Tough Act To Follow / Western Animation

• Beast Wars had such a devoted and passionate fanbase that when Beast Machines premiered, it was held to an impressively high standard and unfortunately, in the eyes of many fans, did not meet expectations. And since then, Beast Wars has become almost like a measuring stick for newer Transformers shows to be compared to.
  • The Transformers franchise suffers from this as a whole. Despite numerous reboots the 1984 series is considered the definitive version. Any new version is compared to it and rarely passes. Even Beast Wars, the most successful reboot had hatedom for a while ("Trukk not munky", et al).
  • One of the reasons why this situation results in numerous arguments among fans is because the Generation 1 show and Beast Wars are seen as "the standard" for different reasons by different people. G1 for many fans is the definition of Transformers — its concepts, the characters, the designs, the overall "feeling" of the show is what hard-core fans want to re-experience in every new cartoon. Beast Wars, on the other hand (and nowadays Transformers: Animated and Transformers: Prime as well), is used as a comparison point because it is a generally good, solid, quality production. In short, part of the fandom strives for the preservation of details between the different TF iterations, while the other isn't so concerned about these, just want a show that's good in its own right.
  • Another Transformers show that gets this is Transformers: Robots in Disguise, which directly follows the generally well-regarded Transformers: Prime. The general consensus is that trying to be a sequel to Prime is RiD's entire problem; if taken as its own story that just happens to be set in the same continuity, it's pretty enjoyable and fun. However if taken as an epic continuation of Prime, as the creators described it, than it stumbles badly, as RiD largely leaves Prime alone, merely using that show as a source of backstory.
• The Flintstones, being the first successful animated sitcom on TV proved particularly difficult to top, even for Hanna-Barbera themselves. They tried with The Jetsons, but it never caught on quite the same way. Many Hanna-Barbera animated TV series after that failed to duplicate the enormous success The Flintstones had. Eventually the first animated TV sitcom hit to surpass the success of The Flintstones with children and adults would be from a completely different studio: a little show called The Simpsons.
• Looney Tunes:
  • Many of the revivals have suffered from trying to live up to the quality of the original Golden Age theatrical cartoons. That said, quite a few productions tried to avert this by intentionally going in a different direction from the original shorts, such as The Looney Tunes Show going for a sitcom approach. The success of all these projects are mixed, with all of them having vocal detractors, though certain ones are more universally disliked than others.
  • The 1959-1964 shorts (sometimes called the “red rings era”) are considered much better than what came afterwards, but nevertheless suffered from coming immediately after what is near-universally considered the studio’s best output: it’s hard to live up to such beloved classics as What's Opera, Doc?, Birds Anonymous, or Robin Hood Daffy.
• Scooby-Doo:
  • It was a Hanna-Barbera series of which the studio tried desperately to duplicate the success, creating at least a dozen shows that utilized a "group of kids and a non-human sidekick solve mysteries" format. Of the many imitations that Hanna-Barbera themselves made, the best remembered in the decades that followed would either be Jabberjaw or Josie and the Pussycats. And even then, people most likely know the former from a punk rock song made for Cartoon Network that actively lampshades the show's status as a failed follow-up, and the latter for simply being based on Archie Comics characters that the company still continues to utilize.
  • Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated cast a noticeable shadow on subsequent TV shows based on Scooby-Doo, thanks to its Darker and Edgier atmosphere and overarching serialized mystery plot making it one of the best-received Scooby shows ever by both critics and fans. Even positive takes on the shows that followed, such as Be Cool, Scooby-Doo! and Scooby-Doo and Guess Who?, receive responses of "cool, but it's no Mystery Inc." Especially the former show, as it went the opposite direction to have a much Denser and Wackier tone and art-style compared to Mystery Incorporated.
