Maybe Tom Aschiem Wasn’t So Bad…

goldstar

Folks, I’ve been thinking about what’s been going on over at Warner Brothers Animation and Cartoon Network lately, and now I’m thinking…

I think that we owe Cartoon Network’s former president Tom Aschiem an apology.

For those who don’t remember, this was a brief overview of what Tom Ascheim wanted for Cartoon Network:

Sure, Mr. Ascheim’s vision for Cartoon Network may not have been everyone’s cup of tea. Yeah, he did want to bring some live action projects such Family Mash Up and Tweety Mysteries (the latter being a live action/animation hybrid series) to the network, but then Warner Bros. teams up with Discovery and then Mr. Aschiem was replaced by Michael Ouleween, seen below with his one true love.

Mr. Ouleween’s plans involve cutting Cartoonito down from 5 hours to a mere 90 minutes in length, having the Adult Swim block start earlier and earlier (AS recently started airing at 7 PM EST, and in the fall it will start at 6 PM), then shuffling some of CN’s new shows over to different blocks than where they were originally intended to air. My Adventures with Superman, an general ages animated series, is now airing under the Adult Swim banner, and the upcoming preschool series Jessica’s Big Little World, which was planned for Cartoonito, will be airing under the Cartoon Network banner here in the U.S.

Sure, maybe Tom Ascheim’s vision for Cartoon Network wasn’t everybody’s cup of tea, but you know what? I think that I prefer Tom Ascheim’s take on Cartoon Network. At least he was interested in program that appealed to EVERYONE. Meanwhile, Michael Ouleween’s vision seems to be “We’re only going to provide entertainment for Edge Lords, Stoners and action anime fans. Everyone else can go plug a hole. If you like comedy, go watch Nickelodeon.” Mr. Ouleween’s plan was/is to transform Cartoon Network into “an all ages channel”, which by his definition, “all ages” apparently means “list anyone over the age of 10 as adults and screw people who like self contained, comedic stories”.

This is why I believe that we all owe Tom Ascheim an apology. Now, everyone line up and tell him you’re sorry!

18 thoughts on “Maybe Tom Aschiem Wasn’t So Bad…”

  1. I admit, I rewatch that CN “Redraw Your World” sizzle reel from time to time and now I get a little choked up, like when I rewatch old bumpers for The Hub.

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  3. I really love Tom Aschiem. He’s the ONLY saving grace in this in age that ACTUALLY gives a shit about not just Cartoon Network, but kids entertainment in general.

    For the longest time(more specifically, mid to late 2010’s), I wasn’t really interested in Cartoon Network anymore because there’s nothing really interesting that make me want to watch the network again. Granted, I did saw OK KO, Steven Universe, and Clarence and Craig of the Creek here and there, and I love those shows, but it didn’t give me that spark that make me want to watch the network again.

    That was during time when Christina Miller was in charge and I’ll be honest, the problem with her tenure is she come off as playing things way too safe and didn’t do anything new and innovative. Sure, we got Adventure Time, Steven Universe, and to some extent OK KO, We Bare Bears, and Craig of the Creek, but those are the only shows that kept the network afloat for a while. The rest are either mostly terrible reboots or some throwaway paycheck shows that nobody cares about. On top of that, when you add TTG and Gumball being spam across the schedule over the years, it really does makes you wonder why people are not watching Cartoon Network anymore.

    Ever since 2020 hit when Christina Miller was replaced by Tom Aschiem, I was very intrigued because he used to worked on Noggin and The N back in the day, and I did think he’ll might turn things around. Then, when he hit with his Redraw Your World presentation in 2021, I was very very excited. He changed the status quo for Cartoon Network by making programs that gears towards EVERYBODY! Preschoolers, families, girls, and everything in between. He knew how to kept a good balance between the old and the new. Something we haven’t seen this level of care since the early 2000’s. I was looking forward to Tom Ashiem’s era of Cartoon Network and see what they have to offer.

    That was until Zaslav and Discovery came along, and decided to FUCK EVERYBODY OVER!! Okay, to be fair, I was looking forward to the Discovery merger because AT&T was a huge mess during that time, but MAN, as time goes on, I take it all back because this is the BIGGEST MISTAKE that Warner Bros has ever made. Yes, AT&T is god-awful, but Discovery, especially when it comes to their business decisions, REALLY pisses me the fuck off.

