2001: An Animation Odyssey
Jeff Harris, January 26, 2002

It seemed like the animation industry was heading towards a downward spiral. Sure, for most of the year, an animated film was the highest grossing movie (that'd be Shrek, the highest-grossing non-Disney animated film ever) just in time for the first-ever Oscar category for best animated film. Cartoon Network and Boomerang are expanding internationally. The anime video industry are embracing and taking advantage of the DVD format, which is almost the format of choice, as a result selling millions in 2001 alone. On a whole, the industry was in a tailspin. You had massive consolidation of units (Disney buying the assets of Fox Family Worldwide, including the shows of the popular Fox Kids broadcast block and a restructuring of Turner Broadcasting which had the Kids' WB block and Cartoon Network under the same management), box office bombs in two highly ambitious films (the action-themed Atlantis: The Lost Continent from Disney and Square Pictures first film Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, and an air of uncertainty on Saturday mornings, which may be considered an endangered species by the end of the decade.

Some networks may not be phased by that prediction. Afterall, the FCC created a B.S. law almost ten years ago stating that broadcast networks had to show a minimum of three hours of educational programming a week (setting a tone that would allow Congress to pass laws to put parental control chips in televisions, create broadcast ratings on shows, and cut funding to public broadcasting). 2001 saw CBS continue to get assistance from its sister network Nickelodeon in broadcasting its Saturday morning lineup while Fox, in a futile attempt to try to buy DirecTV, got out of the game altogether by selling the Saban library, Fox Family Channel, and Fox Kids international cable networks to, of all people, Disney. The death of Saturday mornings might come at a blow to a lot of companies, but it's survival of the fittest. Those with the guns to do the damage will be the ones that'll continue playing the game. Disney currently holds a large playing hand, programming the Disney Channel, Toon Disney, the newly-christened ABC Family Channel and ABC (all of which Disney own), and they also program UPN, which is owned by CBS and Nickelodeon parent company Viacom.

Meanwhile, the only legitimate competitors to Disney are AOL Time Warner, with its pair of powerhouses, Kids' WB and Cartoon Network, and of course Viacom's Nickelodeon. Nickelodeon took some bold steps in 2001, but they still misfired by placing Nick graphics on Animaniacs and cancelling Invader Zim, the most unique series the network has ever aired. In all fairness, what Nickelodeon has done seems completely minor compared to what has happened behind the scenes at Cartoon Network, which nearly killed the popular afternoon block known as Toonami.

Most of 2001 was mired in controversy with the change in management at Turner Broadcasting (a coup created by Bob Pittman which caused the removal of many Turner execs), which merged Turner Broadcasting with The WB Television Network. On normal circumstances, this would have been a favorable merger. Unfortunately, the regime seemed to favor the broadcast network more than the 30-year old cable titan.

Turner's new president Jamie Kellner and the new CN management tried their damnedest to turn Cartoon Network into the cable equivalent of his Kids' WB block. A weekly showcase of KWB shows, countless promotions of KWB programming, and the annihilation of a popular cable block were just the highlights of the new Cartoon Network (or should I say lowlights?) in 2001. While Toonami on Cartoon Network has seen cutbacks, the "Toonami" on Kids' WB has been anything BUT Toonami. While the CN block thrives itself on action animation, most of the year on Kids' WB has seen shows like Generation O, Detention, and, in 2002, Scooby-Doo has aired on Toonami, ignoring the network's original vision for the block. It's almost as if Kids' WB is using just the name and graphics of the block, but not the spirit behind Cartoon Network's Toonami. Shame really.

All wasn't that bad with Cartoon Network. Two great shows premiered on Cartoon Network, the critically acclaimed Samurai Jack and the fan-favorite Justice League, which brings together popular DC Comic characters in a group setting not seen since the Superfriends.

The months after 9/11 made everything else seem insignificant. The world changed, as the best and worst of all of us was seen. Regardless, we had to move on, and reflect on the future.

Things are going to get better in 2002.

They can't get much worse.