American, Cartoons.

[bhanesidhe]

There are no more weekday cartoons on network TV. I know this means nothing to most peoples but this is my life, man! Why wake up at all if you can't click on the boob-tube at 3PM and catching up with characters as diverse as Denis the Menace to Viewtiful Joe?
Kids, big one like me and little ones like my niece, having nothing to choose from but daytime drama, court house drama and the news. Surely, this is one of the signs of the coming apocalypse. Life is too hard sometimes. ;_;

I've been so dislocated since this went into effect two weeks ago; I don't know what day it is or time anymore. It's like waking up in a cave. There is still Saturday Morning stuff but really, REALLY, this season's line-up is teh suk. [Except Johnny Test which is disturbingly witty.]

I miss watching Xaolin-Showdown five times a week. If it hadn't been for the repetition of it I know I wouldn't have given the show a second chance and oh my life would have suffered for it. If Jackie Chan hadn't repeated during the more convenient 4PM weekday slot, I would have entirely missed Michael Rosenbaum as Drago which was pretty goddamn funny. And it's not like anyone can keep tabs on this LAST ever season of Yu-Gi-Oh, with them changing the schedule every other week.

Don't talk to me about cable channels and buying series on DVD. I get it, I'm the grown-up I can do all that. But in my brain I'm still seven and mourning the loss of Mighty Max, Freakazoid and GEEKER, hell even Fish Police. And the seven year old in my brain weeps for all seven year olds stuck watching General Hospital with my baby-sitter and pretending to care about Luke & Laura, and Sonny who will never fully be redeemable no matter how many wives he martyrs. I feel like I'm being punished for bad network decisions.

I should also point out animated syndication is not at all like it's not like your average show. With the exception of a few gems like Family Guy and Invader Zim, once they're axed they're off the fucking map. DVD's be damned.

And why do Cable Cartoons only ever get one season runs when they're licensed to network channels? I know it's the exact reverse when network shows get licensed to cable... why must life be so cruel?

Yes, I have anime to escape to but it shouldn't be that way. We have plenty of decent American cartoons that are just dying, man. Just dying.

There is a whole other rant bottled up in me about this shittiness that is American dubbing of Japanese anime, but I've got so much bottled up on that it would need a whole 'nother post.

*whew* okay, I swear, I'm done. I feel better having gotten it off my chest. I hope the Season premier this Fall changes all this but if it doesn't I'm putting some serious thought into selling all my television sets. I play all my DVD's on the computer anyway, so I really don't see the point of wasting space with big-screen clutter. I only kept my TV to watch cartoons anyway. I really hate TV. Now more than ever. Yeah, yeah, "childish". I'm seven. ;-P

edit/add [1]: I want points! Someone acknowledge that I didn't even get into my great hate of fillers! I am trying to separate the comic/manga geek from the cartoon/anime one. It is hard work ^^;

edit/add [2]: The thing about fan-art; it cures all. really it does.

Teen Titans: It kills me that it's canceled. THIS kills me in a whole different way.

Naruto Dubb; "Believe it"? It's "Dattebayo, bitch"

FF7: A prequel to end all prequels.

Naru-Toads!!: Animerica at it's finest.

edit/add [6 or 7-ish]: I know someone posted recently, but not too recently, the link to a fan-art comic recapping Brokeback Mountain and the silly that is Ennis's excessive mumbling. I can not find it now, and I am sad. I have impending dentistry in about an hour; surely someone will take pity on me and send me the link again. Pretty please?? I ask for so little...

Comments

[ali-wildgoose.livejournal.com]

Having been molded in my youth by countless hours in front of "The Disney Afternoon," I am so with you on this one.

[bhanesidhe.livejournal.com]

Seriously!!! I mean from Duck Tails to Gargoyles, the versatility it had was amazing, not to mention the creativity. Even in repeats it was never boring.

[akickinthehead.livejournal.com]

Dude, if I were to see any Duck Tales, Chip & Dale Rescue Rangers or Tail Spin I would probably explode into a pile of nostalgic goo. Mighty Max was quality also, but the "ending" really killed me. I was also one for Conan the Adventurer, but that also had similar problems with resolutions.

[bhanesidhe.livejournal.com]

lord, how sweet would that be. I still hum their theme songs when I wash dishes which was my after school chore.

Mighty Max, though, it holds a special place in my heart, it simultaneously inspired and traumatized me and made me realize new levels of Tim Curry amazingness.

[akickinthehead.livejournal.com]

Dude, god bless Wikipedia and it's linky goodness. Otherwise I wouldn't have been able to re-experience the MIGHTY MAX INTRO!!

http://omegacron.com/mighty_max/about.htm

[mattador.livejournal.com]

That is unbelievable and evil and outrageous! I never watch TV anymore, so I didn't know, and- they canceled Teen Titans?

