They used to be about mindless fun, watch and enjoy - you're not learning anything, but dammit! You're having a good time. Like the Ghostbusters cartoon. I wasn't trying to learn how to trap ghosts, I just wanted to relax and let me brain chill.
Cartoons these days, wow! My daughter has a deep loving for Dora The Explorer (which teaches Spanish) and Ni Hao Kai Lan (which teaches Chinese). I don't know how the writers were able to do it, but my child actually knows Spanish and Chinese words and uses them in sentences.
It's interesting to see how far we've come.
But, I still miss Ghostbusters.