Toonami.

Two tastes that didn't go great together. It was one of the darkest moments of the Kellner era of Cartoon Network when he announced that he was planning to extend the Toonami brand over to The WB's children's programming block, Kids' WB. Now, under normal circumstances and a company that embraced synergy (for example, the Nick on CBS Saturday morning block), this would have been received positively. However, this was nothing more than Jamie Kellner trying to bring down a competing block by aping its success onto a slowly disintegrating block like the Kids' WB weekday block.

The first joint promotion of the Kids' WB and Cartoon Network Toonami blocks was a theatrical promo. It would be the only time both blocks would be promoted at the same time. Cartoon Network showed promos for Kids' WB's Toonami during their Toonami. Kids' WB's Toonami only promoted Kids' WB. The phrase "Cartoon Network" were never heard on Kids' WB until the spring of 2002 when they aired a special airing of Samurai Jack. In fact, other Cartoon Network shows like Codename: Kids Next Door, The Powerpuff Girls, and Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends didn't mention the network at all, and little was said about Cartoon Network's involvement with The Batman, Teen Titans, and Monster Allergy, but that's another story.

For those that missed it, Kids' WB's Toonami was nothing more than the previous Kids' WB block with a Toonami-enriched shell surrounding it. Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh first infected the Toonami brand as a part of the Kids' WB block. The Fraturdays block, which had ill-fated forgotten comedies like Detention and Generation O in the lineup, was a part of the Kids' WB Toonami. R.L. Stine's The Nightmare Room, a short-lived live-action kid-friendly horror anthology, was also a part of Kids' WB's Toonami. And to rub salt in the wounds of Toonami fans everywhere, Scooby-Doo, which, at the time, was seen all over Cartoon Network's lineup, was a part of Kids' WB's Toonami lineup.

That's not to say that the block was all bad. X-Men Evolution and future Cartoon Network Toonami shows like Jackie Chan Adventures and Batman Beyond. Regardless, for the eleven months it was on the air, Kids' WB's Toonami was an utter disappointment. Viewers who weren't familiar with the Cartoon Network action block were left unimpressed by the unnecessary changes to the already stagnant Kids' WB afternoon block. There was little connection and interactivity to both blocks aside from the use of the Cartoon Network Toonami elements, including the name. Kids' WB's Toonami was nothing more than Kids' WB. When Kids' WB ended that Toonami experiment, nobody paid it any attention since the lineup was relatively the same as it was with the Toonami name. The Kids' WB Toonami mentality continues in the form of the Toonami network in the UK, which, like Kids' WB's version of the block, is a general entertainment network rather than action-animation themed. Cartoon Network got the Toonami name back, but the damage was already done, and it would take years to restore Toonami back to it's pre-Kids' WB attitude and viewership (something the block is trying to do to this day).