Category Highly Opinionated

Funny is Not a 4-Letter Word

silverstar 5 Comments

Let’s talk for a bit about Genre Busters, shall we?

“Who ya gonna call?”

Now that we’ve gotten that obligatory joke out of the way, GENRE BUSTERS. I’m talking about cartoons like Avatar: The Last Airbender, Adventure Time, Steven Universe, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and Over the Garden Wall, shows which operate on several levels, incorporating comedy with drama, action, adventure and mystery, pushing the envelope and offering something beyond what many have come to expect from your typical ‘cartoony’ cartoons.

Now while shows of this ilk aren’t my particular cup of tea, as a lifelong devotee of art and animation I can’t help but applaud these genre busting shows for showing us all what animation is truly capable of in the hands of skillful and talented people when given the chance.

However, the success of these shows, while noteworthy and commendable, is also a…..

DOUBLE-EDGED SWORD.

On the one hand, it’s good that shows like these manage to get on the air, but on the other hand, the successes of these genre-busting cartoons has created a new subculture of animation snobs who now turn their collective noses up at straight-up ‘funny cartoons’ and deride them as somehow being “inferior” and “insulting the medium”. “Bah!” They’ll snort. “That show’s just a comedy!” As though there’s something wrong with a show being a comedy. Not too long ago, a message board poster actually laid out these words of wisdom upon viewing a brief preview clip of the upcoming Wabbit: A Looney Tunes Production:

“I am wondering who exactly is WB catering too (yeah, that’s really how he spelled it). they did an amazing job with stuff like Tiny Toons and Animaniacs but The Looney Tunes Show had little to no emotional moments or depth to their characters, they act as though literally no human being alive liked Loonatics Unleashed and this seems like a return to the shorts that were nothing but animated puppets making jokes.”

“Animated puppets making jokes??”

“Exsqueeze me? Baking powder??”

“You got a problem with puppets making jokes, pal? That happens to be our bread and butter, man!”

OK, where to begin? First, Tiny Toon Adventures and Animaniacs were zany shows which were occasionally sentimental, not sentimental shows which were occasionally zany. Selective memory much? It’s also worth mentioning that those so-called “deep and emotional” segments such as “Puttin’ on the Blitz”, “Smitten with Kittens”, “Homeward Bound”, “Whale’s Tales” and “One Flew Over the Cuckoo Clock” were not only few and far and between and the exception, not the norm, of those shows’ usual fare, but they were also largely HATED by the general fanbases of said shows. Second, why the flaming heck are you watching a clip of a show called “Wabbit: A Looney Tunes Production” expecting depth and emotional moments anyway? It’s the freaking LOONEY TUNES. The Looney Tunes are FUNNY. They’ve always been funny. If you’re expecting something akin to Sophie’s Choice from a Looney Tunes cartoon, you’re living on a different planet than the rest of us and only setting yourself up for disappointment.

This same towering intellect of our time was also displeased by the recent Sonic Boom cartoon, as it commits the heinous crime of not being the 1990’s Sonic the Hedgehog cartoon from 1993-1994. he opines:

“This show is an insult to Sonic fans. Sonic SatAM should be revived, because it had drama and sadness, like My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic which is the super-duper bestest show of all time and will one day replace oxygen as the thing we need to breathe in order to stay alive. Sonic Boom has no moments of drama, sadness, tragedy or angst, so it turns Sonic into a bland character on a show for babies.”

Unfortunately, I’ve encountered attitudes like this far too often recently. I find it’s common among teens and in teen media to mistake angst for depth. They seem to think that if a character is depressed all the time, then they must have really deep thoughts about the world. It’s what we call Emo Disease.

In regards to the Sonic point (aside from the one on this guy’s head): I really get tired of this whole “characters who don’t cry or suffer a ton of angst and drama = bland and childish” rhetoric that genre-buster snobs now hold so dear. Yes, in some cases emotion and poignancy can do a lot of good, but just piling on cheap tragedies one after the other is an empty way of compensating for proper character development. There are other ways to develop characters and make your audience care about them besides just putting them through some contrived emotional wringer.

“If sadness equals character development, then I must be the deepest character ever conceived. Lucky me.”

