Cartoon Network (United States)

Cartoon Network is a cable television network created by Turner Broadcasting which primarily shows animated programming. The original American channel began broadcasting on October 1, 1992 with the Bugs Bunny short Rhapsody Rabbit being its first-ever aired program.^[1] Cartoon Network originally served as a 24-hour outlet for classic animation properties from the Turner Broadcasting libraries and is mainly youth-oriented, but shares channel space with a late-night adult-oriented channel programming block called Adult Swim. Since 2003 however, Cartoon Network began airing a small amount of live-action programming, mostly movies.

In October 2008, Cartoon Network began running a West Coast feed, with programming airing three hours after it airs on the main feed.

History

Late 1980s-1999

By the end of the 1980s, Ted Turner's cable-TV conglomerate had acquired the MGM film library (which included the older catalog of pre-1948 color Warner Bros. cartoons), and its cable channel Turner Network Television had gained an audience with its film library. In 1990, it purchased animation studio Hanna-Barbera Productions and acquired its large library as well as most of the Ruby-Spears library. By October 1, 1992, Cartoon Network was created as an outlet for Turner's considerable library of animation, and the initial programming on the channel consisted exclusively of reruns of classic Warner Bros. (like Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies), MGM (like Tom and Jerry and Droopy Dog), and Hanna-Barbera cartoons (like The Jetsons and The Flintstones), with many Hanna-Barbera TV cartoons like Wally Gator used as time fillers. Most of the short cartoons were aired in half-hour or hour-long packages, usually separated by character or studio—Down With Droopy D aired old Droopy Dog shorts, The Tom and Jerry Show presented the classic cat-and-mouse team, and Bugs and Daffy Tonight provided classic Looney Tunes shorts. The majority of the classic animation that was shown on Cartoon Network no longer airs, with the exception of Tom and Jerry, A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!.

Hanna-Barbera started production on The What-A-Cartoon! Show (also known as World-Premiere Toons and "What-A-Cartoon"), a series of creator-driven short cartoons that premiered on Cartoon Network in 1995. It was the network's third original series (the second was Space Ghost Coast to Coast and the first was The Moxy Show). The project was spearheaded by several Cartoon Network executives, plus The Ren and Stimpy Show creator John Kricfalusi (who was an advisor to the network at the time) and Fred Seibert (who was formerly one of the driving forces behind the Nicktoons, and would go on to produce the similar animation anthology series Oh, Yeah! Cartoons). The chief purpose of The What A Cartoon Show was to help Cartoon Network expand their library of exclusive programming and it introduced a number of new cartoon ideas. Only seven of them, however, were spun off into their own series runs. These eight series, Dexter's Laboratory, Johnny Bravo, Cow and Chicken, I Am Weasel, The Powerpuff Girls, Ed, Edd n Eddy, Courage the Cowardly Dog, and Mike, Lu & Og became the origins of the network's original cartoons, collectively known as Cartoon Cartoons.

Enter Time Warner

In 1996, the merger of Turner with Time Warner was complete. This consolidated ownership of all the WB cartoons, so now post-1948 releases were being shown on the network, leading up to a 2000 announcement that Cartoon Network would be the exclusive TV home of the classic Warner Bros. animated library. Newer animated productions by WB also started appearing on the network - mostly reruns of shows that had aired on Kids' WB, plus certain new programs such as Justice League.

In 2006, CN became the exclusive US outlet for the Pokémon anime - reruns and first-run, the latter hithereto appearing on Kids' WB, and the former off and on since 2002.

