Gephyrophillia | Watch This Space #10

Originally Posted on 10/14/2002 by Jeff Harris

I'm going to get to my disgust with the current online grid changes in a moment, but first, let me get a few things off my chest about the way of the world over at Cartoon Network.

On Tuesday, October 1, Cartoon Network celebrated their 10th anniversary. Okay, let me rewind that.

On Tuesday, October 1, Cartoon Network celebrated their 10th anniversary by airing an almost two-minute promo that first aired after midnight on October 2, 2002, in the middle of an instant rerun of Dragonball Z. No new eyecatches, no real on-air/online acknowledgements, and no big changes to the look or lineup of the network, and quite frankly the lineup of Cartoon Network, with their overreliance on Cartoon Cartoons in ALL dayparts, has become bland as of late. Last week, the Toonami lineup was shaken up a bit. The infamous addition to the Toonami lineup, Hamtaro, was removed causing excitement (and in some cases, a sense of disappointment, because they gave it a chance and actually revelled in the wry humor of the cutesy series) in the entire Toonami fan community. Batman Beyond came in to replace it, though fans already knew that it would be a temporary stay on the block because next month, He-Man and the Masters of the Universe and Transformers: Johto - - oops, I mean Armada, would be stripped to weekdays. So, fans enjoyed the new, very diverse lineup of Toonami, which was:

4 PM EST/PST: Batman Beyond
4:30 PM: Zoids: Chaotic Century (perhaps the most underrated series on Toonami since ReBoot)
5 PM: G Gundam (it's not as bad as all people say it is, but its "DBZ Robots" concept had to be stomached very slowly to get used to)
5:30 PM: The Powerpuff Girls (the perfect merge of comedy and action that has rubbed the otaku element to the core . . . GOOD!)
6 PM: Dragon Ball
6:30 PM: Dragon Ball Z (new episodes, though I'm wondering why they're going to cut off the new run JUST before it ends with the dozen episodes remaining)

Midnight Run still needs to purge itself of the DBZ virus, because there's still no reason to watch it. I mean, couldn't they find a spot for something like, I don't know, G Gundam or a new-to-Toonami series or something? Anyway, that's the lineup of Toonami until November, when the new shows come to weekdays.

Wait, let me rewind that.

Anyway, that's the lineup of Toonami until today, when Cartoon Network revitalizes their lineup for the first time in ages.

Cartoon Network actually created a new lineup that was actually worth noticing. They added Boomerang programming to weekdays, brought the Acme Hour back to weekdays, returned the Dark Knight from the overnight slot it's been residing in exclusively since May (around the time that Powerpuff Girls: The Movie was being hyped from here to Botswana, replacing Batman in the Sunday night lineup), and added a daily installment of Toonheads to the late-night hours. With Boomeraction and Batman: The Animated Series in the startup position at 3 PM, Toonami had nowhere to go but up. Guess someone forgot to see that it could always go down, which apparently the new online grids indicate.

In short, Toonami has reached a new low (if these online grids are true).

4 PM: Dragon Ball Z
4:30 PM: Dragon Ball
5 PM: G Gundam
5:30 PM: G Gundam
6 PM: Dragon Ball
6:30 PM: Dragon Ball Z

Midnight Run remains the same (that is, same day Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z repeats).

Super Saturdays remains the same.

And thankfully, Rising Sun remains the same.

Is this further proof that Cartoon Network doesn't care about its viewers anymore? Is cramming Dragon Ball down the throats of the Toonami faithful punishment for wanting to get rid of Hamtaro and Powerpuff Girls from the daily lineup? Or is this the final proof that the idiotic mandates from Kids' WB have reached the boiling point, with CN basically falling face down in submission (BTW, what kind of ego makes KWB think that if they don't look at CN that they're immediately going to watch Kids' WB instead of someone like Nickelodeon, Disney Channel, MTV, Toon Disney, or any other channel?)? Something is amiss at Cartoon Network, and it's painfully obvious that the powers that be has made a number of mistakes over the last two years since the computer virus known as AOL took over Time-Warner are running amok. Everybody involved in the Turner coup last year are gone, and yet the person left running the whole damn show is still in place, unflinching and untouchable, causing damage and infection to the Turner name.

Blow out the candles, Cartoon Network. It's going to be another long year.

Until we are one, later.
Jeff Harris
CNX Creator/Webmaster
October 14, 2002