You may attribute all of the wild antics and off-the-wall sketches featured on Animaniacs to its genius team of writers and animators, but it was actually the United States Government who gave us some of the most nonsensical scenes in the show’s history.

Toward the end of many episodes, Yakko, Wakko, and Dot would often be found running through the park, before the eldest Warner sibling remembered that the trio (and their viewers) needed to learn a lesson before leaving.

Out would roll the Wheel of Morality, ready to bestow upon them a glowing nugget of knowledge to use in their daily lives. Yakko would always reel off his signature ditty as he gave the Wheel of Morality a spin. “Wheel of Morality turn turn turn, tell us the lesson that we should learn.”

When the wheel, a parody of the Wheel of Fortune with spaces for free trips to Tahiti and bankruptcy, would land on a number, a small printer off to the side would spit out the lesson for Yakko to read.

“And the moral of today’s story is,” Yakko said. “If at first you don’t succeed, blame it on your parents.”

Because all of the lessons were random and made no sense, one could genuinely wonder what the point of them was, beyond sneaking in a bonus laugh or two at the end of the episode. But they were never really for the viewer, anyway, as it turns out. The Wheel of Morality’s true purpose was to fulfill a required obligation to the FCC, even if the show mocked the stuffy federal media watchdog while doing so.

With the introduction of the Children’s Television Act by Congress in 1990, studios dealt with increased regulation around their programming aimed at younger generations. The government wanted more educational programming that would further “the positive development of children 16 years of age and under in any respect, including the child’s intellectual/cognitive or social/emotional needs.” And in 1997, channels were required to fill at least three hours of their schedule every day with this moral-driven content.

The team behind the show used the Wheel of Morality segment to ensure Animaniacs would count toward the network’s three hours of daily government-mandated children’s programming. In one episode, Wakko and Dot even voice their displeasure with the Wheel of Morality, telling Yakko that none of the lessons make sense and asking whose idea it was to include the segment in the show. When Yakko answers, “the executives at the Fox Kids Network,” the two younger Warner siblings clearly recognize who signs their checks and subsequently change their stance on the Wheel of Morality.

While the Animaniacs openly mocked the government for meddling with their show and requiring that it teach something to viewers, they couldn’t help that it actually did. Between all of the laughs and satire, the Animaniacs gave viewers some very valuable lessons that still hold water today — unlike Yakko, Wakko, and Dot’s home.

Two of the most important lessons we can learn from the Warners and their gang of misfit cartoons are simple but profound, words to live by even when you grow up.

First, don’t let anybody keep you tucked away in the shadows. Grab the spotlight, you deserve your shine, too. Yakko, Wakko, and Dot were locked away in the Warner Water Tower for decades, only to escape and immediately create one of the most beloved animated comedies of all time. Escape your water tower.

And finally, never take yourself too seriously. While the current climate doesn’t really allow for you to walk around saying “Hellooooooo Nurse” to every beautiful woman you see, there is still plenty to be learned from the Animaniacs’ can-do attitude and willingness to turn every moment into a laughable one. Tell a joke, play a prank, unleash your inner Warner brother (and sister).

• The core animation for the segment rarely changed, just the number the wheel would land on and the corresponding voiceovers, sometimes a changed reaction but mostly always the same. This goes to show how much thought was being put into the Wheel of Morality — virtually none.
• The wheel landed on the number 2 most frequently, and never on 7 or 8. It also never landed on Bankrupt, except for once in an Animaniacs comic book, where the Wheel of Morality struck bankruptcy and an anvil falling onto everyone but Yakko, Wakko, and Dot.
• In a nod to the wheel’s inspiration, Wheel of Fortune, Wakko asks to buy a vowel in one of the segments before Yakko reminds him that’s a different wheel.