Cartoon Network's 10th anniversary

On October 1, 2002, Cartoon Network's 10th birthday, Cartoon Network aired a one-day special bumper acknowledging their 10th anniversary. The promo showed quick clips from shows, bumpers, and promos throughout Cartoon Network's history.^[2]

A new era

On June 14, 2004, Cartoon Network relaunched itself with a new logo and slogan, “This is Cartoon Network.” The first program ever aired on the relaunched Cartoon Network was Rescue Heroes. The bumps now featured 2D cartoon characters from their shows interacting in a CGI city composed of sets from their shows. By now, nearly all of Cartoon Network's classic cartoon programming had been relocated to its sister network Boomerang to make way for new programming, with the exception of a select few, such as Tom and Jerry, a longtime staple of the Turner networks. Within a few months, the network took off more shows from the 1990s (Dexter's Laboratory, The Powerpuff Girls, etc.) and put them on a 30 minute block called The Cartoon Cartoon Show. Some shows like Time Squad, Mike, Lu & Og, I Am Weasel, Looney Tunes, and Sheep in the Big City were taken off the network completely.

Cartoon Network today

In the summer of 2006, Cartoon Network's slogan was a simplistic “Cartoon Network - Yes!,” as spoken by Fred Fredburger, a character on The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy. Before then, the network's original slogan, "the best place for cartoons", had remained the network's slogan for nearly five years. The network also used bumps featuring the cast of Camp Lazlo as stick puppets and characters in front of a red background.

The 2006-2007 campaign featured three different styles of bumps. The first style is "Lunchbox of Doom", featuring an assortment of show clips inside a CGI gothic lunchbox, a reference to an episode of The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy. The second is "VS.", comparing two cartoon characters. Their next style was a reprise of the 2004 CGI City look, using flat, dark colors.

Through 2007, Cartoon Network retained the image campaign that began in 2006, albeit a slightly refreshed version.^[3] On October 15, 2007, the channel began broadcasting in 1080i High Definition.^[4] In late 2007, the network look was revamped, and bumpers and station identification were themed to The Hives song "Fall is Just Something That Grown-Ups Invented", and aired for several months. Another bumper named "Ridiculously Short Cartoons" airs shorts edited from shows as if they lasted five or 10 seconds.

Cartoon Network announced at its 2008 Upfront that it is working on a new project called "Cartoonstitute", which is headed by animators Craig McCracken (as executive producer) and Rob Renzetti (as supervising producer). Both report to Rob Scorcher, who created the idea. The program will work in a way similar to What A Cartoon!, by creating at least 150 pieces of animation within 20 months.^[5]

Cartoon Network has also begun to air some imported Canadian programs from Teletoon:

• George of the Jungle (January 18, 2008)
• Bakugan Battle Brawlers (February 24, 2008)
• Chop Socky Chooks (March 7, 2008)
• Total Drama Island (June 5, 2008)
• 6teen (November 3, 2008)
• Total Drama Action (March, 2009)

In April 2008, Cartoon Network played a one minute sign-off bumper, depicting a child's daily activities from sunrise to nighttime. In the end, it reads "Good Night. See you tomorrow!" before the Adult Swim program block began. It was their first sign-off bumper after 7 years of showing such a nightly block. This sign-off was later revised to match the network's new look. A white, faceless character paints on a parental advisory warning for Adult Swim. There is also a sign-on bumper consisting of the same character painting the Cartoon Network background on. Then, two of the characters bring in the Cartoon Network logo. Warnings now also appear before programs rated TV-PG and higher airing in the daytime.

Beginning May 25, 2008, Cartoon Network has been airing animated shorts, called Wedgies, to fill in spots between two programs.

On July 14, 2008, the network took on a brand new look created by Tristan Eaton and Kidrobot. The background is white, and uses white, faceless characters resembling bowling pins which are based on the blank, do-it-yourself vinyl toys called Munny which Kidrobot creates.^[6] The character would often resolve into a Cartoon Network character, such as Chowder or Flapjack, or another color, keeping the same basic shape. Various commercial parodies were aired, also using Cartoon Network characters. From July 2008 to the start of October, Greg Cipes, Kevin's voice actor in Ben 10: Alien Force became the network's announcer. The programming blocks also were changed to fit in with this new look, with different Munny dolls (or a rainbow of color for Har Har Tharsdays) being used.

