The Cartoon Network Series That Traumatized ’90s Kids Is Heading to Free Streaming

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Published Feb 21, 2026, 6:20 PM EST

Rohan Naahar is a Weekend News Writer for Collider. From Francois Ozon to David Fincher, he'll watch anything once.

He has covered everything from Marvel to the Oscars, and Marvel at the Oscars. He also writes obsessively about the box office, charting the many hits and misses that are released weekly, and how their commercial performance shapes public perception. In his time at Collider, he has also helped drive diversity by writing stories about the multiple Indian film industries, with a goal of introducing audiences to a whole new world of cinema.

Millennials who grew up in the 1990s are going to have a terrific time in March, as scores of Cartoon Network shows head to a free streaming service for fans both old and new to enjoy. Classic cartoons such as Dexter's Laboratory, Ben 10, and Ed, Edd n Eddy, are going to be available after being removed from the HBO Max streaming service over the last few years. Among the slate of shows gearing up for a release in March is perhaps one of the strangest cartoons ever made. It certainly wasn't intended for kids, combining surreal comedy with dark humor and a tone that would probably make David Lynch take notice. The show aired 52 episodes across four seasons, from 1999 to 2002.

The show is Courage the Cowardly Dog, which followed the misadventures of the titular dog and his humans, Eustace and Muriel, on a Kansas ranch in the middle of nowhere. Courage the Cowardly Dog probably set the template for something like Rick & Morty, but it was a considerably stranger experience than anything that came after it. Created by John R. Dilworth, the show was pitched to Cartoon Network with a standalone short that was eventually nominated for an Oscar; it ended up losing to the Wallace & Gromit film A Close Shave. The show followed a "Monster-of-the-Week" format, in which Courage used his wits to hoodwink bizarre villains, generally without Eustace and Muriel's knowledge. Eustace, in fact, was quite mean to Courage, often spooking him with a scary mask and referring to him as "You stupid dog."

Here's the Streaming Platform 'Courage the Cowardly Dog' Is Heading to

Ranking the show's scariest episodes for Collider, Mariana Delgado wrote, "It had some of the most disturbing, grotesque characters and narratives that bordered on being questionably appropriate for children. Some episodes were entirely unsuitable, for sure. It wasn’t traumatizing in nature. It was simply odder than anything else at the time, and its longevity hinges on that." Along with several other shows from the era, including the classics Batman: The Animated Series and The Powerpuff Girls, not to mention fellow cult classic Pinky and the Brain, Courage the Cowardly Dog will debut on the free Tubi streaming service on March 1. Stay tuned to Collider for more updates.