Childhood TV Shows That Were Way Weirder Than We Remember

Every once in a while, an old cartoon theme song will get stuck in my head and live there for days. More often than not, it's the Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers TV show theme from the early 90s.  The Duck Tales ditty is another one that my brain catches onto, and I will hum that sucker on repeat for a whole day or more.

However, a theme from way waaaaaay back in my memory popped up over the weekend as I was putting away laundry. I couldn't remember all of the lyrics, so I was just singing "Dumbo's Circus da da da da da da," it was SO RANDOM. And then I thought to myself, ya know, I don't ever hear folks mention this former Disney show or see it on the internet anywhere.

Dumbo's Circus TV Series

Was it really a show or did I dream it up? It was a little strange, but super cute and fun!. The premise was Dumbo characters helping each other out of predicaments and performing various talents and songs. The part that made it a little weird was that the characters were live-action. Not with any of this fancy CGI help either. They were people in lion, monkey, cat, and elephant costumes dancing around.

As you can see, it really was a show on The Disney Channel. You may remember Dumbo and his pals from either its initial run from May 1985 to May 1986 or from reruns through the 90s.

Get our free mobile app

It got me thinking of other television series from that time period that I don't really hear people reminiscing about. Some of them are so weird that they make you wonder who in the world came up with the concept. Did the creators have bizarre fever dreams that they brought to life?

Today, at a work party, somehow the old Nickelodeon show, Weinerville, came up in conversation. Half the room had no idea what some of us were talking about. The host of the show, Marc Weiner, pretended to be different characters. He was a puppet, but his face was stuck in a hole on a tiny body. If you've ever wondered why Millennials are the way they are:

For your next rabbit hole adventure, here is a great video compilation of weird kids' shows that we all loved and some we didn't realize were bonkers until we got older: