Periphery Demographic / Western Animation

• The classic European TV series The Magic Roundabout (known mostly to Americans through Doogal, the Macekred dub of the 2005 CGI movie, or discovering the series via YouTube) is both popular with children and with teen-to-college-age "sophisticates" who just "knew" that they were about drugs. The drug references didn't have to be genuine, the teens just had to convince themselves that they were cool enough to spot a hidden message. The English dub of Magic Roundabout did have a degree of satire aimed at the older viewers, a genuine case of Multiple Demographic Appeal, but the drug thing is an urban myth.
• The DC Animated Universe has the most intelligent, mature writing in Western Animation. So it's no surprise Batman: The Animated Series, Superman: The Animated Series, Batman Beyond, Static Shock, and Justice League have huge teen and adult fanbases. Including the comic book geeks who watch these out of sheer obligation.
• My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic is the biggest example of this phenomenon in The New '10s. A show about magical talking cartoon ponies that go on adventures and learn about The Power of Friendship, specifically aimed at young children ages 2-7. Yet the show has as many teenage and adult fans as it does child fans. While there are tons of shows with unlikely fandoms — some of which are listed here — you'd be hard pressed to find a Periphery Demographic more well-known in the New Tens than the bronies.
  • Even the writers, animators, voice actors, and staff are aware of how prominent they are and have even had episodes, jokes, and characters that cater to them. There have been a few Fandom Nods throughout the series' run, and the one-hundredth episode of the show was one the whole way through. Tara Strong has admitted she's on board with the concept, mostly since it helps to annoy her children.
  • The phenomenon has even led to a new Rule of the Internet, a (usually) G-rated parody of Rule 34:
    Rule 85: If it exists, there is pony of it. No exceptions.
• To a lesser extent, The Hub's Pound Puppies (2010) and Littlest Pet Shop (2012) have un-ironic adult fans. The same can be said for Transformers: Rescue Bots, due to its impressive voice cast and occasional pop culture references.
• Miraculous Ladybug was originally pitched as a 2D Animesque show aimed at teens, but was changed to an All-CGI Cartoon for younger children to appeal to networks. It nevertheless has a good number of teen-to-adult fans, to the point where it won the Teen Choice Award for Choice Animated Series in 2018.
• Cartoon Network is all about the Periphery Demographic. Recognizing this was what led them to create [adult swim] in 2001. Most Cartoon Network originals have scored a healthy Periphery Demographic, but just to name a few:
  • The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack, to the point of Thurop joking about a Spin-Off simply titled "K'nuckles" for the specific purpose of including more "adult" jokes.
  • The Powerpuff Girls intentionally invoked this trope in that, while being marketed to kids as a typical superhero show, it was actually a parody of its genre intended for adult viewers, chock-full of scares.
  • Adventure Time potentially outrivals Friendship is Magic at this point, and seems to be trying to set a record with the amount of sex jokes it can get away with. Too bad it can't because the show that follows it, Regular Show, broke it, and continued to do so until it ended.
  • Ed, Edd n Eddy has a large following among kids, teens, and adults as the show is more or less a reflection of the audience's real-world childhoods (as the audience probably has dealt with a-hole older brothers, scheming friends, bratty younger siblings, sleazy girls who will stop at nothing to make you their boyfriends/future husbands, Funny Foreigner exchange program kids, and weirdos who have inanimate objects for friends).
  • The target audience of Plan Bee appears to be well-meaning parents or other relatives who buy the film for their children, thinking it's the real Bee Movie. However, being very memetic due to its absurd anti-imperialist plot, hideous character design, and bees making honey by vomiting, a significant proportion of viewers watch it precisely because it's so appalling.
  • The small but vocal Time Squad fandom is mostly composed of teen/20-something-year-old fans who remember the show as children and finally see all the Ho Yay, innuendo, and assorted parental bonuses, or those who were old enough to see the Ho Yay, innuendo, and assorted parental bonuses when it first came on in 2001.
  • Teen Titans (2003): The show really treads the line on Periphery Demographics, with tongue-in-cheek call outs to comic book plots and characters along the lines of obfuscating Robin's identity via episodes with characters like Red X and Larry, and of course "Control Freak" is a shout out and/or back-handed compliment to fanboys everywhere.
  • Batman: The Brave and the Bold: A fun show based on The Silver Age of Comic Books, but it's packed with so many Mythology Gags that you'd have to be a hardcore comic book fan to get them all.
  • Young Justice (2010): It's a show about teenagers for a young demographic, but the plotlines and characters are of a quality found in most pay cable dramas. It's a common feature of Greg Weisman shows, see Gargoyles below.
  • MAD has earned some older fans because of their references to movies and shows targeted towards teenagers and adults, their tendency to make jokes that feel naughtier than expected for children, and their connections to MAD (even though the show is said to be a redone version of the FOX show MADtv (1995)).
  • Courage the Cowardly Dog seemed to have developed a following of teenagers as well as adults, mostly because kids can't watch some of the more scary content stuck in some episodes.
