A head of a cartoon cat that strongly resembles a certain mouse

Public Children's Television in Flanders

This is an overview of the shows I remember watching on Flanders’ public children’s channel, Ketnet, starting in the late 1990s. I draw the line roughly at 2003, when commercial networks like Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon arrived, though there’s definitely some bleed-over. This isn’t a complete history of Ketnet—just the imperfect write-up of what was memorable enough to stick in that empty head of mine.

Ketnet shared its channel spot with Canvas, which was dedicated to sports and documentaries. This meant Ketnet wasn't on all the time, and when important sports events happened, Ketnet ended even earlier than usual. How I loathed those dull tennis matches that ruined my TV evenings!

The limited options for watching meant that during this period we kids basically all watched the same things. It was a shared experience, the kind that glued playground conversations together. That scarcity gave the shows a kind of cultural weight they wouldn’t have had otherwise.

From the list below, you’ll probably recognize plenty of familiar European and Western staples. At the same time, there are surely gaps—shows that were formative elsewhere but barely registered here. We are in a certain sense culturally all Americans, and our media diet reflects that, but this cultural diffusion is perhaps more fragmentary than we often assume.

Local productions

The Big Bad Wolf Show TMDB

A puppet show I mostly remember for the distinctly weird style of its puppets.

Dag Sinterklaas TMDB

A seasonal show about Saint Nick that I fondly remember, as discussed on my holiday page.

Hopla TMDB

A CG-animated preschool cartoon that launched on Ketnet in September 2000. I was obviously too old for it by then, but I do recall my younger cousins watching it.

Karrewiet

Karrewiet was Ketnet's second attempt at a youth journal. I have no memories of its first attempt, Studio.ket, which was an experimental show aimed at teens (a demographic they had slowly phased out by the year 2000). This attempt launched in 2002, and it's still running to this day. I believe they filmed something at my primary school in 2004 or so, which was a big deal!

Kulderzipken TMDB & Liegebeest TMDB

These are two unrelated shows that kinda melded together in my mind (and my dad's), because they were both set in a castle.

Musti TMDB

This is a preschool cartoon I actually grew up with, so I probably watched it before Ketnet became a separate channel in 1997. It's visually reminiscent of Miffy and Hello Kitty. This is very long-living: it started in the late 1960s and new 3D episodes have been made since 2007.

Samson & Gert TMDB

This show ran on typical sitcom misunderstanding plotlines, which young Coby actually found rather frustrating at times, haha. This show ultimately led to the birth of Studio 100.

Spring TMDB

Starting in December 2002, this sitcom centering around a dance school and a pop band was a major hype for a while. The songs were quite catchy, as is the norm for a Studio 100 production.

Tik Tak TMDB

This is another preschool cartoon I grew up with. The visuals are very interesting, and were later remixed in a German electronic music music video

The Treehouse TMDB

This is the global village coffeehouse ideal synthesized into a kids show, and it was very influential on the young Coby. After its iconic intro sequence, Surinamese actress Alida Neslo greeted us with her customary Hey Fa!, as she hosted various clips together with a mailman character called Peter Paulus Post. The clips shown were a mix of educational content and animations from other countries. I most fondly remember the claymation Plonsters.

W817 TMDB

This show was a sitcom for teens, featuring young adults who live together in student housing. The title, when spoken in Dutch, sounds like Wacht eens even (Wait a minute). The group of young adults was rather eccentric and dysfunctional, with a gay sports student being the straight man of the group, and they sometimes tackled some heavy topics. Now, remember how I mentioned the cultural weight Ketnet shows had in this period? Yup, this show was pretty important then! On a lighter note, I also distinctly remember everyone using a very colorful iMac G3.

Wizzy & Woppy TMDB

There was something really off-putting about these overly detailed costumes. Another Studio 100 production, this one launched on Ketnet in September 1999.

Comic book adaptations

The Adventures of Tintin TMDB

I recall this being around for longer than Papyrus, and it was already an old series by the time I watched it. Regardless, this is the gold standard for comic book adaptations. This simply is Tintin!

Papyrus TMDB

Egypt was a special interest of me as a kid, and this adaptation of the Egypt-themed Belgian comic inevitably grasped my attention (as mentioned before on my LEGO page).

European productions

64 Zoo Lane TMDB

This one started airing in Spring 2001. It was created by a Belgian author who moved to England. My memories of this are hazy, and I only remembered it when I saw the intro again.

Alfred J. Kwak TMDB

This is a weird one—an anime based on a Dutch children's character… tackling themes such as the rise of Nazism and the cruelty of apartheid. Oh boy. They didn't shy away from anything. I'm also not 100% positive I saw this on Ketnet.

The Animals of Farthing Wood TMDB

The foundational experience of European childhood is being traumatized by dying animals on TV. This one was funded by the European Broadcasting Union.

Noah's Island TMDB

A more fantastical successor to Farthing Wood. I remember being fascinated by the ridiculous concept of an island-ship.

The Peppercorns TMDB

This was a dubbed show about some tweens investigating crimes? It felt like a consistent part of the schedule, but I have very few memories of this other than the intro song.

Once upon a time…TMDBTMDBTMDB

This French series was my absolute favorite (outside of the Disney Festival). It was an educational series with various iterations: one about history, one about space travel (more speculative), one about the human body. Other iterations did not get localized.

The Three Friends and Jerry TMDB

I still have no clue what this was supposed to be? It looked like a bootleg South Park. I remember disliking it as a kid, and yet they kept playing it, haha.

Watership Down TMDB

I guess they rightly concluded Noah's Island wasn't traumatizing enough, so in Spring 2001 they started airing this. I believe it was less cruel than the movie, however.

International productions

3rd Rock from the Sun TMDB

Yeah, uh, this sitcom aired on our kids' network. I have no idea why.

Disney Festival

This was Flanders' take on the Disney Afternoon, consisting of the instrumental version of the theme song, a Disney Afternoon episode, and ending with a classic Disney short. Unlike Germany's Disney Club and similar European productions, there was no local live-action host. I wonder why that was.

Incredible Story Studio TMDB

This was dubbed as Stafke's Straffe Kost starting in December 2000, named after one of the channel's presenters. I mostly remember that name, to be honest.

Zorro TMDB

The classic 1950s Disney iteration of Zorro, though colorized. I remember this being one of the last things I saw on TV on Friday evening before going to bed.

Common staples that need no further explanation

Final reflections

At the time, the arrival of Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon felt like manna from heaven. Until then, children’s programming outside of Ketnet was limited to a handful of timeslots on the commercial channels, so the idea of entire networks dedicated to cartoons was mind-blowing. In hindsight, though, I’ve come to appreciate the balance Ketnet struck: a mix of local productions, European imports, and global powerhouses. The shows themselves ranged from broadly entertaining to deeply educational. It was a rather well-balanced cultural diet, and I'm glad I got to experience it.