Still more Cartoon Network.
I spent part of yesterday afternoon at the studio. An artist filled me in on the cartoon side of Turner's cable network:
"There's some newer cartoon shows coming. Out of the shorts program, I'm hearing there's going to be two cartoons from the new crop greenlit into series. And the brass is thinking of okaying new episodes of Chowder.
"One of the problems is, the executives in Atlanta okay a series order of like, six half-hours, and then waits to see how it does before ordering more. And all the people who worked on it have been laid off and gone someplace else.
"And all the focus groups that look at new 'toons and vote on them? Doesn't work all that well. And all it really does is help management not take responsibility for its decisions ..."
There's a lot of live-action rolling onto Cartoon Network (as the media has pointed out), but there's ... still ... a goodly amount of animated product. A staffer steered me to a CN press release that I had missed.
• Adventure Time with Finn and Jake: Finn, the human boy with the awesome hat, and Jake, the wise dog, are close friends and partners in strange adventures in the land of Ooo. The 30-minute series is from Cartoon Network Studios, created by Pendleton Ward and executive produced by Fred Siebert and Derek Drymon.
• Ben 10: Evolutions (working title): An all-new animated series follows 16-year-old Ben Tennyson as his secret identity has been revealed to the world and he’s now an international mega-star super hero ....
• Sym-Bionic Titan: From creator Genndy Tartakovsky (Dexter’s Laboratory, Samurai Jack) comes an exciting hybrid of high school drama and giant robot battles ...
• Generator Rex: Infected by microscopic molecular-altering nanites, 15-year-old Rex has the ability to grow incredible machines out of his body ...
• Scooby-Doo – Mystery, Inc.: A sleepy little village, Crystal Cove, boasts a long history of ghost sightings, poltergeists, demon possession, phantoms and other paranormal occurrences. The renowned sleuthing team of Fred, Daphne, Velma, Shaggy and Scooby-Doo arrive to prove all of this simply isn’t real ...
One of the CN veterans marveled that the Big Dog is still trucking right along. "You believe it? Scoob has been around since '67. And here's another series being teed up. Amazing."
Me, I'm praying that Scoob's fifty-third incarnation outstrips CN's Othersiders. And I'm delighted that Time-Warner, in its infinite wisdom, is finally putting another series produced by Warner Bros. Animation on its Time-Warner cable network.
It only took these folks about ... oh ...sixteen years to stumble across the concept of synergy. Well done!
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3 comments:
"• Firebreather: Cartoon Network’s first original all-CG animation adventure....Peter Chung (Aeon Flux) is attached to direct."
I'm freakin' stoked about this one. No telling what Peter Chung will be able to do with that comic style. I think it will be badass.
The executives don't care about laying us off. They think that there's this giant pool of artists and that we're all replaceable. Or that we'll come crawling back when they finally do pick us up. That is why CN is the weakest. Out of all the studios, they keep letting their talent slip through their fingers.
Bringin on new shows doesn't justify cancelling anothers (!!nice phrase? ¿don't ya?), I miss Camp Lazlo and Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi. those are the shows I most liked. A better solution is to keep going nice shows and ad anothers. Of course everything has to finish, but a good way to end a show, is lettin audience choose a finale for a show (!!I think that's a great idea!!, ¿don't you?)
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