  • Johnny Bravo: 95% of the humor flies right over the heads of children and/or isn't considered appropriate for kids to start with. Add to that its premise ("A Casanova Wannabe who sounds like Elvis Presley tries and fails at scoring with women") and the fact that this was one of Seth MacFarlane's projects before Family Guy ^note (in fact, Seth did a lot of kids' shows before he was hired by FOX to do Family Guy, American Dad!, and The Cleveland Show) and you start to wonder whether Cartoon Network really intended this to be for kids ^note (they didn't, but this was before [adult swim], and the only adult shows they had before then were Space Ghost Coast to Coast, The Flintstones, Wait Till Your Father Gets Home and some of the anime they aired.
  • The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy is known for its heavy amount of Black Comedy.
  • Chowder in the same vein as Billy and Mandy (Helps that C.H. Greenblatt used to write for Billy and Mandy).
  • Ben 10 has a large teen and adult fanbase due to its memorable characters, fast-paced action scenes, heavy lore, dark tone and great writing. Several older fans of the series on the internet will discuss their favorite alien transformations and episodes, create new stories and lore for the series, and make their own fanmade alien transformations and characters.
  • The Amazing World of Gumball: Cartoon Network UK executive Daniel Lennard once dubbed this series as "the ultimate boys' cartoon," as it focuses on two brothers and has some crude humor in it. A cursory look at online forums and in animation magazine articles show that the series' biggest fans include families with young children, anyone who is into art and animation, and Cartoon Network's usual periphery demographic of teens and 20-somethings.
    • Medialaan (another owner of the show) used to air this on VTM Kzoom, a channel that was aimed at young children, but since they seem to think that the show is more watched by teenagers and young adults they moved it to another channel called 2BE, which aims for teenagers and young adults.
  • Steven Universe has a large young adult fanbase, as well as an even larger LGBT Fanbase. Both fanbases, and the overlap between them, were shown in an official video of Garnet's voice actress Estelle performing "Stronger Than You" while surrounded by a crowd composed largely of older fans, some of whom are holding pride-related signs. The series was even nominated for the Teen Choice Awards in 2016-2018.
  • Teen Titans Go! has two of these: An adult fanbase (mainly the target demographic's parents) whom enjoy it due to its frequent references to 80's pop culture ranging from in-jokes about The Golden Girls to a Whole-Plot Reference to The Breakfast Club, and a fanbase comprised of toddlers who watch it because of the art style being something that toddlers are drawn to. 50 Cent's son Sire is one notable fan in the latter demographic, and it made the news when he had a fourth birthday party that was themed around the show.
  • In the case of [adult swim], Metalocalypse gained a rather massive female fanbase during its run, thanks to its many Ho Yay moments.
  • Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Robot Chicken, and Rick and Morty have noticeably more fans in the 6-12 range than any other Adult Swim show, and the most common reason kids stay up to watch Adult Swim in spite of their parent's wishes is because they are fans of at least one of those shows. There was even an incident at a San Diego Comic-Con panel for the latter show, that was featured in a RebelTaxi video, where a child in the audience called Rick and Morty his favorite show of all time, causing everyone to wonder why someone this young watched Adult Swim.
  • As this video can attest, many people started watching The Boondocks far below the age of 16. This is because it was one of the few "Black cartoons."
• Rival network Nickelodeon also has this with its Nicktoons:
  • Teenage and college age viewers make up a surprisingly big percentage of SpongeBob SquarePants viewership (so much that it sometimes airs on MTV). SpongeBob is a well-written series, greatly assisted by occasional audience chemical enhancement and the use of jokes and concepts that intentionally go over younger viewers' heads. If you have ever worked in fast food like many teenagers and college students do, you can relate to what SpongeBob and Squidward go through at the Krusty Krab. Though that being said, later seasons have led to a very Broken Base, most will agree Seasonal Rot has occurred, but to what lengths is what is debated on.
    • IFC, which doesn't air kids movies at all, airs The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie for this very reason. Showtime, which also rarely airs family-oriented movies (for instance, only the A Dog's Purpose series airs as of May 2020) played the movie in the mid-2000's for the same reason as IFC.
    • For some odd reason, SpongeBob also has many fans who are toddlers, due to tons of merchandise aimed at them, and the fact that it airs immediately after the Nick Jr. block. Several studies (and Nickelodeon themselves) have proven that the show is not for toddlers, but they love it anyway.
  • Rugrats was subject to the same things as SpongeBob: older fans there for the writing and quirkiness, and some younger-than-intended viewers as well. The latter happened in no small part because the main characters are babies and toddlers, to the point where Nick Jr. once aired it, and it aired on the UK version of the channel until it was moved to Nicktoons in 2015. In Canada, the holiday specials would occasionally air on Treehouse, Canada's equivalent to Nick Jr.
  • The Ren & Stimpy Show was originally rated as U (all ages) or TV-Y7 for those in America, but the users of the commonsensemedia.com website rated it to be suitable for viewers above 13 years of age, due to its disturbing imagery (as provided by John Kricfalusi) and gross-out humor. The show is very popular among adult animation nerds.
  • Avatar: The Last Airbender gathered a large following among adults and teenagers for its more serious approach and expansive worldbuilding.