All too often in this day and age, it seems that the wacky cartoons like Looney Tunes, Sonic Boom and Uncle Grandpa are looked down upon because they don’t meet these animation snobs’ standards of the supposed “right way” to make a cartoon, as if now every single cartoon now has to be Avatar: the Last Airbender or My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. What these chinless wonders fail to realize is that there is no one right way to make a cartoon. It genuinely angers me how people constantly want everything to be the same, and bash something simply because it doesn’t fit their narrow definitions. Cartoon creators typically make what they want to see and what they think is entertaining, which is how it should be. If you don’t like it, fine, but don’t act like every cartoon needs to follow some arbitrary checklist of your very specific desires. Seriously, get over it and yourself.

Right now I’m collaborating on a new cartoon show that I hope can get made one day, but it’s not going to be the next Avatar: the Last Airbender, Adventure Time, Sonic SatAM or Steven Universe. Quite frankly I’m just not interested in making that kind of show. Depth, pathos, drama and heart are fine if that’s what you’re into, but we can’t all be Miyazaki. Someone’s gotta just provide the belly-laughs, and that’s what I plan to do. Some people are going to like the kind of cartoons I plan to produce and some aren’t. I know not everyone out there is gonna share our tastes, and that’s ultimately going to be what we build our show around: OUR tastes, not those of a perceived majority. You can’t please everyone, and you never need to.

I can’t think of better words of wisdom than those of J.G. Quintel, creator of Regular Show, who said this:

“Make the things you want to see, not what you think other people want to see. It’s way too much work to be making something that you’re not even into.”

Well said, man.

Quit Being So Cheap!

goldstar 5 Comments

You know what really grinds my gears?

When people on animation message boards complain endlessly about how their favorite old-school cartoon shows like The Flintstones, The Jetsons and Animaniacs aren’t airing on TV anymore, and then when I mention that many of them are available on DVD now, someone inevitably comes back with this:

Schleprock

“People don’t have the money to spend on things like this all of the time.”

or

Ventriloquist Dummy

“Even though this series is entirely on DVD, not everyone has the extra money to buy “this want”. Needs come first. And simply getting the DVDs isn’t as appealing as watching the program on regular television to some. Sometimes, just watching a program on TV is good enough.”

In response to this, I have to say…

Carl

“You have got to be freakin’ kidding me!”

I love how retro snobs who want their favorite era of entertainment to go on forever never seem to have any problem with indulging themselves with little luxuries, but then want to play the broke card whenever someone suggests that they buy a DVD or Blu-Ray of their favorite canceled/ended TV show instead of complaining that they’re no longer airing in TV, as if the networks are somehow obligated to continue airing the reruns for all eternity. Sorry, folks, but the excuse that DVDs and Blu-Rays of your favorite shows are an expensive luxury that many people can’t afford, and therefore the networks should be obligated to keep running them on TV is a bunch of…

Bull Cartoon

 

…well, you know.

People need to stop with the “DVDs are too expensive” excuse ’cause it’s a weak one. Cable/satellite TV, video games and the internet aren’t necessities either. They’re luxuries that cost more then the price of a DVD, and yet people seem to have no problem paying for these luxuries every single month. The cost of a complete season of Tiny Toon Adventures is around $35, which is less than what you’d pay for one meal at a sit down restaurant. If you can afford cable, internet and/or video games, you can afford DVDs.

First, what’s up with the quotes around “this want”? What does that even mean? Second, let’s be real about this: shelter, food, clothing and medicine are necessities. Everything else is a luxury. Before anyone starts to lecture me on peoples’ needs versus their wants, let me ask you all a question:

What about this?

No one really needs a smartphone. Sure, they’re neat to have around and they look cool, but all you really need is a phone in case you need to call someone while you’re not at home or if there’s an emergency to report and there are no phone booths around. You don’t need something to update your Facebook status, check your horoscope or watch movies on. No one needs to be carrying around a miniature laptop in their pocket. Smartphones are an expensive luxury, but people buy them anyway. If you can afford a smartphone, you can afford a DVD.

And how about this?

frappacino

You’re going to tell me that buying a DVD of The Jetsons is too expensive, yet you have no problem with dropping $5+ dollars on a cup of coffee with whipped cream on top? If you can afford a frappucino, you can afford a DVD.

