cartoon network

History

By the end of the 1980s, Ted Turner's cable-TV conglomerate had acquired the MGM film library (which included the older catalog of pre-1948 color Warner Bros. cartoons), and its cable channel Turner Network Television had gained an audience with its film library. In 1991, it purchased animation studio Hanna-Barbera Productions and acquired its large library. Cartoon Network was created as an outlet for Turner's considerable library of animation, and the initial programming on the channel consisted exclusively of re-runs of classic Warner Bros. and MGM cartoons, with many Hanna-Barbera TV cartoons used as time fillers. Most of the short cartoons were aired in half-hour or hour-long packages, usually separated by character or studio—Down With Droopy D aired old Droopy Dog shorts, The Tom and Jerry Show presented the classic cat-and-mouse team, and Bugs and Daffy Tonight provided classic Looney Tunes shorts. Today, only Tom and Jerry remains on the network.

In 1994, Hanna-Barbera started production on The What-A-Cartoon! Show (also known as World-Premiere Toons), a series of creator-driven short cartoons that premiered on Cartoon Network in 1995. It was the network's third original series (the second was Space Ghost: Coast to Coast and the first was The Moxy Show). The project was spearheaded by several Cartoon Network executives, plus Ren and Stimpy creator John Kricfalusi (who was an advisor to the network at the time) and Fred Seibert (who was formerly one of the driving forces behind the Nicktoons, and would go on to produce the similar animation anthology series Oh, Yeah! Cartoons).

In 1996, Time Warner purchased Turner Broadcasting, and with it the Cartoon Network. The Cartoon Network gained access to the complete Warner Bros. cartoon library, which had not been under one owner since 1957. The Cartoon Network also joined an alliance with The WB which gave them rights to WB cartoons from the 1950s to the 1980s, and newer cartoons like Road Rovers, Swat Kats, 2 Stupid Dogs, Captain Planet and the Planeteers, Animaniacs, Freakazoid, Pinky and the Brain, and Tom & Jerry Kids.

Time Warner changed the direction of Hanna-Barbera Productions (the production studio now known as Cartoon Network Studios), and focused the studio exclusively on creating new material for the Cartoon Network channel (which were baptized Cartoon Cartoons). These productions include: Dexter's Laboratory (1996), Johnny Bravo (1997), Cow and Chicken (1997), and The Powerpuff Girls (1998) (all of which were shorts, previously launched on What a Cartoon with the creative work of Hanna-Barbera Art Director Jesse Stagg), and more recently Codename: Kids Next Door (2003), Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends (2004), and Camp Lazlo (2005). To free up air time for new shows, the listed classics were retired.

The Cartoon Network has shown cartoons from other studios such as Ed, Edd n Eddy (1998/9, a.k.a. cartoon), Courage the Cowardly Dog (1999, Stretch Films), Mike, Lu & Og (1999, Kinofilm Studios), Sheep in the Big City (2000, Curious Pictures) and Codename: Kids Next Door (2002, Curious Pictures)

The older Hanna-Barbera cartoons, as well as the entire Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies library and non-Tom and Jerry cartoons made by MGM such as those made by Tex Avery have been largely moved to the nostalgia-themed Boomerang sister network.

In recent years, Cartoon Network has also made attempts to attract viewers outside its core audience (young children about eight years old). Their Saturday-night cartoon block Toonami consists of acceptable-for-preteens and -teens anime from Japan, as well as some American animation, while a late-night cartoon block called Adult Swim shows more risqué, teenage- and adult-oriented cartoons (with a combination of anime and American-produced comedies such Futurama and Family Guy). On April 17, 2004, Toonami was moved to Saturday evenings and the afternoon slot was filled with Miguzi, showing action-oriented American, French, and Japanese TV shows aimed at a slightly younger age group than Toonami.

In June 2004, Cartoon Network relaunched itself with a new logo and slogan, “This is Cartoon Network.” The bumps now featured 2D cartoon characters from their shows interacting in a CGI city composed of sets from their shows. Nearly all of Cartoon Network's classic cartoon programming had been replaced by new programming, except for Tom and Jerry, a longtime staple of the Turner networks. As of 2006, the new slogan was “Cartoon Network—Yes!” as spoken by Fred Fredburger, a character on The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy.

Recently, Cartoon Network introduced a new programming block for pre-schoolers called Tickle-U. Half of the content on the block is imported British pre-school programming (some of them re-voiced), while the other half are original material. Tickle-U featured a CGI world and about three CGI characters that would greet viewers, play games, and introduce the next program. In recent months, the whole Tickle-U concept was taken off the air. Most of the programs that were a part of the Tickle-U block are now part of Cartoon Network's weekday morning line-up, with the addition of A Pup Named Scooby-Doo and Krypto the Superdog.