Programming

Main article: List of programs broadcast by Cartoon Network

Current programming blocks

Action Flicks

Action Flicks premiered as an action movie block in Toonami's airtime (of 9 to 11pm on Saturdays) on October 4, 2008, starting with Batman: Gotham Knight (TV-14-V). The block usually has premieres of action movies (usually TV-14-V) followed by an episode of Naruto airing sometimes.

Adult Swim

Main article: Adult Swim

Logo for Adult Swim.

Adult Swim is Cartoon Network's adult sister network, which premiered on September 2, 2001 in the USA.

Originally a Sunday-only block that was rerun on Thursdays, Adult Swim now airs Mondays through Saturdays at 11:00 PM (E/P) and Sundays at 10:00 PM (E/P) with an encore airing at 2 a.m. every night and then ending with an hour of older shows on every night but Sunday. The block, programmed by Williams Street, plays American animated comedy series and shorts geared towards audiences 17 and older and a wide variety of mature anime series and Original video animations (OVA) intended for ages 18 and older.

On March 28, 2005, the programming block was spun-off as a separate entity from Cartoon Network for Nielsen Ratings purposes. On March 27, 2006, Adult Swim started airing a half-hour early at 10:30 PM Mondays through Thursdays (E/P), but due to the Friday block added on July 6, 2007, they dropped the extra 30 minutes on July 2, 2007, bringing it back to air at 11:00 PM-5:00 a.m. Starting in January 2009, Adult Swim will start at 10:00 PM-5:00 AM. It will start with a hour of King of the Hill.

Cartoon Cartoons

Main article: Cartoon Cartoons

Dynamite Action Squad

The Dynamite Action Squad portion of Fried Dynamite is still concurrent. It's is a Saturday morning action block that shows The Secret Saturdays and Ben 10: Alien Force, along with airing premieres of action shows like Pokemon, Bakugan, and Transformers: Animated.

Har Har Tharsdays

Har Har Tharsdays (formerly CN Thursday Nights) is a block of programming on Cartoon Network that started airing June 5, 2008. During this block, comedy shows are being aired from 8:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. The shows have brand new episodes. These television shows consist of Chowder, Johnny Test, Total Drama Island, and 6teen. The block sometimes changes its name to commemorate certain events, like "Star Star Starsdays" (in honor of the premiere of Star Wars: The Clone Wars) and "Scare Scare Scaresdays" (for Halloween). Effective November 6, 6teen takes over Johnny Test's timeslot.

Thumbtastic Afterschool Event

The Thumbtastic Afterschool Event is an afternoon block on Cartoon Network that premiered on November 4, 2008. It is mainly an action-comedy block consisting of Chop Socky Chooks, Chowder, 6teen, Total Drama Island, and Thumb Wrestling Federation. The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack also airs every other weekday . It runs from 3 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Wedgies

Wedgies are shorts that appear occasionally after a show or a movie, usually as a time filler. Some Wedgies include Nacho Bear, Big Baby, Calling Cat 22, and The Talented Mr. Bixby, but one is a spin-off from a show that is The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack.

You Are Here

You Are Here is a Friday night action/adventure block that premiered on October 3rd, 2008 at 8PM. The schedule consists of: Batman: The Brave and the Bold at 8:00, The Secret Saturdays at 8:30, Star Wars: The Clone Wars at 9:00 (not to be confused with Clone Wars), Ben 10: Alien Force at 9:30. There are encores of The Secret Saturdays and Star Wars: The Clone Wars at 10 and 10:30pm, respectively.

Past programming blocks

Toonami

Main article: Toonami

Toonami ran from March 17, 1997 through September 20, 2008, making it the longest-running programming block in Cartoon Network's history. The block premiered masses of action-oriented cartoons and was hosted originally by a CGI rendition of Moltar (from Space Ghost Coast to Coast), who was eventually replaced with Tom.