  • The same can be said about Sequel Series The Legend of Korra. To put it in perspective, the 1-hour series premiere had a 1.01 adults 18-49 rating out of its 4.5 million viewers, and another episode had almost 4.1 million total and a 1.13 adults 18-49 rating. Teenagers adore it as well, to the point that it eventually began airing on TeenNick.
  • Invader Zim had too much of this. While the show was wildly popular with teens and young adults due to its abundance of Black Comedy and sheer shock value - to the point that the character GIR became a mascot of sorts for the entire "scene" subculture, which was huge among teens at the time - the series was an absolute flop in its target demographic of kids (who likely found the show too dark to enjoy), which proved a significant factor in Nickelodeon's decision to cancel the show. The show nonetheless wound up being considered a classic, and eventually gained a comic book continuation and a movie.
  • The Fairly OddParents! started out mainly for children of elementary school age, but with its crazy characters, hilarious plots, and countless pop-culture references that children would not understand, it has become a huge hit with adults and adolescents. Creator Butch Hartman points out that the success of a show intended for children can be measured by its popularity with older viewers.
  • Iron Man: Armored Adventures has a surprisingly large female fanbase, which is usually unheard of for superhero shows, as well as a decent number of anime fans. This can probably be explained due to the series' heavy anime-influence which is popular with both unintended demographics.
  • Danny Phantom, intended for preteen boys, has multiple shades of this. A significant number of fans are female and of the college age. The show also enjoys a strong following amongst older male cartoon fans who seem drawn to the female characters' designs. There are also a fair number of fans who are LGBT viewers of various ages - particularly trans guys - who relate to Danny's struggles with being different and hiding his identity.
  • Though not as big as the ones listed, My Life as a Teenage Robot has a quite a big fanbase with teens and adults, due to its quirkiness, stylized '40s styled backgrounds, fluid animation and the most lovable Robot Girl ever graced on Nickelodeon.
  • Doug was rather popular with adults during its run on both Nick and ABC, mainly from parents who wanted their kids to watch it.
  • KaBlam! kind of inverts this. It had a pretty big audience of the usual seven to eleven demographic, though earlier, Nick was trying to target the show towards teenagers (while still keeping it TV-Y7). The show also had a solid adult fanbase.
  • T.U.F.F. Puppy has a bit of a fanbase in the Furry Fandom, thanks to its World of Funny Animals.
  • Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012) has gained an audience in this manner fairly quickly. Much like the Power Rangers Samurai example in Live Action TV, the show brought back the famous line from the original theme song and Rob Paulsen in a voice acting role as one of the Turtles; and the writers and animators have made the show more in line with the campy and colorful 1987 show. It also has gained a young adult and adult audience through its distinct take on the Turtles' origin story.
  • Harvey Beaks has been argued as the Win Back the Crowd show for the Nicktoons brand, and for good reason. This Tumblr post points out some of the reasons why the show is just as fun for adults as it is for kids.
  • The Loud House has a large following of teens and young adults that hasn't been seen since SpongeBob premiered. They enjoy it due to the show being similar to their childhoods, having great writing and humor, having many interesting female characters and breaking barriers in children's TV by addressing modern issues like homosexuality.
  • Rocko's Modern Life had a lot of this. According to Wikipedia, over a fifth of its viewers during its run were adults. Its clever writing, hilarious satire, legendary amounts of demographically inappropriate humour, and the fact that Dan Povenmire and Jeff "Swampy" Marsh worked on the show as writers helped a lot.
• The intended audience of Totally Spies! was intended to be elementary and middle school age girls, but due to the show's fetishistic overtones, the show has found its primary audience among college age males. And of course, the show is all about Valley Girls doing secret-agent stuff, fighting supervillains and cracking wise, so fans of, say, Buffy are inevitably going to love it.
• Lots of people love Kim Possible, many of them parents themselves.
  • This is evidenced by its strong showing on fan-themed sites such as FanFiction.Net where, as of March 2016, it registered over 9,400 posted stories, one of the largest listings in the Cartoon category. (A good proportion of them being Les Yay slash fics. And the writers are well aware of the popularity of these pairings.)
    • Also, this show is heavily prone to Rule 34, many of them Kim/Shego themed.
    • As well as by Disney's 2007 "Everything Kim Possible" marathon aired over several days virtually non-stop, well outside its intended "tween/teen girl" demographic hours.
• The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes has a target audience of 9-14 year old boys, but has its fair share of adult fans as well. These include Marvel Comics readers who loved finding tough and relatively deep portrayals of their favorite characters, and even some likable re-interpretations of characters they had lukewarm or negative feelings about while reading the comics. The dynamic and well-animated action sequences also helped it earn older fans. Some people say this show boasts as many universally appeaing qualities as shows from the DCAU.
  • The periphery demographic ultimately came back to bite the show in the ass. While it maintained relatively high ratings, most of the viewers were outside the show's target demo. Comparatively, the Lighter and Softer Ultimate Spider-Man continues to be divisive online, but did much better among the network's target demographic. As such, Earth's Mightiest Heroes has been cancelled, with Avengers Assemble taking its place.
  • Similarly, The Spectacular Spider-Man was aimed at young and pre-teen boys, but is quite popular with teens and adults, given its great character interpretations and development, awesome script and voice acting, great art style and animation, and wonderful tributes to classic Spidey stories and lore. It even holds a good following after its cancelation.