THERE MUST BE BLOOD AND VENEGEANCE.

[bhanesidhe.livejournal.com]

that's the thing though, we never watch TV anymore. We stopped watching because it's shit and it's gone to shit because we stopped. I am so saddened by this. There are no words.

[mattador.livejournal.com]

*bows head in mourning*

We should throw a wake for television.

[ali-wildgoose.livejournal.com]

It does, indeed, suck that TT was canceled. However I cannot help but gloat that we got more seasons than they did.

*does small dance of evil*

[bhanesidhe.livejournal.com]

It is an evil dance that you do. I am happy you've out lasted them, I really am but they were a bridge of sorts.

...Somehow, mentally comparing the two, reminded me of the Sunday line-up of Pepper-Ann, Recess, the Week-Enders. What a better world it would be if every brilliant & subtly plotted animated show was given what it rightly deserved.

[will-2001.livejournal.com]

One of my best childhood memories is one time when my grandmother came to visit us and I was watching the Bugs Bunny/Road Runner hour that one of the VHF stations would show after school and my grandmother said that she used to watch them with my dad when he was my age and there we were, three generations laughing at the poor Coyote as he was getting blown up by the various faulty Acme products. It sucks to think that if I was born a decade or so later I might not have a memory like that.

[bhanesidhe.livejournal.com]

Not just a decade, this is the first time this has happened in 25 years! I mean it's not all about what's new and trendy, really it isn't. Bugs Bunny would be a welcome sight to back to back presentations of first season ER.

[will-2001.livejournal.com]

And they call it progress. Whatever.

We're starting to sound like a couple of old farts.

[maiteoida.livejournal.com]

I totally agree with you about the cartoon thing. T_T I was raised on weekday cartoons! And as much as I like anime...I really wishe we had more...stuff from here on as well. Especially for those without cable. I may be old enough not to care, but...I don't know- I kind wish that kids would have the same good experiences I had when I was younger. :/

[bhanesidhe.livejournal.com]

It's crazy that being old enough not to care is exactly what makes you care at all. I know I could live without it, I KNOW that I could, but I can't believe these kids have to! It's unfair. It's insane, selfish, very grown-up and completely unfair!

[erinfinnegan.livejournal.com]

I never had cable growing up, so I feel for you. 3pm is cartoon time!!

[bhanesidhe.livejournal.com]

3PM IS CARTOON TIME!
Don't get me wrong though, I have no prejudice against cable programs at all, but with the exception of the independent film channel, everything on cable can be bought in DVD box-set down the line, with commentary, deleted scenes and no commercials. I don't see the point of paying for viewing things more than once.

[erinfinnegan.livejournal.com]

But the cable cartoon show I work on isn't available in DVD box set yet. Like one stinking DVD is out, and it's kind of a "best of".

That said cable is freaking expensive.

[bhanesidhe.livejournal.com]

It has lasted more than two seasons. I have no doubt it will be! ^_^
Yes, there is just the best of for now, but they've got some f*cking decent merchandise and growing franchise. Didn't they also get licensed to be on network sometime in the near future? And so the fan-base will grow even more. . . but what of ten years from now, or twenty. I'd like to somehow have some reassurance that next generation and the one that follows will not lose out because of prissy network executives. I feel like my mother now, who went around recording off the TV well over 700 tapes worth of programs so that we could have quality viewing, rather than trendy or popular. She didn't like the method of Rating and lack of parental control at the time and took it into her own hands. While I admire that, I barely have enough shelf space as it is ^^;

...and the list of disappearing titles grows with every passing day.

[erinfinnegan.livejournal.com]

Augh, I can't chang my icon for some reason.

Anyway, my show was on ABC for like 5 whole minutes, but CN put some crazy restriction on it, like "Don't air it at the same time as us!" and they were basically airing it all the time so ABC could only show it at 8am Saturday morning, so it got low ratings, and the whole deal was dropped.

I have no doubt that the show will be available on DVD eventually, as CN is much better at that now, and you can get, say, all of Mission Hill or Oblongs in nice neat little boxes now. It only took like 5 years or something after those shows were cancelled from their respective networks (ABC and FOX).

[bhanesidhe.livejournal.com]

I didn't know that! holy crap, that is insane!! I mean why don't they just stab themselves in the nads while they're at it, kill all chance at growth from the get go! *fumes*

[erinfinnegan.livejournal.com]

It IS shooting themselves in the foot! (Or it was, like last year, when it happened), and that's not all! They recently (4-5 months ago?) dropped a big marketing contract with Warner Bros. because they weren't happy with the straight-up CN merchandise (most of the merchandise that you see for my show is done not by CN or WB, but by people who paid to use our liscensed characters).