Gephyrophillia | Watch This Space #152

Originally Posted on 05/23/2007 by Jeff Harris

Kids' WB! should no longer exist.

No, I'm not saying that The CW should no longer program a Saturday morning lineup, which remains one of the highest-rated blocks on broadcast television. That'd be foolish. And wrong.

I'm just saying that the Kids' WB! name, logo, and identity should be completely retired in favor of a CW-branded name.

Let me rewind and explain because I have clearly lost a lot of you before I even got started.

In January 2006, The WB Television Network and the United Paramount Network announced plans to merge their programming into one operation, ending a pair of networks that launched within a couple of days of each other and creating a unified network, The CW Television Network. In the original planning, The CW announced that the Kids' WB brand would remain and under the operations of Warner Bros. Entertainment, who would program the block.

With a lineup of Warner Bros.-owned animated series like Loonatics, The Batman, Johnny Test, and Xiaolin Showdown and new shows like Tom and Jerry Tales, Shaggy and Scooby-Doo Get A Clue, and The Legion of Super Heroes as well as a show they had a hand in producing, Monster Allergy (technically speaking, Cartoon Network was a producer, but Warner Bros. took the show and placed it on the Kids' WB lineup, but that's another conversation for another time) and reruns of Cartoon Network's Krypto the Superdog. Because Warner Bros. had a hand in all the shows on the lineup, the Kids' WB moniker remaining on The CW made sense, although the CW logo was nowhere in sight on the block for some odd reason.

Cue to 2007. When The CW announced plans for the 2007-08 season, they announced the renewal of five shows from the lineup (Batman, Johnny Test, Tom and Jerry, Shaggy and Scooby, and LOSH) as well as the premiere of five new shows (Will & DeWitt, Eon Kid, The World of Quest, Magi-Nation, and The Amazing Spider-Man). At closer inspection, the new shows aren't produced by Warner Bros. Animation in any shape or form. Will & DeWitt, World of Quest, and Magi-Nation are produced by Cookie Jar Entertainment, Eon Kid is distributed by Starz Media's Manga Entertainment unit, and The Amazing Spider-Man is a co-production of Sony Animation and Marvel Entertainment.

Half the shows are from Warner Bros. and half the shows aren't. Even half of Johnny Test isn't from Warner Bros., so, a slight majority of shows on the Kids' WB lineup isn't even from Warner Bros. Since half of the shows aren't from Warner Bros, and half of The CW isn't Warner Bros, why does the Kids' WB name, logo, and identity continue to exist?

Is it a branding thing? If so, then why wouldn't a Kids' CW work in the same light? The CW has rebranded itself as a new network despite being built up of older shows from both networks. In the 2007-08 season, CW has a chance to really program a network as well as create its own identity rather than continue to look to the past. The opportunity to rebrand Kids' WB as Kids' CW has arrived this season, but they're continuing to hold onto the name either for sentimental reasons or for Warner Bros. to show CBS whose network template remains and dominates. If the UPN Kids had remained, they would have easily changed the name of the programming block. There's no reason for the Kids' WB name to exist, especially when there's no WB network and Warner Bros. doesn't have a majority lineup of programming on the block anymore.

To the powers that be at The CW Television network, retire the Kids' WB name, identity, and logo for good and truly create a new unified block. You've created a good network (especially better than that abomination called My Network TV), but it's time to create a new branding for the CW's Saturday morning block. It's time to say goodbye to Kids' WB. It's been fun, but it's time to move forward.

*end transmission*

Jeff Harris,
The X Bridge Creator/Webmaster
May 23, 2007