Animaniacs, the 1990s cartoon produced by Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment, was a callback to the entertainment industry's past, but its sensibilities were also ahead of their time. In retrospect, the frenetic screwball comedy seems like a precursor for everything from30 Rock toRick and Morty, not to mention most of Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network's next decade of programming. And like some of those series,Animaniacs seems to have had difficulties drawing the line between parody and poor taste. Despite a style of humor that functioned on two intellectual levels (one meant to go over its grade-school age audience's head), the production team ultimately decided that one character was just too racy for the show's brand ... and it's probably not the one you're thinking of.

The series was famous for lovingly skewering Hollywood iconography and the tropes of television and movies. It premiered on Fox Kids in 1993 and ran for two seasons before moving to Kids' WB, where it aired until 1998, for a total of 99 episodes.Animaniacs starred three siblings of indeterminate species - Yakko, Wakko and Dot - who've involuntarily taken up residence in the water tower on the Warner Bros. lot, but perpetually escape to cause the studio mayhem. The Warner brothers and sister were a kind of zany glue that held the show and its many characters and locales together. It played like something between vaudeville and sketch comedy, popping in and out of different eras, and even genres.

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Sometimes the trio interacted with recurring characters, but sometimes those skits existed independent of the exploits of Yakko, Wakko and Dot. Those characters included Slappy Squirrel, Pinky and the Brain, the Goodfeathers, Dr. Otto von Scratchansniff, and Hello Nurse. Hello Nurse spoofed the concept of the bombshell in that she was incredibly competent (the show made of point of explaining she was actually a genius), yet she only elicited reactions for her impossible beauty from male characters. Hello Nurse appeared in dozens of episodes throughout the series' lifespan.

Minerva Mink was another sexy female character, but unlike Hello Nurse, Minerva gave writers, animators, and producers second thoughts. According to show creator,Tom Ruegger, the character originated from a well-meaning place. He writes, "Paul Dini came up with the initial concept for Minerva, and it was based on reversing the gender on the Tex Avery Wolf, who would go into extreme wild takes when he saw a particularly hot babe. Minerva was a female version of that sort of over-reacting, hot-to-trot character."

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Originally named Marilyn Mink as an homage to Marilyn Monroe, Minerva (voiced by comedian Julie Brown) was drawn to be extremely voluptuous, so much so that animators had to edit out her cleavage at one point. But it wasn't just her hypersexualized appearance that didn't work within the context of the show. In theory, a female character should be able to be the dominant force in any given dynamic as often as male characters are. In execution, Minerva was problematic. Instead of flipping the script as to who pursues who in a romantic relationship, the anthropomorphic mink (who also changed size and appearance sporadically in her two episodes and few cameos) became a one-note joke. Unlike Hello Nurse, she had no real redeeming qualities, and only served as a gag having to do with the reactions she elicited from men. She was portrayed as gold-digging and vapid. In the end, it was decided that the character didn't add anything of value to its target audience.

Animaniacs has been rebooted and will premiere this November 20th onHulu. Steven Spielberg and Amblin/Warner Bros. will be at the helm again, and most of the original voice cast will return. Minerva Mink, however, will not. As Hello Nurse and Minerva Mink demonstrate, the line between smart comedy and offensive use is trickier than one might think. The team behindAnimaniacs figured that out early in the show's initial run, and it appears they've taken the lesson to heart in planning its encore.

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