And what about pets? Dog and cats at least have their uses under certain circumstances, but does anyone really need a parakeet, a goldfish, a turtle or a hamster? No! But people buy them anyway. If you can afford a pet, you can afford a DVD.

Do you have a job? If so, why not put aside $10 each week. By the end of the month, you’ll have $40, which is enough to purchase a DVD or Blu Ray. Keep doing that and eventually, you’ll have amassed yourself an impressive collection of shows that you can watch whenever you want.

Hauntleroy

“I don’t want to buy a bunch of DVDs.”

Then find a site where you can legally stream your favorite old shows and download them from there, or create an account with a site like Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon Prime, iTunes, Crackle or something similar. That’s what, $9 a month? You can afford that can’t you?

Basically, it all boils down to “How bad do you want it?”. Alcoholics will do whatever they have to do to get a drink. Drug addicts will do whatever they have to do in order to get their fix. These fans need to think of these old-school cartoons as their drink or their drug. A true fan would do whatever they had to do in order to enjoy their favorite show, but if you’re not willing to shell out a little bit of money for something that you enjoy, then obviously it doesn’t mean that much to you. If you choose not to buy a DVD or Blu-Ray of a show that you like, that’s your decision, but don’t grouse about it if you’re not willing to stick your neck out.

Scrooge_McDuck

“Maybe the problem is that you’re just cheap!”

Is the New Boom a Bust?

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Let’s wax for a bit about Boomerang, shall we?

As many of you may or may not know, Boomerang, the digital tier bonus sister channel to Cartoon Network, originally launched in 2000 as a dumping ground to get CN’s older, canceled and discarded shows off the man channel in order to make room for their newer shows, premieres and acquisitions, has re-branded this February. Turner has since reformatted Boomerang from an ad-free all-reruns archive channel to a ad-supported sister network to CN targeting 4-11 year old kids and their families. The channel’s bumpers and wraparounds have also been updated, with the original bumps depicting Hanna-Barbera toys and narration from actor John O’Hurley (who you may know as Elaine’s boss from Seinfeld and a former host of Family Feud) have been retired and replaced by new stylized Art Deco bumpers and a new kid announcer. Turner is trying to position Boomerang as a full-blown channel in its’ own right, having it run in sync with Boomerang’s international feeds, and that’s OK. However, since the February makeover, Da Boom’s scheduling has gotten severely lazy, with Double Play blocks of Tom & Jerry, The Tom & Jerry Show, The Garfield Show, The Looney Tunes Show and What’s New, Scooby-Doo? airing up to 3-4 times per day, no new original shows airing there as of yet aside from Numb Chucks, a weekend series originally announced to run on CN and Grojband, which originally aired briefly on CN and CN.com, both of which only airing on weekends, and Teen Titans GO! and The Amazing World of Gumball, 2 of CN’s biggest hits currently , airing simultaneously on Boomerang. And for a channel trying to carve a swath for itself as contender…

Sonic-the-Hedgehog-3D-model

“That’s no good!”

 

We’ve been told that Boomerang is undergoing a “stealth re-brand” and that the changes being made to it are said to be gradual, with said changes coming in a little bit at a time as opposed to all at once. Boomerang’s Upfront is supposed to be released in May, and supposedly we’ll see a real difference in Boomerang’s schedule then. But do The Powers That Be at Turner really think that folks will be willing to wait that long and sit through the same 4-6 shows again and again until then? I know A LOT of people are dissatisfied and genuinely upset with with this re-brand, and I have to say that I’m a tad disappointed with it as well, albeit for different reasons than the people who are making pissy YouTube videos about it. The former group is upset that Boomerang has reformatted and changed, whereas I’m disappointed that Boomerang hasn’t changed dramatically enough. For all the noise I’ve had to endure about Da Boom re-inventing itself and as long as The Powers That Be have made us wait for the re-brand, after all that just to give endless breadstick blocks of Tom & Jerry and The Garfield Show is more than a little anticlimactic. I actually think it would’ve been better if Turner had just unveiled its’ new format and schedule all at once on day 1 of the re-brand rather than nerfing their schedule down just a small handful of the same shows and looping them (as well as the same 2 bumpers) endlessly until spring.

