Anybody miss Fox Kids?

[KRLover]

Cartoon Network really fucked up TV for kids. Yeah, they could run cartoons all day long, but it oversaturated the market to the point where stations just stopped caring. When the stations stopped caring, Nick and CN realized they could get lazy and produce low budget, overstylized gross out cartoon shows. Then came the wave of dubbed anime , cgi and flash cartoons that weren't really trying after a few years. IT's like apathy for kids' shows happened all of a sudden

I also blame those parents groups that banded together starting in 1995 and tried to force conservative morals onto cartoons, which up until then were really known for pushing the boundaries.

They say they're protecting children from things like cursing, immoral things, and the concept of death... all they're really doing is keeping them ignorant so they can maintain the conservative ignorance and therefore hate that they've wanted to spread all along

Yeah, ever since Toonami's cancellation, Cartoon Network has been going downhill. Nickelodean isn't doing too good either; infact the only good show on Nick these days is Spongebob Squarepants. I wish that Fox Kids would pull a Cartoon Network's Boomerang, that would make TV more watchable again; but since it's sold to and owned by Disney now:shakefist:sparta: we won't get it.:disappoin .

 

[Tanuki]

Actually, I'm wrong on the second part, and noticed further items that might have contributed

1) Cartoons are still pushing boundaried, but they're more aimed at grossout humor instead of subtle sexual or older movie references like Animaniacs. Therefore, the concept of conservatives being to blame isn't entirely true, if there is truth in it at all.

2) However, anime might have it's share of the blame since almost as soon as that began to gain popularity in the mid 90's, it has been gaining a larger and larger market share on American television. In teh wake of anime is cartoons and animations produced in other foreign markets. I'm sure this appeals to a lot of companies since anime was known for it's merchandising capability and, in some cases, it's cheaper to license a pre-made item and simply redub it. However, this also leads to certain things like localization and editing to remove things deemed too disturbing for american audiences.

Another side effect is of course the problem of animation quality. With the sudden mainstream popularity of anime, American companies became desperate to define their own animation style, returning to the more geometrically simple style inherent in early american cartoons. I pose a theory that money might have also played a factor as animation companies in japan might have started asking for more money, now that anime was becoming popular. Also, american television stations might have been asking for less expensive and more quickly produced shows since anime was, of course, less expensive and you usually got a show ready to go out. With this lowest bidder mentality, most companies began looking for less expensive methods of animation, cgi or flash being foremost there.

This was of course compounded on by the idea that cartoons were a liability by most stations or companies. Children don't buy enough things or don't fit into our target demographic. The became a large part of the corporate psychology of many stations and I'm sure they didn't want to invest too much capitol in a liability. Less money equals less quality equals the television we all know today

At least, that's my theory

 

[Tanuki]

Did I kill the thread?

 

[Kenori]

Good Job Tanuki, Gawdamnit!

Seriously though, I just don't understand how kickass shows like JLU get cancelled, but were stuck with crappy **** like Flapjack and that Total Drama Island show. It makes no sense...

 

[Tanuki]

Read the big post.

Total Drama Island and Flapjack are cheap and appeal to the grossout humor kids are raised on. Plus you can order small numbers of episodes at a time without continuity and no one will notice. That's amazing in this current environment for cartoons.

On top of that, look at the actual times and numbers of episodes for some of our most beloved and well drawn action cartoons. They weren't on the air long at all

 

[Kenori]

Come on Tanuki, you know I can't read

Seriously though, you're right, and its a terrible problem that needs to be remedied.

 

[KRLover]

Guys, don't take this as an offense or a complaint; but can we save the Cartoon Network talk for a relevant thread and use this thread to look back at Fox Kids and the good shows it had.

 

[Tanuki]

I could, but we would then be weeding out one of the factors that led to the downfall of fox kids and children's television in general

 

[KRLover]

I could, but we would then be weeding out one of the factors that led to the downfall of fox kids and children's television in general

I understand, Tanuki.