* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: The theme song [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJY5FmInSDE needs to be heard to be believed!]]
* CantUnHearIt: If you watched the cartoon first, then you may have trouble reading the books without hearing Creator/KathleenLaskey as Mrs. Jewls or Creator/DeniseOliver as Maurecia ({{adaptational personality change}}s notwithstanding).
* CultClassic: When it originally aired on TV, the pilot episode and the show itself had mixed reactions, and the series developed some pretty strong detractors (mainly those who grew up with the books and disliked the changes). However as years pass by, the series has gained a noticeable fanbase from those who grew up with the series or have little to no familiarity with the books.
* EnsembleDarkhorse: Any of the minor students, mostly Jenny and Shari.
* GeniusBonus: In the episode "Music Lessons," Stephen, a student obsessed with Halloween and cosplay, plays a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theremin theremin]]. Not only is the theremin a fairly obscure instrument, it's most well-known for its bizarre, eerie sound, often used in older sci-fi and horror movie soundtracks.
* HilariousInHindsight: In the PilotMovie, Creator/MichaelCera plays Todd, a dorky ginger-haired boy with a blue-haired rollerskating love interest. Five years later, Cera would play [[Film/ScottPilgrimVsTheWorld Scott Pilgrim]], a dorky ginger-haired guy with a (sometimes) blue-haired rollerskating love interest. Who has to fight her ex-boyfriend, Todd.
* NightmareFuel:
** In "Kindergarten King", after Todd saves a kindergartener's stuffy, all of the kindergarteners make him their king and obsessively serve him to the point that they won't let his friends get any where near him.[[SanitySlippage Todd is left rocking around in the corner of the kindergarten castle and singing Patty Cake.]]
--->'''Kindergartener:''' Why would you need friends when you have us?
** The ending of that same episode, where Kidswatter finds his stuffed teddy bear and the kindergarteners watch from behind the window. He understandably hides back in his trash can.
--->'''Kidswatter:''' I wuv my stuffy.\\
'''Kindergarteners:''' And we love our stuffies too.
* RetroactiveRecognition: Creator/MichaelCera plays Todd in the PilotMovie, being one of several Creator/{{Nelvana}} cartoons he did voice work in as a child until he broke out into Hollywood acting.
* SeasonalRot: Fans consider season 2 to be inferior, due to the downgrade in the show's animation and the humor becoming less clever.
* SoOkayItsAverage: The general consensus on ''Wayside'' is that while its extreme divergence from the books makes it one of Creator/{{Nelvana}}'s less stellar entries in its long history of making {{Animated Adaptation}}s of kids books, the show is still pretty decent on its own merit and can be very funny and clever sometimes.
* SuspiciouslySimilarSong:
** The show will often play what is essentially not ''even'' this trope, but essentially an '''exact''' cover of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btPJPFnesV4 Eye Of The Tiger]] by Music/{{Survivor|Band}}, but with the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KdEz98TIPw&t=271s chords changed]].
** This [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UogTvz50eo&t=350s background track]] that sounds similar to "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6FBfAQ-NDE Just Can't Get Enough]]" by Music/DepecheMode.
** Another [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJjcbvmimWw?t=395 background track]] sounds slightly similar to "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Zbi0XmGtMw&t=27s We Like To Party]]" by the Vengaboys.
** Even more egregiously, this [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tg82Gqd3QkU&t=115s background track]] sounds almost '''exactly''' identical to the intro of "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FOUqQt3Kg0 Respect]]" by Music/ArethaFranklin, even being in the same key.
* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: To be expected when it's a series based on a beloved kids' literature series. For some fans, they cite that making a TV show off it did have merit, but the execution was a bit lacking and wished it followed the books more closely. Some likewise weren't keen on the simplistic animation used in the show, feeling it didn't really convey the quirkiness of the school and the characters.
* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Any student who isn't Todd, Maurecia, Myron or Dana barely had a role in one episode at best.
* TheWoobie: Todd for constantly getting sent home on the kindergarten bus. It's even moreso than the books, [[AdaptationPersonalityChange due to Todd being the]] OnlySaneMan, and him being [[DoubleStandardAbuseFemaleOnMale subjected to]] [[{{Tsundere}} Maurecia's]] abuse.
%%** JerkassWoobie: On the other hand, Maurecia can be this.
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