Superman Through the Ages! Forum

This can't be a good thing...

Bye Bye Batman, Tom & Jerry, and The Legion of Super Heroes. Hello more Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh and crap like that.

Variety is reporting that The CW will shut down Kids’ WB! at the end of this season and turn Saturday mornings over to 4Kids Entertainment (which has taken over Fox’s Saturday morning kids block for the past six years). According to Variety:

    Under the five-year pact, 4Kids will program five hours of children’s programming between 7 a.m. and noon on Saturdays on the CW starting September 2008. 4Kids will handle all national commercial advertising, and will share in ad revenue with the CW.

SOURCES:
http://www.variety.com/article/VR1117973235.html?categoryid=14&cs=1
http://www.cartoonbrew.com/

The CW is the last broadcast network to air original kids programming produced in-house. With one less outlet for homegrown animated shows, this announcement is another blow to the local SoCal production community.

On the plus side, it’s one less outlet for the perennial spin-offs of Scooby Doo. Zoinks!

Here is a article that rather half-arsely tries to spin it as if they are not really getting canceled.

http://forum.newsarama.com/showthread.php?t=131642

4Kids taking over Kids WB... (screams real loud for a few minutes)

Apparently Time-Warner really does have trained monkeys running their animation divisions, between handing over Kids WB to the *worst* possible animation company (endless crappy anime series is *not* my idea of "good viewin' ") and their running Cartoon Network into the ground via their putting live-action movies and shows on.

I suppose it's possible that Legion and Scooby-Doo (the only two shows left on Kids WB I liked) will find a home on Cartoon Network... but given this is Time-Warner, I'm not holding my breath (or making any predictions)...

Will 4Kids program for both the Fox & CW affliates? That sounds kinda wrong to me.

Well, there are some good anime series, but they can't be put on television due to content.  Heck, a lot of the old US cartoons can't be put on televison due to content.  Johnn Quest actually had an episode where a person was shot and killed with a rifle.

However 90% of everything is crap.  The filters that were in place between the United States and Japan are breaking down and the crap anime is now coming through.

Live action on Cartoon Network?  Not good.  If it was something like Thunderbirds or Stingray which used puppets, I could see.

Ah well, I guess I'll stick to my plan and only buy DVD's of shows I like, including cartoons and anime, and not bother with cable, Direct TV, or sattelite.

Some of the shows will probably crossover: Scooby, Legion, and the Batman. Frankly, Cartoon Network needs an injection of new shows. This appears to be the remedy. 

I don't have much time to ever watch Saturday morning toons anymore, but based on what I have seen... I miss the days of old...

Remember Saturday mornings?  The Archie's, Wacky Races, HR Puffinstuf, Batman/Superman/Aquaman Hours, Bugs Bunny/Road Runner, Super Friends, Bugaloos, Land of the Lost, Sigmund and the Sea Monsters, Electra Woman and Dyna Girl and then the more obscure stuff like Big John Little John, Waldo Kitty, Wonderbug, Far Out Space Nuts, etc...

And of course, Star Trek!

Today, Saturday mornings are so generic and sanitized... like "Nick on CBS" and "Disney on ABC" and I don't know on NBC...  no more originality.  Everything subbed out to outside programmers.  We don't have cable or satellite and I don't miss it... but give us some magical Saturday mornings!

Wow, Big John Little John!  Haven't thought of THAT one in a long time...

Anyway, the best of the stuff on your list is available on DVD, thank goodness.  If it weren't for DVDs and the new Curious George show on PBS, my boys wouldn't watch anything.  And neither would I, come to think of it.

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Well, there are some good anime series, but they can't be put on television due to content.  Heck, a lot of the old US cartoons can't be put on televison due to content.  Johnn Quest actually had an episode where a person was shot and killed with a rifle.
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That's the thing---I never liked anime, thus seeing every other cartoon on today as some anime series (especially on Cartoon Network ) doesn't do anything for me.

Agree that Cartoon Network needs serious help, and that it's likely that Scooby, Johnny Test, and the superhero shows on Kids WB will wind up airing on CN next fall (plus the new Spider-Man cartoon that's supposed to debut on Kids WB midseason).

Yes, I miss Looney Tunes on Saturday mornings, as well; have considered upgrading from regular cable to digital cable just to get Boomerang and Toon Disney (and see all the various old cartoons airing on both channels now, from "Flintstones" on Boomerang to Superman: the Animated Series' debut on Toon Disney coming soon), along with a few other channels only on digital cable in my town (Game Show Network, BBC America, Logo, and CNN International in particular)...

It might just be a matter of cheap labor. It's just cheaper to send cartoons over here from another country that wants to make them then pay for them "in house" so to speak (this might also be the reason why prime time doesn't have sitcoms on anymore and ops for cheaper "reality" shows where they don't have to pay writers or actors). I can't imagine characters like Batman and Superman having trouble finding an audience but if that's true, what does that say about kids today?

I like some anime too, but most of what I like isn't for kids. Most of the stuff that is is crap!