The Toonami Thread

Well it was good while it lasted. Thank God for DV Ds.

Hmm, too much Shonen.

People are reacting like Toonami is GONE! Guys, it's still airing, just at 3.5 hours per week! Don't jump the gun yet!

... did they just get a new head?? I didn't see any news.

My theory: reruns. We known for a long time that Toonami hates reruns, but says they're "inevitable". They been trying all sorts of ways to shuffle the block so the reruns would either not be in the way of premieres or try to up their ratings. But none worked, so Programming said, "that's it. We're biting the bullet. We're taking away the last 2 hours". Less time slots, less reruns! They always get lower ratings than when the same episodes premiere! The ratings for the 24th were just released and they were actually BETTER than the ones for the week before it, so they can't be the ACTUAL reason for this!

It's not dead but this is a pretty clear red flag and it makes sense. The entire thing was fueled by extreme nostalgia and that doesn't last forever.

So, this is not good. I'm glad we're getting new anime and The Intruder II, but the quick reduction of several hours is not a good sign for Toonami. Hopefully it's just due to budget cuts that are known to be affecting all of Turner Broadcasting, and since Toonami already had a shoestring budget, it may just be a cost-saving maneuver to keep Toonami (and anime on [as]) in general alive.

I'm worried for Toonami, but cautiously optimistic. I'm glad they got Kill La Kill, due to its popularity being on the same level as Attack On Titan, and The Intruder II is still going to happen for the time being, so if we're lucky, this reduction might actually save Toonami, since it's mostly premieres and the headliner is a relatively new and popular show. Hopefully, if things get better for Turner as a whole, we may see another expansion of the block.

I am worried by this, but given the context of Turner's budget cuts as a whole, this may not be as bad as it looks. (Then again, it may be as bad as we thought and we may be entering another Dark Age similar to what happened in 2008 and 2009)

In other words, stay on the watch, keep watching Toonami as much as you can and hopefully the block can survive.

The Toonami block wasn't the only thing that Saturday that changed. This looks like part of the ENTIRE Adult Swim block on Saturdays being changed, all for ratings! You notice that the last poor season of the Boondocks is now replaced with Robot Chicken!

Fair point, but Turner is going through budget cuts, so in all, everything was necessary. Hopefully, the reduction of Toonami might save the block instead of killing it. After all, Toonami was already low-budget, so if Adult Swim as a whole gets budget cuts, Toonami will probably feel it the most.

Who knows? If the budget improves and the anime premieres get good enough ratings, we may see a gradual expansion of the block. It happened before, it can happen again.

King Of The Hill being there is something I don't mind, as I actually love the show and it is one of the better FOX acquisitions for Adult Swim, right up there with Futurama back in the day. Plus King of the Hill works as a buffer show at the beginning and end of the block (that is, the times younger audiences are most likely to see Adult Swim programming), since King of the Hill is TV-PG and grounded in reality, meaning it is much less raunchy and surreal than the rest of the comedy on Adult Swim.

Come to think of it, King of the Hill is almost like the American equivalent of a Slice of Life anime in a lot of ways, at least to me. And it could be worse, the end of the Saturday block could have been taken up by Tim & Eric material or Mr. Pickles.

Boondocks being replaced by Robot Chicken reruns doesn't bother me as much, because everything on Saturday before midnight are all reruns anyway (Black Dynamite being a recent exception).

edited 27th Jan '15 7:35:24 PM by PaulieRomanov

The FOX Mc Farlane shows always get great ratings, so them being in front of Toonami is fine by me.

Well the important thing is Toonami is still going of the heads really hated anime they would have never let it come back to begin with...

Yeah none of us know WHAT the hell is going on! Too bad they just had a Q&A. They could provide insight into what went on.

We finally have a complete Adult Swim schedule for February 7th. Still doesn't make much of a difference in my previous reaction though.

I think I'm going to be sick. I need a fucking drink.

Wish they'd at least air Venture Bros in the 2:30 slot instead of American Dad.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say Shonen is being Mis-blamed. The block was struggling even back when Bleach was the only long runner.

If anything, what's ultimately doing them in was Pandering to the Base.

If anything, shonen is what is SAVING the block. Notice how they kept all the long-running shonen they acquired that all have new episodes, and Kill La Kill, arguably containing a ton of shonen elements, is arriving soon.

I heard that ratings wasn't the only reason for this drastic change. CN in general wasn't getting huge ratings in 2014 as it had done previously, so for this new year, along with getting a brand new CEO in July, they decided to put a massive overhaul on all Adult Swim!

What he said

This downsizing is probably due to budget cuts that have affected all of Turner Broadcasting, especially CN & Adult Swim. Toonami, being low-budget already, would feel it the most. If anything, these cuts may be done with the intent of saving Toonami. Sort of a "cutting off a finger to save the hand" scenario.

Kill La Kill and the shounen stuff is probably what will keep Toonami afloat until things get better.

And Demarco said they have MORE "great stuff" for 2015, which most likely means The Intruder, and I hope more new acquisitions. This is what I will assume went down until further information releases, and I will go about my life.

.... as opposed to those message boards users who do nothing but complain for weeks without leaving their office chair!

edited 30th Jan '15 2:38:52 PM by kyun

Why is this thread not updated tonight!?

You should all be tweeting #watchtoonami to keep it alive, as this is the last night it will be this long for the foreseeable future!!

Hey, Toonami is still on until 5:30 tonight right? Like they haven't announced any changes? That all starts next week?

This will start at 11:30 and end at 5:00.

Next week, it will start at 12:00 and end at 3:30.

edited 31st Jan '15 7:10:36 PM by kyun

I strongly agree with the theory that putting needless reruns of shows that just aired at around the same time was a terrible idea. I understand that's how it works with Family Guy, but that's a comedy series that's like 100s of episodes long. Was anyone that interested in seeing Attack on Titan twice in a row, even fans?

Man Vegeta is tiny. I don't remember him being that short.

Or is it just that Nappa is so huge?

Yamcha? Saibamen?

This'll go well.