> trying to get 12 year old me into old junk like pink panther or whatever cartoons were watched in the boomer era

I caught a few of them in reruns in the 80's, and for a long time, I assumed those were what the Pink Panther was.

It wasn't until college that I learned about the live-action Inspector Clouseau movies that the cartoons came from. They're amusing farces, and still hold up pretty well. (Though honestly, the Marx Brothers hold up better.)