  • Really, most animated shows based off superhero comics end up getting a lot of older viewers, as often they follow the comics in having good characters and story arcs. X-Men: The Animated Series was a similar case, as was X-Men: Evolution. (it's often stated that out of the superhero animated shows, Evolution was the most popular with teenage girls) Spider-Man: The Animated Series was the same way.
• As of August 1, 2012, Wild Kratts had approximately 200 listed tropes on its page, 80 fanfictions on Fanfiction.net, and roughly 57 members in the #Team-Wild Kratt group on DeviantArt. That may seem small, but when you consider the fact that the show is marketed towards eight-year-olds and that some of the fanart and fanfictions rival the actual show in quality, you start to wonder.
  • It's worth noting that there's a fandom on Tumblr, with too many members to count, that grows daily. There's even a fan-made episode currently in production!
• Dinosaur Train is an educational show aimed at preschoolers, but because the science is so well presented (unlike most dinosaur documentaries), it appeals to many older dinosaur enthusiasts.
  • The fact the series shares its creator with Hey Arnold! probably led to many older people who grew up with it to discover and like Dinosaur Train.
  • Even more so with Craig Bartlett's newest series, Ready Jet Go!, due to the fact that it is very educational about space, which caught the attention of many astrogeeks. Other than that, parents of the kids that watch the show and teens absolutely love the show for its unique visual style, clever writing, amazing soundtrack, and humor.
• Peep and the Big Wide World is meant for preschoolers, but is well-liked by older audiences due to funny moments, good writing, and interesting characters.
• Nelvana's Babar series is targeted at kids 8 and under, but it has developed quite the loyal following of adult fans due to its surprisingly smart writing, effective comedy, remarkable ability to pull off drama, developed and likable characters, charming animation, numerous Shout Outs and Parental Bonuses, and for featuring both an extremely early Tara Strong role (as Child!Celeste) and an Ambiguously Gay character (Pompadour). It's also Popular with Furries, as you might imagine from a show about anthropomorphic elephants.
• Similarly, The Raccoons has a very loyal fan following among adults due to its mature yet still kid-accessible writing, which gave it solid humor, well-handled romance, genuine excitement and drama, and effectively executed themes and morals. Add to that its Awesome Music, gorgeous art, likable and fleshed-out characters, and steady but effective case of Growing the Beard, and it's pretty easy to see why the show has become so beloved by so many Canadians.
• Near the end of Bugs Bunny and Tweety's run on ABC, the show was still receiving a respectable total number of viewers, mainly outside the 2-11 audience. It was only cancelled because their contract ran up, Cartoon Network was airing most of the cartoons The Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show was airing (with most offending scenes shown uncut and uncensored), and ABC by then was airing mostly Disney-based shows.
• This was largely the downfall of many WB Saturday morning cartoons, including Freakazoid!: While older audiences would frequently tune in to watch the show on Saturday mornings, the younger audiences, towards whom the show's sponsors would try to advertise their products, weren't too interested, which led to Freakazoid's demise.
  • Same with Tiny Toon Adventures, which has a huge fanbase of both younger and older fans, and lasted about the same as Animaniacs did.
  • Animaniacs intentionally invoked this trope; it was marketed to kids, but was also intended for adults, with all its brilliant adult humor alongside the Parental Bonus to keep the kiddies entertained, which is probably part of the reason it outlived many similar shows.
    • According to this New York Times article, the show also had a huge fanbase of toddlers and preschoolers back in the day, similar to the SpongeBob and Rugrats examples above.
• VeggieTales has fans who are neither children nor religious. What's particularly impressive is that of the franchise's non-religious fans, quite a few are agnostic or atheist outright. The copious cultural-reference Parental Bonuses (which are mostly based on things popular in the 1970's, which was the time the creators grew up) probably help.
  • Similarly, 3-2-1 Penguins!, also created by Big Idea Productions.
• Little Howard's Big Question is an example of this, possibly due to "Big Howard" Howard Read being a rather excellent "grown up" stand-up comedian.
• Jane and the Dragon, which airs on cartoon blocks for elementary-schoolers, has a surprisingly broad demographic appeal. Well-developed characters, storylines that often dodge cliches, and sophisticated dialogue draw in viewers far older than the target audience. A lot of the comments for the Youtube videos say something to the effect of, "I'm [age way older than the target audience], and I love this show!"
• The Magic Roundabout - Due to its short length and its position before the Six o'Clock News, there was a huge adult following, whom got into it just because they were waiting for the News to come on. So much so that when The BBC moved it away from the News there was an outcry from the adult audience.
• South Park:
  • The show is aimed at adults, but is also quite popular with middle and high schoolers. It's also extremely popular with Yaoi Fangirls, if the amount of Slash fanfiction and fanart featuring its characters is any indication. Although, to be completely honest, the fangirls don't just get it from nowhere. The show even made fun of this in "Tweek × Craig".
