Category Big Ideas

Building a Better Mouse House

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There’s a thread on the Toon Zone Forums (specifically, in the Disney Animation Forum) titled “How Would You Improve Disney?”, and since I can’t respond to the thread on TZ, I’ll instead say what I would do here. In order to improve the Disney Studios’ productions, I would:

1. Re-re-invent the Disney Channel – And I don’t just mean the logo. I have no problem with the DC logo looking like this
But I do have an issue with TDC’s current programming. I don’t really care about the tween sitcoms. I think that most of them are stupid and a waste of space, not only because they’re not funny, but also because they’re all pretty much interchangeable, and running them all in the same block makes them look like endless carbon copies of one another, like Dawn of the Stepford Shows. But they aren’t made for me nor for my age demographic, so I just ignore them. Plus, as insipid as those shows are, they do bring in ratings and put butts in seats, so I know they aren’t going anywhere. Like Hot Topics in the mall, they’re here to stay. However, I don’t think that TDC should cater to teens and tweens exclusively. I preferred it when DC actually had a variety to it’s lineup and provided entertainment for the entire family, not just the teens, which brings me to the next thing that I would do…
2. Put the old theatrical shorts back on TV. – I hate to sound like a nostalgia person, but for once I agree with them. It’s whicketty-whack that we can no longer see classic Disney shorts on the Disney Channel. Back in the ancient 1970s, the Disney studio didn’t loan out it’s properties to syndicated markets and network affiliates. There was never a “Bugs and Mickey Show” or a “Daffy & Donald” or a “Goofy & Popeye” half hour. The only time we got to see the Disney shorts on TV was on Sunday evenings during NBC’s The Wonderful World of Disney, and even then, I’d be hoping that they would show cartoons that week and not something like Lefty, the Ding-a-ling Lynx. Then the Disney Channel was invented and suddenly, we could see old Disney shorts everyday on the umbrella titles like Good Morning, Mickey!, Donald Duck Presents and Mousterpiece Theater. Sure, most of the Disney shorts paled in comparison to Looney Tunes and the MGM shorts, but it was still pretty cool that we could see them regularly. But now, the shorts hardly ever air on TDC anymore. Pretty much the only time that ever see Mickey, Donald or Goofy on TDC is in the mornings during DC’s Playhouse Disney block. Occasionally, and edited-for-time Disney theatrical short will air between shows on TDC under the title Have a Laugh, but that only once in a blue moon. Sure, many of the Disney theatrical shorts are available on DVD and some are floating around on YouTube, but still, it’s kind of stupid that one place you can’t see the old Disney shorts is on the flipping Disney Channel.
3. Revive The Disney Afternoon – And no, I don’t mean to just bring back shows DuckTales, Chip ‘N’ Dale Rescue Rangers, TaleSpin, Darkwing Duck and Goof Troop (although it wouldn’t be a bad thing for Disney to air those shows somewhere). Rather, I’d like for Disney to produce some new and original shows that are made in the same vein and creative spirit as those shows aforementioned. More specifically, I’d like to see Disney produce some more animated series built around the studio’s established characters which aren’t strictly geared to tiny tots (which doesn’t mean that I wouldn’t want there to be any more series starring original characters such as Phineas & Ferb and Gravity Falls, because those shows have their place also). In the 1990s, the Disney studio actually took risks. The carried the attitude of “Yeah, the old Disney shorts were good, but this new stuff with Donald Duck, Goofy, Baloo and the like are good too”. Unlike now, when the Disney studio execs seem to have this idee fixee that the only thing that Mickey and the gang are good for is for entertaining preschoolers. Don’t get me wrong, it’s great that Mickey and the gang are still around, but I think that he and the other shorts characters deserve better.
4. Either kill Disney X-D, or remake the channel into something else. – Why, exactly, do we need to have a Disney Channel for boys and a separate Disney Channel for girls? Why can’t there just be 1 Disney channel that airs good and entertaining programs? Disney X-D was apparently created to be a Disney Channel for boys, but when did TDC become exclusively a girls’ channel? There’s no reason for this channel to exist at all. Hey, Disney. You want to have programming for the boys? Fine, create a program block for them, but you don’t need an entire channel just for “dude bro” shows.  At least Toon Disney offered something of an alternative to TDC; it showed nothing but cartoons, and everything was fine until the Jetix action cartoon block was added and then the block spread throughout TD like a virus, eventually devouring the entire channel. i’m not really sure what I’d with Disney X-D. An old-school Disney Channel wouldn’t work, since most people don’t want to just watch old stuff 24/7, but a Vault Disney block could conceivably work. I’d probably just merge TDC and DXD into one and possibly revive Toon Disney.
5. Kill ABC Family – Just kill it. Kill it with fire. It’s a wasteland for reality TV and trashy teen dramas. The ONLY thing on ABC Family that’s worth watching is “The 25 Days of Christmas”, and that’s only once a year.
Overall, I think that The Disney Channel should go back to being a channel for everybody, not just teenyboppers. This doesn’t mean that I think there shouldn’t be any teen pop stuff on TDC at all, mind you, just that the tweenybopper stuff shouldn’t be the only things on the channel. Surely there are enough hours in the day for TDC to designate certain times for certain types of shows.

