New Cartoon Network pilots

It used to be that CN was where you went for both comedy and action shows. Action had been in its blood since the beginning, when they had blocks dedicated to the Hanna Barbera action stuff in their library, and even did their part in spreading anime throughout the world (with reruns of G Force and showing films like Vampire Hunter D and Twilight Of The Cockroaches).

edited 13th Jun '15 11:06:40 AM by Aldo930

It certainly seems like nowadays the older viewers(myself included) are the only ones watching the more dramatic action cartoons.

Not sure if this is going to derail the conversation, but does anyone know about the market research for this? Is there a really significant change between our generation as kids and today's kids in their taste for action series? The only other explanation I can think of is that US studios aren't properly kitted to compete against the Japanese anime industry in making good-flowing fights while keeping costs reasonable.

I don't think there is, but the networks are cooling down on action.

One big reason would be they don't get enough kids watching as opposed to adults, who cream over this stuff.

But another, bigger reason is that action series tend to be more expensive than comedies. And that's bad when they fail. A cheap failure doesn't mean much to a company when it has other successful shows to keep it afloat; if they make enough, they can cover the expenses. An expensive failure is a different story. To be able to cover the expenses on that you need a megahit show - and CN's biggest hits, let's face it, were never as big as Rugrats or Sponge Bob.

That's why several action series have become tax write-offs, just so the producers can make their money back.

Maybe they wouldn't be failing if they weren't being put at horrible hours, given no advertising at all, and taken off before they're done while other shows get countdown clocks, prime time slots and advertised once a commercial break.

So cartoon fans on the Internet were willing to cry in protest when CN's action cartoons were treated badly, but no one cried in protest for Sheep In The Big City or The Marvelous Misadventures Of Flapjack?

Sheep was before that time and Flapjack is divisive. Some folks enjoy it(like me and you), others aren't too fond of it.

The whole thing I mentioned about was, as I've said, pretty common back in the day as well. Cartoon forums had a lot of people who liked to rant about how CN was treating Toonami badly and promoting its Cartoon Cartoons instead.

Also, you remember why Chowder and Flapjack were badly treated? (cough CN REAL cough) Thank God that bombed.

Those 2 shows were probably the best part of that era. Thank god were finally done with CN wanting to do any sort of live action thing. I don't they're even doing that Hall of Game award show anymore.

Now you know - it could always be worse...

Flapjack wasn't even really cancelled. Thurop van Orman wanted to move on and do other projects, so he decided to end the show. And then the network proceeded to pick up at two new shows created by Flapjack storyboard artists, which are still running years later.

It was really only Chowder that got screwed over.

At least Chowder got a proper finale.

Didn't know that. Flapjack did get a finale, though. They just buried it where no one would see it.

Wasn't the finale the one where K'nuckles becomes the mayor or something of Stormalong(since their wasn't one to begin with) and he (of course) manages to ruin the town?

No, I think it involved them turning into real people somehow. By the time it aired I had given up cartoons.

Oh yeah, I heard about that episode. Never saw it, wonder if it did air. I'll check.

EDIT:Upon further searching, it appears that episode doesn't exist. Theirs no mention of it on any episode guide for the show and despite the tvtropes page saying something similar to that (that " Instead of finally ending the show with the three making it to Candied Island, they get turned into Real Life people instead"), that supposed finale episode is false. Last episode to air is Fish out of water and at no point do Flap and K'nuckles turn real. So I don't know where that rumor came from. Maybe the creator might know.

edited 13th Jun '15 5:08:58 PM by ScottPilgrim2013

Chowder and Flapjack both had conclusive finales, although I didn't really like the one for Flapjack at all. Flapjack's finale was a "the adventure continues" ending, and Chowder's ending was a Dragon Ball homage where Chowder trains an apprentice of his own.

On the one hand I feel like both shows ended before their time, but on the other hand they were able to pave the way for shows I like better, so I no longer really regret them ending when they did. CH Greenblatt even has a new show now (which maybe I should watch some time).

Wikipedia says that Thurop and his son Leif are the real people featured in the finale.

On the one hand, yeah, but on the other, Cartoon Network's now pretty incestuous in terms of creators. Most of the creators have come off of those two shows, and now there's more coming from Adventure Time and the like...

I don't think that's happened much before. You could argue Maxwell Atoms creating Grim And Evil coming off of Cow And Chicken (where he wrote some of the best episodes), but he won a competition for that. Of course, Greenblatt and Van Orman themselves were storyboarders on Billy And Mandy...

edited 13th Jun '15 5:19:37 PM by Aldo930

You really should check out Harvey Beaks. It's a little like Chowder, but not too much. It has a really calm slice of life feel mixed with C.H.'s humor. One of best things Nick has currently.

I remember hearing that, but I can't seem to find said episode in question. I'm not sure if this is a case of a missing episode or some one being false.

I've seen "Fish out of Water", it does end with them turning into live action.

Fish out of Water is the last episode of Flapjack, and it ends with Flapjakc and K'Nuckles turning into real people. I'm not sure why you're confused about it. Its a real episode, its not lost, and that's how it ends.

Here's an image of Thurop's son dressed as Flapjack for the episode, straight from Thurop's deviantart account: http://thurop.deviantart.com/art/SON-OF-THE-SEA-175142485

edited 13th Jun '15 6:22:54 PM by BBrown052

You see, I knew it ended like that!

In a way it was kind of the end of an era - the first era of Cartoon Cartoons, maybe?

edited 13th Jun '15 6:26:39 PM by Aldo930

@Aldo: I don't see how its a bad thing for CN to hire artists from their finished shows as creators of their new ones. It makes sense for the network (who could be more qualified to create a show for CN than someone who has already worked on one or two of them?), and as long as the shows are good (and most of them are) why complain?

It's not necessarily a bad thing, but it is kind of off-putting that they don't put on many shows not made by people who've already done something for them - or did something for another network.

Of course, other networks have done this - probably the most successful example being former Rockos Modern Life director Stephen Hillenburg - but not as much as it's been done recently.

edited 13th Jun '15 6:29:21 PM by Aldo930

Im glad the thread cooled down.

Also, many people did mourn Sheep. But it never seemed like a Spongebob like Long Runner anyway. Fawlty Towers was like really brilliant and really short.