  • At the same time, despite being the scourge of this very group when it first premiered, South Park has actually become quite popular with a lot of conservative Christians. Reasons include its shameless liberal bashing ^note To clarify, South Park bashes everyone equally, with both liberals and conservatives being mocked for their more extreme ideologies. Other TV shows that touch on political topics tend to bash conservatives only. This is because series creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone are centrist libertarians while most other television writers are left-leaning.), politically-incorrect humor and occasional willingness to portray religion in a more positive light (see the "Go, God, Go!" two-parter and, to some extent, "Red Hot Catholic Love").
• Jimmy Two-Shoes isn't huge but it has quite an audience with teens and adults who love its Black Comedy slapstick, the Ship Tease between Jimmy and Heloise, and the fact that it's a kids' show that takes place in what is pretty much Hell with the serial numbers filed off.
• Phineas and Ferb has a very large teen and adult following due to references that would go over the target audiences' heads, similar to SpongeBob SquarePants, which the creators had worked on earlier.
  • Aren't you a little bit old to watch Phineas and Ferb? Common response: Yes. Yes I am.
  • This can be explained by the show's surprisingly clever writing, lampshadic nature, almost constant Parental Bonus and references to things definitely not for kids,, and the fact that every episode died of trope overdose.
  • Plus, just like with every (or almost every) Disney cartoon, there are many female characters that the male viewers find hot, like Vanessa, Candace, and Stacy for example.
  • Not to mention the amazing soundtrack, a large reason on why it was so popular.
  • Its successor, Milo Murphy's Law, is popular among fans of Phineas & Ferb.
• Little Einsteins was made for preschool kids to teach them to admire the arts, whether they be musical or physical. Babysitters and parents would be around for them during the show (especially due to its sheer popularity), and admire its innovative ways of exposing kids to the arts. There are also older fans who come across the show, and make fanfictions based on it on the Internet.
• Gravity Falls has received a dedicated following of teens and adults, due to, among other things, Easter eggs and intricate plot details that may go unnoticed to the younger fans.
  • Someone asked the creator Alex Hirsch what the target demographic for Gravity Falls was, because as of season two they were pretty sure it wasn't children. Alex's response was that he is creating the type of show that he likes to watch, which explains some things.
• Dave the Barbarian. It was full of Parental Bonuses, so it's not surprising.
• W.I.T.C.H., a comic/cartoon about five girls with magical powers, has no small number of male fans, in part due to its gorgeous art (and not just in a sexual sense, either; it's essentially a series that ascends Disney fairy-tale art up to eleven), and in part due to the way its characters, though predominantly female, are also very human. The show took its appeal to the opposite gender even farther; while Blunk was not so liked, Napoleon the talking cat was a big hit, to the point that it's sad his screen antics never ascended in the comics. The show also has some very impressive action scenes.
  • That Greg Weisman, the creator of Gargoyles, had a hand in it really shows.
• Disney's Gargoyles eventually succumbed thanks to this effect. Disney wanted to sell the show to 6-11 boys, but the writing, plots, and voice actors attracted 12-34 year old sci-fi fans, especially Trekkies. Executive Meddling kicked in and fans (and the Comic Adaptation) ignored the third season.
• Recess, despite being a kid show, attracted many older fans, from teenagers to the parents of the kids who were in the target audience. The show is full of jokes that the target audience wouldn't understand and has a nostalgic feel for those who remember being in elementary school. This caused it to be the Sleeper Hit that it is. And it's just getting bigger, now that the original target audience from the late 1990s are teens or adults and still enjoying the show.
  • Apparently, it seemed as if ABC took note of this. Advertisements for Recess would often air during late night news showings or adult-oriented programing.
• The Simpsons is quite possibly the Trope Codifier for animated shows. For a series that, to judge by its general content and style when it premiered in 1989, was originally aimed at working-class Baby Boomers, The Simpsons has cultivated a massive fanbase that cuts across all (or almost all) socioeconomic, ethnic, and generational lines. Most ironically for a program that was patterned as an animated Married... with Children, affluent college students now love it because of its nerdy Author Appeal (courtesy of its team of Ivy League-educated writers); this intellectual/hipster bent was always a part of the show, but has grown more and more prominent as the years have gone by. Equally ironically, this may well bring Matt Groening's body of work full-circle, since his 1980s comic strip Life in Hell, to which The Simpsons is an obvious Spiritual Successor, was definitely aimed at cynical college kids.
  • Despite being an adult cartoon, the show has always had a huge fanbase of elementary school aged children, helped by merchandise aimed at them (such as Burger King toys, comics in Disney Adventures magazine, and even animated shorts played before animated films Ice Age: Continental Drift and ''Onward) CBC in Canada took note of this, as the show played weekday afternoons right after a block of after-school programming.
• Cyberchase is enjoyed by many teenagers and adults who started watching it in the early 2000s.
• The Magic School Bus has gained a large amount of older fans, many of whom grew up with it.
  • It's also popular among adults who work in or teach science, who are relieved to see a science-education show that actually gets things right most of the time, and clarifies when it doesn't.
• Adventures from the Book of Virtues, despite being targeted at families with children between the ages of two and nine, is enjoyed by many preteens, teenagers and young adults, particularly those who grew up with it.
