Cartoon X
Lum the Forever
Wow, that was great! They really captured the old Cartoon Planet feel. The bumps all felt like they could’ve been old Cartoon Planet sketches! And Brak and Zorak are as hilarious as ever! God how I love them!
If you missed the bumps, I’m sure Cartoon Network will either upload the entire block tomorrow on their video service or otherwise include a couple of clips from it. But you can always count on that certain video sharing site to have them!
As for shows such as Sheep In The Big City, we are unlikely to ever see those on this block again. It’s not the runtime length that’s the problem; future lineups clearly show 22 minute episode of The Powerpuff Girls and Foster’s Home For Imaginary Friends airing. Sheep wasn’t all that popular, and Cartoon Network hasn’t acknowledged its existence in 10 years. In contrast, The Powerpuff Girls ,Dexter’s Laboratory, Johnny Bravo, and other shows that will air on this block in the immediate future are well recognized by the network and treated with some respect. You can find Powerpuff Girls, Johnny Bravo, Dexter’s Laboratory, Cow and Chicken, and Foster’s Home For Imaginary Friends on Cartoon Network’s video service and shows page, and the former four have been staples of Boomerang for a very long time now.
I suspect that we’ll be seeing only what Cartoon Network considers the cream of its crop, which means that we will probably not see Megas Xlr, Time Squad, or Mike, Lu, & Og on Cartoon Planet in the immediate future. But perhaps, if the block is successful, they might consider taking more risks by showing and promoting “lost” cartoon showings on Cartoon Planet, using their lesser known stuff as somewhat “new” material much like how Nicktoons promotes Dragonball GT. I hope we don’t have to wait for something like that, however, and we get to see the more obscure stuff before summer.
Unfortunately, I don’t think Cartoon Planet will last too long. It’s a rerun block, with shows that the current demographic of Cartoon Network are largely unfamiliar with. Not only that, but this block is up against the Star Wars-killing lineups of Disney Channel and Nickelodeon. I don’t think this block was a last grab, cheap, ratings gimmick. If they wanted, they could’ve just aired Adventure Time and NInjago repeats and still have gotten ratings better than Star Wars: Clone Wars’ recent batting average.
But this block will most likely attract older viewers mostly. Will Cartoon Network be okay with that? Heavens knows that they’ve cancelled shows with a disproportionate amount of older viewers before; they could very well do so again. I believe the block was created for the purpose of celebrating the 20[SUP]th[/SUP] anniversary of the network, but they don’t have any obligation to keep the block if the ratings do worse than the Adventure Time and Ninjago repeats preceding it.
But these are some rays of hope that give me hope that the block will last, at least through the summer. Did you notice that there was not a single promotion for one of Cartoon Network’s shows during the commercial breaks? There were only straightforward advertisements, and I even saw a Kid’s Choice Awards one! Isn’t that odd, considering Cartoon Network has new episodes of Regular Show and MAD, the season finale of NInjago, tomorrow’s Level Up marathon (like they need an excuse to promote that show anyway), and the coup de gras, the thing they’ve been promoting for one and a half months now, the return of all new Adventure Time episodes!
The fact that they didn’t place a single promotion for any of these shows indicates that they didn’t need any time fillers to air during the commercial breaks, that they found an ample supply of outside advertisers who believe in and are willing to invest in the block. Even high profile premieres like new Star Wars: The Clone Wars and last week’s Ben 10 movie couldn’t’ muster that much interest, heck, the latter’s commercial breaks were practically filled with network promotions and the Lego Batman shorts. There is clearly a large financial backing for this block, and if the ratings are good, that should continue, and ultimately gives Cartoon Network a good financial incentive to keep the block around.
In addition, reruns of Looney Tunes, Tom & Jerry, Codename: Kids Next Door, Courage the Cowardly Dog, Ed, Edd, & Eddy, and The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy do well even though they are years old. I suspect that their success is primarily because adult viewers are watching them, but no doubt they only get kept around, and in semi-permanent rotations no less, because kids are watching them. There could thus be merit for a reruns block after all.
You’ve also got to keep in mind the ages of the current demographic of Cartoon Network and what they grew up with. Cartoon Network skews older these days, but I think the bulk of their non-[adult swim] viewers are between the ages of 7 and 14. On the far end of this spectrum, we have children born in 1998, and at the low end we have the kids born in 2005. Now when do you really develop good, television memories? I’d say around the age of four, or at least that’s how it is for me. Anyway, that would mean at the least, the current target audience of Cartoon Network should remember at the very least stuff from back in 2009, and at the most, stuff back from 2002.