    Now with Tom Aschiem being replaced by Michael Owueleen, which wasn’t really a bad choice, in my opinion, but the problem with Owueleen is he prioritizing Adult Swim more so than Cartoon Network. Sadly, a lot of stuff that Tom Aschiem has planned for CN has either got cancelled, delayed, or moved to Adult Swim.

    Which is a huge shame because Tom Aschiem has a lot of potential to push Cartoon Network forward. It really does pisses me off that were dumbasses in the cartoon community that really hated Tom Aschiem as if he the next Stuart Snyder just because he brings live action and preschool shows to the network and yet they’re happy that he’s gone. Is these fucking morons don’t even know what they want anymore? I’d much rather have preschool shows and live action shows to Cartoon Network than spamming the same freaking shows over and over again, and there’s NOTHING that you can do to change my mind. NOTHING!

    Anyways, I’m really going to miss Tom Aschiem. He seems like a humble guy that actually cares about Cartoon Network and kids programming in general. The Redraw Your World era did remind me so much of Noggin and The Hub’s early days, and it SUCKS that Discovery ruined everything. Were there problems during Aschiem’s time? Yes, but you know what? I’d rather had someone who actually cares about their audience than have someone who care more about pleasing the blinded nostalgic fanboys and edge-lords than anything else. You may disagree with me, but I’m sorry. That’s just how I feel.

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  4. The live action idea was, admittedly looking back, kinda dumb. But aside from that? Trying to appeal to girls, preschoolers, and families? That was a good call! Certainly a better strategy than giving more hours to Adult Swim and pandering to nostalgia.

    BTW, Checkered Past is going up against both AfterToons on Nickelodeon and Simpsons on CN. It’s going to blow up in their faces.

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    1. I know I’m stubborn about this, but I still say that some live-action could work on CN, provided that it’s only used sporadically and it’s a specific type of live-action that flows along with the theme of animation. Give yourself credit: you, along with Goldstar and myself each came up with live-action ideas which could be implemented into CN without feeling like a slap in the face that goes against the brand.

      But I wholeheartedly agree that even that would be better than this confused mess of a branding that Zaslav and Ouleween are trying to implement right now. This will pass, because all things pass, but right now it just looks like WBD is making ish up as they go along.

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      1. Yeah, SOME live action on CN could work, just not the Disney-esque sitcoms Ascheim was planning. Your ideas are a bit more lenient than mine, with my LA show ideas being tied directly into animation, or even puppetry, rather than cartoon “feeling” like yours. (Though I suppose if we have to go pure live action, that’s as good a place to start as any.)

        And yes, Checkered Past will totally pass. Whether though a change of heart, a change of executives, or (most likely) the block and the expansion of AS failing massively.

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      2. Yeah, like I said this before in the past, and I’m gonna it say it again here: I don’t mind Cartoon Network having SOME live-action content airing on their channel, as long it has something to do with ANIMATION. But having a Degrassi reboot and a musical sitcom like Family Mash Up was a very head-scratching decision at best, yet very unnecessary at worst. So I can understand why they won’t try something like that again, unless they tried relaesing live action content that were cartoon-adjacent like superheroes..

        Honestly, I STILL don’t understand why people getting excited for Checkered Past. I can understand people getting excited for Adult Swim airing good, new original shows that isn’t Rick and Morty and Family Guy clones, but really? Classic CN shows? That you can already watch on various platforms anyways?

        Am I missing something here?

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  5. The main Checkered Past (by the way, NEVER abbreviate that) audience is nostalgic twenty somethings, and maybe a family audience. Here’s the problem with both:

    1) Appealing to nostalgic twenty somethings can only take you so far, especially with literal kids shows. Sorry, but that’s what these are. Ed, Edd n Eddy in particular was made because Danny A was dared to make a KIDS SHOW. And there’s still a stigma around adults watching “kids stuff” outside of the website formerly known as Twitter (which, while a good metric for the general public, is not the general public). Not to mention, Checkered Past will be airing at the same time as reruns of the Simpsons on FXX- another nostalgic cartoon series that DOESN’T have “kids show” stigma and a much wider appeal in the general public, in part because it’s still going.

    2) As for families, sure, the shows are family friendly, as are Unicorn and Superman. But do you really think parents are going to let their kids watch anything on ADULT Swim? Clearly, the CN-AS crew underestimates the power of branding. Plus, the block will be signing on at the same time as Nickelodeon’s AfterToons. Ask a kid whether they’d prefer to watch a twenty year old cartoon on a block that prides itself on being inappropriate for kids or a new episode of SpongeBob, or even a rerun, and they’ll choose SpongeBob every time. Hell, even Simpsons on FXX might be a better choice than Checkered Past- not only does the network not have ADULT in the name, but the Simpsons has been popular with kids for such a long time that Burger King toys have been around as recent as 2013, and as far back as 1990.

