Ending the Fox Late-Night Block

But ordering up new prime-time candidates.

Fox will end its late-night Saturday cartoon block, Animation Domination High-Def, after less than a year, but it is continuing its commitment to the animation initiative.

The network has ordered two half-hour series from the Animation Domination production unit that it plans to air in prime time, most likely on Sunday, in the next year. It has not announced the names of the series.

"We're as enthusiastic as ever about investing in this growing initiative to be able to incubate our way into the next Sunday night animation hit," says Kiliaen Van Rensselaer, who oversees multi-platform programming for Fox. The Simpsons and Family Guy are two long-running Sunday successes for the network.

Regarding the above, questions come to mind:

* Why is Fox discontinuing it's late night cartoon experiment? Too raunchy? Too unprofitable? If it's one or both of these things, why move ADHD product to prime viewing hours on Sunday nights?

* What shows, animated or otherwise, will give way for the newer Animation Domination High-Def offerings?

* Is the WGAw going to be covering these new shows? ADHD specializes in low-rent animated half-hours that are non-union top to bottom. Will that change now that ADHD's product is shifting to the Fox network in prime-time? Will the Animation Guild, which has a contract with Fox TV Animation, have a contract for this work?

* Is ADHD, with low wages and no benefits, going to become the new cartoon business model for Fox?

I don't have any answers to the questions above. But I sure as hell would like to.