What's your favorite memory of watching Hey Arnold?

Dude.  Hey Arnold's been with us for over a decade.  For a lot of us, that means we watched it while we were in school.  For many, it came in later in our lives after we heard people gush about it.  Either way, I'm sure watching the show created some nice memories, and I wanted to know what they were!  Sorry, mine are going to get a bit TL;DR, so feel free to skip mine and tell me about yours!

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For me, I'm stuck between two.  The first one is just a vague one, though.  When I was in high school, Nick aired re-runs of Hey Arnold in the morning at sometime around 6.  Every morning had the same routine.  I would drag myself out of bed and into the living room where my mom would have the TV on to Nick.  As Hey Arnold came on and I was mostly awake, she would get me breakfast.  What makes this a favorite memory is the fact that whenever I was least expecting it, my mom would laugh at things that happened in the show (the living room was connected to the kitchen so she could easily see the TV).  I dunno, just the way that the show could entertain both myself and my mom....it really brought to attention how good this show is.

My second one is more recent.  It was last autumn (when I was still living in Japan), and I actually got one of my best friends (who's Japanese) to not only watch and get interested in Hey Arnold, but also marathon it with me over a weekend (plus the movie).  This is also the reason why I own Hey Arnold on both DVD and on iTunes: because I needed closed captioning to make it easier for her to understand, and the DVDs didn't come with that option.  She loved the show!  At first, I was a little worried that it would be a bit too difficult for her to watch/understand (I mean, have you listened to Helga's vocabulary? Criminy! lmao), but she really enjoyed it. She laughed about as much as I did. Her favorite character was definitely Helga, and Eugene and Arnie were her others! Her favorite episode was "Arnold's Christmas" because she loved the story (but I couldn't help but be disappoint when she didn't cry lol). The best part of the marathon, however, was when we finished watching "The Journal." Before we watched the episode, I kept saying "Oh man, we reached the last episode" or "Can you believe it? It's the last episode" to which she would reply with a "Yaaay finally! Then we can play the game (Helga's Cheese Festival)!" But.....after the whole "Grandma! Grandpa! I found a map!" spiel, she just stared at the screen slack-jawed and said "...What? What? Huh?" Then she turned to look at me, who was totes watching her for her reaction with quite the smug grin. After she asked if it really was the end, all I said was, "And now you know the rage of every Hey Arnold fan." Of course, I told her the history of TJM to which she was like "AAAAAHHHH THEY NEED TO MAKE THE MOVIEEEEE!!" (She ended up being very excited when I told her that TJM was actually happening - we made plans to watch it over Skype or something when it does come out)

Cool story, bro.

I'm smiling like a total dork and giggling after reading your story.
Question: Does Hey Arnold have a following in Japan at all that you know of?
Maybe you started one *wink.*
I don't know if I have a specific favorite memory, but the general one is this.
I had a MAJOR crush on a boy when HA! came out, and since I was actually about 9 when it came out and I wasn't going to tell anyone, I related to Helga so much. I had also liked him for "forever" since I had met him at six. Add on to that, I was a total tomboy who was more interested in competing with friends than being girly (I only had like one best chick friend and a million guy friends) and I REALLY related.
Hey Arnold was like the main emotional outlet for my pre-teen heart.
Don't get me wrong, though, I still loved the "non-Helga" episodes. One that I always remembered was "Stoop Kid." Classic Arnold.

Hahaha I'm glad you enjoyed it!

I don't think it has that big of a following. However, I am aware that it aired in Japan (one of my Japanese coworkers recognized it when she saw my sketchbook doodles and you can see Helga's confession in Japanese on YouTube), but I'm not sure if it was huge. Maybe I did start something! lol

Wow, the similarities between you and Helga are uncanny! What ended up happening between you and that dude? Did you ever tell him? (I know you're married now, but still)

LOL actually we ended up dating when I was 13. I had been keeping my feelings secret, but one day I saw him looking at me a certain way. So that gave me courage to tell my secret to a friend. Well, they ended up telling him. But it worked out for me.
We were an item for a while, but I broke it off. Then after a bit I started dating this other guy. Ironically, I still had feelings for my "Arnold", but a big part of the reason I never dated him again even after a couple of years and even after dating someone else and after still caring about him for so long,  is because-- again, ironically-- I had too much respect for him and cared about him too much to pull him into my "baggaged" world.
I had "daddy issues" like Helga too, I guess LOL.
Funny thing is, I know he would have taken me back at any point.
Actually, I never stopped having feelings for him, still loved him, until just within the last year. We moved away from that place when I was 16, and I'm 26 now, but it's only recently that I can finally say I'm not in love with him anymore.
I was finally able to "let him go" when I found out he was engaged. At first I was concerned (and maybe a little jealous which is sooooo not cool since I've been married for several years and I do love my husband,   ), until I messaged him on social media and he said he was very happy and that she truly loved him. After that, I was finally able to close that chapter.
Maybe part of me just continued hanging on to feelings because I was waiting on him to finally be happy too? Or maybe it took so long because, like I said, I know he still cared about me? Kind of like when Lila says she only had feelings for Arnold because she thought he liked her first? IDK
But that is why I always listen when kids and teenagers say they love someone. Like, 90% of the time it's just a crush or lust or something like that, but because of my own experiences I know it's not impossible for a "child" to sincerely love someone.
TL/DR, right? But that is the full story.
At least I didn't build a shrine. Haha!