    So with the “adult” brand holding them back, and the intense competition of SpongeBob and Simpsons… yeah, Checkered Past is going to bomb hard. But hey, at least not being on a “kids” channel means that we can have more commercials, right?

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    1. That, and also, we are living in the age of streaming. What would the point of watching my favorite classic cartoons on cable TV and wait for a specific time when I just go to various streaming platforms and check out my favorite shows anytime I want, whatever I want?

      In a way, Checkered Past was doomed from the start and giving people false hope into thinking that WB cared about their classic shows. At least with the 90s are All That block came out before the streaming era began. This? Too little too late.

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      1. To be fair- TO BE FAIR- they do have Dexter’s Laboratory, which WAS removed from Max. Which, come to think about it, now seems more like a move to keep Checkered Past relevant before it even launches than anything else.

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  6. Also, on the subject, while Boomerang getting classics back is pretty good, most of the “big” classics are available for free on either Tubi (Scooby-Doo, Yogi Bear), MeTV over the air (Looney Tunes, Popeye), or both (Tom and Jerry, Flintstones, Jetsons). At best, you have the Cartoon Network classics (which are getting less focus thanks to Checkered Past) and more mid-tier classics like Top Cat, Wacky Races, and Captain Planet.

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  7. Well, some of the Adult Swim shows such as Metalocalypse, Superjail!, Home Movies, Lucy: the Daughter of the Devil, Black Jesus and The Venture Bros. are back on Max (but not Space Ghost: Coast to Coast, though. That’s still off the site). Enjoy them while they’re there.

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  8. ACME Night, Cartoon Network’s FAMILY movie block, is now a part of ADULT Swim. They’re airing Batman Forever right now.

    Explain to me how this doesn’t go against everything Adult Swim stands for

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    1. What on Cartoon Network isn’t part of Adult Swim now? Like I said earlier, the Adult Swim name is meaningless now. Why even bother with the different labels at this point?

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  9. TECHNICALLY Checkered Past has gotten an increase in adult ratings (source: WBD themselves, so take it with a grain of salt), but not one Checkered Past rerun has cracked the top 200 cable reruns for adults 18-49. You know, the target demographic. Also, FXX has been cut from Spectrum and has moved Simpsons back to make room for their new Bob’s Burgers full series rights… which Adult Swim also got, despite being supposed to have lost the rights! Man, those guys at Adult Swim are some lucky bastards, ain’t they? First they take up over half of CN, then their closest thing to an actual rival is crumbling right next to them. What religious deity do you suppose these guys pray to? Because if their prayers work this well, I need to convert to it pronto!

    Also, Jessica IS a Cartoonito show… I think. It’s generally labeled as Cartoonito on Max and the CN website, and airs on the Cartoonito block… but promos say it’s a CN show. Cartoonito as a whole is in a really weird spot. It’s been like an hour and a half since MARCH and gets pretty much no advertising anymore, but Batwheels and Bugs Bunny Builders have been renewed for second seasons, and a bunch of pre-WBD acquisitions and their one post-WBD acquisition in Barney guarantees that they have to release them at some point (and Thomas, which they CAN’T dump on Max because Netflix has the rights, has content for Cartoonito going through at least November 2024), so they’re stuck with this thing whether they like it or not.

    Meanwhile, SEVERAL new preschool series have premiered… on Discovery Family. (Not Hasbro, either.) DF has also got multiple WB-owned preschool-adjacent series, like Baby Looney Tunes, Smurfs, and soon that Hanna-Barbera Paddington series. I’d say that, since they can’t kill it off because of existing deals and that goddamn tank engine, they might be considering moving Cartoonito to Discovery Family (which honestly IS a fate worse than death)… but I don’t know how Mattel (owners of Thomas and Barney, and WB’s biggest hit this year, Barbie) would feel about their shows being on a network currently still 40% owned by Hasbro.

    Speaking of Discovery, CN and several other Turner channels have switched over to the Discovery playout last week or so. The results have been disastrous, to say the least.

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  11. Ouwleen, Zaslav, or whoever: “We’re no longer interested in preschool programming.”

    Mattel, who has Barney’s World coming to Cartoonito next year, alongside new Thomas episodes that CAN’T be shipped off to Max because Netflix has streaming rights: “SAY SIKE RIGHT NOW.”

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