Fried Dynamite

Fried Dynamite premiered on August 31, 2007 on Cartoon Network (United States). Fried Dynamite was the Friday-Saturday block of cartoon shows, hosted by Blake Michael, which aired on every Friday night from 7pm-11pm and Saturday night from 7pm-9pm. It ended October 3, 2008 in the wake of the new block, 'You Are Here'.

Fridays

Cartoon Cartoon Fridays, was launched on May 7, 1999 and last aired on May 2, 2003. Cartoon Cartoon Fridays was the Friday night version of "Cartoon Cartoons". This program block on Cartoon Network that showcased the channel's original cartoon series, with new episode premieres usually taking place in this block. The block was "hosted" by cartoon characters that were part of Cartoon Cartoons shows. The block aired between 7 p.m.-5 a.m., with the shows and segments repeating at least twice.

On February 23, 2007, Cartoon Network aired the last Fridays.

Miguzi

Miguzi was a cartoon block that premiered on April 19, 2004. This block was themed around Erin, a girl who finds refuge within the confines of a strange spaceship that is trapped underwater and inhabited by aquatic creatures. Not surprisingly, this lighter-toned action block was from Williams Street, the producers of late-night programming block Adult Swim and Toonami, a block of programming which Miguzi replaced in the weekday-afternoon timeslot. Miguzi changed its shows often.

As of June 2007, Miguzi is no longer on the Cartoon Network lineup and was replaced by Master Control, an interactive block.

Master Control

Master Control was a viewer-arranged programming block on Cartoon Network which ran from September 24, 2007 to November 9, 2007. The website for the block offered viewers the chance to choose between one of three teams (Blastadons, Shadowmark, and Vikinators) and vote on which shows would air during the week. Various codes, given out during the block, allowed players to multiply their vote. The block had one thirty-minute timeslot on Mondays to Thursdays, while a two-hour block airs on Fridays. The block is similar in principle to Teletoon's "SpinCycle!" block. The final episode of Master Control aired Friday, November 9, 2007.

Saturday Video Entertainment System

The Saturday Video Entertainment System was a Toonami-like block of action animation airing Saturday nights from March 15, 2003 to April 10, 2004. SVES was packaged like a video game, with a Samus Aran-like character in bumps reminiscent of older arcade/SNES game design. This block was also designed by Williams Street.

Preschool programming

The first preschool programming block on Cartoon Network in the United States was Small World, afterward Big Bag premiered on June 2, 1996. Big Bag featured animated shorts from around the world and live action Muppet scenes. Big Bag ended in September 1998.

The second block, Tickle U premiered on August 22, 2005. Pipoca, Henderson, and Place hosted the block. Tickle U stopped in September 2006.

Currently, Cartoon Network broadcasts preschool programs on weekday mornings, although there is no preschool specific block.

Saturday afternoon blocks

Cartoon Network has aired Saturday afternoon mini-marathon blocks throughout the years. One of the first blocks the network aired was Super Chunk. From 1992-2001, Super Chunk aired a three-hour marathon of shows from its library of programming, mostly classic shorts and older Hanna-Barbera shows.

After a short-lived revamp, Super Chunk was replaced with Cartoon Olio, which premiered on July 7, 2001 and last aired on June 1, 2002. The block aired marathons of Cartoon Cartoons franchises such as Dexter's Laboratory, Ed, Edd n Eddy, Johnny Bravo, Courage the Cowardly Dog, The Powerpuff Girls, Time Squad and Cow and Chicken. The block also aired marathons of Hanna-Barbera franchises such as The Flintstones, Scooby-Doo, and A Pup Named Scooby-Doo.

In 2004, the block was revamped yet again with the introduction of Cartoon Network Block Party. Unlike its predecessors, Cartoon Network Block Party aired new episodes of some of the shows they presented. It aired Saturday afternoon from 3pm-6pm (sometimes 3pm-5pm). It lasted from June 19, 2004 - January 22, 2005. This block aired Cartoon Cartoon franchises such as The Powerpuff Girls, Codename: Kids Next Door and The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, and non-Cartoon Cartoon franchises such as The Cramp Twins, Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, Code Lyoko, Hamtaro and Totally Spies, and shows from other networks such as MegaMan NT Warrior, Shaman King.