• The Simpsons:
  • Many animated series have tried to duplicate its successful format, but none have become quite the commercial and critical success with both children and adults. Yes, South Park, Family Guy, and Rick and Morty have all become commercial hits, but strictly with adults, and all of them are too crass and lowbrow vulgar for mainstream audiences; The Simpsons has somewhat of a more dignified stature, especially among adults. Even Matt Groening's own follow-ups, Futurama and Disenchantment, failed to attract the same colossal audience and are still nothing more than Cult Classics; the former is in a seemingly perpetual cycle of cancellation and revival, and the latter, whilst considered solid, has a much smaller audience than either previous show.
  • Anything past the acclaimed eighth season of The Simpsons gave the seasons following that a high standard to live up to, considering how influential the show is to both comedy, sitcoms, and Western Animation as a whole.
• South Park has broken so much taboos and shocked so many audiences that no other TV series, animated or live-action, has been able to create a similar Refuge in Audacity show and stay on the air as long as they did. And even their imitators and successors don't dare to go as far as Trey Parker and Matt Stone often go in their subject matter.
• The Un-Canceled Family Guy has had similar problems living up to its first few seasons.
• Batman:
  • Every animated adaptation of the Batman character will inevitably be said to be inferior to Batman: The Animated Series, and any voice actors to step into the role will find themselves compared unfavorably to Kevin Conroy (for Batman) or Mark Hamill (for Joker).
  Lumberjack: I always felt Batman was best suited to the role of gritty urban crime detective, but now you guys have got him up against Santas, and Easter bunnies? I'm sorry, but that's not my Batman!
  • Peter Weller had to deal with this twice over in Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, as not only was his portrayal of Batman was being compared to Conroy's, but also to Michael Ironside, who voiced the Batman from Batman: The Dark Knight Returns in the episode "The Legends of the Dark Knight". But as the segment didn't feature the Joker, Michael Emerson was still only compared to Hamill.
• Just like its predecessor (Batman: The Animated Series), Superman: The Animated Series is very popular with fans and considered to be the definitive Superman adaptation to the point of which that the subsequent different adaptations focusing on the character (particularly the live-action ones) tend to be negatively compared to this series and considered inferior to it. It does help that Superman: TAS is more grounded (by Superman standards) than most adaptations while still managing to be lighthearted, entertaining, idealistic, adventurous, relatable, and extremely faithful to the source material and mythology of the original Superman comics with only some minor deviations (some of them have made it into the comics no less), which is one of the many things that the live action adaptations have failed to accomplish (as they tend to be either too campy, dramatic, or, as of recently, depressingly Wangsty and too different from the source material).
• Justice League, fittingly for being the last animated series to come out of the DC animated universe, was very popular and is widely regarded as one of the best superhero shows ever made. Such reasons include, but are certainly not limited to: Their creative, compelling plots that manage humor and tragedy, bringing many heroes and villains into the spotlight, creating a very interesting and believable dynamic with their cast especially the core seven, and introducing many aspects of characters that were popular enough to turn into Ret-Canon. Unsurprisingly, many people are eager for the original cast to reprise their roles whenever any DC animated adaptation is announced. As such, many of the series that came afterwards often get some flak for not attaining that high bar that they felt the series set. This sentiment carries over to live-action adaptations as well, as it only increased after the release of Justice League (2017).
• The Spectacular Spider-Man is based on the original The Amazing Spider-Man (1963) stories with a similar balance of action, drama and humor, it also tends to use material from all eras of the comic's run and other sources such as the film series and the Ultimate Spider-Man comics. The series updated characters and stories for the 21st century while still being very faithful to its characters in the comics, and managed to fit a relatively high amount of depth. Unfortunately, Sony Pictures Television's rights to Spidey expired, which resulted in a premature cancellation, and the rise of a new cartoon: Ultimate Spider-Man (2012). Several Marvel fans dislike that it doesn't take itself very seriously, and the characters weren't as endearing. The high level of Cutaway Gags in Ultimate Spider-Man, especially in its early seasons, can make it unbearable to sit through for viewers wanting more drama and/or characterization.
