Pepper Ann

This is the funniest family friendly cartoon out there. Pepper Ann is your basic 7th grade girl who is full of character. The show focuses mainly on the relationships she has with her family (single mom and younger tomboy sister) and her best friends (Nicky the perfect girl and, my favorite character, Milo the sensitive yet odd and goofy artist). My other favorite characters include Dieter, the chubby foreign exchange student, and Mr. Phinky, the tragically hip civics teacher.

If you want a break from the vulgar antics of "South Park" and "Family Guy", but want a step up from "Winnie the Pooh" and "Pokemon", check out "Pepper Ann".

Every night I watch Pepper Ann on Toon Disney. The characters are fun and realistic. The stories have important messages without being preachy and the characters actually learn and change. Unlike most shows that seem to have a formula for their episodes each Ep of Pepper Ann is original and fresh.

I recommend this show for anyone who enjoys shows that make you think while giving you a good time.

Absolutely light-hearted, fun and imaginative! I love Peppie, Milo, Nicky, Moose! Unlike other Disney shows, the one-parent family is realistically portrayed and the kids are actually funny. I especially like the real-life aspects of the show... the divorced parents, Jewish mom and Catholic dad, the over-achieving best friend, the sexually ambiguous little sister... These elements combined with the cartoonish comedy make for some hilarious situations. Not to mention, Pepper Ann's theme song is great, great, great! It never succumbed to crazy gimmicks, spin-offs or new "very special" characters. Maybe it's not as sophisticated as Doug, but Pepper Ann is a heart-warming and uplifting show, great for younger and older kids... and much older kids. I'm glad Disney still keeps it in rotation. This is one of those kids' shows that actually leaves you entertained after a half hour.

There are a few cartoons that I used to watch even in my late teens, as I always thought they were some of the greatest shows left on television. Stuff like 'Mad Jack the Pirate,' a short-lived Fox cartoon, 'Eek the Cat', and 'Bobby's World' (I assure you, it's only coincidental that these are all Fox cartoons).

But Pepper Ann was gold for me. This little Disney diddie is about 7th grade red-head, Pepper Anne, and her adventures involving her friends, Nikki (Von Oy) the obsessive compulsive brain, and Milo (Cooksey), Pepper Ann's artistic friend. And, there's the rest of the gang like Ober, the fat german kid, the twins, Pepper Anne's sister Moose (it took me a while to figure out that Moose was her sister and not her brother), and the kid with the braces, who Pepper Ann likes.

I think this Pepper Ann was based on the Pepper Ann character that Lily Tomlin used to do where she used to sit in that huge rocking chair. I know that previously, ABC tried to do a mix live-action and animation version of the show in a Paddington Bear type of style. But I seem to remember that version lasting only a few episodes. But this Pepper Ann is fully animated, and one of the best cartoons I've ever seen.

I think I really admired this cartoon because it was so packed with humor (especially subtle super-humor) and intelligence even when the characters were involved in the most outrageous situations. I just wish Disney hadn't done away with the show. It was simply fantastic.

The Saturday this was supposed to have premiered on was the same day as Princess Diana's funeral, so ABC preempted it and debuted it a week later as part of their "One Saturday Morning" and I fell in love instantly. In my opinion, this was Disney's best animated show since "The Disney Afternoon" heyday of the late 80s, early 90s with such classics as, "Gummi Bears", "Chip N' Dale, Rescue Rangers", "Tale Spin", "Darkwing Duck", "Goof Troop" and "Bonkers." To see Disney return to their roots, if only for a brief moment, was wonderful.

However, due to some stupidity at the Disney corporate level, "Pepper Ann" was cancelled in February 2000 and relegated to "Disney's One Too", a daily version of "One Saturday Morning" that aired on UPN stations. This was a great show and not one to be shot down so quickly. How "Recess" managed to last so long with their most recent episodes being three years old already and their not-too-appealing movie is a sin.

If crap like "Teacher's Pet" (which flopped) and "Recess" (which I was a fan of in the very beginning) can get the big screen treatment, then why not "Pepper Ann"?