Cartoon Network Block Party is also the current title for the network's anthology comic published by DC Comics as well as a Mario Party-style game.

June Bugs

June Bugs was a yearly 48 hour marathon of Bugs Bunny cartoons which started on the first weekend in June 1996. In 2001, the marathon was intended to air nearly every Bugs Bunny cartoon ever made in chronological order, but Time Warner demanded to pull off 12 cartoons deemed "politically incorrect" by today's standards. However, with there being considerably less than 48 hours of shorts, it would repeat several times. June Bugs has occasionally aired on sister network Boomerang.

Last Bell

Last Bell was an afternoon block which aired 2:00pm to 5:00pm on weekdays, from August 2003 to June 11, 2004, airing franchises like A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, Dexter's Laboratory, The Powerpuff Girls, Ed, Edd n Eddy, The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, Codename: Kids Next Door, and The Cramp Twins.

Invaded

Main article: Cartoon Network Invaded

Summer @ Seven

Summer @ Seven was the name of the summer line up that premiered on June 4, 2007. New episodes were shown every Monday through Friday night at 7 pm along with Pokémon Diamond and Pearl. A new show called Storm Hawks premiered in Summer @ Seven. The block ended August 31 and was replaced by Hullabanew on September 3.

• Mondays: Storm Hawks
• Tuesdays: Code Lyoko
• Wednesdays: Camp Lazlo
• Thursdays: Class of 3000 in the first weeks, Ben 10 for the remainder.
• Fridays: Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends in the first weeks, My Gym Partner's a Monkey for the remainder.

HullabaNew

HullabaNew was a month-long block of programming which began on September 3, 2007, and ran for the remainder of September. During the event, one show was featured during a week, with new episodes airing several days during that week.

• Week 1: Camp Lazlo (September 3-6)
• Week 2: Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends (September 10-13)
• Week 3: My Gym Partner's a Monkey (September 17-20)
• Week 4: Squirrel Boy (September 24-27)

After the block finished its run, Cartoon Network has aired Goosebumps at 8:00, but Camp Lazlo and Courage the Cowardly Dog had aired on October 1, 2007 as a regular block.

Movies

Cartoon Network's Cartoon Theatre/Movie Madness

Movie Madness (formerly Cartoon Network's Cartoon Theatre) is a motion picture television series on Cartoon Network, featuring animated theatrical feature films, animated made-for-TV feature films, and films made for Cartoon Network. It originally ran once a week on Saturday nights, the feature film of each week would be regularly advertised on the network making it an anticipated special movie event. The block used a classical western style with a theatrical quality of feel in its bumpers, involving a realistic-looking old-time ticket machine and a freely drifting movie ticket on top of a wood desk accompanied by the voice of Don LaFontaine, the footage being used before and after commercial breaks and in commercials advertising the block itself. The amount of time Cartoon Theatre ran varied, and based solely on the amount of time the feature film ran, and would perhaps disagree with Cartoon Network's hour-by-hour schedule. To even out the block's time-frame, a sub-block titled Toon Extra, a block based on newspaper delivery, aired after Cartoon Theatre films showing one or more cartoons helping to add less than an extra hour of content to span out the perhaps uneven time slot, when the block was still called Cartoon Theatre. If Toon Extra didn't completely fill the time slot a few extra commercials may be aired, plus the occasional black-out for lesser amounts of unadded seconds. Since 2004, live-action films, regardless if they are cartoon-related (though most are), became part of Cartoon Network's library of movies.

Made-for-TV-movies

18 made-for-TV movies have aired on Cartoon Network. Except for Party Wagon (which had been a pilot for a later scrapped series), these films are, in effect, feature-length special episodes of Cartoon Network series Dexter's Laboratory, Camp Lazlo, Codename: Kids Next Door, The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, My Gym Partner's a Monkey, Teen Titans, Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, Ed, Edd n Eddy, and Ben 10. Also among the original movies are Cartoon Network's first original live-action movies, Re-Animated, and Ben 10: Race Against Time. House of Bloo's and Home were pilot movies for Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends and Class of 3000, respectively.

