seen as the CoolTeacher by her class, but employs a teaching philosophy that leaves the class bully [[KarmaHoudini completely unchecked]] and is easily duped by [[ConsummateLiar Lila]], leading to a ''lot'' of hardship for Marinette; Principal Damocles, who shares Ms. Bustier's problems and is easily cowed by Chloé's ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections routine; Andre Bourgeois, who easily caves into his daughter's selfish demands (turning her into a SpoiledBrat) and has proven ill-suited for his mayoral job time and time again; and Gabriel Agreste and Audrey Bourgeois, both of whom are [[AbusiveParents abusive]] to their children, with the former [[spoiler:even being the show's BigBad]]. And those are just the ''consistent'' examples; other adults can be useless or not depending on what each episode's plot requires.

* ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'':

* ''WesternAnimation/MoralOrel'':
** Pick ''any'' adult and you'll find some degree of uselessness or {{Jerkass}}ery. Topping the list, however, are Orel's parents. His dad Clay injured Orel on a hunting trip and got so madly drunk that even CheerfulChild Orel was forced to see his father for what he was; Orel's mother, Bloberta, took over 10 episodes to realize their younger son Shapey got switched with Block, the younger son of their {{Distaff Counterpart}}s the Posabules. Then there's the overall neglect of Shapey and Block, which consists of doing nothing while they play with any dangerous device you can imagine (and some you can't).

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'':
** Episodes featuring the Cutie Mark Crusaders will often feature this to one degree to another, such as the first such ep having well-meaning teacher Cheerilee inadvertently create the insult "Blank Flank" for kids without a Cutie Mark.

* ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'':
** Adults are so useless that, outside of a handful of scenes in the animated specials, they never appear onscreen or have any lines. Their voices are simulated by a muted trombone.
** That is taken from the comic strip, which was done that way to keep eye-level with the kids. Taller adults would have not worked in that format. For those keeping score, adults were shown in the comic strip a grand total of three times: the first two times, only their legs could be seen due to the perspective of the panel being drawn at the height of Charlie Brown and Lucy, and the third time showed them as indistinct figures in the background. The first few years of the Peanut strip did occasionally feature speech bubbles from off-panel adult characters, however.
** This trope was always played straight in the strip, however, as the general message is that the kids are on their own to fend for themselves -- particularly via their various philosophical musings and Lucy's "Psychiatric Help" stand.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'':

* ''WesternAnimation/RudolphTheRedNosedReindeer1964'': With the exception of Mrs. Donner, Yukon Cornelius, and King Moonracer, every adult is rather unsupportive towards Rudolph regarding his problems. Comet in particular ''shuns'' Rudolph after the latter is made into a laughing stock due to his exposed red nose. Even SantaClaus himself isn't innocent, as he openly tells Donner that he should be ''ashamed'' of Rudolph's disorder.

* ''WesternAnimation/RudolphTheRedNosedReindeer1964'': With the exception of Mrs. Donner, Yukon Cornelius, and King Moonracer, every adult is rather unsupportive towards Rudolph regarding his problems. Comet in particular ''shuns'' Rudolph after the latter is made into a laughing stock due to his exposed red nose. Even [[SantaClaus Santa]] isn't innocent himself, as he openly tells Donner that he should be ''ashamed'' of Rudolph's disorder.

* ''WesternAnimation/RudolphTheRedNosedReindeer1964'': With the exception of Mrs. Donner, Yukon Cornelius, and King Moonracer, every adult is rather unsupportive towards Rudolph regarding his problems. Comet in particular ''shuns'' after the latter is made into a laughing stock due to his exposed red nose. Even [[SantaClaus Santa]] isn't innocent himself, as he openly tells Donner that he should be ''ashamed'' of Rudolph's disorder.

* ''WesternAnimation/RudolphTheRedNosedReindeer1964'': With the exception of Mrs. Donner, Yukon Cornelius, and King Moonracer, every adult is rather unsupportive towards Rudolph regarding his problems. Comet in particular ''shuns'' after the latter is made into a laughing stock due to his exposed red nose. Even [[SantaClaus Santa]] isn't innocent himself, as he openly tells Donner that he should be ''ashamed'' of Rudolph's disorder.

** ''Magazine/{{Cracked}}'' parodied it with the kids doing things like smoking and sticking scissors in their eyes, while their parents left for Mexico. The parody ended with them being taken to court for criminal negligence, but getting pardoned because the judge thought [[WhatMeasureIsANonCute the kids were so ugly, no sane person would want them.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButthead'': The titular characters are left unattended at home, and the adults are either irresponsible, ignorant, or helpless when it comes to managing them.

* ''WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButthead'': The titular characters are left unattended at home, and the adults are either irresponsible, ignorant, or helpless when it comes to dealing with them.

* ''WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButthead'': The titular characters are left unattended at home, and the adults are either irresponsible or ignorant when it comes to dealing with them.

* ''WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButthead'': The titular characters are left unattended at home, and the majority of the adults they come across are either irresponsible or ignorant about how to deal with them.

* ''WesternAnimation/InspectorGadget'': The action in every episode revolves around the comically inept title character unknowingly putting himself in grave danger while his ten-year-old niece and canine sidekick have to protect him from himself and solve the case all by themselves. ''Other'' adults (e.g. DaChief) tend to be competent and intelligent, however, so Gadget is the exception in this universe, not the rule. Possibly his idiocy stems from having a helicopter in his head.

* ''WesternAnimation/ParadisePD'': While the titular police force are already corrupt, irresponsible idiots, the other adults don't come off as much better, being equally stupid and amoral. Even Mayor Karen Crawford is a CorruptPolitician who is eager to legalize meth and narcotics as long as it increases her profile.

* ''WesternAnimation/ParadisePD'': While the titular police force are already corrupt, irresponsible idiots, the other adults don't come off as much better, being equally stupid and amoral. The only sensible adult in the show is Mayor Karen Crawford, a CorruptPolitician who is eager to legalize meth and narcotics as long as it increases her profile.

* ''WesternAnimation/ParadisePD'': While the titular police force are already corrupt, irresponsible idiots, the other adults don't come off as much better, being equally stupid and amoral. Even Mayor Karen Crawford is a SleazyPolitician who is willing to legalize meth as long as it makes her numbers go up.

** This trope was always played straight in the strip, however, as the general message is that the kids are on their own to fend for themselves-- particularly via their various philosophical musings and Lucy's "Psychiatric Help" stand.

* ''WesternAnimation/ParadisePD'': While the titular police force are already corrupt, irresponsible idiots, the other adults don't come off as much better, being equally stupid and amoral. Not even Mayor Karen Crawford is exempt from this, being an alcoholic, drug-addicted hedonist who frequently abuses her position in one way or another.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Brickleberry}}'': If an adult isn't an unscrupulous sociopath, then they are complete idiots who frequently create more harm than good with their incompetence and recklessness. While Ethel is technically the only responsible adult in the show, even she gets roped up in the others' shenanigans every now and then and has little control over their antics.