"Toonami" News & Discussion Thread

[Hypeathon]

This is what happens when you clog up the block full of longrunners that people have already seen before.

Speak for yourself. None of my friends have seen much of One Piece, alone Water 7 and Enies Lobby.

 

[Light Lucario]

Aw, crap. Less Toonami, I'm afraid.

Well darn it. I wasn't that okay with them losing an hour to begin with, but this is so much worse. Not only did they lose a lot of hours, but they lost the 11:30PM slot. I'm slightly surprised that Attack on Titan is off the lineup. If they were only able to keep one rerun slot, I would have expected that to stick around instead of Deadman Wonderland, especially when they made it clear that they needed to give it another run. Hopefully, if the ratings improve, they'll eventually be able to get those slots back, or at least some of them. This is more of a red flag than the initial announcement. I knew that the ratings haven't been stellar for awhile, but I didn't think it was that bad to cut out so many slots on the block.

 

[Nobodyman]

Wow. So Toonami is reduced to three and a half hours and One Piece is pushed behind Gurren Lagann of all things.

I could not be more disappointed.

 

[trance2009]

I was cool with what they had in place. Now my ass has to stay awake for Inuyasha. I start drifting around 12-ish.

 

[The Master C]

This is 2007 all over again.

 

[trance2009]

I don't get why Toonami just never got the entire Saturday. What kinda ratings they expect for that night?

 

[Looney Tunes Fan]

Well this sucks big time. I really only thought Ghost in the Shell would leave to make room for Kill La Kill, not more of the block being axed and more shows going with it. If I had to make bets on what will happen in the near future, they likely will stick Cowboy Bebop or Bleach at 3am again unless a new show comes to replace Deadman Wonderland.

 

[GingaDaiuchuu]

Damn, bad news all around. Hopefully things turn around before too long, but not much cause for optimism at the moment. Mostly premieres now I guess, if you want to find a silver lining.

 

[Dan's Revenge]

Before Toonami, anime just reran until 6am anyway. I don't understand why with Toonami, we're suddenly needing changes. Makes me wonder what the night would look like as of now if we were still in ASA mode - granted many or none of the animes wouldn't be shown and we'd probably only have had 3-4 premiers in that time.

Not that it matters now, but since it's down to 1 airing for who knows how long, would be fun to see Dandy's japanese intro play. It's already done so as late 2 or 3x.

 

[Hypeathon]

At this point, the best thing to do in response to this would be to just keep watching the block as is. And for those that can't, there's still the matter of DVR-ing the programs and watching them as soon as possible. There's also watching shows on Adult Swim's website with a cable provider login. I don't think watching anything on Adult Swim on Demand counts and I have no idea why either. I don't know how many people are trying these alternatives, but I would advise more people consider that.

 

[Rynnec]

This is 2007 all over again.

This is 2002 all over again.

 

[veemonjosh]

Makes me wonder what the night would look like as of now if we were still in ASA mode - granted many or none of the animes wouldn't be shown and we'd probably only have had 3-4 premiers in that time.

If Toonami hadn't come back, ASA probably would have ended this past November with Bleach and all we'd have would be the bare minimum of Ghost in the Shell, Cowboy Bebop, and the occasional FLCL.

 

[Light Lucario]

Wow. So Toonami is reduced to three and a half hours and One Piece is pushed behind Gurren Lagann of all things.

I could not be more disappointed.

I'd feel worse about One Piece being behind Gurren Lagann if I didn't like the show so much. If it was airing after a show that I immensely disliked, that would be a different story.

At this point, the best thing to do in response to this would be to just keep watching the block as is. And for those that can't, there's still the matter of DVR-ing the programs and watching them as soon as possible. There's also watching shows on Adult Swim's website with a cable provider login. I don't think watching anything on Adult Swim on Demand counts and I have no idea why either. I don't know how many people are trying these alternatives, but I would advise more people consider that.