• Dexter's Laboratory: Ego Trip (aired December 10, 1999)
• The Flintstones: On the Rocks (aired November 3, 2001)
• Party Wagon (aired February 27, 2004)
• Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends: House of Bloo's (aired August 13, 2004)
• Codename: Kids Next Door: Operation Z.E.R.O. (aired August 11, 2006)
• Teen Titans: Trouble in Tokyo (aired September 15, 2006)
• Class of 3000: Home (aired November 3, 2006)
• Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends: Good Wilt Hunting (aired November 23, 2006)
• Re-Animated (aired December 8, 2006)
• My Gym Partner's a Monkey: The Big Field Trip (aired January 14, 2007)
• Camp Lazlo: Where's Lazlo? (aired February 18, 2007)
• The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy: Billy & Mandy's Big Boogey Adventure (aired March 30, 2007)
• The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy: Wrath of the Spider Queen (aired July 6, 2007)
• Ben 10: Secret of the Omnitrix (aired August 10, 2007)
• Ben 10: Race Against Time (aired November 21, 2007)
• Codename: Kids Next Door: Operation: I.N.T.E.R.V.I.E.W.S. (aired January 21, 2008)
• My Gym Partner's a Monkey: Animal School Musical (aired May 25, 2008)
• Underfist: Halloween Bash (aired October 12, 2008)
• Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends: Destination Imagination^[7] (November 27, 2008)
• Scooby-Doo: In The Beginning^[8] (2009)
• Untitled Ben 10: Alien Force Movie^[9] (2009)

Flicks

Flicks is a Sunday night block that airs both live action and animated movies aimed towards a family audience. These movies generally started as theatrical releases or were originally direct-to-video. The block began on June 22, 2008, with the CGI-animated movie The Ant Bully. Currently, Action Flicks serves as a spin-off.

Related projects

Boomerang

Main article: Boomerang (TV channel)

Boomerang was originally a programming block on Cartoon Network aimed towards the generation of baby boomers. It originally aired for four hours every weekend. The block's start time jumped frequently, with the Saturday block moving to Saturday afternoons, then back to the early morning, and the Sunday block moving to Sunday evenings. Eventually, Boomerang was shortened by an hour, making the total airing time 2 hours each weekend instead of the original four hours.

Boomerang (both the programming block and the original spinoff channel that launched on April 1, 2000) followed a unique programming format - every week, cartoons produced during a certain year (and cartoons produced during years prior to that year) would be showcased. For example, if Boomerang was showcasing the year 1969, the viewer would more than likely see an episode of Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! or Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines.

Get Animated

When Cartoon Network still ran its CGI city look (see 2004-2006), a promo aired involving the Mayor of Townsville officially opening Movement Inc., a fictional recreational dome facility. Thus began Cartoon Network's still-running Get Animated promotion, a campaign encouraging children to get active, more importantly in outdoor areas. Created in part of the American government's goal for a more active, and generally healthier generation, other kids' channels generally aired similar promotions during this time (such as Nickelodeon's Go Healthy Challenge). Original promos involved many different cartoon characters, and real kids, enjoying physical activities inside the Animation Station. Once Cartoon Network scrapped their CGI city look the Animation Station promos were abandoned, but the Get Animated campaign still continued. Current promos still show cartoon characters playing alongside kids, though occasional sports celebrities (such as Freddy Adu) make appearances. Other promos show real kids who make great physically-related achievements, or cartoon characters explaining ways of getting active.

Cartoon Network Universe: FusionFall

Main article: Cartoon Network Universe: FusionFall

See also

• Boomerang
• Cartoon Network Universe: FusionFall
• Cartoon Network Video

References

External links

• Official website
• Official Carton Network Press Release site