>Opinions | Checkerboard Confusion

Problem #2: Too Many Cartoon Cartoons, Not Enough Space

The main flaw of the primetime lineup is that, for a while, they depended solely on the original cartoons, known as Cartoon Cartoons, which has permiated throughout all aspects of the primetime, afternoon, morning, and overnight lineups of Cartoon Network. Most of them aren't bad. It's just that the Cartoon Cartoons are slowly creeping towards Nicktoons levels, and that's not a compliment. Nicktoons are repeated over and over and over every other week, and the zombified youth of the nation continue to watch this warmed-over pap every time it's on. It wasn't Shakespeare the first time they were on, and yet the overmarketing of the Nicktoons is why the kids can't escape its hold.

The best Cartoon Cartoons aren't as widely known as the worst Nicktoons because Nickelodeon goes out of its way to treat all of the shows they like (i.e. the most kid-friendly marketable ones) as gold. That's why Jimmy Neutron is still on the air.

The Cartoon Cartoons aren't the best, but they're far from the worse original cartoons on cable. It's just that with so many shows, you could only air so many without driving viewers to drink. Some shows get a lot of attention, particularly the "marketable" ones like the Eds, Codename: Kids Next Door, Dexter's Laboratory, and Powerpuff Girls, finding themselves a part of major schedule shifts and network promotions. The "non-marketable" ones like Courage the Cowardly Dog, Grim and Evil, and Time Squad are either thrown around the lineup, retooled to fit the "target audience," or dropped completely from the lineup altogether. And I'm not even touching the "should-have-been-sold-as-a-Nicktoon" shows that are/were on the lineup.

So many cartoons, so little space, right? Wrong. Every space that isn't held by an action show, a "baby" show, an outside show, an adult-oriented comedy, or Scooby-Doo is filled with a Cartoon Cartoon. Afternoons are wasted with minimarathons of single shows every weekday and late nights were once filled with more reruns of those shows (come October, Adult Swim reruns start airing overnights). It's enough to drive you mad.

Where do you think I'd want Cartoon Cartoons? In primetime for one hour and afternoons for two. Instead of airing reruns on reruns, Cartoon Network could simplify their library by not wearing their library thin. Every weeknight in prime-time, they could air two different shows per night to kick off the night, say the 8 PM EST hour. Something like PPG and Dexter one night, the Eds and Johnny Bravo another night, Courage and Time Squad another night, and KND and Billy and Mandy one night. And I'd change the schedule every other month, just to mix things up as well as keep viewers watching. I'd keep Fridays the original series night, where all the Cartoon Network originals could just have fun.

Weekday afternoons, I'd let the shows with the highest episode count take precedence. Dexter's Lab, Powerpuff Girls, the Eds, and Courage would be an ideal afternoon originals lineup because they won't be reran so often as the shorter shows. Maybe even Cow and Chicken and Johnny Bravo would fit in as well. Back-to-back airings of particular shows not only wear out the novelity of the shows, but also causes people to think unfavorably of the shows. We all know what happens when people start thinking favorably of shows . . . they stop watching . . . and viewers equal money.

That's something the network needs to be reminded of. If we, the viewers, keep on getting forcefed reruns of shows that we once loved over and over again, then we, the viewers, will not only get sick of said show, but also of said network for keeping on rerunning back-to-back-to-back airings of the show.

There are such things as great reruns, however. These reruns have withstood the tests of time, and yet in this "newer is better" attitude of today's marketing execs and cynical youths, they tend to have little love for them.

Problem #3: The Disappearance of Classic Cartoons - Next.