Gephyrophillia #225

Originally Posted on 03/23/2011 by Jeff Harris

The article that was supposed to be in this slot wasn't there for some reason. That, or I miscounted. So, a bonus article. Enjoy. - jh

When your name is Cartoon Network and you spent half a year promoting a sports award created by a sports management company and awarded to their clients and a game show centered around people fitting inside of precut shapes and forms instead of a revival of a pop culture icon, the first series created by a best-selling author, an animated movie inspired by an independent comic book, and a new twist on classic superheroes, there is something wrong with you.

"The stuff that lasts the longest, and probably appeals to the broadest audience, really still is animation and always was," says Cyma Zarghami, president of Nickelodeon and the MTVN Kids and Family Group. "Even things like 'Seinfeld' come and go, and 'SpongeBob' hangs around."

With animation becoming more of a priority at Nickelodeon, they're becoming more or less doing what Cartoon Network should have done and should be doing. Strange as it seems, while Cartoon Network is trying to push live-action programming on a viewership that largely doesn't want it, Nickelodeon has quietly taken over the animation landscape that Cartoon Network once dominated.

The dominion that is Saturday mornings is ruled by Nickelodeon's all-animation block in the US. Headlined by Spongebob Squarepants, no other network comes close, and if you ever read the weekly ratings reports, that show ranks as one of the highest-rated scripted shows in the country. But for some odd reason, Cartoon Network feels that to compete against Nickelodeon and Disney Channel, they have to abandon everything they stood for just for short-term success and a misguided philosophy.

The Hall of Game Awards was promoted for six months, and while the network was anticipating ratings abover 4 and 5 million, they only got 1.7 million viewers. On the surface, that may appear like a success, but considering it wasn't the highest-rated series of the week nor the highest-rated premiere of the season by any stretch, it was a failure. It was a critical and financial failure that costed the network millions in their annual advertising budget that could have been better used elsewhere. In fact, Cartoon Network spent 2010 advertising and promoting many projects that were more or less failures. Both Unnatural History and Tower Prep were seen as a salvation for the perpetually third-place network, but its bigger successes were Adventure Time, Regular Show, MAD, Scooby-Doo: Mystery Incorporated, and a rejuvenated Johnny Test. 2011 and 2012 looks a lot better for the channel, and on the surface, Cartoon Network has all but acknowledged their live-action agenda has been a failure. The fact that they're going to try the Hall of Game Awards for another year just reeks of a last gasp to find an audience that doesn't want to watch them.

Maybe in 2012, they'll finally get it.

*end transmission*

Jeff Harris,
Creator/Webmaster, The X Bridge.