Gephyrophillia | Watch This Space #145

Originally Posted on 09/20/2006 by Jeff Harris

In case you haven't stepped outside lately (or you're living in one of those forever temperate zones like Hawaii or southern Texas), fall is definitely in the air. The leaves are changing into all sorts of warm colors and falling down to the ground. The weather is becoming a tad bit cooler, and there are new shows on in prime-time. Unless you're looking at Cartoon Network's prime-time lineup, where most viewers will agree "Dang, didn't they rerun these episodes to death over the summer?" Seriously, for a network that was built up from GOOD reruns (which are barely seen on Boomerang, which 1 out of 8 of the readers actually has access to), the fact that they're continuously trying to permiate young minds into thinking that these shows are actually good is an assault to the senses and the definition of good taste.

I am kind of curious about what the network plans to do to Toonami this fall. No, I didn't have a slip of the fingers. I don't want to know what they plan to do with Toonami because the plans have been liquified for months now. Remember that memo on the front page about the so-called "Year of Toonami" 2006 was supposed to be? Well, the year's almost over, and aside from A Month of Miyazaki, a few Marvel-themed premieres, and Jetstream, which is only available to those with broadband access (myself excluded), 2006 looked like a carbon copy of 2005 with more Pokemon than anybody wanted. I know the Hellboy animated movie will kick all kinds of demonic butt, but the rest of the year, at least in these last four months, one has to wonder what exactly Cartoon Network plans to do to Toonami.

Seriously, who would have imagined that Cartoon Network would bury the "second season" of IGPX on Friday nights at midnight just as the series was getting really good (and not just because they started cursing a little more)? Who also would have imagined that Pokemon, of all shows, would be the opening series for a block aimed towards older tweens and young teens like Toonami? Like I mentioned in the WTS before lightning struck the house, there's only a few things separating Toonami from Miguzi, and one of those things, Naruto, was just scrapped from the weeknight lineup. I could understand why they did that. I just don't understand the reaction from the viewers.

Naruto is a good show, but on Cartoon Network's primetime, it stuck out like an Alex Ross in a student gallery. For many, it was the brightest mark of the evening. However, it didn't get the audience CN wanted for the time period. Well, gee Cartoon Network, when you pair it up with reruns you air at ALL OPEN PERIODS OF THE LINEUP, what the hell kind of results were you expecting? Primetime has been the weakest time-period for Cartoon Network since 2002. You remember 2002, right? Looney Tunes, Scooby-Doo, The Flintstones, and the classic first generations of Cartoon Cartoons were on the lineup until the end of the year when smeg like Pokemon became a part of the lineup. Adults didn't feel embarrassed to watch the network and kids actually enjoyed those characters.

It's too late to bring those properties back to the core Cartoon Network, so we're pretty much stuck. It's also obvious that the live-action experiment was a bomb (haven't seen Zixx in a while, and Pee-Wee's Playhouse, as good as it was, wasn't exactly a ratings darling for Adult Swim either), so we're still pretty much stuck.

So, now you're probably reading this and wondering, "Man, Jeff, you're pretty defeatist about Cartoon Network." I am. While Cartoon Network's younger viewership has risen over the years, its older viewership has plummeted dramatically. Instead of asking why folks like the bulk of the readership of this site are leaving, they're working to keep the younger ones they have. Don't they know that younger audiences grow up to become older audiences?

Here's a sobering fact that made me feel like I'm older than the 28 years I am. Kids who were six when Dexter's Laboratory premiered as a series on Cartoon Network are now 16. Those who were 10 when Powerpuff Girls premiered as a series are now 18. Both of those older demographics who grew up with Cartoon Network are being shoved out the door and aren't connecting with many of the shows currently on the lineup in primetime. Instead, their little brothers and sisters, who only know of Cartoon Network from what their siblings told them, are who the network wants to attract. Their older siblings wouldn't even recognize the old place.

Don't know how smart of a tactic that is, but it's one they're adapting from the upper management down. And the fact that they'd rather have the youth-skewing Pokemon as a marquee show for Toonami than the older-skewing IGPX as a sign-off show for the block that's supposed to be aimed towards older audiences should rub you raw the way it's irritating me. I suppose that's the way it's going to be for the duration.

It's just another fall here in the Troubledome I call The X Bridge.

*end transmission*

Jeff Harris,
The X Bridge Creator/Webmaster
September 20, 2006