Naruto Coming back to CN???

He's going to get an entire page dedicated to his executive meddling at TV Tropes at this rate. Not even Bonnie Hammer has that "honor".

Not like it means an awful lot.

Personally, more than anything else, I will not forgive him for cancelling Naruto with just 11 episodes left. We would be 3-4 episodes from the finish at this point if he could have stomached having the knuckleheaded ninja around for just a couple more months.

Speaking of which, somebody neeRAB to put a "Screwed By The Network" entry on Naruto's TV Tropes page.
 
The universal CN gets to show what they want as long as they show the originals that's why CN india has Speed Racer next generation. (Well it may not be that CN but one of them does show that show)
 
So, what was so bad about the Kellner years? I seem to remeraber watching Cartoon Network a lot prior to 2003. Those were the early days of Adult Swim, weren't they?



Actually, if they didn't start screwing up the schedule, we would have been done last year.
 
So is this Snyder the one responsible for those eight live action shows that are sure to fail. Reject kiRAB ghost hunters reject kid mybusters and oh god a viral video show they put money on that instead of something successful as Naruto.Sure Prepped doesn't sound bad but that ain't going to turn kiRAB away from Nick and there tweencom Zack and Cody.

Damn Naruto got screwed badly sadly theres not one channel that would even air it. The only things I can think of that might give it a shot is SyFy or Nicktoons but I dont think thats going to happen. The only thing that could save Naruto now is if Snyder's plan failes so bad his ass gets fired and someone smart takes over and relizes they made a big mistake getting rid of Naruto.
 
You know, In retrospect......perhaps we should have just shut up and taken whatever bullcrap there was, cuz honestly... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=op8M97Pbh3c
 
Well, we got Adult Swim (though that was in motion under Betty Cohen,) and Toonami was essentially left to it's own devices, but Looney Tunes and a lot of the other classic programming was axed because he couldn't figure out how to get Warner to cut him a fair deal on it, and he let executive meddling run rampant in the originals division eventually resulting in stuff like PuffyAmiYumi getting a cartoon, and a move to script first writing (which was the last thing storyboard oriented artists like those CN should have been doing.) I mean, Kellner started out fine, then became a problem.

Same could be said of Jim Samples, who sounded like he was going to get classics back in the mix, but instead pushed further executive interference (to the point where even AKA Cartoon had to do script outlines to be approved by CN first before boarding the episode,) he managed to lose (albeit not permanently,) Genndy Tartokovsky, and to top it all off Toonami started to see big cuts under him as well. To be fair, some how Billy and Mandy and Foster's managed to pull out great episodes once they found their rhythm, and in spite of scripting and the move to digital cel, Ed, Edd and Eddy layed down of the most brilliant visual humor committed to an animated program in years. However, the reason Samples ultimately goes out as a hero is he resigned over the Boston Scare, essentially taking the fall for Mike Lazzo. Otherwise, there are too many antagonistic moves that happened under him.

The big problem is, every time CN gets in a new guy, he manages to out do the last one somehow. I mean, Snyder may have let the originals division get itself straight again and gave us a dose of Looney Tunes on New Years (and man that'd be welcome as midday content - give Tom and Jerry a break and run some Tweety and Sylvester,) but he's killed yet another segment of diversity on the network in the same stroke in favor on non-animated content and mediocre Canadian flash animation. I fully expect that whoever comes in after Snyder will figure how to spoil another big part of the network while doing something positive. Like the new guy will kill live action or get anime back on, but then make a move to more d-grade 3D animation or something.

I will also note that while we don't like these dudes for gradually decimating a once proud and diverse brand in a blind attempt to become Nickelodeon, I will say are nice people. I mean, I met Sam Register (the man responsible for PPGZ and HiHiPuffyAmiYumi, but also the network exec on Teen Titans) and he's good people and he does actually dig cartoons. However, he (and pretty much everyone else post-Cohen) are not Mike Lazzo. They can't seem to make useful notes on shows, and they certainly don't know how to create one. They are good execs, but they need to be, oddly enough, less involved with the creative direction of the network. They need people like Lazzo, Siminsky, DeMarco, Akins and so on - people who have that gut ability to find a gem, and put their trust in them, and then as a head exec do your best to push the branRAB and shows they come up with.

Whether that can happen in an environment as acidic and backstabbing as Time Warner, where synergy is absolutely verboten (unlike in Viacom where there is absolutely no issue with sub-companies scratching each other's backs as long it makes more money,) is a huge question. I wouldn't doubt that the ultimate pressure to be Nick isn't actually from Snyder, but actually from the execs above him grilling him about why CN sits in third place in the target demographics, and asking why he mucked around with keeping a diverse network when what is needed in their eyes is Spongebob clones and live-action with Tiger Beat fodder. In a sense, it's not the execs, it's the whole Time Warner corporate mantra contaminating the thought process of everyone involved.
 
Wow, I hadn't realized that Semples resigned to take the fall for Lazzo.

I really wish the Borab Scare hadn't happened now, Semples still liked Toonami and we'd probably still have it if it weren't for that.
 
Oh man. Seeing that promo again makes me wish Yu Yu Hakusho and Rurouni Kenshin didn't get such raw deals. So much wasted potential.

But yeah, CN was awesome even in 2003. People shouldn't be so hard on Kellner. At the very least, he kept the channel live-action free.
 
Kellner actually left January of 2003, so that awesome stuff from the year wasn't his. Bob Higgins was in charge then, if I recall correctly.

My dad actually went to work with Bob Higgins' brother. I got in contact with him a few times. Kind of lost my faith in him after the live-action debacle, but he seemed to be trying.
 
Back
Top