PowerPuff Girls 10th Anniversary Special

[V]

Today is the PowerPuff Girls 10th Anniversary Special, at 8 PM, preceded by an all-day marathon that started at 6 AM.

All I can say is: it highlights for me just how far Cartoon Network has fallen.

I mean, it was only 5-6 years ago that shows like PowerPuff Girls, Dexter's Laboratory, and Samurai Jack were the RULE and not the EXCEPTION.

What happened?

I mean, I didn't follow PPG too closely when it was in its initial run and I have only seen a couple dozen episodes, but I really like it....particularly now compared to what crud is out these days.

I mean, particularly after the End of Toonami, there's just nothing on Cartoon Network I'm willing to watch;

furthemore, the DC animated universe of Justice Leage and Teen Titans is gone.

Cartoon Network and Adult Swim are two separate things. I'm no fan of King of the Hill but I recognize that people watch it (it's not insultingly bad, but I mute it whenever Bobby comes on the screen)...so maybe it was okay to get that. Family Guy pays the bills but to be honest I watch Daily Show/Colbert from 11 to 12.

Venture Bros season 4 is a long way off too.

Lately, their weeknight lineup is utterly insulting, with only the SuperJail!/Robot Chicken half-hour from 12-12:30 holding my interest.

***the good news is on Saturday nights, they finally moved Code Geass to a WATCHABLE timeslot, the old anime slot of 1:30 AM (instead of 2 AM)....the cost of which was removing Moribito, but frankly they'd aired that twice already, and it wasn't very popular (I know I wasn't watching...the pacing was too slow).....so now we've got an anime hour block from 1 am to 2 am : Bleach (which pays the bills, though I don't watch) then Code Geass. (they've also got a marathon from 2 am to 6 am now, which used to be dead air time, now devoted to rerunning finished anime series they still have the rights to, like Ghost in the Shell, Death Note, and the Big O ).

Seriously though.....what happened?

And their "big new show" was a deal to make an insultingly bad Star Wars: Clone Wars series which shames the memory of the Tartakovsky series?
​

 

[RoJoHen]

Yeah, it's pretty hit and miss these days. I love Venture Bros, but it's really the only current show they have that I think is good. I love Aqua Teen, but I feel like it's never on anymore. Home Movies is hilarious, but it's not exactly a new show.

I'm not the hugest fan of SuperJail (it's okay, but it's a little too bizarre), and Robot Chicken has lost its charm.

I definitely miss the days of Dexter's Lab.

 

[V]

yeah its weird: the past half-dozen episodes of Robot Chicken were just full of a lot of filthy sex jokes

but at least, given that its a parody-based sketch show, it's not as if they can get canceled for the plots running out; they just make fun of new stuff in the news.

as for SuperJail!...it's really twisted, but that's what they're shooting for, and it is very clever in its own way: ***it reminds me of the old-school twisted/bizarre cartoons they used to have on MTV, back-in-the-day

 

[Leroy]

I despise most of the garbage Cartoon Network is putting on these days. CN used to have a pretty good track record of airing and making decent shows. I remember a time when AS funded the second season of Big O and aired stuff like Gundam 0083, Kikaider, Blue Gender, etc. even their old comedies I enjoyed like Sealab 2021, Brak Show, Harvey Birdman, Mission Hill, and so on. Now they've rejected anime (the stuff that put the channel ont he map in the first place) and pander to the lowest common denominator, no wonder people are tuning out the TV and are looking towards the internet.

 

[V]

hey, didn't even Naruto air its series finale recently?


What about this "Ben 10" show I hear so much about? That any good?

Yeah Jenkins, Blue Gender was my first real "not a children's show" anime series I ever watched. It was a like a nihilistic post-apocalyptic Starship Troopers cartoon show. Not the greatest series ever, but notable for its overall bleak and kill'em all style.

The Big O, though, I was watching at the same time (I watched out of order because I missed many season 1 episodes) but that was the first "thinking" anime I watched. At least they rerun it in early morning dead-air time and mroe importantly post many episodes on their website.

 

[USS Mariner]

I remember when they had the Toonami afternoon block. Hell, even that because a show in itself after a while, thanks to the special events like The Intruder and Lockdown.

 

[TrekAlliance92]

Yeah...CN has definitely fallen through a heaping helping of network decay lately. After the Golden Age of classic toons and the silver age that brought us modern classics like the first season of Johnny Bravo, Dexter's Laboratory, and The Powerpuff Girls as well as some cool animes like Sailor Moon and Hamtaro, mixed with replays of the Looney Tunes, the latest age isn't nearly as good.

Still...there has been one of the most brilliant animated programs of the past 20 years, Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, a modern classic. And, the DCAU of Justice League, Teen Titans, and Justice League Unlimited. But, most of those aren't shown any more--and instead we get Chowder...Skunk Fu...Johnny Test. At least, they still show Pokemon first-run episodes. And, the final season of Foster's starts up again sometime this year. And, if the ratings for the 1/1 Looney Tunes marathon were good--they have said they might bring it back.

Thankfully, the first 2 seasons of Foster's are out on DVD, the complete Powerpuff Girls series comes out tomorrow, and I've also imported Johnny Bravo and Dexter's Lab season sets from Australia.

 

[USS Mariner]

You'd never think that Johnny Bravo would be considered a classic, but I'm surprised at how often he's been referenced in passing in shows like CSI and NCIS (which is a far better show, personally.) Part of that's probably because he's essentially the lovechild James Dean and Elvis, but even then, I've heard his name being dropped a few times, which is surprising given how short the show was.

