"Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!" (ABC, 1969-1971)

Matt: I always liked the guest star episodes. I remember thinking that the one with Batman and Robin was the coolest thing ever when I was a kid. I didn't even know who Don Knotts and Phyllis Diller were, other than that they were on "Scooby-Doo." When I saw Don Knotts on "Three's Company," he was the guy from "Scooby-Doo."
Tom: I think Bob Newhart and Tim Conway were on "Scooby-Doo" as well.
Alex: "Scooby-Doo" was also cool because of the mysteries. Every episode was a different mystery.
Corey: Though they were always such preposterous mysteries. Like the one in the ice cream factory, with the chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry ghosts.
Douglas: What I remember is that in every episode they were like, "Run for your life, it's a ghost!" No, just like the last 50 mysteries you solved, it's a guy in a suit!
Matt: I also never understood why Shaggy ate dog food [Scooby Snacks]. Even as a kid, I didn't understand how someone could think dog food tasted good.

"The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show" (NBC, 1959-1973)

Matt: My dad loves that cartoon but I can honestly say I've never enjoyed watching an episode.
Alex: I'm with you on that.
Tom: I think it was a little too old for me. Though I liked the talking squirrel.
Douglas: Yeah, when I was a kid I just could not care.
Matt: Though if we ever do a sketch about it we're going after Robert De Niro.

"Thundercats" (syndication, 1985-1986)
Tom: That show had the best opening credits of any cartoon. And you were so pumped up after watching them because it was so action packed, but then the show would start, and it was never as good as the credits.
Matt: There's another show that is so much more awesome in my memory. We watched it again when we were doing a "Thundercats" sketch, and first of all, Snarf might be the most annoying character.
Douglas: Yeah, you watch it now, and it's just so ... slow ... "Lion-O. The. Thundercats. Are. In. Peril ..." "Oh. No. Get. The. Sword. Of. Omens ..." "You. Got. It. I'll. Be. Back. In. An. Hour ..."
Matt: Lion-O, for me, has been completely reinvented by Seth MacFarlane [who does Lion-O's voice on "Robot Chicken"]. He makes Lion-O sound like a complete dick, and it not only redefined Lion-O's personality, but it also affected all the other characters. Like when we did the carpool sketch, Donald Faison, who did the voice of Mumm-Ra, did something different with that voice because of Seth.
Tom: Yeah, he made him all nervous. "We are so late ..."

"He-Man and the Masters of the Universe" (syndication, 1983-1984)

Douglas: That was one of those '80s cartoons that had a really large cast of characters.
Corey: Because then they could have a lot of toys.
Matt: Yeah, but it was the toys that really got me. The Castle Greyskull and Snake Mountain play sets were the coolest things going on. I used to have my other action figures play in those play sets.
Alex: See, I was into "Star Wars," and "Star Wars" was just so much cooler that it's hard to even compare it to ["He-Man"].
Douglas: "He-Man," to me, was always fascinating because they'd always have characters in the background, but to save money, they would just stand there and not do anything. Except once in a while, they would blink. And I would stare at the background characters, waiting for them to blink.

"G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero" (syndication, 1985-1986)

Matt: Seth [Green, "Robot Chicken" co-creator] is more protective of that property than even Hasbro is, and he knows more about it than anyone else on staff. I mean, he knows all about the joints on the action figures from that line. It's absurd. Though all that means is that he's very concerned with making those sketches as funny as they can be. He becomes a lot more hands-on with those sketches.
Tom: But Seth is the most protective out of all of us when it comes to the cartoons we do sketches about. We did a sketch about the show "M.A.S.K." [syndication, 1985-1986], but we had Matt Trakker driving the wrong car. It looked almost the same but it wasn't the same car, and that bothered Seth way more than anyone else.
Matt: But it goes further than that. Whenever we do a sketch based on some toy from the '80s, we modify or built our own versions because it just makes them easier to animate. But with the "G.I. Joe" sketches, it was all about using the actual toys.
Douglas: Yeah, we had to spend a hundred or so dollars to get the right Snake Eyes. Though it should be said that those G.I. Joe action figures are actually legendary [among toy fans]. They were incredibly poseable.
Corey: Yeah, they blew "Star Wars" toys out of the water.