20 Years Ago, Avatar: The Last Airbender Changed Kids' Shows (And Television) Forever

"Avatar: The Last Airbender" premiered on Nickelodeon 20 years ago, with the two-part opener airing on February 21, 2005, and the third episode following just four days later on February 25. I was in the second grade at the time, and I learned about the show on the playground. Instead of pantomiming lightsaber battles or whatever passed for football in the second grade, my two best friends told me that they wanted to play "Avatar: The Last Airbender." I didn't watch Nickelodeon, being more of a Saturday morning 4Kids loyalist myself, but you can't admit something like that at recess, so I played along and tried to pick up the "rules" of hurling pretend wind and fire at each other.

That summer, I caught a rerun of "Avatar" Season 1, Episode 6, "Imprisoned," while flipping channels on vacation. By the time the show came back from its mid-Season 1 break in September, I was already hooked, having caught the story up to that point via out-of-order airings of the earlier episodes. After the Season 1 finale sufficiently blew my mind as a newly minted nine-year-old, I bought the whole first season on DVD so that I could catch up in order. That was a lot of money back then (a $50 box set), but I saved and watched the whole thing multiple times before Season 2 premiered.

Why the obsession? Because there simply wasn't anything like "Avatar" happening in kids' media back in 2005. It was unprecedented for an American show, bringing high-concept fantasy worldbuilding, heavy themes, spectacular animation, and overarching storylines to an era of Nickelodeon defined by gak and episodic groaners (albeit some good ones). Two decades later, you can still feel the influence of "Avatar" on kids' media and on TV in general.

When "Avatar" premiered, Nickelodeon had a reputation for episodic cartoons like "SpongeBob SquarePants," "The Fairly OddParents," and "Danny Phantom." Its rival Cartoon Network was going in a bit more of a narrative direction with series like "Teen Titans" and "Ben 10," but those shows still worked from a base framework that allowed for out-of-sequence reruns, rather than necessitating fans to tune in week after week. This was also true of 4Kids shows like "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles." The closest thing to "Avatar" that existed on American kids' networks at the time was localized anime, with shows like "Naruto" and "Yu-Gi-Oh!" being particularly popular.

"Avatar" took clear inspiration from Japanese animation, but it was also very different from the typical shonen series that were popular outside of Japan at the time. Rather than a series of duels or fights, "Avatar" Book 1, "Air," still kept the more episodic model of other domestic cartoons, but with an overarching journey as the core cast traversed the world over the course of 20 episodes. The show gained a reputation for stylish action and strong comedy, and after it proved to Nickelodeon that the high-concept fantasy setting could work, Season 2 took flight with much more of an overarching story.

As a kid, it was appointment viewing TV — something that simply didn't exist in the cartoon space. When Appa got kidnapped midway through Book 2, it was months before he came back. And when Season 2 ended with a staggering defeat and a massive cliffhanger, I started pouring over message boards, theory-crafting what might happen next.

In America, unfortunately, animation has historically been looked down on. It's seen as a children's medium, perfect for Disney movies or Saturday morning cartoons, but subsidiary to the more "mature" style of live-action shows and films. That's started to change in more recent years as anime has become more popular in mainstream American culture, and with big movies like "Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse" breaking down barriers. Still, the live-action remake remains a successful model in part because many see it as legitimizing stories that were formerly just for kids.

"Avatar" may have aired on Nickelodeon, but it was a show for all ages — one that parents could watch with their kids and appreciate on a deeper level. While Book 3 was airing, my family moved into a bigger house in the same neighborhood to make room as my little brothers were getting older. For the first couple of weeks in the new house, we didn't have cable. But because the old house hadn't been sold yet, and since it was right up the street, my parents very graciously drove us there each week with a tiny flatscreen TV and a cable, so that we could plug it into a vacant living room and watch the latest episodes on the floor as they aired.

While they obviously did this mostly for my benefit, they've continued to revisit the show over the years since I've left home, even tuning in for the live-action Netflix "Avatar" adaptation. There was something apparent in the show — a clear reason why I had to watch it live and not be spoiled.

The legacy of "Avatar" is most clearly seen in the ongoing strength of the franchise. The show spawned a sequel series in "The Legend of Korra," which continued to push the boundaries of what a kids' show could be, as well as numerous comic books and novels. Now, the animated arm of the property is preparing to return with the theatrical film "Aang: The Last Airbender," as well as the recently announced show "Avatar: Seven Havens," which will follow the next Avatar after Korra.

"Korra" also anticipated the streaming era in many ways, with shorter seasons and a target audience that blurred the line between kids and adults. Nick didn't really know what to do with the show later in its run and ended up airing episodes online instead of on TV, as that's where a lot of the mixed audience was. In the modern streaming age, a show like that would thrive, but it was revolutionary (and somewhat confounding, like its predecessor) at the time.

But the legacy of "Avatar" is more than just Nickelodeon turning a hit into a franchise. Cartoons like "Adventure Time," "Gravity Falls," "Steven Universe," "The Owl House," "She-Ra and the Princesses of Power," and even shows like "Arcane" might have never had the chance to breathe if not for "Avatar." The series proved that children's animation could be a space to explore heavy topics, plot multi-year storylines, and build deeply intricate worlds with detailed lore. It's a legacy that can be felt through the whole industry today, and if we're lucky, it'll last another 20 years.