The world of celebrity merchandise can be a weird and wonderful place. From perfumes to action figures, stars often try to capitalize on their fame. But sometimes, this ventures into the realm of animation, with results that are often… less than stellar. Many of these cartoons were aimed at kids, hoping to tap into their undeniable purchasing power.
However, a catchy theme song or a famous face doesn’t always make for good TV. In fact, some celebrity cartoons were downright bizarre. Get ready to take a trip down a very strange memory lane as we look at 10 celebrities who got their own truly terrible cartoons.
Mister T
It’s still a mystery why Mr. T’s animated persona was dubbed “Mister T.” Riding high on his A-Team fame and wrestling appearances, the actor surprisingly didn’t find the same magic in animation. The show, which ran from 1983 to 1986, featured live-action segments with Mister T himself. These bits often shared moral lessons or safety tips, a common practice in ‘80s cartoons to appease censors.
The animated parts followed Mister T and his team of young gymnasts as they solved mysteries. These adventures were quite varied, from tracking down his iconic gold chains to exposing an insurance fraud scheme. Despite its three-season run, it’s remembered more for its odd premise than its quality.
ProStars: Michael Jordan, Wayne Gretzky, and Bo Jackson
What if you took three of the biggest sports legends and made them cartoon crime fighters? That was the idea behind ProStars. It featured basketball’s Michael Jordan, ice hockey’s Wayne Gretzky, and multi-sport phenom Bo Jackson. Together, they battled villains, solved mysteries, and even promoted environmental awareness.
Produced by DIC Entertainment, this early ‘90s cartoon unfortunately only lasted for a single season in 1991. While the stars themselves didn’t voice their animated counterparts, they did appear in brief live-action Q&A segments with kids. Their responses were often amusingly short. Despite some talented people behind the scenes, ProStars remains a curious footnote in cartoon history.
Macaulay Culkin (Wish Kid)
After charming audiences in movies like Home Alone and My Girl, Macaulay Culkin was a megastar. So, a cartoon series seemed inevitable. The result was Wish Kid, where Culkin voiced Nick McClary. This character, loosely based on Culkin’s on-screen image, had a magic baseball glove that could make wishes come true.
Culkin introduced each episode in a live segment, and his younger sister, Quinn, even voiced Nick’s sister in the show. This wasn’t Culkin’s only brush with animation trying to capture his fame; he later starred in The Pagemaster, a live-action/animated film. Wish Kid itself was a fairly standard affair that didn’t quite capture the magic of its star.
MC Hammer (Hammerman)
Hammerman stands out as one of the more peculiar celebrity cartoons. Based on MC Hammer, who at the time had only one major album, the premise was certainly unique. Stanley, a rec center worker, transforms into the superhero Hammerman by putting on magical talking shoes. Yes, you read that right – his shoes would detach their soles and speak to him.
The show aired briefly between 1991 and 1992, and it seems to have largely vanished since. Finding full English episodes today is a challenge, with most available versions being foreign dubs. It’s a strange piece of pop culture ephemera that pushed the boundaries of weird for celebrity tie-ins.
Gary Coleman (The Gary Coleman Show)
Gary Coleman was a massive child star, a true TV phenomenon of his era. His cartoon, The Gary Coleman Show, was born from his movie The Kid With The Broken Halo. In this Hanna-Barbera production, Coleman voiced Andy, an angel-in-training sent to Earth to earn his wings by helping children solve their problems.
Each episode featured Andy facing off against Hornswoggle, a small devil character attempting to lead him astray. This classic good-versus-evil setup provided simple moral lessons. Though it only ran for one season of 13 episodes, its reruns kept it on air for years, even appearing on Boomerang as late as 2006.
Chuck Norris (Karate Kommandos)
Chuck Norris’s animated venture, Karate Kommandos, seemed like a guaranteed hit in the action-crazed ‘80s. It had Chuck Norris! It had a Marvel comic tie-in! It had an action figure line! Yet, this Ruby-Spears production lasted only one season before fading into obscurity.
The problem? The concept itself wasn’t particularly strong. While live-action segments featuring Norris bookended each episode, the animated core was weak. Chuck led a team of rather generic characters against equally uninspired villains, one of whom was simply named “The Super Ninja.” The show suffered from a lack of imagination that even Norris’s star power couldn’t overcome.
Hulk Hogan (Rock ‘n’ Wrestling)
Imagine a Saturday morning filled with not just Hulk Hogan, but a whole lineup of 1980s WWF superstars like Andre the Giant and Roddy Piper! That was the promise of Hulk Hogan’s Rock ‘n’ Wrestling. The show depicted good guy wrestlers clashing with their villainous counterparts, punctuated by live-action comedy skits featuring the actual wrestlers.
However, the fast-paced world of professional wrestling, where allegiances shifted frequently, proved problematic. By the time episodes aired, wrestlers might have switched sides or even left the company. This cartoon was a key part of the WWF’s broader strategy to brand wrestling as “sports entertainment” and push its stars into mainstream media.
Jackie Chan (Jackie Chan Adventures)
Jackie Chan has a knack for extending his brand beyond films, often with surprising quality. His animated series, Jackie Chan Adventures, which ran from 2000 to 2005, is considered by many to be a genuinely good cartoon, though its inclusion on a list of celebrity tie-ins highlights the trend itself. In the show, an animated Jackie, an archaeologist, discovers magical talismans linked to the Chinese zodiac, leading to globetrotting adventures.
The series featured unique new characters alongside some inspired by his movie roles. A notable touch was the live-action Q&A segments at the end of episodes where Chan discussed Chinese history and culture, offering more than just safety tips. While perhaps not “terrible” in the way others on this list are, it’s a prime example of a celebrity lending their likeness to the animated world.
Roseanne Barr (Little Rosey)
Roseanne Barr was a sitcom queen in the ’80s and ’90s, with her show Roseanne offering a groundbreaking look at American working-class life. Why anyone thought this would translate well into a children’s cartoon is a bit of a head-scratcher. Yet, Little Rosey was born, featuring a young version of Roseanne and child counterparts of characters from her sitcom.
The show only managed one season. Rumor has it that Roseanne clashed with network executives over creative control. A pilot for a second, rather meta season – where cartoon Roseanne and friends would take over a cartoon land to stop network interference – was reportedly scripted but never saw the light of day.
Pamela Anderson (Stripperella)
Pamela Anderson’s foray into animation, Stripperella, was a product of the wild early 2000s. Created by none other than Stan Lee, the show featured Anderson voicing a superheroine who was also an exotic dancer. Yes, you read that correctly. The show aired on Spike TV, a channel known for its adult male-oriented programming.
Stripperella was one of Spike TV’s first original programs. It aimed for risqué humor but often missed the mark, with storylines involving things like exploding breast implants. Despite its edgy premise and celebrity backing, the show failed to find a lasting audience, becoming a bizarre relic of its time.
These celebrity cartoons serve as a fascinating, if sometimes cringeworthy, reminder of how fame can lead to some truly strange creative decisions. While some were forgettable and others actively bad, they all share a common thread: an attempt to translate star power into animated gold, often with hilariously misguided results.
Which of these terrible celebrity cartoons do you remember? Or is there another one that scarred your childhood? Share your thoughts in the comments below!
