Gephyrophillia | Ask TXB #1

Originally Posted on 01/11/2007 by Jeff Harris

Howdy.

I'd thought I'd try something a little new around these parts in 2007. By the end of 2006, I was back on a writing streak making my own comments about the world of animation and the outlets where they are found. You guys and gals have been paying attention and wanted to comment about what I wrote and what I didn't wrote. So, starting right now, I'm adding an Ask TXB section to the site to answer these questions every single week and provide insight on why I do the things I do. I'd like to think that this is an animation site for the people, and it's due time that I let the people make their voices heard. I'll answer a different question every week, and you can contact me via e-mail at nemalki at yahoo dot com.

The first letter I'm going to answer is this one from Mugen, a regular on the Toon Zone boards. He noticed that I've kind of softened my stance on Nick and Disney Channel while becoming more critical of Cartoon Network. Let him tell you what's up:

Hi, Jeff.

This Mugen from the Toon Zone forums. I've been reading the website since 2003 (or was it 2002? It was somewhere around that time). Anyway, I know that Cartoon Network has been in a decline since the late part of 2001, and you have pointed out their missteps along the way. At the same time, it seems to be that you have been more favorable attitude towards Nickelodeon and the Disney Channel. The thing is, aside from certain programs, I don't see anything worthwhile on either channel. In Nickelodeon's case, aside from Avatar and Spongebob (which I'm not really a fan of, but the show definately has its supporters), what else does it have that is worth watching? It seems their new shows such as Danny Phantom, and The X's aren't that great compared to the newer CN originals. Looking at their slate for new shows, it doesn't seem that the quality will change anytime soon.

If you thought CN's handling of Dragon Hunters was poor, then Nick is worse when it comes to properties that they don't own. It's like if they can't get any money out of it besides advertising revenue through commercials, then they treat it like dirt. An example of this is 6Teen. 6Teen is a great show from Nelvana that was handled poorly on Nick. It was put on weekdays, but I saw little promotion for the show. Then the show disappeared from the airwaves. At least CN put Dragon Hunters on CN Video, so that still has a place to air. I feel CN is much better at handling third-party shows. There is a reason why Naruto is one of their top rated shows right now. It's because they know how to promote and gives them chances.

Another thing about Nick is their on-the-fly scheduling. I feel that the one bad thing CN tried to emulate about Nick is their poor scheduling. It seems that every other week, shows are being constantly rotated out and Nick is notorious for moving shows without giving notice. I remember William C. Maune saying on the TZ boards about how he stopped checking for Nick's schedules because they kept changing stuff around.

As for the Disney Channel, I never really found the appeal in the channel. Their newer programming doesn't interest me at all and they don't seem to care about older viewers even more than CN does right now. They abandoned the classic shorts and older Disney animated shows, and Toon Disney was supposed to be a place where they could air, but now you might as well call it Jetix. Even when I was younger, the channel never grabbed me like Nick and CN did. Honestly, CN should focus their attention at beating the Disney Channel than Nickelodeon. CN is only 190,000 viewers behind Disney, and has a chance to be the number two network for kids this year if they play their cards right.

Now, I'm not saying everything on Nickelodeon and the Disney Channel is bad. Nick has Avatar, which is one of the best American animated shows since Samurai Jack. The Disney Channel is brilliant at marketing their products and shows towards kids and parents. The High School Musical movie is a big success and the Hannah Montana soundtrack is constantly in the Billboard top 10. However, they aren't perfect due to both networks being the top two for younger viewers. They have flaws, just like Cartoon Network.

I agree with everything you said. Everything. However, I kind of take offense when you say that I'm being too lenient on Disney Channel and Nickelodeon.

Truth of the matter is, well, in the nearly nine years I've worked on this site, I've mostly written from a pro-Cartoon Network perspective. I've defended Cartoon Network more times than they deserved, and I realized that their recent actions can't be defended anymore. I criticize The Network more because they deserve a kick in the ass for the countless missteps they have made over the past six years. The Network has abandoned its core base of viewers, namely older viewers that actually made up a healthy chunk of viewership. Remember the excuse why they cancelled Rurouni Kenshin? The Network said that the show reached more older viewers than they wanted. Actually, The Network didn't make such an acknowledgement publicly. That's what they told Sean Akins, Toonami's creative director and co-producer, who told that to ANX years ago. With the migration of all the older Hanna-Barbera programming to Boomerang and the near disappearance of Looney Tunes on the Cartoon Network (though that is, in due part, Warner Brothers' fault), older viewers was shown the door at The Network.

