We're very overdue for the next big fad

CN, Nick, Disney, Toon Disney, and Boomerang all have cartoons with the afterschool period, some mixed with live action stuff, but it's nothing that hasn't been reran to death before arriving on the afternoon slot anyone.

A big point I don't know if anyone's mentioned it (forgive if it has) is repetition.

Back in the day, we only had TWO options of catching our favorite shows: Watching it when it was on, or taping it and watching it later (This wasn't an option for me, sadly, not until the mid 90's). Failing either of those, you had to wait until the show cycled back around to that ep, which could be months depending on how many episodes the series had under it's belt.

Back then, syndication only aired the shows once a day (twice if we were lucky. I clearly recall Gobots, and possibly Superfriends, getting before AND afterschool airings on the pre-FOX affiliate in the early 80's.)

Now, we get the same episodes of Spongebob, Lazlo, and Hannah Montana (And the rest of CN, Nick, and Disney's shows) crammed down our throats at every point of the day, every day. Plus with DVD, internet downloads, Itunes, and DVR's factored in, you couldn't miss your favorite show if you tried. There's no work in keeping up with your favorite show now.

Then, if you wanted to see your favorite show, you had to literally be there when it was on, which determined if a show was hot enough for the affiliates. Now, you can just flip your show on anytime of the day.

There will NEVER be another huge fad the likes of TMNT or Pokemon because of over airing and availibility.

That brings me to this phrase I've always believed in: "Always leave 'em wanting more". There is no such thing these days thanks to being able to see any episode of any show with the click of a button.
 
Heres' a sad realization. (considering Power Rangers counts, as it's not animation). We do have the fad, and it IS HSM and Hanna Montana. That's the big thing. Crappy live action kidcoms. I can't believe no one pointed that out yet.

Worst fad ever, and this is coming from someone that didn't like Pokemon, or care too much for Power Rangers (sorry. i'm an Ultraman guy, myself).
 
You're right. :(

That *IS* sad. The next fad *IS* HSM and Hanna Montana. Everybody - adults and kids are going crazy over it, the anticipation for HSM2 has made national news multiple times, and we've even had threads here about the merchandising.

....


That's depressing... :sad:
 
Interesting to note that those major fads (He-Man, TMNT, Power Rangers, Pokemon) were all action oriented properties. You'd think that would give action programing a larger prescence on US television but that certainly isn't the case right now. Most likely due to the fact that the current fad is the music oriented programing.
 
Music isn't a huge part of Zoey 101 and Drake and Josh and iCarly, but it's there. American Idol has had a serious impact on kids shows and now a lot of cartoons and live-action shows have had some sort of music element in them. Just the other day on iCarly they featured a band (Plain White Ts) and some of the web clips include kids doing musical performances. The Naked Brothers Band hasn't been doing as well as Nick wanted too, but it does well enough. Over on Disney, they're pushing music like no one's business. Cory from Cory in the House (ugh) has a band and he's making music and so is that Oliver kid.

So yeah, I think the fad now is music in kids shows.
 
I wish Kyle Massey and his Kitty Kung Fu show loving,Rat obsessing ,Bahovian self would take buy a one-way ticket to the Cancellation Station."All aboard!" Seriously,I was watching KP on Disney and it showed this commercial saying."What are they saying on Cory in the House?I mean,at least That's So Raven could be more reformed at times.
:sweat:

On:topic:

The biggest animation fad is Spongebob.I have seen his face on every last beach towel,alarm clock and utensil set to know that he his a merchandise icon.That's what an animation fad is,a cartoon characters face in every store and on a large variety of products.Even more so then the show itself,if it is to be a fad it has to spawn a good marketing line.Otherwise to my knowledge it just gains a good cult following.

The biggest Anime-ish fad would be Naruto as of present.Now it isn't as successful as,say,Pokemon was in merchandising but there is no one out there protesting to this newer show working it's way there.
 
One thing I gotta say about the Naked Brothers Band- and I refer to that name. It's sorta the same problem with the name Barenaked Ladies....the title is VERY misleading...and regarding the Naked Brothers Band, quite disturbing as well. Believe me, if I were a kid now, and I'd heard about this, I wouldn't know what to make of a show about a group called the Naked Brothers Band.
 