Special programming blocks:

Cartoon Cartoons

Main article: Cartoon Cartoons

Cartoon Cartoons were first showcased in the What a Cartoon! show, a series of comedic animated shorts produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions guided by Fred Seibert, who founded the Nickelodeon-based Frederator Studios years later. Originally known as "World Premiere Toons," the shorts were essentially series pilots—the idea was to measure audience response and turn the most popular shorts into series. Only a small handful of the shorts ever made series, however. The first short to air was "The Powerpuff Girls Meat Fuzzy Lumpkins," but it would be three years before the girls got their own series. The first series to spin off from What-a-Cartoon! was Dexter's Laboratory in 1996. A year later, Johnny Bravo and Cow and Chicken joined Dexter on the Cartoon Network lineup. The Powerpuff Girls became a Cartoon Cartoons series in the fall of 1998. Ed, Edd, n Eddy came later as the first Cartoon Cartoons series not to be introduced in a What-A-Cartoon! short.

More shows premiered bearing the Cartoon Cartoons moniker, airing throughout the network's schedule and prominently on Cartoon Cartoon Fridays, which became the marquee night for premieres of new episodes and new shows. For two years, Cartoon Network actually let fans pick which of that year's crop of Cartoon Cartoon shorts made series, by staging a vote where fans could choose from among the three most popular entries. The first short to be voted into a series was The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, and a year later Codename: Kids Next Door was voted in. Both have gone on to become two of Cartoon Network's longest-running series.

As of September 2005, the name is primarily used for The Cartoon Cartoons Show, a hour-long program featuring episodes of older Cartoon Cartoons that are no longer shown regularly on the network.

Fridays/Cartoon Cartoon Fridays

Main article: Fridays (Cartoon Network)

Fridays is a live action show that shows premieres of cartoons, sneak peeks of cartoons and new episodes of cartoons, It is hosted by Tommy Snider and Tara Sands, and features kids as well as puppets acting as comic relief. It airs for three hours at 7 PM (E/P).

Fridays replaced Cartoon Cartoon Fridays, a block that aired Fridays at 7 PM Eastern Time before replaced by Summer Fridays in 2003 and replaced by Fridays in late 2003. The block was launched on May 7, 1999 and last aired on May 2, 2003. Originally in 1999 it aired encores of new episodes which were shown earlier during the week.Cartoon Cartoon fridays was hosted by a character of a cartoon network

Miguzi

Main article: Miguzi

Miguzi is a cartoon block that premiered on April 19, 2004. This block is themed around Erin, a girl who finds refuge within the confines of a strange spaceship that is trapped underwater and inhabited by aquatic creatures. Not surprisingly, this lighter-toned action block is from Williams Street, the producers of late-night programming block Adult Swim and Toonami, a block of programming which Miguzi replaced in the weekday-afternoon timeslot. Miguzi changes its shows often.

Miguzi airs action shows from different countries like Zatch Bell and Pokémon from Japan, Totally Spies and Code Lyoko from France.

Toonami

Main article: Toonami

Toonami (a portmanteau of cartoon and tsunami) was initially a block of action-oriented programming (mostly Japanese anime) on Cartoon Network in the US and UK, and Spain among other countries. The American version premiered on March 17, 1997 as a weekday afternoon block. The regular afternoon block, including Rising Sun (a Saturday morning version of the block, revived as a late-night action block of Batman and Superman), Super Saturdays (a Saturday afternoon block with a few premieres), and Midnight Run (which was originally a late-night action block on Saturday nights in 1999 before becoming an hour-long weeknight action block on March 6, 2000 that aired the uncut version of Mobile Suit Gundam Wing which was replaced by Outlaw Star in 2001 and repeats of other shows from the afternoon block before being replaced by Adult Swim in 2003).

Currently, the United States version of Toonami airs on Saturdays from 7 to 11 PM (E/P). Some shows in this program include Zatch Bell!, Dragon Ball Z, Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo,Teen Titans, Justice League Unlimited, Naruto, One Piece, and Pokémon Chronicles (Naruto now only shows on weekends).

The Toonami brand was subsequently used in the United Kingdom as the title of a Cartoon Network-operated UK spinoff channel in its own right in September 2003, a little under a year after the network launched as CNX. In 2006, the network relaunched as a general entertainment network with little emphasis on action-animation.

