The Decline of Cartoon Network

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to GeekCast Radio episode 11. I am your host,

DFG on mic, and no, Steve Megatron's not with

us. He's actually working at the time that we're

recording this. But joining me is Michael Powers

from the launch table. Hello. Hello. Yeah. Stop

stealing my lunch, you bully. Sorry. Stop coming

by my table. Get out of my cafeteria. This is

my corner. You can have the corner. Just give

me the food. In this episode of Get Cast Radio,

we are going to be talking about what I think

is the decline of Cartoon Network. Now, when

this thing first aired or first started up back

in 1992 or whatever it was, which is kind of

hard to believe it started that long ago. I remember

when it started. Yeah It's had its ups and downs

here recently Like the end of 2009 beginning

of 2010. Oh God, I can watch two cartoons on

that Network, which is Tom and Jerry which everybody

can watch Tom and Jerry and the superhero squad

show Just oh my god their whole thing of CN real

that pisses me off They're a cartoon fucking

network. You're not supposed to have reality

crap on it. Well, I think that started with Adult

Swim, really. Well, Adult Swim is anime, isn't

it? Well, no, not all of it. Adult Swim, in the

beginning, was Aquachain Hunger Force. That's

a cartoon, isn't it? Yeah, that's a cartoon.

No, I'm saying they... It was about 2005. They

actually were airing for a short while. They

were airing Saved by the Bell. That's it. Go

ahead. So there's a couple of others. They dipped

their big toe in the what can we put real TV

on here and people will still watch. And then

they kind of pushed the limits even further with

Tim and Eric, which was basically. flash animation

done by taking pictures of real people and then

making them look like blueprints. And then that

was their acting. Then they brought over something

from Britain. I can't remember what it's called.

I'm trying to look for it right now. But I think

it started with Adult Swim and then it kind of

started trickling down into the actual cartoons.

Yeah, you know, I mean they they've had great

cartoons on there like Well, the top three I

can think of is Johnny Bravo Powerpuff Girls

and Dexter's Laboratory. What about Justice League?

That all right. Well, I'm saying as far as cart

the the actual studio original Okay, the actual

Justice League is part of Warner Brothers animation.

So I mean that's just something that they brought

to the network I mean shows like that, shows

like that are awesome. I'm not saying anything

bad about Justice League or anything like that,

but I'm talking about the shows that they created

for their network, like Powerpuff Girls is on

there, Dexter's Lab, Samurai Jack, I never really

get into, but okay, fucking Courage the Cowardly

Dog, and just stuff like that. Honestly, I, you

know, I grew up a kid of the 80s. If cartoons

weren't on the big four or the big three, especially

back in the early 80s before Fox even became

a network, if cartoons weren't on there, I didn't

watch them. There was no such thing as a cable

in my house for the most part. I think the only

cable channel we ever had as far as a premium

service was HBO, which obviously Fraggle Rock,

which Fraggle Rock is awesome. But yeah, no fragile

rock totally agree with that But you know, I

never really paid attention to it and then I

started to I think 2005 2006 I started paying

attention to it again and then When oddly enough

I saw an episode of Justice League and it was

the episode in the limited version the once -in

-future time once in future thing Part one and

part two and it was actually a rerun. It was

late 2006 after they actually ended the series

And it was already in syndication It was just

I was like wait. What's this because I knew of

Batman the animated series I vaguely knew of

of Superman the animated series I knew of Batman

Beyond because I saw it when it was on kids WB

and all that stuff, but I don't know what Cartoon

Network is thinking nowadays. I remember the

first time I ever saw Cartoon Network. I remember

hearing about it. It had to have been elementary

school. Kids were talking about, oh, there's

a cartoon channel, a cartoon channel. I remember

just catching centurions, Herkuloid. God, I can't.

