The first thing you look for in a Cartoon

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kikilagoon

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When watching a new cartoon, what's the first thing your mind thinks about? The writing, the characters, if the plot is balanced, the art style, etc.

Well, I'm always basing cartoons on writing and how well the plot is. "Does the plot constantly change, is the writing based on character interaction or random nonsense?"

I also find it's good to have a favorite character of a show to help keep you interested and want to stick around to watch more. While The Simpsons, I'm sure the earlier episodes were great, I have no favorite characters, so I'm just not as devoted to wanting to watch it as I am Futurama or Foster's.

Art style plays an important part in my mind, but if writing is really good, I try to keep it far back in my mind when judging. Such as the upcoming "Sit Down, Shut Up!" cartoon. The art style is not very fun to look at but I'm still going to watch the premerie to still if it's funny. But yeah, I always check for writing first, artwork later.
 
Usually it's the art style followed by the writing. I guess that's one reason why I like My Life as a Teenage Robot so much. I found the art art style and what they did with the colours to be fascinating. Of course, once I get a bit further into a show, I will look at the character's. I can normally identify with at least one, so that's another thing I look for. Jokes for the most part are normally a good indication of whether I'll like a show or not. If I think they come of as flat or overly gratuitous, then I'll normally not be too interested. Although sometimes, there will be a show that just clicks with me for no apparent reason. They're normally my favourite, like there's some sort of weird force that makes me like it.
 
I believe that the characters are the most important, so I usually examine them first. If you look at various animated programs, you will find that certain plots have been used over and over again. This is unavoidable, as stories have been told for millennia and just about every plot has been used at one time or another. However, the characters in those stories are always different to some extent, which is truly what allows those plots to be original. If you had a show about pirates and a show about fast food workers, and each show had an episode about an alien invasion, the two episodes would likely be radically different. The plot would technically be the same, but the way the characters react to what is taking place around them is what matters. Now, I know writing is involved with how the characters behave, but usually, the characters are created and their personalities are developed long before writers are hired and the show goes into production. That is why I value characters over writing.
 
For me it's all about artwork, characters and plot for me. I want to see good artwork to have nice visuals (south park being an exception. Though it's gone a long way). Plot is always important, I don't want to sit through a huge snooze fest. I need good characters to keep me interested too, one character is usually enough for me. I want a show that you'll care about the characters.
 
I pretty much agree with everyone here, interesting characters, good artwork and design, an original idea, the ability to entertain various people and age groups (so I can show my friends), tolerable voices (if any), decent plots, and optional ones like good musical score and good animation (limited animation can be done right).
 
Boobs. Oh, cartoons, you say? Good writing is really all I need. A show can look and move like crap, but if the plots are intelligent and the dialogue is witty, I'll sit through anything.
 
I usually will look to see just who the characters are, and if they have a good mixture of them (ie. sociopath kid + kind-hearted kid + analytical kid + kid who dies all the time = Great Show). If any show has this, whether it be animated or not, then I'll generally like it.

Also, if the show is a comedy, then I look for good and well delivered jokes and gags; if the show is action, then I look for good fight scenes and suspense, both of which must keep from going "over the top".
 
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