• The first animated Peanuts special, A Charlie Brown Christmas, attracted half of the nation's TV viewers of its time, won an Emmy and a Peabody, and has continued to air every winter for over 50 years. The second, Charlie Brown's All-Stars, didn't win any awards, and only aired sporadically afterwards. The fact Charlie Brown's second most popular TV special came a few months afterward probably pushed it even deeper into obscurity.
• Avengers Assemble has the misfortune of following The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes among cartoons based on The Avengers. After the series' announcement, fans already felt like cursing Marvel Animation for not going beyond 52 episodes of Earth's Mightiest Heroes, despite the fact the announcement said nothing more than, "A new Avengers cartoon will come next year."
• When Recess premiered in 1997 as one of the premiere shows of One Saturday Morning, it attracted a huge fanbase (most being a part of the Periphery Demographic) and critical acclaim, as well as being nominated for many awards (and winning one), getting a very successful movie (and two direct-to-video films), and gaining various types of merchandise, while the rest of the shows on the block eventually faded into obscurity. In 2001, the creators made another show for the block, Lloyd in Space, which despite getting very good ratings and reception, it never matched the popularity Recess had (and eventually got Screwed by the Network). The later Pound Puppies series from the same creators is also not looked on upon as fondly as Recess.
• John Kricfalusi hit the proverbial jackpot with the amazing success of Ren & Stimpy in the 1990s. Most, if not all, of his subsequent cartoons have been widely panned, or at best receive a So Okay, It's Average response.
• Avatar: The Last Airbender:
  • While the original Avatar: The Last Airbender series is widely beloved, the various comic book continuations (especially The Search) have gone on to receive a comparatively more mixed reception. After the animated series saw a Newbie Boom following it being added to Netflix in the late 2010s, renewed interest in these continuations improved their overall reputation, but the cartoon is still held in higher regard.
  • Sequel series The Legend of Korra (and its own comic book continuations) are also a source of contention. In the years after its run, general consensus has averaged out to the show being good, but not to the level of its predecessor. While even Korra's detractors are willing to consider Book 3 as being on par with the best of Airbender, Book 2 is nigh-universally derided as a franchise low point; even elements of the season which were widely praised on initial airing (namely the two-part Origins Episode) would later become just as maligned as the rest by decent swaths of the fanbase.
• The original Fox seasons of Futurama have built a reputation as a Sacred Cow, with a rabid fanbase hailing them as dripping with perfection. Both the Direct to Video miniseries' and especially the later Comedy Central and Hulu seasons have been doomed to the highest levels of scrutiny in comparison.
• Danny Phantom:
  • Many fans of Butch Hartman feel that T.U.F.F. Puppy, Bunsen Is a Beast, and the UnCanceled seasons of Fairly OddParents don't reach the same bar as this show, viewing the superhero action/comedy as his magnum opus.
  • For the series itself, The Ultimate Enemy special is the most beloved episode of the series for its dark tone and memorable villain. As such, later episodes and the show's divisive third season failed to be as well-liked.
• Ben 10:
  • Ben 10 is the most successful franchise created by Man of Action Studios^note though they were only heavily involved with the original series and the reboot by far, spawning five different television series (one being a Continuity Reboot) spanning over 16 years. Meanwhile, Man Of Action's next project, Generator Rex, while geared to the same demographic with a similar marketing push, only lasted three seasons, the last of which had its final episodes burned out in an early morning graveyard slot.
  • Ben 10: Omniverse had this problem with its villains. For Big Bad, the first season had Malware, a terrifying and intelligent Knight of Cerebus who was beloved by fans and had the unique gimmick of being an evil mechamorph trying to make his own Omnitrix. After him, none of the other villains were able to capture the same level of interest; the Incurseans, Albedo, the Rooters, Maltruant, and even classic baddies like Vilgax and Zs'Skayr just couldn't compare to him. His departure from the series is cited as one big reason the show went through Seasonal Rot.