What’s All the Hub-bub, Bub?

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Today is October 10th.

If that date doesn’t hold any significance to you, then you’re either not into toys or you don’t receive bonus cable or satellite, because The Hub turns 2 years old today.

Hub Logo

For the uninformed, The Hub is an American digital cable and satellite television channel that launched on October 10, 2010. The channel, which replaced Discovery Kids, is a joint venture of Discovery Communications, Inc. and Hasbro.
The Hub targets a dual audience, young children in the daytime with original and acquired children’s programs, and families at night with reruns of older television sitcoms, dramas and feature films. Veteran television executive Margaret Loesch serves as president and chief executive officer of The Hub. The channel is available to approximately 60 million subscribers.

Since The Hub turns 2 today, I figured I’d give a basic overview of the channel, its’ highlights (and not-so-highlights) and what I’d like to see happen on Hasbro’s brain child in the future.

Among The Hub’s highlights are Dan Vs., Pound Puppies, Strawberry Shortcake’s Berry Bitty Adventures, Care Bears: Welcome to Care-A-Lot, The Aquabats! Super Show!, Family Game Night, Transformers Prime and Transformers Rescue Bots, Kaijudo: Rise of the Duel Masters, the HuBoom! block which features the likes of G.I. Joe Renegades, the Batman and Superman animated series produced by Bruce Timm, Batman Beyond and The Super Hero Squad Show.

But of course THE show that The Hub is known for is My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. It is an animated television series based on Hasbro’s My Little Pony toy property that has proven not only its highest rated production for the intended young girl demographic, but has also attracted an unexpectedly significant cult following in the teen and adult male and female categories. If you’re unaware of the whole ‘brony’ phenomenon, then it’s clear that the rock you’ve been living under doesn’t offer cable. Of the MLP explosion, one member of Toon Zone had this to say:

I don’t know why

What is going on Why is Transformers Prime coming second To ponies?

More to the point why are grown boys watching it? 

What is this world coming to?

To which I have only this to say:

Madea Shut Up

  1. “Grown boys” makes no sense. A grown boy is a man. If they’re still boys, they’re not done growing yet.
  2. OK, let me get this straight: you’re all flabbergasted that people are watching a show about colorful talking ponies, yet you yourself are a fan of a show about colorful talking robots. Double standard much? Seriously, go back to your glass house before casting stones in a nerd site.

After that verbal runoff, you should be embarrassed…at yourself. You act like if you’re a certain gender, you’re not allowed to like certain things, and once you reach a certain age, you’re not allowed to enjoy certain things anymore. News flash, Skippy: people can like whatever they want! And they don’t have to explain themselves or defend it either. THAT’S what being an adult is, not worrying about if things are “too kiddie” or “too girly”. That’s something a teenager would worry about it. The above remark is something I’d expect an 8-year-old boy to say, not an intelligent member of a discussion forum, and the thing is, I’ve heard from more intelligent and enlightened 8-year-old boys on this subject.

I myself enjoy the Ponies (though I’ve been on a self-imposed vacation from them until season 3 begins, which is said to be “sometime in October”), but my personal favorite show on The Hub is The Aquabats! Super Show! It combines the pure camp of the old 60’s Batman show and Sid & Marty Krofft’s Saturday morning series with wacky slapstick and nerd rock music from one of the geekiest and coolest superhero rock bands out there. (And the lead singer of the band is also the co-creator of Yo Gabba Gabba!–can’t be bad.) If you haven’t seen this show, I urge you to check it out. Cartoon Network really dropped the ball by passing on this show; if they really must have live-action, they could get good live-action like Aquabats!.

