Hard as it is to believe, from time to time mistakes are made by our fine conglomerates' far-seeing execs. For instance:
... Frederator Studios pitched an Adventure Time series to Nickelodeon, but the network passed on it twice. ...
The show is now into its third season at CN, and doing quite nicely in the ratings.
I bring this up because I happened to be visiting the crew today up at Cartoon Network. And a few years back I also attended the screening where the Adventure Time pilot debuted. At Nick. It was inside the studio's makeshift theatre in the main building that doubles as a basketball court. The development slate for "Random Cartoons" was being unveiled, and the pilot called Adventure Time got a big reaction. And favorable buzz thereafter. As a staffer told me:
"It was the short that got the most "Who hoo!" from the audience. Everybody knew it was different, fresh. And most people liked it."
This, as I recall, was pretty much my reaction. The short wasn't like anything else in that batch of Frederator cartoon. For that matter, it wasn't like most other television cartoons on the air.
So what happened? Nick passed. But Fred Seibert, the top-kick whose company developed the shorts, went off and sold the show to Cartoon Network. And lo!
... Regularly winning Monday nights among all boys demos, Cartoon Network has now added key kids demos to its #1 TV destination claim for the night in early evening (7-9 p.m.). Regularly winning Monday nights among all boys demos, Cartoon Network has now added key kids demos to its #1 TV destination claim for the night in early evening (7-9 p.m.). ... Armed with a solid line-up of original animated shows, Cartoon Network ranked #1 for the night among kids 2-11, kids 6-11, boys 2-11, boys 6-11 and boys 9-14.
Original animated comedy series punctuated Monday night—The Amazing World of Gumball (7:30 p.m.), Adventure Time (8 p.m.), Regular Show (8:15 p.m.), and MAD (8:30 p.m.)—ALL ranked #1 in their timeslots among kids 2-11, boys 6-11, boys 2-11 and boys 9-14. ...
How did this come about? It wasn't too many years ago that I would listen to Cartoon Network managers complain about the net getting crappy ratings, how the live-action shows they were trying didn't get traction, how everything seemed to be circling the drain. Which maybe goes a ways to explaining why CN was open to making AT a series in the first place. They were a bit desperate, so they were in a receptive mood for something "different." As one of the artists who's been with the show from the beginning says:
Adventure Time doesn't follow the normal cartoon story arcs. It doesn't usually go where you expect it to go, it's more like improv. The characters do things you don't expect ...
This was all pretty evident when I was watching the pilot, there on the hard wood bleachers on Nick's basketball court. Maybe it's why Nick decided it wasn't for them. The piece was just a little too odd-ball, a little too weird.
Whatever the reason, I think we can stipulate that Viacom committed an unforced error when it passed off to Time-Warner, and so one monster conglom's loss became another monster's gain. But maybe in the end, given their girth and reach, all it amounts to for these behemoths is a rounding error anyway. And Nick can maintain a stiff upper lip and move on.
After all, it will always have SpongeBob Squarepants and Fairly Odd Parents. How many cash cows does it need?
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12 comments:
I know, it's amazing! Fred gets mentioned for his successful show more than Penn!
Having a fresh inventive show presented to a network(CN's role in this) is much different than spending six figures(or was it seven figures) to develop a crop of shows with Fred Seibert and 99% of them being absolute dreck. I think Nick had written off Frederator and the entire cause when FORTY cartoons were funded and two of them ended up being good.
Thats a terrible record for finding talent. In this town anyone could go out with funding and have an 8% return on their investment.
CN's own "Cartoonstitute" shorts program had a much better return with wildly imaginative cartoons produced. But then the brain dead Atlanta executives killed the program in favor for live action.
They didn't kill Cartoonstitute for live action. They killed it to send a message to Craig McCracken and others, who was in charge.
Frederator is the Hanna-Barbera of the 21st Century.
That's not a compliment.
How a quirky, charming show like Adventure Time got okayed at that studio is just one of life's little mysteries.
>Thats a terrible record for finding talent. In this town anyone could go out with funding and have an 8% return on their investment.
Uh, how do you know it's less than an 8% return? Do you know what the budgets for the 40 pilots were versus what the 2 successful shows are valued at minus the production costs?
Cartoonsititute had 40 greenlit shorts and yielded 2 shows - many more were optioned, seems they were as successful as Seibert.
So the answer to my question is no?
Wasn't trying to answer your question - just pointing out how wrong the guy you asked is...
Apologies. I got confused with all the Anonymoni.
"Uh, how do you know it's less than an 8% return? Do you know what the budgets for the 40 pilots were versus what the 2 successful shows are valued at minus the production costs?"
I think the record states that Frederator made 40 shorts for Nickelodeon and nearly all of them were horrendous. Anyone who went to those screenings knows how bad they were (with Adventure Time the exception).
CN's shorts are quite good and have amassed a following on the internet as they are wildly popular on youtube. Frederator's shorts... not so much.
http://tinyurl.com/32bdcnz
http://tinyurl.com/343pgvg
http://tinyurl.com/3alk7rq
http://tinyurl.com/27lcof3
http://tinyurl.com/yajru2n
Maybe Frederator will have more luck fiding talent with their tantalizing lowball offer of a $50.00 for artist's shorts... or maybe not.
Yes, but Fred just needs one hit out of 40, and look what happens - he gets credit by sycophants for inventing the wheel! Fred wins.
Fred's helped bring more than one hit to life. So he does indeed win, as well as those whose shows he got to air, and those whose careers took off working on those shows, many of who were part of the Cartooninstitute.
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