>Opinions | Checkerboard Confusion

Originally Posted by Jeff Harris

I make no apologies when I say that Cartoon Network is one of the best cable networks ever created, if not THE best.

Cartoon Network is the most diverse animation channel on the planet. Where else can you watch Looney Tunes, Pokemon, Scooby-Doo, FLCL, Dragonball Z, Cowboy Bebop, Batman, Trigun, Family Guy, Duck Dodgers, Sealab 2021, Samurai Jack, Home Movies, Teen Titans, Dexter's Laboratory, Transformers Armada, Sitting Ducks, Hamtaro, and Powerpuff Girls in one day? Not Toon Disney, not Nicktoons TV, not Animax, not Anime Network, not even Locomotion. Maybe Teletoon, but most of the good stuff is on YTV in Canada. In its almost 11-year history, they have evolved from a rerun-only showcase to a rapidly-popular myriad of ink and paint for all ages. Commercial success has been found in almost all of its outlets from Toonami to Cartoon Cartoons to the increasingly-popular Adult Swim lineup of teen/adult-oriented shows to the new originals like Samurai Jack, Justice League, Teen Titans and Duck Dodgers.

In the middle of its evolution, Cartoon Network changed, slowly leaving behind its classic animation origins and strangely erasing the legacies of Termite Terrace and Hanna-Barbera. The network also decided to emphasize the Cartoon Cartoons brands. Normally, that's a good thing. However, the network is dangerously treading towards Nickelodeon-levels of overmarketing and programming. By focusing more on their own original titles like Ed, Edd, and Eddy and Powerpuff Girls in the daytime and toy commercials like Yu-Gi-Oh and Pokemon in primetime, Cartoon Network is losing its loyal fanbase. If it wasn't for Adult Swim, I would say that Cartoon Network is losing focus that animation isn't just for kids. The new primetime lineup is the weakest in a long time, and the diversity isn't there.

Toonami, a block that once housed the network's highest-rated shows, has lost a lot of itself in recent years, largely thanks to network mismanagement and ill-conceived decisions like the Saturday prime-time block which has siphoned many shows that were once exclusive to Toonami and would have normally been placed on the afternoon block in the first place.

Cartoon Network's identity to the viewers is changing for the worse. So, what's up with the confusion over at Cartoon Network, and what can be done to avert disaster before it completely consumes the network into irrelevance?

For your perusal, Problem One: Primetime.