Lately, The Hub’s also been scoring style points for their HuBoom! action block, and deservedly so. Where else can one check out Transformers Prime, Superman: The Animated series, The Super Hero Squad Show and Batman Beyond all in one block? While I’m happy that HuBoom! is doing well, I hope this doesn’t lead to Action Overload. I’d hate to see The Hub become inflicted with Jetix Disease. Why not launch a comedy cartoon block to counter the action block? I’d watch that.

Now, I’d like to address what (in my opinion) is the weakest link in the Hub’s chain: their nighttime schedule. Presently the channel devotes its’ nightly schedule to prime time TV reruns of shows such as The Wonder Years, Family Ties, The Facts of Life, Happy Days, Laverne & Shirley, Doogie Houser, MD, ALF, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Sliders, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Lois & Clark: the New Adventures of Superman. Not terrible, I suppose; there’s nothing wrong with “preserving our TV heritage”, but nostalgia loses its’ sting after a while, and let’s face it: some of these shows were garbage when they were new. I don’t watch The Hub at night since I’m not a nostalgia person (especially when it comes to broadcast TV reruns); while I don’t mind revisiting the occasional show from my past once in a while, I much prefer watching new shows. It’s my hope that as The Hub continues to grow and thrive, they can afford more original series and newer and more diverse acquisitions for its’ PM lineup. The 60’s Batman show is a good start, I’d create a quirky alternative comedy block (sort of a less raunchy Adult Swim or a throwback to the old HA! TV network, the precursor to Comedy Central) featuring shows akin to that: shows like On the Television, Mad Movies with the LA Connection, The New Adventures of Beans Baxter, Parker Lewis Can’t Lose, Mystery Science Theater 3000/Rifftrax, Stupidface, Clerks: TAS, Daria, Undergrads, SCTV, etc. (Not all of those specific shows per se, obviously, but shows along those lines.) It would finally give Dan VS a proper place to air on the schedule, since it’s really not a good fit alongside the superhero cartoons, and it fits in with the likes of Strawberry Shortcake and Care Bears even less.

Finally, someone on TZ suggested that The Hub throw some sort of on-air celebration to commemorate their 2nd birthday, to which I say: Nah, too soon. 2 years is too early for balloons and confetti; lots of channels make it to 2 years. If The Hub is still kicking in 10 years, then it’ll be time to bust out the party hats.

Boomerang Online: A Website Idea

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A discussion about Cartoon Network and Boomerang on The Big Cartoon Forum got me thinking about this: if Turner doesn’t want to air all of it’s CN produced shows and content on the Boomerang channel, would Turner be interested in airing them online?

Here’s the idea: Turner could launch a website which for now I’m calling Boomerang Online. The site itself would be similar to YouTube, except that Boom Online would only show Turner owned and produced content and shows such as entire episodes of Dexter’s Lab, The Powerpuff Girls, Johnny Bravo, Courage the Cowardly Dog, Ed, Edd ‘n’ Eddy, as well as the shows that have yet to be run on Boom such as Whatever Happened to Robot Jones?, Megas XLR, Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends, Time Squad, Space Ghost: Coast to Coast, Cartoon Planet (the 1st series) and the like. 3rd party acquisitions seem unlikely to be aired on the site, since Turner would likely need to pay for those. Like with Hulu, there could be 2 versions of Boom Online; customers would could access the site at any time and would have the option to view episodes on the site for free, but there would be ads run before and after each video. Fans would also have the option to pay a monthly fee of say, $1 or $2 per month in order to view the videos without commercials, so the site would make money either way.

Again, this may not be the greatest idea, but it’s something that Turner could or should at least consider, since Boomerang the channel leaves something to be desired.

An Idea for a CN Block: HBTV

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Recently, the news of a new Tom & Jerry series from Warner Bros. (who absorbed Hanna-Barbera in 1999) sparked a conversation about WB’s treatment of HB’s properties. Many people feel that while it’s good that WB continues to make new shows and movies starring Scooby-Doo and Tom & Jerry, they feel that WB should stop acting like Scooby and T&J are the only HB properties there are; that there are numerous other properties in the HB library that Warner could be relaunching.