• Jem and Sailor Moon in their respective eras were both aimed at young girls but also had a male fanbase (which would later be revealed through the internet, because they wouldn't admit it as kids to their friends), the male fanbase having a crush on the lead female character (or another female character) of the respective show. Jem also has a large LGBT Fanbase.
• Intentionally invoked with WordGirl, which just so happens to have writers from Saturday Night Live.
• Thomas & Friends:
  • The Britt Allcroft era has a very large amount of adult and young adult fans, many of whom grew up with the shows and appreciate the realism and storylines of the earlier episodes. There are quite a few people that happily collect the train models too.
  • Thomas and Friends has a huge following amongst autistics of all ages. The engines' emotions are easy to read through their faces, the atmosphere is relaxing, and because it's a Long Runner, there's lots of episodes, books, and lore, so folks with Thomas as their special interest are unlikely to run out of content.
  • There are also a few older kids in Japan who love Thomas, along with Curious George, due to its nostalgic feel. Both shows even got their own Happy Meal toys!
  • Speaking of Britt Allcroft, her other show, Magic Adventures of Mumfie, has a lot of teen and adult fans who admire its well-done animation and adventurous stories. Her letter on the official website is dedicated to these fans. The character of Scarecrow has attained lots of fangirls.
• Bob the Builder is so much of a one that the characters actually got to the top of the UK singles charts with the theme song and again with their version of "Mambo No. 5". The songs also appeared on the Australian singles charts at #1 and #2, respectively.
• Arthur, despite being a show directed toward preteens, has a substantial teen and adult following. This is mainly due to some very smart writing that would go over most kids' heads (such as an entire episode based on Waiting for Godot).
  • It's a show for preteens and kids, on networks solely for kids and it gets an episode that parodies various Comedy Central(!) shows. Especially notable is the South Park segment.
• This (and the fact it was not Merchandise-Driven) was what killed Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers. Gaylord (one of the production companies) wanted to attract the 7-12 year old demographic, but the show's more mature tone and Character Development attracted an audience of teenagers and young adults - not the type who would beg parents for toys. Mix this with Germans Love David Hasselhoff (the series did better in Latin America, the UK, and Germany) and Gaylord wasn't going to touch the idea of a second season.
• Many a Galaxy Rangers fan (then in their 20's and 30's) were also taping Jonny Quest: The Real Adventures for many of the same reasons they dug GR.
• Sofia the First has a Periphery Demographic rivaling other Disney shows such as Gravity Falls and Kim Possible comprised mostly of teenagers and parents of the children who watch the show. Just how huge is it? There are many Tumblr posts about Sofia done every day, adult parenting blogs mention the show being something they would watch without their kids, they buy The Merch of the show for themselves and most of all, the ratings for the show are higher than any other Disney Junior show on today in all demographics, being the highest in the 18-49 demographic. It even led to shows like Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and Jake And The Neverland Pirates getting cancelled. They enjoy it because of its great music and story lines, celebrity voices (with some being Modern Family alums) and the appearances of Disney Princesses in some episodes.
  • On the topic of Disney Junior, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse has a niche following amongst pre-teens, who seem to enjoy making "Oh Toodles" compilations on YouTube.
  • Don't forget its sister show, Mickey and the Roadster Racers, which teens and adults love for its lessons, catchy songs and memorable characters.
  • There are also quite a few Doc McStuffins fans, most of them who are African-American doctors themselves for the positive depiction of one, or are fans of the cute toy characters, mainly Lambie.
  • A few adults have been said to be fans of Small Potatoes and Big Block Sing Song, the former because the potatoes are cute and the latter because the songs, especially "Hair", are pretty awesome.
  • Kate & Mim-Mim has one, with many fans loving Tack. Of course most fans spell his name wrong.
• Atomic Cartoons' Atomic Betty and Captain Flamingo were meant to aim at kids, but its music, storyline, characters and the relationships with the characters attracted many adult fans. For the latter, it also due to its campy moments.
• Ni Hao, Kai-Lan was enjoyed by anyone of all ages due to its adorable characters, cute storyline and their politeness.
• Camp Lakebottom, although it meant to aim to kids ages 6-11. Its horror comedy-related tone, humour, storyline and characters, which are comparable to fellow 6-11 show Gravity Falls, attracted many fans over the age of 11.
  • Gretchen has been praised by many goth fans because of her personality and the way she dresses.
• Kid vs. Kat, is aimed at kids, but it's now aimed at everyone because of its humour, characters, pop culture references and storyline.
• Sidekick has a largely teenage/adult fanbase outside the children that the show supposed to aim. The reason is because of the show's parodying superheroes, technology and teen culture, as well as romantic relationships, the show's characters, well animated visuals and the extreme satire of social issues.
• Most Disney XD animated series such as Kick Buttowski, Motorcity, and Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja are targeted towards boys, but have a large amount of female fans.
  • This may have been the downfall of TRON: Uprising; Disney was aiming it for 8-12 year old boys. Considering the astonishing amount of violence, the franchise being 30 years old, and the fanbase for the actors they cast, what they got was a large contingent of adult fans, male and female.
