History YMMV / TheRenAndStimpyShow

** In an age where cartoon showrunners are almost household names where almost every cartoon show now comes with a "created by" credits card in its title, modern viewers won't even blink at the "Created by John K." card. What they don't know is how hard Kricfalusci had to ''fight'' to get that credit, and that his "Rock stardom" while ultimately his downfall with Nickelodeon, also re-established cartoon creators and studios as ''actual creatives'' and not just MerchandiseDriven content mills they'd been treated as from the 60's through to even the early 90's. The modern cartoon landscape, with creators being known for their shows and getting credited for them, would not exist without ''Ren and Stimpy.''

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Surprisingly, Ren comes off as this in a few episodes. Sure, he's an abusive {{Jerkass}} most of the time but there are several instances where his anger toward Stimpy, over the top as it may be, would be otherwise warranted, such as "Stimpy's Inventions" where Stimpy forces Ren to be a guinea pig despite being told no more than once or "Sven Hoek", where Stimpy and Sven trashed and/or violated Ren's things for their own amusement. One could argue that if you know your housemate has severe anger issues on top of a general derisive attitude and a history of physical abuse, both towards you, then why would you continue to [[TooDumbToLive knowingly]] do things to set him off?

** A recurring joke is the fire chief and his hatred of "circus midgets". Nowadays that word is considered a slur against little people.

** It cannot be overstated just ''how'' unlike anything else ''Ren and Stimpy'' was when it debuted. In a market that was dominated by cheap, corporate approved shows [[MerchandiseDriven based on licensed characters]], here was a show created by [[RagtagBunchOfMisfits a core team of artists]] who wrote and designed everything themselves. It was the first hugely popular TV show to be entirely storyboard-driven rather than script-driven and the focus on [[ShowDontTell visual storytelling]] pushed the limits of [[LimitedAnimation low-budget TV animation]], resulting in some of [[SugarWiki/AwesomeArt the most fluidly-animated cartoons ever created since]] UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation. To say nothing of the particular brand of [[RefugeInAudacity absurdist, politically incorrect humor]] that MoralGuardians had all but driven to extinction by that point, which both kids and adult cartoon fans embraced wholeheartedly. Everyone then [[FollowTheLeader ripped it off immediately]] and while the more blatant ''R&S'' clones like ''WesternAnimation/TheShnookumsAndMeatFunnyCartoonShow'' and ''WesternAnimation/TheWackyWorldOfTexAvery'' were dead on arrival, the fundamentals of the show (broader art, edgier humor, a singular creative vision, being storyboard-driven rather than script-driven and even grossout humor) became the norm within five years and have remained so to this day. Even as MerchandiseDriven content has crept back into mainstream animation, there's a greater focus on hiring a singular creative head to realize it, forgoing scripts for storyboards is largely preferred (if not required) and even the most economic animation is pushed to be as bold as possible.

** As with most of his work, John K.'s history of abuse, pedophilia and unchecked mental illness revealed in 2018 makes several episodes a lot more awkward than intended.
** The romantic tension between Powdered Toast Man and his implied-teenaged assistant unfortunately resembles how [[https://www.buzzfeed.com/arianelange/john-kricfalusi-ren-stimpy-underage-sexual-abuse?utm_term=.dvZvXMkKv#.xd1QbAqkQ John K. groomed two teenage animators in the late 90s and early 2000s]]. The fact that the character's secret identities are a clergyman and a Catholic schoolgirl, respectively, also comes off a lot grosser in light of the Catholic clergy sex abuse scandals of the 2000s.
** While the Games era showrunners admitted they were completely in the dark about John Kricfalusi's pedophilia until years later, making the John K ersatz Jack Cheese a Reverend, which are often tragically associated with child predators due to a long history of scandals in the church scene, unintentionally makes Jack Cheese come off as even more disturbing of a character now than he already was due to what we now know about John K, especially since Cheese puts on roadshows live for children.
** The scene in "Rubber Nipple Salesmen" where it's implied that Mr. Horse (who, let's not forget, was originally voiced by John K himself) is doing [[BlackComedyRape depraved things]] to the walrus in his house. Most of the aforementioned grooming took place in John K.'s apartment. Mr. Horse's unhinged ranting beforehand makes it feel less like a joke and more like an [[RealitySubtext on-camera confession.]]

** There's a brief scene in "Stimpy's Fan Club" in which Ren reads a letter from a girl who's implied to have an abusive boyfriend. Awkward.
** Ren's psychotic outbursts (such as in "Sven Hoek", "Stimpy's Fan Club", and APC's "Ren Seeks Help") and his generally unpredictable behavior become more terrifying than funny once you learn that John himself was suffering from ADHD and bipolar disorder, both of which went unchecked and were largely self-medicated with alcohol.
** Similar to the above, once you learn that John K's toxic masculinity was largely due to his own hyper-masculine, disciplinary father, the show's obsession with jokes about [[AbusiveParents cruel fathers]] (or "hell dads" as Creator/BillyWest called them) goes from BlackComedy to a disturbingly naked display of trauma.

** John K claimed that he got the rights to George Liquor back from the show on the conditions that Liquor "never becomes a child molester or mass murderer." While that never happened with Liquor himself, the former turned out to be the case for his creator.

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny:
** It cannot be overstated just ''how'' unlike anything else ''Ren and Stimpy'' was when it debuted. In a market that was dominated by cheap, corporate approved shows [[MerchandiseDriven based on licensed characters]], here was a show created by [[RagtagBunchOfMisfits a core team of artists]] who wrote and designed everything themselves. It was the first hugely popular TV show to be entirely storyboard-driven rather than script-driven and the focus on [[ShowDontTell visual storytelling]] pushed the limits of [[LimitedAnimation low-budget TV animation]], resulting in some of [[SugarWiki/AwesomeArt the most fluidly-animated cartoons ever created since]] UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation. To say nothing of the particular brand of [[RefugeInAudacity absurdist, politically incorrect humor]] that MoralGuardians had all but driven to extinction by that point, which both kids and adult cartoon fans embraced wholeheartedly. Everyone then [[FollowTheLeader ripped it off immediately]] and while the more blatant ''R&S'' clones like ''WesternAnimation/TheShnookumsAndMeatFunnyCartoonShow'' and ''WesternAnimation/TheWackyWorldOfTexAvery'' were dead on arrival, the fundamentals of the show (broader art, edgier humor, a singular creative vision, being storyboard-driven rather than script-driven and even grossout humor) became the norm within five years and have remained so to this day. Even as MerchandiseDriven content has crept back into mainstream animation, there's a greater focus on hiring a singular creative head to realize it, forgoing scripts for storyboards is largely preferred (if not required) and even the most economic animation is pushed to be as bold as possible.
** In an age where cartoon showrunners are almost household names where almost every cartoon show now comes with a "created by" credits card in its title, modern viewers won't even blink at the "Created by John K." card. What they don't know is how hard Kricfalusci had to ''fight'' to get that credit, and that his "Rock stardom" while ultimately his downfall with Nickelodeon, also re-established cartoon creators and studios as ''actual creatives'' and not just MerchandiseDriven content mills they'd been treated as from the 60's through to even the early 90's. The modern cartoon landscape, with creators being known for their shows and getting credited for them, would not exist without ''Ren and Stimpy.''