Turner’s other big mistake was turning its’ back on its’ classic programming, under the idee fixe that “new is better” and audiences won’t watch anything more than 15 or 20 years old.

On more than one occasion I’ve been accused of “praising Boomerang for going in a new direction and steering away from nostalgic programming” and “wanting to see the classics get taken off once and for all”, and I just want to go on record to say that that notion is so far from the truth that it’s funny. Why would I want to see the classics get taken off of Boomerang? Please. I have nothing against the classics, I’m just not a nostalgic person and as such I don’t allow myself to become “time warped” and stuck in a particular era. The shows that interest me, from ANY era, I watch, and the shows that don’t interest me, from ANY era, I simply don’t watch; it’s literally that simple. I don’t go around proactively wishing for shows to get removed when just switching them off and watching something else is so much easier. Just because I read enough press and information to know that Boomerang’s true purpose was not to “preserve the classics”, but rather to get the older shows off of Turner’s main kids’ channel Cartoon Network, and because I’m also realistic enough to accept that times and the media have changed considerably since the late 80’s through 2000’s and that archive channels are rapidly going the way of the dodo since their audiences tend to fall off after a while and advertisers aren’t in a hurry to run spots on a channel which doesn’t show anything new (the elephant in the room that the ranting YouTubers tend to ignore or overlook is that Boomerang wasn’t making a ton of money as the Hanna-Barbera Reruns Channel, which is why this re-brand was initiated in the first place, both domestically and internationally; if the all-reruns format had been profitable, then The Powers That Be would never have re-branded Boomerang in the first place)…

“Psst! Here I am! I’m here in the room! Look over here! I will not be ignored! Holla at ya boy!”

…Just because I’m aware of the facts and accept these changes as an inevitability (quite frankly, I’m surprised the old Boomerang lasted as long as it did) doesn’t mean that I’m anti-classic cartoons, and Turner shouldn’t be either, at least not completely. This new Boomerang is said to be aiming itself towards kids and families, well the last time I checked, moms and dads, and even big bro and sis were part of the family too, why shouldn’t they get to enjoy the beloved shows from their childhoods once in a while? And no, I’m not suggesting that Boom ax all of the new shows, scrap the originals before they even debut and revert back to the all-archive format like so many YouTube complainers want; that would be ratings suicide for reasons I’ve already listed above. There’s nothing wrong with having some older shows sprinkled around the schedule here and there, but if they’re used as the anchor of the whole network, then you have a problem. Too much retro is overkill, as that does little as far as gaining and keeping viewers. I’ve said this before, but here it is one mo’ time: nostalgia just doesn’t work when it’s overused. Networks should treat nostalgic programming as something to fill a time slot, not its’ bread-and-butter. Had Boomerang stuck with an all-classics format like the nostalgic fans want in its’ current ad-supported state, not only would I just not watch it very much (as I didn’t watch old Boomerang very much) but I can guarantee that Boom would’ve been remade into a CN/TBS clone inside of 2 years. Personally I don’t see why Boomerang has to be exclusively one or the other; surely there’s enough room on a 24/7 channel to accommodate the entire household?

This is what I would do with Boomerang if I were the one sitting in the big easy chair. Now I’ve been declared legally lazy by a physician, so I’m not going to type an entire schedule here, I’ll just list some highlights of what I’d put on Da Boom. Before starting, let’s get some things out of the way:

-If I could, I’d shorten the channel’s name to simply BOOM!

It’s a cartoon/comic book onomatopoeia and would reflect the channel’s embracing of animation as well as sounding new, exciting and spontaneous, plus it would silence the complainers crying “Boomerang needs to change its’ name because it’s not all classics anymore and the slogan ‘It’s all coming back to you’ is meaningless now!”.

I know Turner would never actually change the name since Boomerang is a global brand, but since this is a fantasy schedule for funsies, let’s act as though I could change the name. We’ll call this channel BOOM!

-There would be no live-action on this channel, except for host segments, live-action/animation hybrid shows and movies such as Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, puppets, costumed characters and Saturday Morning live-action shows which are basically like live-action cartoons, of which I’ll elaborate on below.