Naruto can be considered a fad considering it's popularity to kids and teens. after all, people at my school are always reading the manga.

Spongebob is not so much a fad anymore, but a few years back it was.

HSM and HM are most certainly a fad, but that doesn't mean they're good.

also, what about the Simpsons?
 
There were a lot of bands in shows before American Idol, like Doug and Hey Arnold. Kids forming bands aren't exactly a new concept. Even Happy Days did it.
 
I think Hannah Montana is the current fad as not just kids, but some teens talk about it a lot (well not a lot but still), Miley even won a Teen Choice award in the summer which even though it doesn't mean a lot it still means that kids aren't really the only ones that watch it frequently.
 
uhhhh.....

But indefinately it was American Idol thast brought back cheasy, prestaged crappy tweeny bopper music. Of course, that's not to say we didn't have Spice Girls and hanson in the 90's. But they didn't influence anything more than a few parodies and references.

As for Naked brothers band, there are only 2 Brother bands I want I care to see. And they hain't one of them.

It's a shame athat we haven't had a really major animated fad for a while. I mean the new TMNT and Naruto come close, but not quite.



Tweens, teens, and their obnoxious "I'm trying to be hip" soccer moms. But other than that, it doesn't have cross age appeal in a massive sense.

Seems like now the only way to get a successful cartoon is to make it adult. I.e. they just swear and make sex jokes. I mean, there are a lot of great, hilarious adult cartoons out there, and then there are the bargain basement Aqua Teen wannabees.
 
Nah, I wouldn't even go that far. Aside from Spongebob and perhaps Dora the Explorer, I can't think of any cartoon show from the last few years that even comes close to being a fad.
 
I agree. That's pretty much how a fad can happen. I think that networks need to learn that, as well as how a show cannot become a fad overnight. The people in charge of networks seem to want an instant fad/hit on their hands pretty quickly. For any show to become popular enough to be considered a fad, the shows need time and the right amount of marketing in order to gain popularity. Unfortunately, most networks now a-days seem to pull off shows before they have the chance to find their audience and possibily become a fad, or at least a successful show. That process may take some shows a few months or a year to catch on, but it can take years for a show, such as Seinfeld, to gain a strong following.
 
Now I myself and some other posters have brought up cartoons that Nick and Cartoon Network have done that became a fad overtime (Spongebob Squarepants, Fairly Oddparents. Rugrats, Ed Edd and Eddy). Are there any known Disney Programs that started out as a modest hit and evolved into a fad status overtime?
 
Yeah a fad owes a lot to word of mouth, if kids don't get a chance to hear about a show through the grapevines, how can you develop a hit?

Sometimes I wonder why network obsess over instant hits so much... I mean I'd rather have a stable source of incomes for multiple year than a big blitz in one year that falters the next, forcing me to start the whole process of finding that huge hit from the begining.
 
That's true, Many fads start out because of kids telling each other what they think is popular. Before you know it, it becomes insanely popular.

My guess is that networks want money right away from those instant hits, rather than depending on shows that are successful. That's also a factor that companies look for: find what kids think is popular and then milk it for all its worth and then some. The way most companies milk out fads like that eventually led to the fad's own demise. Most networks and companies don't want to wait, develop the shows and see if a successful show will become a hit. You also bring up a good point about fads: they don't last that long. At the most, fads usually keep their popularity at its highpoint for a couple of years. After awhile, the heat of their flames calms down and they usually led to nice comfortable level of success. With this in mind, as well as keeping the business point of view in mind, it is much better to rely on plain successful shows rather than focusing all of the attention on instant hits/fads. Sooner or later, the fad popular will cool down and it would be much better for networs to have a great lineup of moderate succesful shows instead of simply fad shows. Many successful shows have the potential to become hits, or at least pretty close, if they're given the chance. Unfortuantely, networks place too much attention on their insanely popular shows and some shows that could have done great as well are ignored.
 
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