• Even though it's a kids' show, Ruby Gloom has quite a large male following, especially with those in the goth community, because of how much it embodies the Dark Is Not Evil and Perky Goth tropes, the Cute Monster Girl characters, and how it is quite good at being funny.
• SheZow seems to have a rather dedicated LGBT Fanbase. Considering that the show is about a pre-teenaged boy who poses as a female superhero, this shouldn't be too surprising.
• Fresh TV's animated series tend to develop adult followings.
  • The Total Drama series is aimed at preteens and teenagers (11-15 year olds mainly) and airs on kids' channels like Cartoon Network and Teletoon, but it developed a significant adult following when it debuted because of how effectively it parodies reality television, how much it pushes the limits of what can be shown on kids' TV (including swearing, many sexual references, and male and female nudity), its relatively realistic depiction of teenagers, its storylines (especially the relationships), and the fanservice provided by many of the characters, both male and female.
  • 6teen, and to a lesser extent Stōked, are pretty similar to the Total Drama series in terms of target audience and have developed adult fanbases for similar reasons as well. Unsurprisingly, all three series are created by the same pair, Jennifer Pertsch and Tom McGillis.
  • Grojband isn't huge compared to the others, but despite being aimed at a younger audience than the other Fresh TV cartoons (and being created by a different pair, Todd Kauffman and Mark Thornton), it has a sizable fanbase with teens and adults due to having tons of Awesome Music, an offbeat sense of humour, and the immense amount of Ship Tease present in Corey and Laney's relationship.
• Much like Total Drama above, Detentionaire is aimed at preteens and younger teenagers and airs on kids' networks like Teletoon. However, it has a pretty significant fan following among older teenagers, college students, and adults who love its tightly-written and immensely engaging storyline and diverse cast of strong characters. There's some significant overlap with the Estrogen Brigade and LGBT Fanbase as well due to the number of attractive male characters on the show.
• Gawayn, despite being aired in few countries, receives a lot of fans due to its characters, storyline, music, writing and its beautiful designs.
• Any show by Entertainment One will be as appealing to adults as it is to children. The biggest examples are Peppa Pig and Ben and Holly's Little Kingdom. PJ Masks is also starting to gain a following among people older than the target audience, but it hasn't reached the level of the other two shows.
• Martha Speaks is an educational PBS Kids show aimed for preschoolers and always teaches children vocabulary but it is well-liked by teenagers, adults and parents because of it's sweet, funny and has clever writing.
• Miss BG has a fanbase of older teens who find the main character cute and/or the show itself reminiscent of their own childhood.
• Sagwa, the Chinese Siamese Cat is a PBS Kids show that is generally very well-liked for its good writing, likeable characters, and beautiful animation, as well as the fact that it teaches about Chinese culture.
• Dragon Tales had one too thanks to its delightful characters, nostalgic, sweet tone and adorable artstyle. Many older kids and preteens watched it, as evidenced by CBC fanmail. Naturally well-loved by many furries.
• Franklin: Parents who have seen the show with their children and enjoyed it; those who have grown up with the series; and a loyal core who appreciates it for any number of reasons.
• The original George of the Jungle (ABC, 1967-70) lost money for Jay Ward because over half of its audience were adults. The 2-to-11 demographic simply wasn't there.
• Although it's a show aimed largely at 3 year olds, PAW Patrol has been steadily receiving attention and love outside its target audience. The fact that it's a series about Precious Puppies with Transforming Mecha probably helps. Or the interpretation that the series is Thunderbirds with puppies and without extreme situations. Nickelodeon even acknowledged the adult fanbase for the show on the official website for their own resort in Punta Cana.
  • One of the adult fans of the show is Jimmy Fallon, who loves it so much that he went to one of the live shows.
  • Despite the show originally being aimed at boys, many little girls are fans of the show. This lead to merchandise being made for that demographic, as well as the introduction of Everest.
  • And now, there are T-shirts in adult sizes available on Amazon.
  • In the early years of the show (2013-14), more elementary schoolers liked the show than the intended toddler demographic.
  • Even MatPat seems to have some fondness for the show. In his "PAW Patrol Is DARKER Than You Think!" video, he says he finds it more tolerable than most shows he has to watch with his 3-year-old son Ollie, and he seems to get excited about buying a toy of the Air Patroller before adding "Ahem, for Ollie."
  • Oddly enough, many elderly people love this show, most of whom got into it due to their grandkids liking the show.
  • Not to mention, many kids grew up and stayed with the show into their teenage years and even adulthood thanks to its Long Runner status.
• Puffin Rock is an Irish animated series aimed at preschoolers, but has also gained a small following of teen and grown-up fans, a number of whom are attracted to its gorgeous art style and adorable characters. Then again, being made by the same studio behind The Secret of Kells and Song of the Sea and having Chris O'Dowd of The IT Crowd fame as its narrator helps.
• The various Noddy series have a following among adults and teens for being peaceful shows with loveable characters, entertaining plotlines and colorful animation.
• Sarah & Duck has a big fanbase of adults and teenagers because unlike most shows aimed at preschoolers, it is actually entertaining and funny.
