2008 killing off cartoon blocks with a passion

D

danielgauss

New member
KidsWB = died in 2008
4kidsTV = died in 2008
Toonami = died in 2008

2008 really did take its toll. 3 blocks that have been around for years have all hit the grave. Very sad.
 
You neglected to mentioned that all of these blocks were faltering in quality in recent years and their ratings had taken a dramatic dip. So I'd call them mercy killings. Would you rather they had stayed around and continued to hemorrhage money and ratings?

Again, networks don't cancel blocks just to spite us or destroy peoples' childhoods. TV is a business, like any other; in business, if someone or something isn't pulling their weight, the higher-ups get rid of them. Plain and simple.

All of these blocks had good runs, and I'd personally rather they go away than stay around and become dismal shadows of their former selves.

Folks, we're talking about programming blocks, not people. As long as there's still other outlets for people to get their cartoon fixes like cable, the internet, DVDs and the internet, I don't see what's so "sad" about it. Kids aren't necessarily being deprived just because they're getting something different than what we got.
 
Its sad, before you know it cartoons will be a thing of the past on some networks, I still remember the days when cartoons were played both on mornings and afternoons everyday...

:(
 
Why should kids worry about network cartoons anymore when they can sleep late on a Saturday, wake up at noon and turn on Spongebob or Fairly Oddparents on Nick, or whatever Cartoon Network, Toon Disney, Nicktoons Network or Boomerang might be airing. Same deal on weekdays.

Network cartoons are fast becoming a thing of the past. Yeah it stinks but that's just what's happening. And no, it's not happening because the networks hate you, or your childhood. Just covering those bases before someone inevitably brings it up again.
 
It's kinda sad but i have to agree with DarthGonzo. Speciality channels like Disney Channel, Nicktoons or CN played cartoons full-time and they have better ratings than in the saturday morning lineups. Airing a cartoon show in a conventional channel today is a big risk today.
 
No, they won't. Granted, cartoons on the big networks are going the way of the do-do, but there's still 24 hour animation channels like Cartoon Network, kids' channels that prominently feature animation like Nickelodeon, On Demand, the internet and DVDs. Cartoons will be just fine.

Not trying to be a jerk here, but quite frankly, I'm getting just a little bit tired of people moaning about these program blocks that are over 5 years old going away. Toonami was on CN for 11 years. ELEVEN. That's a long time for a program block to be around. People also tend to forget that Toonami was around a couple of years before it died. Toonami's lineup got bad the last couple of years, which is what prompted CN to drop it.

Also, I'm tired of people berating the networks who make these decisions by claiming that they are "taking away their childhoods" and calling them "mean" for taking their favorite shows and blocks away from them. "Mean"? What are we, in elementary school? The networks couldn't care less about your feelings or about your childhoods. Like Silverstar already said; entertainment is a business, like any other, and the decisions that they make are business decisions. If you run a company, and someone on your staff routinely doesn't live up to expectations, then you have no choice but to fire that employee. It's the same way with network programs and programming blocks; these blocks were no longer the big ratings grabbers that they once were, and you're no longer pulling your weight, you've got to go. Period. that's all there is to it. It's business. Never personal.
 
Yup.

And it doesn't help (at least in my opinion) that networks offer almost no variety in what they air. If I was a kid, and wanted to (gasp) watch funny cartoons in the vein of Animaniacs or Tiny Toons I'd really be out of luck as network cartoons seem to aim only at the action crowd. The only thing that I've watched (cartoon-wise) on network TV since Animaniacs ended was Tom and Jerry Tales.
 
Actually, Toonami lasted for eleven years, which only accentuates your point even more. That's longer than most shows (and even some stations) have been on the air.

And your argument can also apply to the "AS hates anime fans!!!!" crowd.
 
For whatever reason, the network did drop the ball when it came to providing a variety of the types of shows that audiences wanted to see. Some of them eventually just gave up and began running blocks of the shows that kids could see anytime on cable. ABC Kids is just Disney Channel on ABC, and CBS aired Nick Jr.'s lineup for a couple of seasons. The networks no longer offered an alternative to the cable channels. You want sad? That's sad.

EDIT: My mistake. Toonami ran for 11 years, not 8, as I originally typed. Fixed.
 
Which they dont. They pick on them - because many hardcore anime fans tend to make themselves easy targets - but they don't hate them. Believe me, if anime suddenly spiked in popularity it would be all over adult swim. It has nothing to do with how the programmers at AS feel about anime and it's fans and everything to do with ratings and money.
 
I agree. The only thing that's "sad" about this is how low the network schedules have seeped in quality over the years. There was a time, when Kids' WB and Fox Kids were in their heyday that you could get a mix of programming: comedy, action, mystery, horror, educational. But as the years went on, network execs got greedy and only became interested in whatever's hot this week. Believe it or not, Suits, some people don't like just wall-to-wall action cartoons all the time. Lack of variety is a MAJOR factor as to why many of these blocks are going away. Like Blackstar said above, it's gotten so bad that the braodcast networks nowadays would rather just recycle a cable channel's schedule or just run outside acquisitions or an entire block of E/I programming (i.e. Qubo and KEWLopolis) than actually put forth an effort to make quality shows kids and others would actually like.