So many more. I can't even think of them off

the top of my head. I can't. Actually look at

the at the list that's on the on the station

remember watching all that stuff and thinking

it was like really great and then it just kind

of became a channel that We didn't we actually

didn't get it in our house because at the time

it came out we had we had Comcast cable, but

we had I Don't know if you remember these old

brown Cable boxes that had like a turn dial on

them. Yeah, they only went to 36. Oh, yeah Here,

Cartoon Network has always been Channel 42. Yeah,

here in Kentucky, it's always been 52. So we

were never able to watch it at home. But whenever

I went over to a friend's house or something,

you'd throw it on. One of the big shows that

I remember really getting into was The New Adventures

of Johnny Quest. Yes, you know, the only Johnny

Quest show is the original Johnny Quest. See,

I can't, I don't... I mean, we got in this conversation

a little while ago. Even then, I couldn't watch

that. I have a problem watching Tom and Jerry

for whatever reason. I don't know what it is.

It's not that I don't like it. I just can't.

It doesn't hold my attention at all. And I think

it was just the beginning of the opening for

Johnny Quest, which was just that little green

dot. And then it opened up. And that was just

too cool for me. I remember just sitting around

Friday night about seven eight o 'clock or whenever

it was on about my friends Just waiting for it

to come on and then you know, whatever lost interest

because I was a kid But I didn't really Start

actually watching it until they started up the

adult swim which was 2001 I think which was just

yeah 2001 which was basically at the time just

consisted of Aqua Teen Hunger Force, home movies,

and a couple of anime shows. I think it was on

Saturday and Sunday nights is what it originally

was. Yeah. Well, the home movies eventually became

Sunday Night with the Flicks or whatever it is

where they show like, I don't know, one of the

Spider -Man movies or something like that. Oh,

no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Home Movies is

an actual TV show. Oh, was it? Yeah, it's an

actual, it's actually pretty funny. It's about

three kids that, three grade school kids that

spend all their time making home movies, but

they write out scripts, and then you've got the

director and the writer, and they film these,

and they just have this massive collection. But

each show is like, oh, we're going on hiatus

this week. Oh, we're doing a casting call for

this. Oh, we're going on strike. But it's like,

you know. It interacts with all themselves. And

the main character, Brendan, takes it very seriously.

The animation is kind of funky, but the humor

in it was really funny. Yeah. I think where Cartoon

Network really lost me on the main thing was

when Transformers Animated got canceled, and

then they started promoting all this CN Rail

bull crap. And you know you could say what you

wanted that it probably started with with adult

swim, but I Don't know it just doesn't It just

doesn't jive with me This is this is a channel

in a in a company because it's I believe these

the Name of the company is the Cartoon Network

ink or whatever it is incorporated or whatever.

I don't know But it's one of those things where

They just completely lost me as a viewer for

the most part because, first of all, the cartoons

they're showing now suck. They just do. It's

just not my cup of tea as far as cartoons go.

I don't know. It's just weird. They should have

never gotten rid of Toonami. I'm kind of surprised

they got rid of it because they still run the

edgy teenage programming in the same time slot.

I'm actually kind of surprised they got rid of

it. I mean, in fact, the stuff that they run

now is a little edgier than the stuff they were

running. Because remember, it used to be Yu -Gi

-Oh!, Ninja Turtles, and something else in the

Toonami block. And then they got rid of the Toonami

block, and they got stuff like Total Drama Island

and stuff like that, which was... If you're running

the same kind of programming the same block why

get rid of it all together? Oh, you know total

drama island and total drama action. They're

okay Because they're pretty much spoofing all

reality TV. Yes, and I think that's funny as

hell but You know the rest of it Outside of that

and outside of like I said before the superhero

squad show and of course Tom and Jerry I really

can't watch any stuff, but I mean you know on

on tsunami you got stuff like I didn't know that

Big O was originally on Toonami. Wow. I only

saw that on Adult Swim. That's why it surprises

me. But I guess that was 2001 and Adult Swim

didn't start until 2001. Yeah. See, some of the

stuff I never really watched. Yeah, some of it

I never watched, like Astro Boy and Duel Masters

and all those card game shows. I can't stand

those things. Mega's XLR, I have no idea what

the hell that is. Oh, that was a good show. I

mean, that wasn't a show specifically made by

Cartoon Network, but I remember that show. That

was a good one. That one piece, oh my god, that's

the last thing we need is pirates and cartoons.

