Is Cartoon Network better now than it was 2004-2006?

[Zelek]

2006 was around the time CN was trying to phase out almost everything pre-04, the loss of the Cartoons Cartoons moniker was a part of that.

If I recall correctly, it was already phased out in late 2003.

[Skeeter Valentine]

The Cartoon Cartoon branding was already gone by 2004.

I consider 2006 to be a pretty good year for CN. Foster's and Billy & Mandy had some great episodes. We got the Month of Miyazaki, Naruto hit it's stride, and Miguzi morphed into a mini-Toonami with One Piece and Zatch Bell. Elsewhere Bleach and Eureka Seven premiered on Adult Swim. Good stuff.

Then the Boston bomb scare happened and Jim Stamples resigned. At the risk of sounding like Jeff Harris or one of his stupid followers, that's when things started going to pot.

[Avaitor]

From what I've seen, yeah. Adventure Time and Regular Show are better than the originals from that period that weren't EEnE and Grim, the original Looney Tunes are back on the schedule, Tom & Jerry hasn't been removed for the summer in ages, and the advertising is less obnoxious than most of the sets from that period (FALL IS JUST SOMETHING THAT GROWNUPS INVENTED).

Nostalgia does do crazy things to some people. It is justified to still watch series from when you were younger today based on how your tastes and the effort put behind them stand up now, but many of your favorite shows from childhood aren't meant to appeal to you now. Eds and Grim were on when I was younger, and they pass the test of time for me easily, unlike Mike, Lu, & Og (yes, I used to watch that) or a lot of I Am Weasel episodes. That's just how it is.

[Zelek]

the advertising is less obnoxious than most of the sets from that period (FALL IS JUST SOMETHING THAT GROWNUPS INVENTED).

That was from 2007.

The Cartoon Cartoon branding was already gone by 2004.

I consider 2006 to be a pretty good year for CN. Foster's and Billy & Mandy had some great episodes. We got the Month of Miyazaki, Naruto hit it's stride, and Miguzi morphed into a mini-Toonami with One Piece and Zatch Bell. Elsewhere Bleach and Eureka Seven premiered on Adult Swim. Good stuff.

Then the Boston bomb scare happened and Jim Stamples resigned. At the risk of sounding like Jeff Harris or one of his stupid followers, that's when things started going to pot.

Interesting opinion. Most of the fans I've seen think 2006 was a crap year for CN, mainly because of stuff like Re-Animated (the pilot movie for Out of Jimmy's Head), live-action movies (I remember Honey, I Shrunk the Kids airing a lot in the summer), Squirrel Boy, My Gym Partner's a Monkey, Camp Lazlo, Class of 3000 (dunno why it was hated), and THESE bumpers: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lScGpir5jo. Of course, there were good things about that year as well (such as the ones you mentioned).

[Avaitor]

the advertising is less obnoxious than most of the sets from that period (FALL IS JUST SOMETHING THAT GROWNUPS INVENTED).

That was from 2007.

Oh, true! I lump that as a part of the period for some reason.

[gunswordfist]

Out of the cartoons you listed, Foster's the best, imo and from just seeing three commercials in that first link, Codename Kids Next Door was the best.

Anyway, I have gone on record saying that I barely paid attention to that era for one reason or another. I've also been saying for years that CN now is better than that period. Pretty awful from what I've seen with me clearly being on the fence about Foster's and KND being an alright show to me.

[gunswordfist]

Personally, I think the majority of the current era's shows are of a vastly superior quality and the programming schedule is pretty balanced with few shows too overplayed and enough older titles mixed in rotations, so yeah, I'd say the modern Cartoon Network is better than it was in the mid-00's period.

The only downside to this era is the lack of action series. Even Ben 10, which is in what I think is it's strongest incarnation to date, has been getting the shaft, and is completely off-air now for the first time since 2006. I'm hoping that they don't give up on making action programming altogether.

Do you think CN summer 2005 (here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lyHeuRQfKU4) deserves to be called "the peak of Cartoon Network" or do you think it's just blind nostalgia?

I'd personally say no, that's not the peak of Cartoon Network, but again I'm older and I remember what it was in the late 90's.  If these kids want to call 2005 the peak of the channel, that's fine, I have no problem with that, but I'd still disagree with them all day long.

But, like I said before, while I think the network peaked with the Cartoon Cartoons there are certain folk with think Dexter's Lab/Johnny Bravo/Cow and Chicken killed Cartoon Network.  One man's trash...

What the..? Those people should be ejected from this Earth.

[Skeeter Valentine]

If Cartoon Network ever had a "peak" it was 2000.

[Daikun]

This is a hard comparison to make. 2004-2006 was a pretty decent era.

2007-2009... That was a Dark Age.

[Zelek]

This is a hard comparison to make. 2004-2006 was a pretty decent era.

2007-2009... That was a Dark Age.

I'm not saying your opinion's wrong or anything, but I do find it ironic how 2007-2009 is now considered the worst time of Cartoon Network. When I look at old TV.com posts from 2008/2009, everyone then was saying how CN was in a Silver Age because they were making shows that could appeal to both kids and adults again (such as Chowder, Flapjack, Secret Saturdays, etc.) and cancelled "kiddy" stuff like Squirrel Boy, Gym Partner, and Lazlo.

Also, believe it or not, many of the posters then were PRAISING Total Drama Island and 6teen rather than bashing them, and they didn't seem to hate Johnny Test that much. They also gave Stuart Snyder kudos for "making CN great again." Of course, this was a little before Toonami got cancelled and the CN Real debacle.

[Nameless]

I actually did like Chowder, but I didn't care for Flapjack much and never saw The Secret Saturdays. I do not remember that "Fall Is Just Something That Grown-Ups Invented" song fondly, though...

I wasn't interested in much of anything during 2009, so I missed out on CN then (as well as any Chowder episodes past the first season; people say that the show turned to shit after that). From the sound of it, it really did hit its nadir then; I remember reading rumors that CN would just axe original production entirely and only import new things from Canada and focus on CN Real! Whether or not they held any water, I'm glad that CN has moved past those times...I do think the Noods look was pretty nice, though.

Johnny Test wasn't as hated back then because it had yet to become truly tired and overstay its welcome (though I did recently watch a first-season episode, and to me it did have "this will be gone in a year, without lament" written all over it...that's not what ended up happening, but that's the best way of conveying how it felt to me)

[gunswordfist]

I don't see anything wrong with 6teen or Total Drama Island.

[Zelek]

I don't see anything wrong with 6teen or Total Drama Island.

On forums like /co/ and the such, they're referred to as "those shitty Canadian shows that Snyder brought it to ruin Cartoon Network."

[Daikun]

I don't see anything wrong with 6teen or Total Drama Island.

Fugly, poorly animated dreck. The epitome of everything wrong with Canadian animation.

Most of the time, they don't even know how to use Flash properly. They abuse the hell out of the tween tool instead of learning to animate properly, severely handicapping themselves. They also used Macromedia Flash instead of Adobe Flash, which was on the market before those shows premiered. They really had no excuse to use outdated, shitty versions of their program other than being cheap.

The first Canadian animated show to use Flash properly (to my knowledge, at least) was MLP:FiM. That's why it looked so much better than the garbage that came out before it--Lauren Faust actually had to beg the production company to make the upgrade to Adobe, and it paid off big time.

[Nameless]

I'm impressed that Studio B/DHX Vancouver actually does good work on FIM. When I first started watching it I'd recognized the Studio B logo from cheapo stuff they played on Nicktoons Network back in 2007...

How much work does Top Draw do on FIM? I know they share the work with DHX...