For the rest of the territories that have Cartoon Network, Toonami remains a block with many of the same shows seen in the United States as well as regional exclusives like Battle B-Daman, Power Rangers, Todd McFarlane Spawn, Machine Robo Rescue, Granzasers, X-Men: Evolution, Shadow Raiders, Beyblade, and others. However, in the United States, Battle B-Daman does not air on the Toonami block.

Boomerang

Main article: Boomerang (TV channel)

Boomerang was originally a programming block on Cartoon Network aimed towards the generation of baby boomers. It originally aired for two hours every weekend. The block's start time jumped frequently, with the Saturday block moving to Saturday afternoons, then back to the early morning, and the Sunday block moving to Sunday evenings. Eventually, Boomerang was cut to one day a week, Saturday, and it was shortened by an hour.

Boomerang (both the programming block and the original spinoff channel that launched on April 1, 2000) followed a unique programming format - every week, cartoons produced during a certain year (and cartoons produced during years prior to that year) would be showcased. For example, if Boomerang was showcasing the year 1969, the viewer would more than likely see an episode of Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! or The Perils of Penelope Pitstop.

Once the Boomerang channel was launched in 2000, promos for the channel aired at the end of every broadcasted show during the block in attempt to gain popularity for Boomerang. Also, all of the older programming on Cartoon Network, including Looney Tunes and shows from Hanna-Barbera migrated to Boomerang.

With the re-launch of Cartoon Network in 2004, the Boomerang block was replaced by Adult Swim everyday with older reruns of classic anthologies like The Popeye Show, The Bob Clampett Show, and former Boomerang fare like The Gary Coleman Show and Super Globetrotters.

[adult swim]

Main article: Adult Swim

Adult Swim is the name for the more adult-oriented television programming block on Cartoon Network, which premiered on September 2, 2001 in USA.

Originally a Sunday-only block that also reran on Thursdays, Adult Swim airs Saturday nights at 11 PM (E/P), Monday through Thursday nights at 10:30 PM (E/P) and Sunday nights at 10 PM (E/P) with an encore airing at 2 AM and then ending with an hour of older shows on every night but Sunday. The block, programmed by Williams Street, the same group that created Toonami and Miguzi, plays American animated comedy series and shorts geared towards audiences 17 and older and a wide variety of anime series and OVAs intended for audiences 18 and older.

The name comes from the name for hours designated at public swimming pools where only adults can swim in the pool. On March 28, 2005, the programming block was spun-off as a separate entity from Cartoon Network for Nielsen Ratings purposes. This is similar to what Nickelodeon once did with Nick at Nite. In March 27, 2006, Adult Swim started airing a half-hour early at 10:30 PM on Monday through Thursday (E/P).

Tickle U

Main article: Tickle-U

Tickle U was a preschool programming block on Cartoon Network in the United States. It premiered on August 22, 2005. Tickle U is hosted by Pipoca, Henderson and Place. It is similar to Playhouse Disney, Nick Jr., PBS Kids and Noggin. The block aired from 9:00AM to 11:00AM E/P on Cartoon Network.

After the demise of the Tickle U brand, its constituent programs continued in separate half-hour slots. These programs are

• Yoko! Jakamoko! Toto!
• Harry and His Bucket Full of Dinosaurs
• Peppa Pig
• Firehouse Tales
• Gerald McBoing-Boing
• Little Robots
• Gordon the Garden Gnome
• Gummi Bears {Coming Feburary 2007}

Marathon blocks

Cartoon Network Block Party

Cartoon Network Block Party is the name for a three-hour block of programming that aired on Saturdays that sometimes featured several new episodes of a single show. It aired Saturday afternoon from 3pm-6pm (sometimes 3pm-5pm). It lasted from June 19, 2004 - January 22, 2005. This block aired Cartoon Cartoon franchises such as Ed, Edd, n Eddy, Codename: Kids Next Door and The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy and non-Cartoon Cartoon franchises such as The Cramp Twins, Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, Code Lyoko, Hamtaro and Totally Spies!.

Cartoon Network Block Party is also the current title for the network's anthology comic published by DC Comics. (Previously, the comic was titled Cartoon Network Presents, Cartoon Network Starring, and Cartoon Cartoons.)

Cartoon Olio

Cartoon Olio was a Cartoon Network Saturday afternoon block that aired from 3pm-6pm. The block premired on July 7, 2001 and last aired on June 1, 2002. The block aired marathons of Cartoon Cartoons franchises such as Dexter's Laboratory, Ed, Edd 'n' Eddy, Johnny Bravo, Courage the Cowardly Dog, The Powerpuff Girls, Time Squad and Cow and Chicken. The block also aired marathons of Hanna-Barbera franchises such as The Flintstones, Scooby-Doo, and A Pup Named Scooby-Doo.