I thought that they mentioned at one point that watching their shows on Adult Swim On Demand counts. I might be mixing that up with the Adult Swim website though. I don't think my house is included for their ratings, but I'll still watch the block like I normally do. This isn't quite doom and gloom just yet, but it is cause for alarm and definitely a few steps backwards.

 

[Hypeathon]

Did Adult Swim Saturdays ever have sponsors? I'm beginning to wonder if that's the difference between how Toonami is being handled now versus how Adult Swim Saturdays use to be handled.

 

[Trombone77]

Well, this is terrible. And the sad thing is, they did pretty well. It's sad that Toonami is getting punished for a bad month and a half (considering December to now). I have a question though: does this mean that they have more money to budget for new shows instead of bumpers? I don't hate the bumpers, but I don't know if that would be a positive effect of the change.

Also, I have a question for Adult Swim: What is this going to solve?! Toonami is already niche as it is, but Adult Swim is expecting viewers to tune in afterwards for possibly more Fox reruns. What does Adult Swim really have to lose with the reruns? Maybe I'm thinking about this too simply.

As for the state of Toonami, I doubt it will go anywhere, or at least the animes. Toonami has always had Saturday night animes, so it shouldn't leave. However, I will agree that this is a step back. Toonami, if they have the budget to, are going to need to acquire a series that isn't a "glorified rerun" or a long-running anime. Also, does anyone know if the crew still not getting paid? I would imagine not due to the cuts in time, but it would be nice if they did.

 

[Peter Paltridge]

First I read Melissa McCarthy is going to lead a remake of Ghostbusters, and now I read this. This has been a bad ten minutes.

Next I bet I hear "Adult Swim is forcing us to run HamTaro for half the block."

 

[Zipp_Rezzeppa]

Wow. So Toonami is reduced to three and a half hours and One Piece is pushed behind Gurren Lagann of all things.

I could not be more disappointed.

Couldn't agree more. I see nothing in the ratings over the past month plus that would suggest moving GL ahead of OP would be beneficial. Personally speaking it lowers the odds of me watching because I'm not sitting through GL to get to OP. Been there, done that with Gurren Lagann years ago on SyFy Channel.

 

[macattack]

I really think this is CN's new president Christina Miller meddling with Adult Swim, which she has the right to do. Jim Semples and Stuart Snyder were mostly hands-off with Adult Swim, but they didn't have to be. Considering how much of Adult Swim's scheduling methods are beginning to mirror CN's schedule (a few heavy hitters being spammed around the clock) I definitely think Miller put pressure on Adult Swim to get with CN's program, and considering how action is finally being finished off on CN during Miller's tenure she probably wanted Toonami cut down to size, even in the slots that Adult Swim typically considered to be "free game" or "we play what we want". Clearly this is no longer the case anymore.

I don't think ratings will help Toonami out at this juncture. Naruto being the #1 show on Cartoon Network week in and week out did not save Toonami in 2008 from corporate wanting to move in a new direction. If this is happening again it won't matter if DBZ Kai, Shippuden, and Kill La Kill get over a million viewers, or even hit 1.5 million. Toonami will come crashing down just like in 2008.

I really hope that is not the case but I think it is. There is no correlation between Toonami's ratings and the block being sliced to half its size, especially when CN/AS have been down as a whole since the Dish Network fiasco. This smells to me like corporate meddling. I have a feeling we'll know for sure by the end of this year.

 

[Peter Paltridge]

You're probably right, Mac. People who are favored by one boss then find themselves treading water when they inherit another boss that doesn't feel the same way. It happens in business all the time.

 

[GWOtaku]

I wouldn't say Miller has an anti-action posture, simply because action animation going on the back burner for mainline Cartoon Network was something that took place prior to her hiring in the middle of 2014. She's simply presiding over an established status quo. Also, can we really blame all the ratings stuff on the Dish network thing? I don't buy that the powers that be didn't take that into account.

Then there's the fact that a number of notable acquisitions would have occurred on Miller's watch. So far as new content goes, that's coming along the same as ever.