Does the staff of an animated show determine if you watch or not?

T

The Bull

New member
For most people, if a cartoon looks good, has decent action or comedy, etc. they'll go ahead and watch, but for the rest of us that are familiar with a lot of the people behind the scenes like the writers, directors, producers, VA's, and what not, does that ever influence your decision to check out a show or not? I know there are some writers on shows that automatically I'll give them a look, and some that have the rep for basically...writing crap, to be honest.
 
I usually only take such things into consideration when it comes to creators. If somebody created an animated program that I liked, and then went on to create a new animated program, I?d be more inclined to check the show out.
 
Not usually. I was more hyped to watch the proposed Buffy The Vampire Slayer Cartoon when I heard people like Jane Espenson were writing the scripts, though. I'd be more likely to watch something if Bruce Timm were involved. But I won't refuse to watch a cartoon because of who produced it, unless it was Bill O'Reilly's Power Hour or a Dr. Phil cartoon or something odious like that.
 
In Japanese stuff, often times yes - that is, I'll give something a look even if the premise sounds terrible if it involves a studio, director, character designer, writer, voice actor, or even music composer that I like, and vice versa.

With US stuff, though, not so much. Creators seem to be a tad less consistent over here, somehow. I mean, I know I'm not the only one who's felt burned by the likes of Joe Murray or Everret Peck because you trusted in their past work.
 
It may definately catch my interest. When I heard Greg Weisman was in charge of the new Spectacular Spider-Man cartoon, it caught my interest more since he did two previous cartoons I found excellent (Gargoyles and W.I.T.C.H.) which made me look into the show more than I was before. Same with Timm/Dini.

Though to be honest, they're the only (modern) people I can think of that have produced more than two cartoons, so the selection of "big name creators" is lacking.
 
A familiar name in the credits will sometimes inspire me to look at something I would normally skip, but it won't keep me there if the product stinks ... though I am a hypocrite in that if that name is something I identify with something that I didn't like, I likely won't give their future work a second glance (see Teen Titans -> Transformers Animated).

The same holds true of inspirations across media. For example, I had no interest in the Bill and Ted movies, so I didn't watch the cartoon. By the same token, I didn't like Buffy the Vampire Slayer (or any of Whedon's stuff), so I would certainly have avoided that cartoon as well.
 
Same.

If someone I like is working on a show that strikes my attention then I'm more inclined to check it out.

I can't say I've ever been put off by a show by someone working on it. I might lower my expectations of it, but if I'm interested in a show I'll probably watch it then make my mind up.
 
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