• According to the series bible of Legend of the Three Caballeros, its "primary" demographic are 8-12 year old boys, with the "secondary" audiences being boys in other age groups and parents and the third being girls and collectors. As the show initially was only available on an app released in the UK and Philippines with nothing in the way of advertising, the "primary" and "secondary" audiences were not even aware of it until its US debut on Disney+, while the "tertiary" built itself a fandom within hours of pictures of it being made known.
• Ninjago is based on a LEGO toyline for young boys. Most of the fans are mostly female, either teenagers or young adults who are adore the mostly-male ensemble cast.
• Voltron: Legendary Defender is intended for young boys, but most of the fans are female and around their late teens/early twenties.
• The moment it premiered, the PBS Kids show Let's Go Luna! had garnered a loyal following of teens and adults thanks to being created by Joe Murray (who also created Rocko's Modern Life and Camp Lazlo), having Judy Greer as part of the cast, clever writing, catchy songs, and fluid animation.
• The Dreamstone, about the many attempts made by Zordrak to send his minions the Urpneys to steal the Dreamstone from the Dreammaker and the inevitable retrievals of said stone by Rufus and Amberley the Noops, is a children's series with a fairly cutesy and childish tone (in the parts with the good guys at least), but it has a cult following of older viewers because the Urpneys' humor is witty, the music and art are very well-done, and the show does a good job at worldbuilding.
• The Backyardigans, despite being aimed at and literally for preschoolers, is loved by all ages, especially for its songs.
• Wacky Races (2017), despite being made for younger audiences on the Boomerang streaming service, garnered a following with the online animation community (particularly young adults on Twitter) shortly before its cancellation thanks to its colorful art style, character-driven humor, and plenty of self-deprecating jokes about the reception of reboots as a whole.
• Blue's Clues got this from people who were fond of the show's energetic and cheerful host, Steve, who gained quite the following. And once the target demographic grew up, Blue's Clues & You! would have the same thing happen thanks to its containing many continuity nods to the original show, including former hosts Steve and Joe making cameos in some episodes.
• Bluey has exploded in popularity with the parents of its preschool audience, largely because adults on multiple continents can relate as strongly with Bandit and Chilli as their children can to Bluey and Bingo. Having loving parents who don't come across as absent or incompetent, not to mention the fact that they're genuinely funny, makes it a show parents enjoy watching with their kids, instead of just tolerating it.
  • The enormity of its popularity in the United States is such that when Disney Junior, Disney Channel and Disney Plus finally cleared the episode "Family Meeting", a full blown article discussing the episode in detail was published by a source unlikely to discuss any form of entertainment in detail: the American Bar Association.
  • While Disney Channel in the U.S. still regularly airs Bluey during its daytime preschool block, they have responded to the show’s popularity with adults by scheduling reruns at midnight, a time typically reserved for encores of their tween-oriented shows or nostalgic favorites.
• Blaze and the Monster Machines gets this from many parents and people older than the target demographic, since it introduces many STEM topics without talking down to the viewers.
• The Octonauts, which is aimed at a preschool audience, is equally loved by teens and parents because of its cute artstyle, fun, non-annoying characters, and its abundance of science facts, including those about creatures most shows wouldn't cover (i.e a siphonophore).
• Elinor Wonders Why manages to be cute and fun without being sappy, making it a relaxing watch for older viewers. It's also Popular with Furries due to the adorable animal characters. Even 4chan has many threads praising the show, though this isn't surprising when you consider that their mascot is of the equally wholesome Yotsuba&!.
• Green Eggs and Ham (2019) is a show for children, but it has a rather large teenage and adult fans of animation because of its clever writing and interesting stories.
• Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood has a growing periphery demographic consisting of those who remember the original Mister Rogers fondly and enjoy seeing the characters again in this new show, parents who have watched the show with their children and found it charming, and adult fans who either didn't really know the original Mister Rogers show or were only passingly familiar with it, but like the new show. Those who liked Blue's Clues and are aware that the show is being made by the company formed by its creators (and others that are aware it's also made by the folks that brought us Super Why!) may be part of the general mix as well.
• Peg + Cat seems to have a good amount of teenage fans of the show despite it being aimed at preschoolers. For instance, it's quite common to see videos on TikTok about the show, especially on tags related to PBS Kids.
  • Back when the show was popular and airing new episodes, many parents of the target demographic loved the show for its' humor.
• Pocoyo: In the UK, the show has a following among the 18-30 group due to the narration being done by Stephen Fry.
• The PBS Kids show Rosie's Rules garnered lots of acclaim with older audiences, and a 9.2/10 on IMDb at one point in time. Viewers of all ages appreciate the Mexican and blended family representation, as well as the show's comedic yet sweet nature and cute characters.
• Work It Out Wombats! garnered a medium-sized teen/young adult fanbase for the same reasons as Elinor, though not to the same extent as it - cute characters, well-done animation, and fun plots. Besides that group, there are parents who enjoy watching the show with their kids.
• As Molly of Denali is one of the few shows with Alaska Native representation, and positive representation at that, many teens and adults, native or otherwise, enjoy the show. The beautifully-colored backgrounds and lovable characters certainly help.
• Gabby’s Dollhouse, a preschool series, has enough of a teen/adult fandom for shipping Mercat and DJ Catnip to have some mileage.

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