Back in ’02, Dexter’s Laboratory, Powerpuff Girls, and Johnny Bravo were still airing, so most of the popular cartoon cartoons could hold nostalgic value to the large majority of the current audience. Actually, you could say the oldest of the current demographic would have fond memories of the City era shows, so Foster’s, Lazlo, and Gym Partner would be among the shows many of them could have fond memories of. So the oldest of Cartoon Network’s target demographic should have some nostalgic interest in Cartoon Planet’s content, even though they would be unfamiliar with the block’s former incarnation and the characters of Brak and Zorak, who became [adult swim] exclusive in 2001.
What about the youngest of the demographic then, the ones that in five years will be clamoring over the “good old days” of Adventure Time and Regular Show? I don’t think they’d have good memories of the old cartoon cartoons, but stuff like Foster’s, Chowder, and Flapjack will definitely appeal to their ever developing nostalgia senses. But it’s unlikely that they’d be completely ignorant of stuff like Dexter and The Powerpuff Girls, since there were instances in the last three to four years when they aired on the network, and they’re constant presence on Cartoon Network Video and Boomerang. And obviously, the mainstays of Looney Tunes, Tom & Jerry, Codename: Kids Next Door, Courage the Cowardly Dog, Ed, Edd, & Eddy, and The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy are sure to be childhood favorites of the lot of them as well. And even if they are unfamiliar of stuff like I Am Weasel, the quality of the shows is still there, and these shows are as funny as ever, so they could easily like them if they gave them a chance.
The only remaining factor then is the Cartoon Planet style of humor, which may bore or alienate the current Cartoon Network audience. But I feel that the humor style is reminiscent of the popular Regular Show enough that the audience will wither enjoy or not mind it.
Considering these factors, there is a very good chance the block will succeed.
As for stuff like the openings being cut, so what!? The shows themselves are more important to have uncut, and besides, even the popular Adventure Time has its opening cut short usually, so it’s not unfair treatment in the least.
Ultimately, I think Cartoon Planet can and should succeed. The nostalgic content can appeal to most of the target audience, and the rarity of the content on television also makes the block more special and lucrative to the palettes of the average Cartoon Network viewer. I really want the block to succeed…so that The Brak Show or some Space Ghost revival can happen. Someday. But until then, I will watch Cartoon Planet every week right at 8pm. Yeah Buddy!
If you missed the bumps, I’m sure Cartoon Network will either upload the entire block tomorrow on their video service or otherwise include a couple of clips from it. But you can always count on that certain video sharing site to have them!
As for shows such as Sheep In The Big City, we are unlikely to ever see those on this block again. It’s not the runtime length that’s the problem; future lineups clearly show 22 minute episode of The Powerpuff Girls and Foster’s Home For Imaginary Friends airing. Sheep wasn’t all that popular, and Cartoon Network hasn’t acknowledged its existence in 10 years. In contrast, The Powerpuff Girls ,Dexter’s Laboratory, Johnny Bravo, and other shows that will air on this block in the immediate future are well recognized by the network and treated with some respect. You can find Powerpuff Girls, Johnny Bravo, Dexter’s Laboratory, Cow and Chicken, and Foster’s Home For Imaginary Friends on Cartoon Network’s video service and shows page, and the former four have been staples of Boomerang for a very long time now.
I suspect that we’ll be seeing only what Cartoon Network considers the cream of its crop, which means that we will probably not see Megas Xlr, Time Squad, or Mike, Lu, & Og on Cartoon Planet in the immediate future. But perhaps, if the block is successful, they might consider taking more risks by showing and promoting “lost” cartoon showings on Cartoon Planet, using their lesser known stuff as somewhat “new” material much like how Nicktoons promotes Dragonball GT. I hope we don’t have to wait for something like that, however, and we get to see the more obscure stuff before summer.
Unfortunately, I don’t think Cartoon Planet will last too long. It’s a rerun block, with shows that the current demographic of Cartoon Network are largely unfamiliar with. Not only that, but this block is up against the Star Wars-killing lineups of Disney Channel and Nickelodeon. I don’t think this block was a last grab, cheap, ratings gimmick. If they wanted, they could’ve just aired Adventure Time and NInjago repeats and still have gotten ratings better than Star Wars: Clone Wars’ recent batting average.
But this block will most likely attract older viewers mostly. Will Cartoon Network be okay with that? Heavens knows that they’ve cancelled shows with a disproportionate amount of older viewers before; they could very well do so again. I believe the block was created for the purpose of celebrating the 20[SUP]th[/SUP] anniversary of the network, but they don’t have any obligation to keep the block if the ratings do worse than the Adventure Time and Ninjago repeats preceding it.