If that's the future of network programming blocks, then I don't mind seeing them go.
 
Again, this is why I eventually stopped watching network kid's cartoons. Look at the Saturday morning schedules, or what passes for them. Really, take a good look at them and compare them to what was airing 10-15 years ago when we actually got a variety of programming. When light and goofy cartoons like Animaniacs, Pinky and the Brain and Disney shows were allowed to rub elbows with the likes of Pokemon and Batman.

Seriously, I know there are lots of people here who religiously watch what's airing now and actually like all of it. But the lack of variety is depressing. Think about it. What types of cartoons are doing the best on cable? Spongebob and Fairly Oddparents. What has notoriously struggled? Action. So why are network cartoon schedules nothing but action? It doesn't make sense.
 
Even if action shows get low ratings, they generally make up for it with sales from action figures, trading cards and video games. Comedy doesn't do as well in the merchandising department.

Besides, it's not like comedy is completely dominating the ratings. Avatar and Star Wars: The Clone Wars have been some of the highest-rated kids shows in recent cable history.
 
Not sure if either of those are very good examples. Avatar was popular, but it's popularity and ratings were never as high as stuff like Spongebob and Oddparents, which are straight comedy shows. And comparing Clone Wars to anything really isn't fair considering the franchise it's a part of and what a monster that franchise is. And correct me if I'm wrong but aren't Clone War's ratings actually dipping?
 
Exactly. Ultimately, it comes down to what sells. Currently on the broadcast networks, "what has the most potential of becoming a mass-produced toy or video game?" is more important that "which is the highest quality show?".
 
Clone Wars wider franchise is definetly something to consider. Even if little Jimmy doesn't buy stuff, NerfHerder71 in his mother's basement can't sleep unless he buys two of every type of Clone Wars paper party plates.

I do agree with the general sentiment that the way of the 'block' is dead. Blocks of shows were a product of when TV was pretty much the only game in town. However, increasingly entertainment has been leading to an on-demand style. DVDs, video games, downloads, catch up TV, torrents, etc. The idea of event television or you having to watch a show when the network airs it is pretty much dead. Especially for kids who will adapt to new technology quicker.
 
The problem as I see it is lack of variety. Non action oriented animated series are practically non-existent on the networks because they don't have as much mass merchandising potential, which is ultimately all that the network execs are interested in these days. Static Shock was canceled by Kids' WB because the series couldn't secure a major merchandising deal and a toy line. One reason why Johnny Test disappeared from the CW's lineup was because it was a strictly comedy series on a lineup that by this time was almost entirely made up of action shows.

The Animaniacs and Eek! the Cats of today and tomorrow will have no choice but to air on cable, since no network lineup will touch them. That to me is a greater tragedy than these program blocks riding off into the sunset.
 
Yeah, basically. You think the majorty of Clone War's audience and merchandise buyers are little kids? Think again. :p

They consist of nerds who eat up everything Lucas throws at them while complaining about it at the same time.
 
Yes! Thank you. I completely agree with you. With the three blocks originally mentioned, they were having poor quality in their schedules and ratings were down as a result of that as well.

I'm glad that I'm not the only one who is tired of people complaining about these blocks dying. Both Toonami and Kids' WB were on for over ten years. Elven years for Toonami and I forgot how long Kids' WB lasted exactly, but regardless of that, both blocks lasted a long time for any kind of block. The fact that they had both had pathetic schedules in their last few years just made the end of them more out of mercy than anything else.

Besides that, they all were losing ratings, which is a clear sign to the people in charge that something is wrong. They either decide to change it or to cancel it and save money all together. I think that 4KidsTV is in a different situation since it does do fairly well in ratings, but 4Kids obviously wants to focus on just the CW4Kids since I think they earn more money from that station since it reaches more homes than FOX. Besides, having one less block also saves them money, which relates to the goal of pretty much every company: get as much money as you can without spending a lot of it at the same time.

I also think the general topic of this thread is merely just to complain about how three blocks, at least two of which were old and doing really poorly in their last couple of years, and to feel so depressed about it. While I can understand the emotional attachement people have for these blocks out of nostalgia, two of these blocks have also been over for months now. I don'w want to sound rude, but I don't think it is quite healthy for anyone's emotional health to be still sad about either of those blocks. I was over Toonami and Kids' WB's last airings by the Sunday or Monday after they ended. I tried to understand why people are still sad about this after all of this time, but I can't think of any other reason other than nostalgia playing its effect on people again.

Besides that, most of the shows from both blocks are available on DVD so people could watch them on their own time to remind themselves about how they used to watch the block. As for 4KidsTV, a lot of their show's episodes, if not the whole series, are available on their website so people could watch them there.
 
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