Just put it in Captain Hook and give somebody

a green suit and we have Peter Pan all over again.

Never saw it. I watch a lot of anime, I just

never saw it. Yeah. Bow bow bow bow bow, that

was on? Wow. I can't believe that was on. A lot

of this though, looking at it, is probably heavily

edited. It probably is, yeah. Only ones that

aren't really edited are, like I said, the Justice

League stuff to edit out of those. The Transformers

stuff probably isn't edited, I don't think, unless

it's for time or I don't think it would be edited

for content. I'm pretty sure anything American

made or made for the American television in the

first place was not heavily edited. I'm animating

no matter what it is. Really no matter what it

is oftentimes is really can be risque and portions

that you know people on American television You

know this is another thing that pisses me off

People have never gotten it. You know I was born

in 1980 I grew up watching GI Joe Transformers

mask thundercats Voltron Silverhawks kind of

you know stuff like that turtles yep you know

I never once ever wanted to become violent from

seeing these cartoons I knew the difference between

the fact that there it's just a show and it's

fake and that it isn't real whereas a lot of

people didn't see that it wasn't in you know

let their kids act it out and every other fucking

thing and that's what pisses me off about about

this whole you know mothers against cartoon violence

and all this crazy crap. Well, this is an entirely

other topic. I mean, this is something a lot

about because I agree, I grew up with all that

stuff too. I never once stepped outside of reality

and thought that what they did, there was a,

okay, now what was really weird, I think this

is the first time I've ever said this on a podcast

and openly admitted it to however many listeners

you have, but. When I watched the original Ninja

Turtles movie, yes, it was violent. Yes, it resulted

in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 being a

little cheesier than the first one. But for some

reason, when I watched Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles,

the first one, in my child, my kid brain, for

some reason, I thought they were actually like

injuring these people. And it's weird, because

part of me knew that there were people in those

turtle suits. I didn't think the turtles were

real. For some reason, I was like, why would

these people just sign up to get their butts

whooped? But it never made me go, oh, it's okay

to go beat the crap out of somebody. I just,

in my head, I was like, oh, somebody signed up

to have the crap beat out of them for this movie.

They signed waivers or whatever. But it's really

weird that my adolescent brain, my childlike

brain, was able to comprehend the fact that,

oh, they signed up for this and it wasn't, and

that makes it so that what they do in the movie

is okay, but it's not okay for me to just go

beat the crap out of somebody. It's just, it's,

but, you know, I also grew up, you know, this

kind of stuff comes up all the time with video

games. I mean, I grew up with, and my parents

bought me Mortal Kombat. I mean, they didn't

even know what it was. They bought me Mortal

Kombat 2, and that was like a big deal. I mean,

that's one of the reasons that, Mortal Kombat

is one of the reasons for the rating systems

for games nowadays anyways. But my parents bought

it for me. I never went out once and tried to

rip someone's heart out of their chest, you know?

I don't know if it was just because my parents

were a little more observant of what I was doing.

I mean, they knew what was on TV and stuff. They

would tell me not to watch, they actually told

me not to watch The Simpsons. And to this day,

I have seen a couple episodes of The Simpsons

and I absolutely hate it. But maybe they saved

me from watching it from the beginning when most

people, they watch a show and it becomes their

ritual to watch that show. How many people are

still watching The Simpsons because it's their

Sunday night ritual? Versus watching it because

it's actually good or not good or whatever. The

Simpsons is really exotic that, I mean, I'll

say this. My stepmother didn't want me to watch

it, but I watched it anyway because I never really

found The Simpsons. At first... It was one of

those crazed things where it was like, oh, it's

so popular at the time. And you know, Simpsons

Mania was everywhere, 90, 91, 92, everywhere.