• My Little Pony:
  • Season 4 of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic was seen as a massive step up in quality, with its two-part finale "Twilight's Kingdom" widely considered the series' best episode for its unprecedented action pieces and high stakes, threatening villain, and brilliant payoff for that season's story arc. No other season finale would be as widely-praised, with only Seasons 5 and 7 coming close; meanwhile, all future other action-focused or similarly status-quo altering episode (including The Movie) would be criticized for failing to raise the bar "Twilight's Kingdom" had set.
  • Generation 5 of the franchise had the monumental challenge of being the follow-up to Generation 4, whose flagship show Friendship is Magic and spin-offs like Equestria Girls granted the brand a significant Periphery Demographic that turned My Little Pony into a juggernaut for nearly a decade. The G5 pilot movie My Little Pony: A New Generation, while well-received, had fans of G4 divided on how well it measured up to FiM, and the subsequent Make Your Mark and Tell Your Tale were similarly seen as failing to live to the writing quality established by the previous incarnation.
• Amphibia: Some viewers voiced disappointment when the first half of the third season saw a return to mostly episodic adventures (albeit with the setting now shifted to Earth), feeling like the show had failed to capitalize on more compelling, serialized storytelling following the intensity of the Season 2 finale "True Colors". However, this resulted in something of a schism in the fanbase, as longtime fans accused those who made these complaints as being a Misaimed Fandom, pointing to how the show had always used the Half-Arc Season format (the fact that many of those dissatisfied with Season 3A had started watching the show because of "True Colors" did little to help with this accusation).
• SpongeBob SquarePants: Most people agree that the newer episodes have greatly suffered in comparison to the gold standard set by the first three seasons before the first movie and Un-Cancellation. The second movie was a return to form, but nevertheless isn't quite as beloved as the show itself. Second-half episodes that had to follow a beloved classic, such as "Home Sweet Pineapple" or "Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy V", are also seen as this to some people (with first-half episodes like "The Secret Box" and "Krabby Land" seen as the inverse of this).
• Every DC cartoon has had to deal with this since the end of the beloved and influential DC Animated Universe, which was critically acclaimed for its faithful and mature treatment of the source material.
• Samurai Jack had a small problem after being Uncancelled; Mako, the voice for the deliciously evil Aku, had died in the eleven years between the show's fourth and fifth season. He was replaced by Greg Baldwin, who had done the same for General Iroh in the last season of Avatar: The Last Airbender and The Legend of Korra following Mako's death, with generous consensus being that while Baldwin did a good job, he wasn't as good as Mako's Aku.
• Season 3 of Archer received acclaim from both critics and the fans, being considered one of the best seasons of television that year. Season 4, although still considered a good season, received criticism for less interesting, creative plots, and humour that didn't land quite as often.
• After the first season villain Nox who was both terrifying and very sympathetic, the second season villains of Wakfu, Rushu and Quilby felt rather lackluster, though the latter character has his defenders.
• Noddy's Toyland Adventures, despite making some changes from the original books, was one of the most popular and faithful adaptations of the original Noddy books, and none of the revivals have been able to match its success in the UK.
• Winnie the Pooh also went through a number of TV series adaptations. The first Welcome to Pooh Corner is a live action variety show that has become largely obscure, though the second show The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh was not only an animated series incredibly loyal to the style of The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, but ran on a good animation budget, had creative and sometimes emotionally powerful story lines, a valid number of the original voice actors, and a catchy theme song, averting Disney's usual run with Recycled: The Series by being considered a terrific companion piece to its respective film. While later shows, The Book of Pooh and My Friends Tigger & Pooh garnered a fan base, they were considered a significant step down from New Adventures. Some even go far as to say the later feature length instalments pale compared to New Adventures.
• After Kim Possible had come to an end, it was believed that Disney Channel had entered an animation slump and Phineas and Ferb was the only successful cartoon remaining. It wouldn't be until the premiere of Gravity Falls that a new renaissance of the channel would begin.
