02.06
I’m not gonna lie and say that I remember the exact date that Toonami went off the air in America. On the contrary, it’s all a blur to me—I remember I was in high school, and I remember finding out somehow that that night would be Toonami’s last airing (Pacific timer, so I probably found out from someone online, or a commercial, or something) and not really feeling that much more past that. In general, I watched the action block for the anime and skipped out on any Cartoon Network originals (Teen Titans was in its final season, and I think we’ve all reached a general consensus on how that season was), but at the least I figured I’d park it that night in front of the TV and watch everything go down.
And so it happened. A random episode of Samurai Jack was the last to play before TOM and his new little sidekicks literally said their final goodbyes and referenced Bebop before the parental warning showed up for the [adult swim] block.
Checking Wikipedia, it looks like it’s been a good 3 years this month since then, so I figured a “State of the Channel” sort of post seems in order.
Let me further postpone getting to the guts of this post by saying that a good number of people will argue that Nickelodeon’s early broadcasting format was seen as one of the better ones it’s had—a healthy balance of pretty much every genre kids and preteens would be interested in, from game shows like Double Dare and Legends of the Hidden Temple, to live action shows like Hey Dude and Salute Your Shorts, to their Nicktoons of varying levels of insanity. Three years after what was arguably their most popular programming block was cancelled, Cartoon Network seems to follow suit, with a wide variety of game shows, live action shows, and off-the-wall-type original cartoons. And yet for some reason, it hasn’t received similar amounts of praise. This can be explained in one of two ways: nostalgia glasses making anything old better than anything new, and well… the fact that the channel itself is called Cartoon Network, thus making any and all signs of live action anything serving as the equivalent of spitting in the viewers’ faces.
But regardless of the drama following Toonami’s cancellation, it seems like CN has gotten past any fan backlash and has been able to follow up with their promise of original-to-the-network shows—cartoons included. You’ve got the hipster-popular Adventure Time, the awkward-because-it’s-not-Animaniacs MAD, the awkward-because-it’s-not-The-Office Looney Tunes Show, the underappreciated-because-it’s-not-Adventure-Time Regular Show, and the surprisingly-good-because-it’s-quirky The Amazing World of Gumball… nothing spectacular, but nothing too bad.
Following the death of Toonami was word that the previous change in the network’s head from Jim Samples to Stuart Snyder would lead to an “anti-anime” movement throughout the channel as a whole, explaining Toonami’s fate as well as the treatment of popular Japanese titles such as Yu Yu Hakusho being shafted to a 5AM time slot. Regardless of the shift in presidents, however, it seems like anime are doing okay enough, forming a good majority of the [adult swim] block with newer (granted, not as new as some fans would want) titles such as Bleach, FMA: Brotherhood, and Durarara!! airing alongside the old reliable anime series Cowboy Bebop.
But what seems to be the most significant change so far has to be the channel’s treatment of action series. While I haven’t been the closest of viewers over the past three years (it’s weird to find that my big 3 channels have become AMC, Travel Channel and Bio), I will say that I’ve seen enough on CN to notice that focus during the day has primarily gone to its original comedy shows, giving minimum commercial time for things like Star Wars: Clone Wars, Young Justice, Generator Rex and the like, which is a real shame. I remember a time in Cartoon Network’s history where commercials combining all their shows into one “universe” of sorts existed; a world where each show existed and interacted with each other in a strange harmony of sorts.
Today, I’m lucky if I’m able to find out when the next Young Justice or Mystery Inc. airs without having to resort to an online search.
So in some ways, I guess you can say that some fan doomsday predictions came true, what with a change in power leading to a change in focus for the channel. Then I think, “What would Toonami’s Optimus Prime host say?”
Like all crappy things, time will heal all wounds. And hopefully, by the time the scar left from the removal of Toonami fades, we’ll have a Cartoon Network that old school and new school alike will be proud of.
Originally posted on Monday, September 5, 2011.