It was Bart Simpson t -shirts, Bart Simpson video

games, Simpsons clothes, pajamas, mugs, suitcases,

just everywhere. The first, I would say about

five, six, maybe seven seasons of that show are

okay. and they are actually good, but nowadays,

that show sucks. I was just pointing out how

my parents, how observant they were. There's

other instances too where the parents rent the

rated -R movie and watch it before their kids

do, and then they'll decide if their kids can

watch it. I remember the only way I was able

to watch RoboCop 2 was after they watched it,

and I had to watch it with them. Oh, really?

There was one scene in that movie I mean, I know

what the scene is, but there was one scene in

that movie that they told me not to watch it.

They told me to close my eyes. And honest to

God, to this day, I've watched that movie maybe

three or four times since then on my own, have

not watched that scene. I know where it is. It's

just like, oh, don't watch this. I know what

it is. I know what happens. I've never seen it

visualized. I've always heard it. But it's just

kind of like one of those things, but I've never

had playing Grand Theft Auto and stuff like that,

never had the urge to go out and run somebody

over with a car. No cartoon ever gave me, I mean

cartoons, they gave me the ability to, I guess

they inspired my imagination. Go outside and

play with the neighborhood kids and pretend to

be your favorite character, but don't kill anybody.

Yeah, it's kind of like that Justice League Unlimited

episode where oh god, I forget which one it is

It's the one with really really random characters

Shining Knight vigilante Oh god, it's like all

the B characters from the unlimited part where

oh I think it was the episode where Eileen gets

turned into a monster Yeah, I know what you're

talking about, Alex, but the kids don't know

who these superheroes are. Right, exactly. And

then by the end, they're all having these plastic

swords saying, oh, I'm Shining Niner. No, I'm

Vigilante. It's that type of thing where it's

like, yeah, you can go out with plastic things.

And that kind of also ties into toy companies

making toys that look real. I don't know who

said it. Somebody said something about a news

story about a kid Who had a toy gun Who was on

his lawn or on his sidewalk or whatever and was

like just kind of like, you know You know kids

will just hold the gun out and pointed it just

like really nobody but like a toy gun obviously

But yeah, and they'll just like run around in

circles. Well, apparently a police officer was

driving by then Thought the kid had a real gun

ended up shooting the kid and it turned out to

be a toy gun But it's just one of those things

where cartoons and movies and video games, all

that stuff, I knew was fake. I knew it was a

fantasy. Honestly, video games are the best way

for me to vent my rage. So instead of me going

out and getting a gun and shooting somebody because

I'm pissed at them, I'll get on my computer and

I'll just blow some cops up on Grand Theft Auto.

There was one night I thought this is like a

complete douche to me and my friends and we just

went home played State of Emergency on the PS2

and just You know beat the crap out of as many

security guards as we possibly could But I never

had the urge to go out and like shoot a cop because

a cop was a dick to me Yeah, it's I don't understand

why all of a sudden it's the but you know, this

has been ongoing it's sort of like with music

back in like the 60s and 70s and you know, then

it's kind of like then it for a little while

it was movies and then just my big complaint

with the with the censorship and all this stuff

is like it's okay to see somebody being decapitated

or gutted or however much gore you want to put

in something but god forbid you see a set of

boobs on TV oh my god that is the thing that

sets me off the most and it makes me sound like

a pervert but come on I would rather me I'd rather

my my my son or daughter see a naked human being

on TV, then night after night of news or you

know, that's just me. I'm more offended by that

stuff than I am by the human form. It just baffles

my mind how backwards things are. There's a really

good episode of South Park about that. I don't

remember exactly what happened, but somebody,

oh. It has to do with what we're talking about

right now. The South Park kids were at a fair

and there was a vendor there selling ancient

weapons like samurai swords and the kids all

bought them, playing around with them with the

other neighborhood kids and then one of the kids

accidentally throws one of the stars for real

and hits one of the other kids in the eye. Wanting

to get in trouble with their parents, They're

about to get this kid's eye fixed without having

to tell their parents. Anyways, the kids think

that the kids are still playing this game thinking

they have these powers while they're still trying

to do this thing. And Cartman at the very end...

the kid that has the eye, that has his eye poked

out, there's this big auction going on in town,

right? And all the parents are there and everything.