–Teen Titans GO! and Gumball would not air on this channel; they would be exclusive to Cartoon Network. No need for CN and Boom to air the same shows; otherwise, what’s the point of having 2 channels?

-The Tom & Jerry Show, The Garfield Show and What’s New, Scooby-Doo? would still air on BOOM!, just not as frequently as they’re being run now. Pokemon would likewise still air here.

-Imports such as Mr. Bean: TAS, The Jungle Bunch and Skatoony would air here as well as internationally. There would also be new and original contemporary shows from around the world, as long as they’re fit for a general (kids and family) audience.

-I’ll be listing some shows as examples of what would or could run on BOOM!; again, this is hypothetical, so we’re pretending here that Turner would be able to run or acquire the broadcasting rights to the shows listed here. This is just so I can avoid typing “assuming that Turner could get the broadcasting rights” a gazillion times.

Some sample shows and programming blocks:

  • Planet Play– this would be a Qubo style block aimed at the younger kiddos, and would air weekday mornings with a longer encore airing on Saturday mornings. Some sample shows: Krypto the Superdog, Baby Looney Tunes, Masha and Bear, Peppa Pig, The Mr. Men Show, Shaun the Sheep, Pearlie, Turbo Dogs, Jacob Two-Two.
  • BLAM!– standing for Big Loud Animation Melee, this block would run from late mornings to early afternoons. It would be a spotlight for everyone’s favorite theatrical shorts shows, such as Tom & Jerry, Looney Tunes, the HB funny animal shorts (Huckleberry Hound, Yogi Bear, Quick Draw McGraw, etc.), The Pink Panther et al. The CN/Boom Wedgies would air as filler segments between the various shorts.
  • JUMP– Standing for Joyful Unlimited Maximum Play, this would be a weekday afternoon comedy block (featuring both animated and live-action shows), emphasizing big laughs and extreme fun. Shows would include the likes of Pee-Wee’s Playhouse, The Super Mario Brothers Super Show!, My Parents are Aliens, Shaggy & Scooby-Doo Get a Clue!, The Funny Company, Channel Umptee-3, Maniac Mansion, Beetlejuice, The Twisted Whiskers Show, Johnny Test, Space Goofs, The Weird Al Show, Samurai Pizza Cats, Skatoony, My Spy Family, Viva Pinata, The Super Six, Video Power, and Round the Twist.
  • Cartoon Planet– this would be a mix of the original TBS/CN Cartoon Planet and the Best of CN block which aired on CN a year or so back. It would feature new wraparound segments hosted by Space Ghost, Zorak and Brak and would feature shorts from the Cartoon-Cartoons and other 90’s through 00’s CN toons. CP would either last 1 or 2 hours, depending on the schedule. Chowder would be relegated to this block.
  • That’s Warner Brothers!-A compilation of Silver Age WB comedies. Sample shows: Tiny Toon Adventures, Animaniacs, Freakazoid!, Taz-Mania, Duck Dodgers, The Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries, Pinky & the Brain.
  • Sparkle-who says girls don’t rule? This would be a block made for girl-centric cartoons, both comedy and action. Sample shows: Winx Club, Tara Duncan: TAS, Totally Spies!, Code: LYOKO, LoliRock, Ladybug. This block would air weekday afternoons with a weekend encore.
  • Kick!-a block for action/superhero toons. Sample shows: Batman: TAS, Superman: TAS, Batman Beyond, Justice League/Unlimited, Static Shock, Batman: The Brave and the Bold, Men in Black: The Series, Teen Titans: TAS (not TTGO!). Like Sparkle, Kick! would air on weekday afternoons with a weekend encore.
  • Fun Zone– this would be a prime time premiere block airing on weekends, either with different schedules for Friday and Saturday nights or a single lineup premiering on Friday nights and an encore on Saturday nights, depending on how many new shows are available. Wabbit: A Looney Tunes Production and Be Cool, Scooby-Doo! would air here. I’d also give The Aquabats! Super Show! a new home on this block.
  • HBTV– also known as HB Nation, this block would air prime time on Sunday nights. It would be a love letter to Hanna-Barbera, with new shows based on HB properties intermixed with new Shorties, Groovies and other shorts starring HB stars.
  • The Groove Tube-this block would air late nights, say at about 9, 10 or 11 PM, and would run for 2 or 3 hours. This would be where the retro shows would air. sample shows: The Flintstones, The Jetsons, Jonny Quest, Rocky & Bullwinkle, Underdog, Speed Racer, Voltron, Birdman and the Galaxy Trio, Popeye, The Three Stooges, Space Ghost: Coast to Coast.
  • Saturday Morning Fever-a special Friday night edition of The Groove Tube , recreating the 60’s through late 80’s Saturday Morning experience. Sample shows: Land of the Lost, The Real Ghostbusters, Help! It’s the Hair Bear Bunch, H.R. Pufenstuf, Lidsville, Smurfs, Snorks, The Harlem/Super Globetrotters, Lancelot Link: Secret Chimp.