With the elimination of the marquee properties like Dexter's Laboratory and The Powerpuff Girls that kept young tweens watching the channel, The Network pretty much had to start from scratch with lackluster programming in primetime aimed solely for younger viewers. Toonami was moved to Saturday nights so they could create Miguzi for younger viewers. Of course, they didn't have a high concentration of younger viewers on Saturday nights now which is why they put Pokemon as the opening show on Toonami, a block that was supposed to be aimed towards older teens.

Cartoon Network also tried to get younger viewers to watch by doing the unthinkable: airing live-action programming. I remember the dialogue my friend Jon and I had when Cartoon Cartoon Fridays was going to be revamped into Cartoon Network Fridays with live-action hosts and musical guests. I felt at the time that CNF would bring in all sorts of live-action fare from movies to television shows, and he felt that I might have been overexaggerating. Sadly, history proved me right on an occasion when I didn't want to be accurate. The "success" of Re-Animated and the booking of Radio Disney artists the rest of America has no idea about proves that they're continuing to go down the path of ruin. They're still continuing to be less like the Cartoon Network of old and more like Nickelodeon and Disney Channel.

And that's the problem. It's not like I'm being too lenient on Nick and Disney Channel. I don't want Cartoon Network to be like them because they're not exactly the highest of standards in programming. Just because Nickelodeon shifted their older programming to another network didn't mean that Cartoon Network had to do the same thing. Just because Disney Channel took decades old programming off the lineup didn't mean that Cartoon Network had to do it too. Cartoon Network acts like the little kid who wants to be like the older kids who throw rocks at buildings and smoke cigarettes in the school bathroom. They'll do exactly what they do just to fit in, but that doesn't make what Disney Channel and Nick are doing right.

Disney Channel is a network that claims to be a channel for dreamers, but sooner or later, dreamers have to wake up. Life is not a fairy tale, but Disney wants you to live in that world where everything is safe and squeaky clean. Cartoon Network wants to emulate that feeling within their own channel, but viewers know that their intentions are fake and pretentious. Longtime CN viewers see it has a cop-out to them and Disney Channel watchers who are flipping the channel waiting for the next airing of Zach and Cody or That's So Raven see The Network's efforts to be like Disney as ridiculous.

Nickelodeon stopped trying to be like Disney years ago. They already have theme park attractions. They've made their own movies. Now, they're trying to be something else that they're not, only in this case, they're looking at the discarded playbook of an old competitor that doesn't really exist anymore. Nickelodeon is not only producing and airing more animated programming in-house, but their relaunch of Nicktoons Network has made them worth checking out. These actions are similar to what Cartoon Network was doing before the Turner Coup of 2001. Yes, Nick's treatment of third-party programming is appalling (for the record, I'm a HUGE fan of 6Teen, and I still feel that it could work on The N), but they've managed to stay true to themselves.

I don't excuse Nickelodeon and Disney Channel for their continuance of being mediocre networks just like I don't excuse Cartoon Network for being something that they're not. Nick and Disney are stuck to the image they've made for themselves. The Network is creating an image that's trying to be more like Nick and Disney than Cartoon Network, and fans of both aren't being fooled. Viewers aren't just going to leave Nickelodeon for Cartoon Network because they have Nick Carter appearing on Fridays or a show from the creator of Rocko's Modern Life on the lineup every day of the week. Viewers aren't going to leave Disney Channel because The Network airs live-action movies featuring teen actors, talking animals, and popular stars like Jim Carrey or have musical perfomances from musicians the rest of us have never heard of. Cartoon Network doesn't have to be The Network. Cartoon Network can change. Nick and Disney are permanently stuck in their roles.

*end transmission*

Jeff Harris,
Creator/Webmaster, The X Bridge.