Well, the kid walks up, the kid that's got a

Chinese star stuck in his eye walks up on stage

and they're like, all the parents are like, and

then like Cartman, he's like, I have the power

of invisibility. I'll go up there and get the

kid off the stage, right? So Cartman strips down

naked. and goes and walks across the stage. Well,

you know, he's thinking he's invisible, right?

But he's not. And what's really funny is the

next scene, they're holding a town hall, and

it's not about the kid getting his eye poked

out. It's about Hartman being naked. Naked on

stage. And I'm like, that is fucked up. But that's

the way our society is. You know, oh my god,

it's a naked child or naked anything versus the

guy that's got a Chinese star stuck in his eye.

That's the worst thing. I was like, wow, totally,

that was a great way to capture that whole thing.

Cause you know, that's how kids are. You know,

they're gonna, they'll, they'll, you know, I

remember they weren't, I'm not gonna say my childhood

was accidentless acting like, you know, the superheroes.

You know, from Marvel Comics and DC and stuff.

I mean, I did my fair share of stupid stuff.

But my parents never turned around and blamed

the media or the shows that I was watching. Yeah,

it's... Getting back to Cartoon Network, I don't

know, it's just one of those things where...

I don't like where they're going. No, it seems

to be a lot more PC. Well, it's not even so much

PC. It's more to the point of they're alienating

their older audience. Like they're shoving all

of us over onto Boomerang. Now, Boomerang, I

love Boomerang. The Boomerang channel, that's

awesome because it has all the classic cartoons

that are no longer showing on Cartoon Network.

Well, Tom and Jerry still shows on Cartoon Network,

but like Tom and Jerry, Flintstones, Jetsons.

You know all the classic cartoons, and it also

has Cartoon Networks some of their original series

like Powerpuff Girls Dexter's lab and some of

their their earlier stuff I love that that part

of Cartoon Network, but the Cartoon Network channel

in general It just saddens me every time I hear

a commercial for their their CN real show destroy

build destroy Oh my god. I want to just my eye

is just like gonna pop out of my head Just like

Jesus fucking Christ. That's the best you can

fucking do. Oh God Well, you know the last besides

the besides The last show I watched on there

was total drama Island the the one I have really

really really enjoyed before that was So you

can't even think about it it's been something

that Yeah But I remember watching that show,

the writing was so witty. I mean, recording some

of those shows on TiVo, I could literally rewind

this off for like 10 minutes. It's some of the

stuff that was in there. And it's kind of like,

the writing was kind of Pixar -ish, where they've

got the innuendo in there, but it's very kid

-oriented stuff. So it's like, yeah, you can.

They were able to air it at like 3, 4, 5 p .m.,

but if you were an adult and you were home at

3, 4, 5 p .m., you could watch that and laugh

your ass off. What show was this again? Foster's

Home for Imaginary Friends. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

But it's got the same writing as... That came

from Greg McCracken. Yeah, Craig McCracken. Yeah,

same writing as like Powerpuff Girls and Dexter's

Lab and stuff like that. Yeah. I'm kind of like

I'm not really I didn't mean three totally different

shows But I'm kind of surprised that you like

powerpuff girls in Dexter's lab, but you were

never able to get into samurai Jack. It's anime

It's not any more anime than powerpuff no samurai

Jack is is The closest to anime that I can think

of on Cartoon Network that I would actually watch

and you know I have to disagree with you there.

I think Justice League is closer to anime than...

Okay, you're nuts. Justice League is nowhere

near anime. Do you think Avatar the Last Airbender

is anime? It is. It just is. Justice League is

not anime. Justice League is... along the same

lines as Superman the Animated Series, Batman

the Animated Series, same animators, same people

that created that show. It's same animators,

but, you know, The Last Airbender is made in

Canada. So how is that anime? Well, I didn't

say it was Japan anime. I just said it was anime.