Of course, all of that effort is wasted on the audience, because after college, their next taste of cartoons came from Dora the Latino Hey Arnold!

 

[Christopher]

What about this "Ben 10" show I hear so much about? That any good?

The original Ben 10 was okay, but aimed at a younger audience. Kind of lightweight superhero action, but it did a good job building a comics-style story arc and mythos. The current sequel Ben 10: Alien Force, which picks up the characters five years later as teenagers, is pretty good. It's made by a different group, mostly consisting of Justice League veterans -- producer Glen Murakami, story editor Dwayne McDuffie, directors Butch Lukic and Dan Riba, composers Lolita Ritmanis, Michael McCuistion, and Kristopher Carter, voice director Andrea Romano, folks like that -- and has a very DCAU-ish look and feel to it. The writing isn't nearly as intense as JL/U got, but it's had some pretty good episodes, and its overall feel is considerably darker and eerier, more X-Filesy, than its predecessor.

 

[V]

Still...there has been one of the most brilliant animated programs of the past 20 years, Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, a modern classic.

1 - I HATE Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends with a fiery passion
2 - they don't even run it that much anymore?
3 - good, it's going to have only one more season then be gone

their next taste of cartoons came from Dora the Latino Hey Arnold!

Dora the Explorer doesn't deserve to be mentioned in the same sentence as Hey Arnold!

 

[TemporalFlux]

Whatever happened to Megas XLR? It didn't even get a DVD release to my knowledge.

 

[Orintho]

It is a shame PPGs went out of production - it was an excellent cartoon for both kids and adults. And you are correct - quality at the Cartoon Network has dropped considerably. Besides the inexplicable loss of interest in anime, Adult Swim is getting progressively worse too. A few good shows exist, but many simply are not funny. They either try to be too progressively controversial or too gross and forget that you also have to be funny. I'm looking at you Moral Orel, Tim and Eric, 12Oz Mouse, Drinky Crow, etc.

Also they are now importing in what is considered family entertainment (King of the Hill, The PJs) into the Adult Swim lineup? I guess they are still looking to replace the Futurama loss.

 

[USS Mariner]

their next taste of cartoons came from Dora the Latino Hey Arnold!

Dora the Explorer doesn't deserve to be mentioned in the same sentence as Hey Arnold!

They're both Prolate Spheroid-Headed-Americans.

 

[Sephiroth]

CN once ruled, you had Tenchi, Outlaw Star, they ACTUALLY did the blue sub 6 miniseries and were going to run the regular series on AS, they had Sailor Moon and the complete Dragon Ball/Z/GT series nearly uncut running, PPG and Dexters Lab, with Courage the cowardly dog for your more twisted audiences, Samurai Jack and Teen Titans for your budding anime fans, ReBoot the first all CG cartoon (made 100% out of win),all things gundam (including the wicked funny SD gundam), Zoids & Zoids war series, complete searies of Patlabor, Lodoss Wars, Captain Harlock & about 12 other really good anime free to watch online, all this running at once and then...what...pleh, Brick wall, now they have a cartoon about a kid searching for an island of candy, 2 canadian animated teen dramas, and all the crack you can smoke on AS, WTF Happened?

 

[Christopher]

^^The same thing that happens with any network that tries to appeal to a niche audience (which, let's face it, the anime audience is). It ends up changing its programming to emphasize more popular stuff. People always try to blame the network for "inexplicable" programming decisions, but the explanation is always the same: they air the shows that more people watch. Ultimately it's the audience that's responsible for the changes.

 

[marillion]

^^ Unfortunately, that's spot on...

I loved watching Johnny Bravo, Dexter's Lab, PPG, and the like with my kiddos.. Ben 10 is pretty good and I'll even admit to liking some of Foster's Home and Courage the Cowardly Dog...

Anyone who questions the "classic" status of Johnny Bravo need only to watch the Scooby Doo episode when the Mystery Inc. gang picks up Johnny hitchhiking on his way to his aunt's house.. I won't spoil it, but one of the best scenes in it finally admits to what Fred and Daphne always do when Shaggy, Scoob and Velma split off to go sluthing.

The crap that passes for watchable these days is nothing short of inane.. Billy and Mandy, Chowder, Flapjack.. All completely unwatchable.. Right up there with Spongebob.. Complete dreck.. But, for some reason, that's what kids want to watch..

God how I miss Samurai Jack...

 

[Dusty Ayres]

Whatever happened to Megas XLR? It didn't even get a DVD release to my knowledge.

Megas XLR died because it ran out of story. Ask the creator.

 

[Sephiroth]

^^The same thing that happens with any network that tries to appeal to a niche audience (which, let's face it, the anime audience is). It ends up changing its programming to emphasize more popular stuff. People always try to blame the network for "inexplicable" programming decisions, but the explanation is always the same: they air the shows that more people watch. Ultimately it's the audience that's responsible for the changes.

which begs the question though, is CN getting better rateings now with its 4 hours of flapjack block than it was when Toonami was strong?

 

[ancient]

Whatever happened to Megas XLR? It didn't even get a DVD release to my knowledge.

Man, I love that show. But it's not out on DVD for some stupid reason.

A lot of the good cartoons I like aren't. Yet AS dreck can't be curned out on DVD fast enough.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

I thought Fosters was decent, I really like Chowder and Flapjack has grown on me so I guess I don't consider there to be nothing worthwhile on the channel. Mind you, I'm talking traditional cartoons here not the adult swim fare.

I didn't get a chance to see the PPG special but I did catch a fleeting glance at a Mario Kart homage. Hopefully, they'll show it again at some point.