Now, let me first state that I’m not the biggest Hanna-Barbera fan there is. Never have been. While I don’t hate HB, I feel that many of their shows, properties and characters are 1-note and interchangeable, even their greatest works like the aforementioned Scooby-Doo and Tom & Jerry, The Flintstones, Huckleberry Hound and Yogi Bear I’ve found to be ‘meh’ at best, and I’ve never felt that HB deserved to be placed among the great cartoon studios like Warner Bros., Disney, MGM or even Jay Ward. That said, I do know that a lot of people love HB’s shows and stars and as such, it wouldn’t kill WB to show some of their other franchises besides Tom & Jerry and Scooby some love once in a while.

So last night Jason and I were kicking the ol’ idea nut around regarding this subject, and we came up with an idea for a programming block that could conceivably run on Cartoon Network, which would be the most logical place to run anything Hanna-Barbera, seeing as how CN is co-owned by Turner and Warner Bros.

The block would be called HBTV. Said block could either be 60 minutes or 2 hours long, consisting of 2 or 4 half-hour shows (again, depending on the length that CN chose to make the block); either 2 or 4 premiere cartoons (some examples: the 2nd season of Scooby-Doo: Mystery, Inc., the proposed relaunch of Wacky Races entitled Wacky Races Forever, the hypothetical Swat Kats reboot proposed by Christian and Yvon Tremblay,  a new Blue Falcon and Dynomutt show, new action cartoons starring the likes of Space Ghost, Birdman, The Herculoids, The Galaxy Trio, etc.) intermixed with shorts and filler segments. Among the filler segments could be 1 minute shorts starring HB’s lesser and frankly, more interchangeable animal toon stars like Wally Gator, Squiddly Diddly, Magilla Gorilla, Atom Ant, et al as well as music videos featuring these characters akin the old ‘Shorties’ and  ‘Groovies’ CN used to air, re-airings of the recently aired Banana Splits shorts which aired on Boomerang for a time, some of the old Super Secret Secret Squirrel shorts from 2 Stupid Dogs, the old 3 Robonic Stooges shorts from The Skatebirds, and others. It would be like a 2-hour love letter to HB fans, combining old established characters with new material.

The main thing preventing such a block from happening is that the Hanna-Barbera studio is no more; neither Bill (Hanna) nor Joe (Barbera) are with us anymore, and Warner Bros. holds the rights to all of HB’s properties. WB would be the ones required to make such an idea a reality, but in order to something like this to happen, WB would have to have an interest in such a project, and most suits won’t jump on an idea unless they think a profit can be made from it.

More’s the pity; this could be the perfect thing to run on CN once a week; I’m not even a big HB fan, but I’d much rather see CN run something like this instead of horrendous-looking crap like Team Toon.

Something Funny Isn’t Going On Here

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Recently, everybody’s favorite guy of the moment, Stuart Snyder, Prez of Cartoon Network, took part in an interview about the current state of CN and the machinations that he’s made with it over the past 4 years. This, in a nutshell, is what he said:

“c21 Media profiles and interviews Cartoon Network chief Stuart Snyder, giving the network topper the chance to describe and justify the network’s moves over the last four years.

In the buzzword-heavy article, Snyder points to better demographic numbers for his network and credits a strategy of targeting specific nights toward specific audiences while also providing a balanced array of programming. “We look at our strategy as always being a comedy focus, boys-skewing but girls-inviting,” he tells the magazine. The article notes that anime has a much diminished presence on Cartoon Network, and glances at the anger generated by “fanboys” at the presence of live-action programming on the schedule, but offers no direct explanation or justification for the changes beyond an implicit nod at the “diversification” strategy.