I mean, we can have anime anywhere. That's why

I'm... I don't know. That's another discussion,

some other time maybe. Like, Samurai Jack isn't

animated me. It's no more, the animation is the

same as what you would see in Foster's or Powerpuff

Girls or, I mean, I'm not saying it wasn't inspired

by, like the action sequences are inspired by,

but the art and stuff is very, is not, it's not

any more or less anime than Powerpuff Girls or

Dexter's Lab. And but what's really funny though

is powerpuff I can watch powerpuff girls in Dexter's

lab and that is the the style of anime that I

actually hate the one where you know, they do

like a little teary eye or You know, they they

do the emoticon next to the person's face when

they get enraged or whatever Or or like even

Teen Titans was very I hate Teen Titans I hate

it was produced by Cruz Tim. No, actually He's

the executive producer on a lot of the shows

There was a couple where he had nothing to do

with them I I've been I'm watching the entire

the series actually executive producer on quite

a few no I'm not saying he's not but there's

There were a few where he was not at all in any

way shape or form attached to them like the only

reason why static shock and Zeta are in the DC

Animated Universe is because they tied it in

with injustice. I'm not saying that Teen Titans

is part of the DCAU. It's the same guy. Yeah.

I don't think Teen Titans is part of the DCAU.

I don't think it is either. I don't think it's

in continuity either, but I listened to a podcast,

World's Finest Podcast, where they're covering

every single show, every single episode of the

DC Animated Universe, starting with Batman the

Animated Series. going all the way up to Justice

League Unlimited. They're currently on their

Justice League coverage. And up next is Teen

Titans. Well, they're wrong. Well, there was

a whole debate on their forums at Earth2 .net

about it. But it's just one of those things where

the only character that I actually do like in

that show is Robin. The rest of them... I like

Starfire. And Raven. Well the only reason why

you keep cutting out, I don't know if I keep

cutting out too, but you keep yeah I think there's

I think Skype is acting up with us But you know

it's one of those things where you know to each

their own really but just like When you have

a network that is supposed to be all cartoons

I Would expect to like or at least be interested

in more than just two shows I agree. I mean,

come on. That's... But the two shows that you

like don't even interest me, so... Well, and

that's fine. No, I'm saying in general, though.

Talking about Cartoon Network. You're lucky you

have two. Huh? I have none. As far as I know,

they're not airing... They don't air Dexter's

Lab anymore on Cartoon Network. It's over on

Booper. They don't air... Yeah, they don't air

Foster's Home New anymore anyways. They don't

air... Samurai Jack they are airing Jenny Tarkovsky's

Clone Wars given that it's too short anymore.

They are airing You know one thing I will say

about Cartoon Network though right now It's it's

they're using Jenny Tarkovsky's character designs,

but Star Wars the Clone Wars on Cartoon Network

is actually really good Yeah, I can't get into

the whole Star Wars thing anymore I'm so sick

of Lucas trying to make more money on the damn

thing It's not him that's doing it though. That's

the great part. It's not he has I mean I'm not

sure how much say he has and what goes on but

I don't know either but it's his characters from

his books and from his movies and It bears the

Star Wars name, and I'm sure Lucas films or Lucas

arts or whatever is Involved somehow so no Well,

you'd be so like I there was a lot of insight

into the way things go down at Lucas films and

Lucas arts when the game I had the force unleashed

was a Coming up and some of the press they said

that the press coverage was you know, they They

wrote the story and all they had to do is they

got it. Okayed by Lucas unlike the second pass.

I mean basically that it was a they had complete

freedom to tell whatever story they want with

the character and to do whatever they wanted

with the universe. All they had to do was get

approval by Lucas. And I think that's the same

way it is with the series because as far as I'm

concerned, the Clone Wars series is way better

than Episodes 1, 2, and 3 put together. I watch

it, you know, it's one of the shows that I download

and I wish that I had a Nielsen box or something

because it's just... It's great. The animation

is good. The scripting is good. I'm not saying

it's without its faults, because Star Wars as

itself has some faults on its own. But that's

one show, I guess, that I'll watch right now.

But I won't watch it on TV. I'll download it.