• While Milo Murphy's Law was well received, it's not seen as being on-par with the creators' previous show, Phineas and Ferb. It doesn't help that the show's second season began with a crossover between the two series, followed by some characters becoming heavily integrated into the series. This led to a common complaint that MML, regardless of any writing improvements, is being overshadowed by its predecessor.
• Over the Garden Wall was Cartoon Network's first original Mini Series, and saw immediate critical and audience acclaim that cast a large shadow over all future miniseries that the network would produce, like Long Live the Royals, as well as shows that had their first seasons branded as such, like Apple & Onion and Infinity Train. Even if the general consensus is positive, the question of "But is it as good as Over the Garden Wall?" will inevitably pop up.
• Fresh TV's most popular series, by a very wide margin, is Total Drama, which was a huge hit when it first premiered on Teletoon in 2007 (and even moreso after it came to Cartoon Network in 2008). Even with the accusations of Seasonal Rot in the show's later years, it's still more well-known and well-remembered than anything Fresh TV has produced before or since, including its predecessor 6teen, which while a popular show in its own right, never achieved Total Drama's levels of success worldwide. Tellingly, the original cartoons that Fresh TV made following Total Drama, Stōked and Grojband, were both Short-Runners. While both shows gained cult followings, neither attracted broad interest or success - the former for being too similar to Fresh TV's previous shows and the latter for having a vastly different direction that limited its appeal with Fresh TV's usual audience. Since Grojband's conslusion in 2015, Fresh TV hasn't made any other original animated productions, instead building on the success of Total Drama with spinoffs like Total Drama Presents: The Ridonculous Race and Total DramaRama, as well as a revival for HBO Max.
• Rick and Morty became a global phenomenon and left a mark on popular culture ever since its appearance in 2013. Justin Roiland's next series, Solar Opposites, is fairly well-regarded and was renewed for several seasons, but is nowhere near as popular and influential as Rick and Morty is...then again, Rick and Morty itself started out as a Cult Classic prior to Season 3 bringing the show into the mainstream, so time will tell if Solar Opposites gets the same treatment.
• Jay Ward is best known hands down for Rocky and Bullwinkle, popular during its original run and airing in reruns for decades. His other creations like Hoppity Hooper and George of the Jungle aren't as well known while Crusader Rabbit is largely forgotten.
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012) was beloved by fans, considered by many one of the best TMNT incarnations to date, and still has a passionate fanbase years later. Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, while a good show in its own right, had the unenviable status of being that show's successor, especially given Rise's changes to the TMNT formula. Fans were less than kind to it when it premiered, which may have played a part in its early cancellation (though in recent years, Rise has been Vindicated by History and now has a strong fanbase in its own right).
• Clone High's original run was one of the biggest Cult Classics in Western Animation between its cancellation in 2003 and revival in 2023. Its fanbase loved its avant-garde humor and storytelling, its encapsulation of 2000s culture (particularly MTV), and its merciless parodying of the then-popular teen drama genre. As a result, expectations ran high for the HBO Max revival, and it has subsequently been met with divisive reception due to its vastly different direction (namely downplaying the parody elements due to the genre it spoofed being largely irrelevant in the 2020s, losing its time capsule nature by introducing/updating the characters to 2020s culture, and changing the overall tone to something more approachable for wider audiences).
• The Penguins of Madagascar: "The Penguin Who Loved Me" isn't disliked, but because it's the closest thing the show has to a Grand Finale, some fans found it anticlimatic in comparison to the previous special "Operation: Lunacorn Apocalypse" or Dr. Blowhole's previous special "The Return of the Revenge of Dr. Blowhole"
• While no one would say that the final season of Codename: Kids Next Door was outright bad, many fans still couldn't help but be let down due to the season having the misfortune of following the Made-for-TV Movie, Operation: Z.E.R.O., which is considered to be the series at its absolute finest due to how it perfectly managed to capture just about everything that the show was known for. Season six forgoing several plot points the movie introduced in order to focus on the Splinter Cell and Galactic Kids Next Door plot also didn't help matters in fan's minds.