Even if it's not that big in Japan, the fact that there may be even just one Hey Arnold fan there is pretty satisfying.

Oh wow, what an interesting story! It's amazing how someone can stay in our hearts for that long. And, I must say this again, but your story sounds remarkably like Helga's! I'm glad you could end that chapter; I bet it helps with all kinds of things.

Yeah, I think kids are to be taken seriously, and I wish that more adults did.

My favorite memory of HA! besides first seeing it was when I'd get the chance to watch it, it was usually at my grandparents' house in Connecticut and sometimes I'd watch it on the TV in the den which was a little fancy looking and kind of made the whole experience memorable, I guess it was because it kind of resembled the inside of the Sunset Arms?

I also remember buying issues of Nickelodeon Magazine in vain hope there was something Hey Arnold! related, even if it was just one piece of Helga art in a corner (I had a hopeless crush on Helga when I was young) and I can recall most of the comics popping up in a few of the issues I had. I think there was also a promotion for the movie at Big Boy (a chain of restaurants) and I held onto the kids' menu because I was that excited for it.

I remember watching "Field Trip" at a younger age, but I really don't remember anything else (I was more of a CN person at the time, I guess?), so I'm guessing this is my favorite memory?

Jfgoofy wrote:I remember watching "Field Trip" at a younger age, but I really don't remember anything else (I was more of a CN person at the time, I guess?), so I'm guessing this is my favorite memory?

It could be a recent/memory event if you like? I don't think it has to be from your childhood.

theintangiblefriends wrote:

Jfgoofy wrote:I remember watching "Field Trip" at a younger age, but I really don't remember anything else (I was more of a CN person at the time, I guess?), so I'm guessing this is my favorite memory?

It could be a recent/memory event if you like? I don't think it has to be from your childhood.

Yeah, of course it can!  Heck, my second instance was from less than a year ago!

Hmm, this memory wasn't a favorite at the time it happened, but it's one of my favorites right now.

On Christmas Day of 2002, my family was at my grandma's condo (with extended family members as well), and we were watching a bunch of Christmas cartoons on Nickelodeon that evening. "Arnold's Christmas" came on and unfortunately for me at the time, was disinterested. Even though I loved the show a few years prior, after getting into anime titles like Akira and Doomed Megalopolis in the summer of that year (those two are still among my favorites in anime, but that's another kettle of fish), I arbitrarily clung to this idea that I wasn't supposed to enjoy cartoons like Hey Arnold because their target demographic was kids (I was 15 and desperately wanted to be seen as an adult by my peers at the time). I remember one of my female family members (probably one of my aunts) tearing up at the moment Mr. Hyunn was reunited with Mai.

Looking back at that moment, it was not only moving in and of itself, but showed that an animated show with such "cartoony" aesthetics targeted primarily for kids can pull off dramatic stories with an execution that's far superior to the vast majority of anime titles geared for adults, which was essentially the exact opposite of what I believed that one Christmas.

SkepticalMetalhead87 wrote:Hmm, this memory wasn't a favorite at the time it happened, but it's one of my favorites right now.

On Christmas Day of 2002, my family was at my grandma's condo (with extended family members as well), and we were watching a bunch of Christmas cartoons on Nickelodeon that evening.  "Arnold's Christmas" came on and unfortunately for me at the time, was disinterested.  Even though I loved the show a few years prior, after getting into anime titles like Akira and Doomed Megalopolis in the summer of that year (those two are still among my favorites in anime, but that's another kettle of fish), I arbitrarily clung to this idea that I wasn't supposed to enjoy cartoons like Hey Arnold because their target demographic was kids (I was 15 and desperately wanted to be seen as an adult by my peers at the time).  I remember one of my female family members (probably one of my aunts) tearing up at the moment Mr. Hyunn was reunited with Mai.

Looking back at that moment, it was not only moving in and of itself, but showed that an animated show with such "cartoony" aesthetics targeted primarily for kids can pull off dramatic stories with an execution that's far superior to the vast majority of anime titles geared for adults, which was essentially the exact opposite of what I believed that one Christmas.

That's so stinkin' sweet. Makes me wanna tear up thinking about your aunt tear up.