I feel like we had some good 'toons in my time - Robotech was pretty amazing... The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle - was pretty incredible as it offered something for both high-and-low brow audiences. Mr. Peabody, Dudley Do-Right... Even some of the "SuperFriends", X-MEN, and Spiderman early animated efforts - were quite good.
I still like "Adult Swim" type cartoons as well... I just never found Spongebob to be very intelligent in its stories and all... I probably should have given it more time...