Well, that’s what I’d do anyway. One thing’s for sure: Boomerang needs to step its’ game up and get out of its’ programming rut, otherwise by the time we get to May, viewers may no longer care. Boomerang will be D.O.A. and this re-brand will have been for naught.

Saturday Morning Ain’t Dead…or Some Junk

silverstar 4 Comments

I first read about this on Toon Zone, then again on Hobbyfan’s blog, Saturday Morning Archives.

Broadcast Partners has announced the triumphant return of Saturday Morning Cartoons…sort of…in the form of a syndication block.

Yeah, you might want to hold off on the Happy Dance until you get all the details. First, this 2 hour block will consist of the following 4 shows:

He-Man

 

He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. Yes, the same series from 1983 to 1986 produced by Filmation, which is gradually being phased out by Me-TV…

Casper’s Scare School, the latest series starring the lovably wimpy ghost, which CN got tired of in recent years…

George of the Jungle, not the Jay Ward original, but rather the Flash animated remake by Teletoon which aired on CN back around 2007-2008….

…And The New Adventures of Lassie, a 2014 toon which is the first new Lassie series in over 40 years. Here’s a trailer for the latter.

“Uhh…..yay?”

But wait, there’s more! This block is slated to air from….5 AM to 7AM.

M’kay, I think it’s now time for a little Reality Check.

Let’s be real here: no kid (or adult, for that matter) is going to get up with the chickens at 5 AM to watch any of these shows. He-Man is always good fun 80’s cheese, but I’m not getting up at 5 to watch it. I was one of the few people who didn’t hate that new George of the Jungle toon, but it’s not worth getting up at 5 AM to see. I wasn’t rushing home to look at Casper’s Scare School when CN was carrying it in the afternoon, and The New Adventures of Lassie just looks very generic, though I admit some of the character designs are nice.

This block faces an uphill battle; in addition to airing at an insanely early time, this block is syndicated when the syndication market is all but dead in this country (most syndicated venues which aren’t news shows, infotainment shows or court shows go to cable and satellite channels), add to that how none of these shows have any real E/I content, which will only serve to make this block a harder sell; of course He-Man has its’ little Aesops tacked on to the ends of each episode and Lassie probably has little nature facts and stuff, so the E/I label could be slapped onto those shows.

This has all the appearances of folks trying desperately to keep the Saturday Morning Cartoon block alive in some, any, way, shape or form. To that I say: I appreciate the effort, but it’s time to face the hard truth:

SatAM was a big part of a lot of peoples’ childhoods; heck, I’ll readily admit it was a HUGE part of mine: I was so into SatAM cartoons as a kid that I would often camp out in front of our TV in the living room in my sleeping bag on Friday nights. But that was before cable, satellite, the internet, video games with online multiplayer options,On-Demand, Blu-Ray or even VCRs. The hard truth is that the Saturday Morning broadcast TV block has been rendered obsolete; some people are only still trying to keep it around because of nostalgia. This block is syndicated, so it’s possible that some local station could air it later in the day or even on Sunday mornings, or maybe, maybe some cable station could pick it up and run it during a more desirable time slot, but today’s kids with their gadgets and doo-dads and wacky critter hats would rather wait until these shows go online and will stream them legally or watch them not-so-legally, if they show any interest in them at all. So while I applaud the attempt by Broadcast Partners to Keep Hope Alive, the statistical likelihood is that the end result of this will be…