The First Season episodes are my favorite
I think the show got a little more 'immature' after the First Season. Did anyone else notice that?
shareI'm on season 2 Now and it's ok so far.
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MovieChat Forums > Hey Arnold! (1996) Discussion > The First Season episodes are my favorit...
Yeah. I like most of the episodes(last season or so was pretty bad) but I do know what you mean about the 1st season seeming more mature. Not to say the other seasons don't have serious episodes, but they were more "cartoony" whereas season one seemed like it could have been a live action show. I noticed many of the those episodes were based around urban legends which I thought was cool.
"You can never have enough big white belts."-Big Bob Pataki
I feel the first season was more 'real' in terms of how they were supposed to act as kids, and character development..
The more personalities you have the less boring you are!
Mine too.
shareAgreed.
It had its moments after the first season ("Quantity Time" from season 2 is arguably the best of the series for me), but I think most of the highlights after season 1 were the comedic episodes.
Season 1 did both the comedy and the drama well. After season 1 they started going for the more surreal stories.
I think the last season is downright inferior quality to the rest.
I wonder why after Season 1 they started making the show more 'weird'? In my opinion the show got more childish after Season 1 and by the last season it had lost a lot of it's quality.
shareJoe Ansolabehere, who wrote several episodes in the first season, said a turning point on the show was "Pigeon Man" from season 1, which was when he says they started to go into the "magical world" and he lost interest and left the staff.
Now, personally, I think that particular episode is pretty well done, but I think Ansolabehere was right about the eventual direction the show wound up going.
While "Pigeon Man" doesn't bother me as far as a "magical world" story, I thought the "Monkey Man" thing they did later on was stupid.
And a lot of the outrageous stuff they did after season 1 I can only view as comedy. The career day episode, for example. Outrageous stuff that doesn't hit on anything remotely pertaining to real life, but it was kind of funny in its ridiculousness.
Some of my favorite first season episodes are Downtown as Fruits, Eugene's Bike, 6th Grade Girls, Helga's Makeover, Operation Ruthless, The Little Pink Book, Roughin' It, Arnold's Hat, Pigeon Man, Cool Jerk, Magic Show, and Olga Comes Home. In my opinion these are the best episodes and like someone else said the show seemed almost like it could be 'real life' and some of the stories had important morals to them like "Cool Jerk" the moral is "Choose Your Friends Wisely."
The Second Season had a few gems namely "What's Opera, Arnold?", "Helga's Love Potion", and "Gerald's Secret." But mostly after the first season the show started getting surreal and kind of stupid and it had a lot more fart jokes and whatnot in it.
I also didn't like a lot of the new characters they introduced: Monkey Man, Chocolate Boy, Big Patty, Lila...all completely unnecessary additions to the show.
Yeah looking back it seems like it had better episodes and character development.
Lose the Game!!!!!!!
Well, really, only Arnold, Helga, Gerald, and Mr. Hyunh in Arnold's Christmas, got any real significant character development in the first season. Season 2 + actually develops more of the characters and spotlights some of the more minor ones as well. I mean jeez most of Season 1 has Harold, as a bully, and Sid and Stinky as his accomplishes, whereas in the later seasons, we actually see episodes focused on them individually, and their given specific traits.
Not to take away from season 1 mind you, since the stories did seem a little more quieter, I just prefer later season for really developing most of the supporting cast.
I wasn't waiting, I was just sitting and breathing. Got a problem with that?
I think the first three seasons had the most iconic episodes. Most of them from those seasons were far more memorable to me, even years later.
"Arnold, my love, why must I worship you...and NEVER EVER tell?"
I have to go against the general opinion in this thread and say that the first season is my least favorite of this show. Sure, it was good for a starter. But I have to agree with poster, who has pointed out that many characters became more developed as the time passed by.
I think I even have to disagree with the seemingly popular opinion here, that the first season was so more realistic than the later ones. Yes, there were a few weird episodes. But at the same time, most of the regulars became more fleshed out. Just look at Helga and her family. Yeah, the Patakis were dysfunctional. But when it really matterered, they were still there for each other. And Bob and Miriam both got one episode each, when they were able to connect with Helga. But it took more than one season to get there. And many others of Arnold's and Helga's class mates got spotlight episodes, when we got to know them better. Even a scum like Oscar could be made more likable, when he was in the spotlight.
It has been years though since I last watched the earliest episodes of "Hey Arnold", so maybe I have forgotten some great things about them...
Intelligence and purity.
The 1st season episodes had a gritty feel to them, and not in that annoying "everything needs to be dark, gritty, & angsty because Batman" way that the internet seems to love. The 1st season was gritty but it felt very natural, rather than feeling forced & trying to appeal to an audience and/or trying to imitate another gritty work of fiction. If I could use words to describe season 1 I would say: realistic, natural, warm, quiet, somewhat dark, & gritty.
That being said Nickelodeon probably was part of the reason as to why the series sorta changed after season 1. In season 1 Stinky had spiked black wristbands, and from season 2 onwards they were gone.