One of my other shows, though, was Venture Brothers

on Adult Swim. That was a good show. I don't

know if you ever saw that. No, I haven't seen

Venture Brothers. I've heard a lot about it.

I don't know, I've never actually watched it.

I think if you ever liked Johnny Quest at all.

I like the original Johnny Quest, not the new

one. That's what I'm saying. I think you would

like Venture Brothers. In fact, I think if you

just caught a couple, if you gave it a couple

episodes, you might actually like it, because

it's like, it's Venture Brothers, like it's a

parody of the Quest Brothers, right, but they

parody so many other things inside of just that

show. yet it all makes sense. And it's very funny,

very, very funny. But that's Adult Swim and not

Cartoon Network. And it's been, I think it was

established back in 2005 that Adult Swim is actually

its own network now. So I guess the fact that

they, I know as far as Nielsen goes and like

TV ratings at like 10 o 'clock, whenever Adult

Swim starts, the ratings stop for Cartoon Network

and they get applied towards Adult Swim. So the

fact that Adult Swim is actually adding live

action programming to its lineup is, I guess,

okay given the fact that it's not cartoon network

anymore. But the fact that Adult Swim started

with adult -oriented cartoons still kind of rubs

me the wrong way that they're throwing in. live

-action stuff. I think that's where the difference

is. The opinions you have about Cartoon Network,

I think I have the same opinions about Adult

Swim. I don't really care for Cartoon Network.

I haven't for a long time. But it bothered me

when they started adding live -action stuff to

Adult Swim, and now they're doing it to Cartoon

Network, and that bothers you. See, I didn't

really mind. All right, take their... Flick pics

or Sunday night flicks or whatever the hell it

is where like I was saying earlier they show

one movie every night every Sunday night at 7

p .m. Whether it be spider -man 2 whether it

be Race from which mountain or what whatever

you know I don't mind that if it's like once

a week, but they have an entire night I've said

it before and I'll say it again. It's a for cartoons

not live -action bullshit well What I really

miss about Cartoon Network And they haven't had

this for a long time Do you remember their counter

-programming for the Super Bowl for kids no It

was oh my god. It was amazing. I actually watched

this two years in a row I watched this both years

that it was on instead of watching the Super

Bowl the first year they get they get actual

the actual commentators like John Madden and

Yeah, they got both of those guys and like a

bunch of other like ESPN sports analysts and

stuff and They took the first year was I think

the first year was Tom and Jerry. And what they

did is they played episodes from the cartoon,

and they'd be like, stop. And they'd analyze

what Tom had done or what Jerry had done. They'd

draw on the screen. Wasn't that the Slugfest

or something? You know, they call it two different

things, but it was counter -programming to the

Super Bowl. Right, I'm starting to remember it.

The second year was even better because it was

Road Runner versus Coyote. They did it, as far

as I know, they only did it for two years and

I waited on the third year for it to happen and

it didn't and I remember I was very disappointed

and I'm still disappointed to this day that they

don't do that because not only was it original

programming, it was a new way to watch the old

stuff that made it relevant, I guess. It was...

I mean, I don't, but I loved watching this and

they had like the halftime, it went right along

with the Super Bowl. It was great. Like if you

had kids, I imagine it was like the greatest

thing if you're trying to have a Super Bowl party.

Oh yeah. Yeah, I kind of remember that a little

bit. You know, you know, it's funny. No one in

the United States will run Looney Tunes in reruns

anymore because supposedly they are too... The

cartoons are too racial or whatever the only

time Cartoon Network has been running them recently

is They've been doing a New Year's Day marathon

and even then the cartoons are edited Yeah, I

um That was another one of the shows that I was

not allowed to watch Growing up so I have no

But I have no I've no yeah, you know it all goes

back to what you grew up on like the like the

the looney tunes where they We're doing about

old school looney tunes. Are we talking about

the ones that came out like around? We're not

talking about tiny tunes. We're talking about

looney tunes 1930s 40s 50s 60s Daffy Duck. Okay.