But these are some rays of hope that give me hope that the block will last, at least through the summer. Did you notice that there was not a single promotion for one of Cartoon Network’s shows during the commercial breaks? There were only straightforward advertisements, and I even saw a Kid’s Choice Awards one! Isn’t that odd, considering Cartoon Network has new episodes of Regular Show and MAD, the season finale of NInjago, tomorrow’s Level Up marathon (like they need an excuse to promote that show anyway), and the coup de gras, the thing they’ve been promoting for one and a half months now, the return of all new Adventure Time episodes!
The fact that they didn’t place a single promotion for any of these shows indicates that they didn’t need any time fillers to air during the commercial breaks, that they found an ample supply of outside advertisers who believe in and are willing to invest in the block. Even high profile premieres like new Star Wars: The Clone Wars and last week’s Ben 10 movie couldn’t’ muster that much interest, heck, the latter’s commercial breaks were practically filled with network promotions and the Lego Batman shorts. There is clearly a large financial backing for this block, and if the ratings are good, that should continue, and ultimately gives Cartoon Network a good financial incentive to keep the block around.
In addition, reruns of Looney Tunes, Tom & Jerry, Codename: Kids Next Door, Courage the Cowardly Dog, Ed, Edd, & Eddy, and The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy do well even though they are years old. I suspect that their success is primarily because adult viewers are watching them, but no doubt they only get kept around, and in semi-permanent rotations no less, because kids are watching them. There could thus be merit for a reruns block after all.
You’ve also got to keep in mind the ages of the current demographic of Cartoon Network and what they grew up with. Cartoon Network skews older these days, but I think the bulk of their non-[adult swim] viewers are between the ages of 7 and 14. On the far end of this spectrum, we have children born in 1998, and at the low end we have the kids born in 2005. Now when do you really develop good, television memories? I’d say around the age of four, or at least that’s how it is for me. Anyway, that would mean at the least, the current target audience of Cartoon Network should remember at the very least stuff from back in 2009, and at the most, stuff back from 2002.
Back in ’02, Dexter’s Laboratory, Powerpuff Girls, and Johnny Bravo were still airing, so most of the popular cartoon cartoons could hold nostalgic value to the large majority of the current audience. Actually, you could say the oldest of the current demographic would have fond memories of the City era shows, so Foster’s, Lazlo, and Gym Partner would be among the shows many of them could have fond memories of. So the oldest of Cartoon Network’s target demographic should have some nostalgic interest in Cartoon Planet’s content, even though they would be unfamiliar with the block’s former incarnation and the characters of Brak and Zorak, who became [adult swim] exclusive in 2001.
What about the youngest of the demographic then, the ones that in five years will be clamoring over the “good old days” of Adventure Time and Regular Show? I don’t think they’d have good memories of the old cartoon cartoons, but stuff like Foster’s, Chowder, and Flapjack will definitely appeal to their ever developing nostalgia senses. But it’s unlikely that they’d be completely ignorant of stuff like Dexter and The Powerpuff Girls, since there were instances in the last three to four years when they aired on the network, and they’re constant presence on Cartoon Network Video and Boomerang. And obviously, the mainstays of Looney Tunes, Tom & Jerry, Codename: Kids Next Door, Courage the Cowardly Dog, Ed, Edd, & Eddy, and The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy are sure to be childhood favorites of the lot of them as well. And even if they are unfamiliar of stuff like I Am Weasel, the quality of the shows is still there, and these shows are as funny as ever, so they could easily like them if they gave them a chance.
The only remaining factor then is the Cartoon Planet style of humor, which may bore or alienate the current Cartoon Network audience. But I feel that the humor style is reminiscent of the popular Regular Show enough that the audience will wither enjoy or not mind it.
Considering these factors, there is a very good chance the block will succeed.
As for stuff like the openings being cut, so what!? The shows themselves are more important to have uncut, and besides, even the popular Adventure Time has its opening cut short usually, so it’s not unfair treatment in the least.
Ultimately, I think Cartoon Planet can and should succeed. The nostalgic content can appeal to most of the target audience, and the rarity of the content on television also makes the block more special and lucrative to the palettes of the average Cartoon Network viewer. I really want the block to succeed…so that The Brak Show or some Space Ghost revival can happen. Someday. But until then, I will watch Cartoon Planet every week right at 8pm. Yeah Buddy!
however.... as for future schedules aside, i do wish to see a few more added in it as a 20th Anniversary Block. Like, (Mike, Lu, and Og), 2 Stupid Dogs (include the Secret Squirrel segments as well), Juniper Lee, Samurai Jack, Time Squad, Sheep in the Big City (rarely to air), and What Ever happened to Robot Jones? (rarely to air) at least to celebrate its feel to it...
