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Young Justice, Green Lantern return January 5th

Look on the bright side. On the current schedule, they could cancel the shows and we'd still be getting new episodes for years.
 
I've been (pleasantly) surprised by the quality of both shows so I'm looking forward to their return. I guess we'll never get the full story on why the CN has treated them so poorly.
 
So glad to have them back soon!

I already watched the YJ from the one day it was on iTunes, but I'm definitely gonna watch it again.
 
And silently, Cartoon Network is also airing two of the remaining new episodes of Generator Rex - Wednesday, December 26 at 7 am Eastern and Thursday, December 27 at 7 am Eastern. That leaves five more new episodes for them to show, but nothing else showing up on my channel guide yet.
 
Maybe, but there weren't any toys at all for GL, at least that I could find. Just a couple DC Direct statues.
 
Which would explain their disappointment. If they couldn't even get a toy company interested in the license, then the show hasn't succeeded at selling toys, and that seems to be their standard.
 
And silently, Cartoon Network is also airing two of the remaining new episodes of Generator Rex - Wednesday, December 26 at 7 am Eastern and Thursday, December 27 at 7 am Eastern. That leaves five more new episodes for them to show, but nothing else showing up on my channel guide yet.

I saw that as well as my DVR thankfully tagged them for me. 7AM! Well, at least they're airing them I guess instead of outright canceling it.
 
Which would explain their disappointment. If they couldn't even get a toy company interested in the license, then the show hasn't succeeded at selling toys, and that seems to be their standard.

Which is odd, considering they're a broadcasting company, not a toy company...
 
Which is odd, considering they're a broadcasting company, not a toy company...

It's not odd at all; it's simply how commercial television works. Studios and broadcasters need money to make and air their shows. They get that money from corporations that believe those shows can help advertise their products, so that the money they invest in making the show will be more than paid back in profits from selling their stuff.

For decades, the production of animated television shows has been funded in part by toy companies that developed and sold toy lines that tied into the shows. This has been the case since the 1980s, when most animated shows were little more than half-hour commercials for pre-existing toy lines like Masters of the Universe, Transformers, GI Joe, MASK, My Little Pony, Strawberry Shortcake, etc. But even cartoons that aren't based on existing toy lines have needed the support of a toy line in order to get adequate funding. Hence we've had things like the Batman: The Animated Series toy line that put Batman in dozens of variant costumes and equipment sets that never actually appeared on the show. Hence Gargoyles had to give the winged heroes their own helicopter as a prospective toy tie-in (though I don't think the toy ever went on the market). And so on.

So it's just the nature of the business these days that cartoons and toy lines have a symbiotic relationship. Without a toy company willing to develop a line of merchandise to help fund the show, the studio can't afford to make the show. At least, not if it's as top-grade a production as Young Justice. That gorgeous animation, sophisticated writing, and quality casting don't come cheap.
 
There was more separation between the producer and broadcaster at one time though. I think in the past the toy line funded production of the material but the broadcaster didn't have their hands as directly in the pie when it came to the profits.

Of course, it does make you wonder about certain shows. I can't picture Sym-Bionic Titan or Secret Saturdays being very good merchandise fodder. If it's so important to CN it seems odd to choose something like that.
 
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