Last Bell

Last Bell was a Cartoon Network weekday afternoon block which used to air weekdays from 2pm-5pm in the past. Last Bell lasted from August 2003 to June 11, 2004. The block aired some of the most popular franchises like Dexter's Laboratory, The Powerpuff Girls, Ed, Edd 'n' Eddy, The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, and Codename: Kids Next Door.

Super Chunk

Super Chunk was a Saturday marathon block that aired on Saturday afternoons from 1pm-4pm. The block lasted from the networks origin in October 1992 up until when the Boomerang channel was launched in April 2000. The block aired marathons of mainly classic and retro programs.

Live-action programming

Although the majority of the network's programming is animation, live-action programming has been a part of Cartoon Network over the years; late-night sister network Adult Swim describes itself as "Adult Swim, Cartoon Network's late night sister network featuring animation and other programming" (emphasis added).

When The Banana Splits Show aired on Cartoon Network, it was two-thirds live action with the Banana Splits and Danger Island segments dominating the half-hour. Human-hosted shows like Carrot Top's A.M. Mayhem and the current Cartoon Cartoon Fridays (now called just Fridays) format had live-actors introducing animated shows and shorts. In the mid-1990s, the Children's Television Workshop co-produced Big Bag, a series that featured a Muppet character and a human counterpart. Also, on each episode of Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi, the titular pop stars show up in hosting segments at the beginning (and closing in the first season).

There were also western-themed bumpers of talking hands named Haas and Little Joe. The former was a sherriff-type, and the latter was his clueless sidekick. They had their own programming block called High-Noon ’Toons. Later, the duo would have themed programs for holidays and other special events. They were taken off the air in the late 1990s. Created and performed by Matt Thompson and Adam Reed, the duo would go on to work on other Cartoon Network shows such as Sealab 2021.

The network has also broadcast films which combine 2D animation and live actors, such as Osmosis Jones, The Pagemaster, and Who Framed Roger Rabbit. November 2005 through July 2006 also saw the network premieres of several fully live-action "cartoony" films, which are The Goonies, Honey, I Shrunk The Kids, Small Soldiers (which used CGI), Batman, (which was based on a comic book), Jumanji, Snow Day, Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls, Dumb and Dumber, Spider-Man (also based on a comic book and also used CGI) and Cats & Dogs.

On Friday, October 13th, Scooby-Doo Will Premiere On Fridays.

Zixx, a live-action series with CGI-elements, briefly aired on Saturday mornings beginning on January 21, 2006. In April, teen sitcom Saved by the Bell aired on Adult Swim for two weeks, which originated as an April Fool's Day prank advertising new episodes. The 1980s Saturday morning program Pee-wee's Playhouse began airing Mondays-Thursdays on July 10, 2006.

Cartoon Network Original Movies

• 5 made for TV movies are coming soon to Cartoon Network and based on the television series Camp Lazlo, Codename: Kids Next Door, Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy and My Gym Partner's a Monkey.
• Camp Lazlo: Where's Lazlo- TBA
• Codename: Kids Next Door: Operation Z.E.R.O. (Aired August 11, 2006)
• Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends: Good Wilt Hunting- November 24, 2006
• The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy: Billy and Mandy's Big Boogie Adventure- Early 2007
• My Gym Partner's a Monkey: The Big Field Trip- November 17, 2006
• Teen Titans: Trouble in Tokyo: (Aired September 15th, 2006)

Cartoon Network MMORPG

It was announced in July 2006 that Cartoon Network has teamed with Seoul-based Grigon Entertainment to bring a Cartoon Network based MMO to the global marketplace. The as-yet-to-be named title will be subscription based, including support for microtransactions but will be free to download. The title will be targeting the tween marketplace and is expected to be released in the Spring of 2008^[1].

Cartoon Network around the world

Main article: Cartoon Network around the world

Cartoon Network also broadcasts in other languages like Japanese, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, French, Italian, Polish, Hungarian, Romanian, Hindi, Urdu (in Pakistan), etc. Most of the Cartoon Network channels in Europe are broadcast from the United Kingdom, including an English language audio channel).

See also

• List of programs broadcast by Cartoon Network
• Cartoon Orbit
• Boomerang (TV channel)

References

1. ^ Cartoon Network MMOG In The Works - TotalGaming.net news, 19 July 2006

External links

• United States
• Cartoon Network Studios at the Big Cartoon DataBase