The article also describes some of the network’s business moves, including its continuing association with Time Warner sibling Warner Bros. Animation. The channel is also developing a live-action Ben 10 feature film with Lethal Weapon/Die Hard/Matrix-producer Joel Silver.”
Yeah.
It goes without saying that this so-called “interview” was little more that a softball piece of PR noise. Snyder didn’t address any of the points that we would’ve wanted him to, like how action is getting the red-headed stepchild treatment by the network (the debut of DC Nation is less than a month away, and it’s gotten just above zero promotion on the network, not to mention how DCN will be airing on Saturday mornings rather than an evening time slot), and of course Stu casually tap-danced around how his attempts to remake Cartoon Network into Nickelodeon Too with a fresh coat of live-action paint has resulted largely in failure. Someone more versed in action cartoon lore could address that issue better than I could, I want to specifically address the statement in bold.
Cartoon Network comedy-focused?? Girl Inviting?? Really? Is that really what he thinks his network is?
Anyone who knows me and/or regularly follows this blog already knows how I feel about the prospect of live-action on Cartoon Network, so I’ll spare you the usual noise, suffice to say that in an ideal world, the number of live-action shows on a channel called CARTOON Network should be zero, except for host segments and wraparounds. Having said that, if Stu really wants CN to be comedy-focused, then why are so many of his live-action projects reality and sports-themed crap? What’s funny about My Dad’s A Pro, other than how somebody actually thought this dreck would be entertaining? If we really must have live-action on Cartoon Network, shouldn’t it be comedic live-action? Even if Snyder wants to integrate live-action into Cartoon Network to make it more like Nick and Disney, he’s going to have to do better than stuff like the Hall of Game Awards and My Dad’s a Pro. This wannabe cool sports-themed stuff might fly if Fox ever decides to make an offshoot network of Fuel TV aimed at kids, but those shows just don’t gel with CN’s animation-heavy, comedy-focused format. Part of the reason as I see it why so many of Snyder’s live-action show ideas have crapped out or were DOA was simply because they’re just too much of a departure from what people expect to see on Toon. The best show of the lot so far has been Unnatural History (that’s what people tell me,anyway; I never saw the show myself) and even that was too much of a deviation; an hour long action/drama with no animation, puppety oddballs or silly stuff just wasn’t a good fit on a channel that alleges to be comedy focused.
Why doesn’t Snyder put something like this on Cartoon Network?

For the uninformed, that was a clip for the upcoming Aquabats Super Show!, a live-action/animation hybrid series built around our favorite rock/ska superhero band, which will be premiering on The Hub in March. If Snyder thinks of CN as being comedy-focused, then didn’t he make a bid for this show to air on Cartoon Network? The Aquabats Super Show! would’ve been a better fit for CN than Tower Prep or Bobb’e Says, and not just because TASS! has animated segments in it. It just fits the alleged bill so well: hip music, cartoons, wacky characters and all-around craziness. I already plan to watch TASS!, but if it were coming to CN, then maybe I’d have a tinge more faith in Snyder’s master plan.
For that matter, I’ve been kicking around an idea which I think would be cool for CN to do, since it’s obvious that Snyder’s not going to be swayed away from his little scheme of getting live-action shows on Cartoon Network. I call my show idea Toons and Tunes. This show would either air on early weekend evenings or perhaps on Saturday mornings. (My thought is that there could be a 30-minute version of Toons and Tunes which would air on early Saturday or Sunday evenings and a 60-minute version on Saturday mornings.) The stars of the show would be a zany pair of youngsters who host a half-hour cartoon show from their shared bedroom. The duo also happen to be computer/tech wizards, so their room is chock full of crazy gadgets and wacky contraptions, including a hapless robot nanny who tries unsuccessfully to keep these 2 goofballs in line. The 2 kids would perform their own shtick while introducing 2 cartoon shorts and a music video each show. The cartoons would be from the Turner/WB vaults: a Looney Tunes short, an MGM short, a Tom & Jerry short, a Herculoids short, a Birdman (not Harvey!) short, a single Chowder short, a single Kids Next Door short, a single Ed, Edd ‘n’ Eddy short, etc., but since our kid stars are tech geniuses, they would add their own commentary and trivial facts about the cartoons via pop-up bubbles, which would appear on the screen during the shorts. After the 2 shorts (and some more shtick from our hosts), there would be a music video. Said video wouldn’t be typical pop music stuff, but rather an unconventional video which is either animated, comedy-oriented or just plain weird. Kind of a Dr. Demento sort of thing. Some examples of the music videos which would be featured on the show:
  • “Come On Feet” by Quasimoto
  • “Fish Heads” by Barnes & Barnes
  • “Elephants and Little Girls” by Loch Lomond
  • “Atomic Dog” by George Clinton
  • “Vanz Kant Danz” by John Fogerty
  • “Life in the Slaw Lane” by Kip Odotta
  • “Polka Changed My Life Today” by Rotondi
  • “Killer Joe” by Manhattan Transfer
  • Anything by Weird Al Yankovic, They Might Be Giants or The Aquabats
Now, is that the best idea for a Cartoon Network show? Perhaps, perhaps not. But it’s definitely better than any live-action show idea that Snyder’s come up with so far. At least my ideas are actually comedy focused and would be, you know, entertaining.