Now I know what one you're talking about What

it's not tight. Is it tiny tunes? Is it the one

it's the one with like wacko and pinky in the

brain? Yeah That's Noel. Animaniacs was Wacko

and Pinky of the Brain. Tiny Toons was Buster

Babs, Montana Max, Elmira, Dizzy Devil. Okay,

okay. I got it now. Maybe if I watched them I

could pick up on some of the the racial stuff

But when I when it was airing on there like early

on on Cartoon Network, I don't remember anything

Well, that's because they were probably edited.

I see I have the DN that they have disclaimers

by claimers by whoopie Goldberg Actually, I think

it's the first three volumes, but I just I don't

know if it's me where I just can't see The the

jokes maybe Like say, well Tom and Jerry's perfect

example. Say Jerry lights a firecracker and explodes

in Tom's face and you get a black face or a brown

face. That was probably considered a racial joke.

I don't know. To me that's what I expect to happen

if something blows up in someone's face. Yeah.

People are going to see what they want to see.

You're not going to, it's... Whether we think

it's there or not, someone else is going to think

it's there and then someone else is going to

think it's there. Actually, the most recent episode

of South Park actually tackled that same thing

too, which is really funny. But I won't go into

what that is. People can watch that on their

own. But yeah, it was pretty funny to watch that

episode. I mean, someone wrote a book. I'll just

say that someone wrote a book and it was supposed

to be the most disgusting book ever made. And

it was, but people were reading it and they were

getting like, oh, is this supposed to be like

a thing on the war? Does this passage have anything

to do with like healthcare reform? But none of

that stuff was in the book and the book was written

solely to be the most disgusting thing ever.

But people were reading the book and finding

whatever meaning they wanted to find in the book.

Yeah. It was, but you know, you can do that,

that happens with any media, you know, it's like,

you're just gonna find, people are gonna find

whatever they want, and then once someone finds

it, someone else is gonna see it, and someone

else is gonna see it. It's kinda like, it goes

all the way back to like the Disney animated

movies, where people are like, oh, they're putting

all this crap in them. Everybody's, the only

thing I ever saw anything in was Little Mermaid.

Well, yeah, it's kinda hard not to miss a penis

as part of the castle. Well, there was, there's

Little Mermaid, and then I heard the thing in

Aladdin, and that was it. Never knew the thing

in Aladdin. I'll have to ask Kevin my tooncast

cost about that, but I did see the thing in Lion

King No, see they Disney actually came public

with that and then I remember that no I don't

care what Disney came public with I saw it. It

says SFX No, I didn't say as no I didn't say

xxxx It's spelled out sex in that in the stardust

I didn't I didn't see that. I saw SFX. No, it

wasn't SFX. It was SEX. See, I think that's just

one of those urban myths. Because this thing

was done when Pocahontas was coming out, because

there was something when Pocahontas was tumbling

down a hill, like you're supposed to get a nice

upskirt shot if you pause it at the right moment.

And so they went back through, and they were

looking at all of that. They pointed out the

Aladdin one. They pointed, I mean, they were

very upfront. They were like, yes, this stuff

is there, but the thing in the Lion King is not

what you all think it is. They did it because

they were showing off the computer animation.

Like, look, we do dust particles now in computer

animation. Yeah, well, those dust particles spelled

out the word sex. I didn't see it. I saw SFX.

No. If you chose to see the last thing on the

E, that's just me. No, I saw the E. And when

we get back to the Disney Animation Spotlight

in Tooncast, when we get to Lion King, I will

find, by that time I will have the Lion King

on DVD, and I will get a screen grab of this.

And I guarantee you it says sex. You know, I'm

gonna wait, DVD screen grab or not, I'm gonna

wait until it hits Blu -ray to actually see this.

Because if it's there, it will be very obvious

I'm Blu -ray. Alright, well, do we have anything

else to say about Cartoon Network's decline in

the last couple of years? No, I actually think

this is something that I agree with. It sucks.

Cartoon Network, fire you and actually get people

that actually know stuff about real cartoons.

With the exception of the superhero squad show

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