Is it me, or is CN's Lineup really getting good?

[Avaitor]

Eh, they'll probably try another live-action show again somewhere down the road.

It's funny, in Hollywood, when one or two things underperform, execs try to find a pattern to blame, like hand-drawn animation, 3D-sploation, musicals, or what have you. But CN seems to refuse to accept that people just don't want live-action shows on their network.

[LumRanmaYasha]

They're going to keep trying to make live-action shows because for the most part it's cheaper to make them and they can expect to achieve great results if they strike it good with a "Icarly" level hit or something about as big.

I miss the days when Cartoon Network was proud to be a cartoon network, and wasn't trying to downplay it's own, or rather former, identity. 

[Peanutbutter]

They only have one show thats live action so I wouldn't call their identity former. If they had any others planned they would have announced them at the upfront.

[Goldstar]

As previously stated, the only live action show currently slated on Cartoon Network is Incredible Crew, which is evidently finished for the season. There's also Level-Up, but that's also wrapped up for the season and there's no word on whether CN has ordered another season or not.

The thing is, I actually wouldn't mind 1 or 2 live action shows on CN, provided that said shows were a) funny, b) somehow tied in to the world of animation (EX: Man VS Cartoon), or c) were at least "cartoony" in nature, as in being done in the manner a live action cartoon a la Parker Lewis Can't Lose or The Aquabats Super Show! or The Kroft Super Show.

Of course, even what I suggested would be a risky path to take. If even 1 live action show on CN were to rival iCarly in terms of popularity with kids and/or teenagers, then CN would order a bunch more, hoping to repeat said shows' popular success, and then live-action programming would then indeed run the risk of taking over the channel.

As long as CN's animation to live action ratio remains 80%-20%, or 70%-30%, then I'll have no complaints about it.

[Silverstar]

The thing is, I actually wouldn't mind 1 or 2 live action shows on CN, provided that said shows were a) funny, b) somehow tied in to the world of animation (EX: Man VS Cartoon), or c) were at least "cartoony" in nature, as in being done in the manner a live action cartoon a la Parker Lewis Can't Lose.

As long as CN's animation to live action ratio remains 80%-20%, or 70%-30%, then I'll have no complaints about it.

This. Live-action shows like ALF, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!, The Banana Splits, H.R. Pufenstuf, Parker Lewis Can't Lose, My Hero, Power Rangers, Ultraman Tiga, The Aquabats Supershow! or even Skatoony I'd be fine with CN airing, since they're basically live cartoons or cartoon/live-action hybrids and therefore wouldn't be too big of a deviation. Stuff like that CN Real crap had squadoosh to do with animation and therefore those shows weren't a good fit for CN at all.

Of course, the LA shows would still have to be done in moderation lest they run the risk of taking over. A good way to keep the LA at bay would be to designate a block for the LA shows a la CN Real, and have said block air only once or twice a week, say, episodes could premiere on Wednesday nights and then get an encore sometime later in the week, like Saturday or Sunday nights right before Adult Swim, for example. So CN Real itself wasn't a terrible idea, but the game and reality type shows which aired on it were.

[gunswordfist]

I didn't even know Super Mario had a live action show.

[Goldstar]

He's talking about the live action wraparounds/host segments for The Super Mario Bros. Super Show! starring Lou Albano and Danny Wells as Mario & Luigi. The actual stories were animated, but the host segments were live action.

[GaryPotter]

The live-action bits were 10 times better than the poorly-animated slop that passed for a cartoon.

[Avaitor]

Bump because this subject was brought up the other day, and I do think it's true.

Anyone have more to add?

[Peanutbutter]

^Yeah, I think it's long past time for that "Remember when it was good?" swipe in the description to be removed. Aside from it not being true since 2010, it's unfair considering no other pages have descriptions like that. Not even Nick which has arguably had a terrible lineup for a long while now.

[Avaitor]

Yeah, that's fair. I'm pretty sure Foggle wrote that as a joke, but at the same time, the board was remade when CN Real was a thing...

I hope this description looks better for you guys!

[Foggle]

I wrote that board description back in, like, 2008, when they mostly aired shit such as Squirrel Boy, Gym Partner, Out of Jimmy's Head, etc. It was mostly a joke, but also a valid critique at that point, IMO. I completely forgot it was still there, so it's probably good you removed it, Avaitor.

[Peanutbutter]

Don't get me wrong, late 2000s was definitely Cartoon Network's biggest slump. Just don't get why Nick got off scot free is all. 



Anyway, I like the new one! 

[Avaitor]

Y'no, me either. It might just be due to the fact that Nick just didn't matter to most of the people on here like CN, so its lack of quality shows wasn't as big of a deal.

Another thing is that I always just identified Nickelodeon as a kids channel, and even when I do look back on a lot of the shows that I did watch on it, particularly the handful of series that I enjoy about as much as ever, it was called the first kid's network for a reason. With Cartoon Network, it felt like it was meant for a wider audience. A lot of the series they showed could easily be enjoyed by kids, while their older series worked just as well for nostalgic reminders to people outside of the demographic, and a surprisingly high percentage of their originals from early on have massive appeal. Around a certain point, CN did become another kids network, which is fine, and they always have had shows that appealed to adults as well, even during their worst years, but it is a different climate now.

Oh, and speaking of modern-day CN, they're finally airing the Man of Steel parody of TLTS tonight. I guess Boomerang already aired it, but now CN proper is getting it.

[gunswordfist]

speaking of which, i stumbled upon that parody and liked it. not to mention that the animation was great. easily the best episode of tlts i've seen.