Cartoon Network | |
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Cartoon Network's current logo, used since May 29, 2010. | |
Launched | October 1, 1992 |
Owned by | Turner Broadcasting System (a Time Warner company) |
Picture format | 480i (SDTV) 1080i (HDTV) |
Slogan | Check it |
Country | United States |
Broadcast area | Nationwide |
Headquarters | Atlanta, Georgia (East Coast, South, Midwest) Los Angeles, California (West Coast) |
Sister channel(s) | TBS, CNN, TNT, TCM, HLN, truTV, WPCH, Boomerang, Adult Swim |
Website | www.cartoonnetwork.com |
Availability | |
Satellite | |
DirecTV | Channel 296 (SD/HD) (East) Channel 297 (West) |
Dish Network | Channel 176 (SD/HD) (East) Channel 177 (West) |
Cable | |
Available on most cable systems | Check local listings for channels |
IPTV | |
AT&T U-Verse | Channel 325 (East) Channel 326 (West) |
Verizon FiOS | Channel 257 |
Cartoon Network (abbreviated CN, corporately known as The Cartoon Network, Inc.) is an American cable television network created by Turner Broadcasting which primarily shows animated programming. The original American channel began broadcasting on October 1, 1992 at 12:00 PM.
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, Cartoon Network began airing a small amount of live-action programming, mostly movies from Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema, both of which are also owned by Time Warner. Over the succeeding years, Cartoon Network has become more aggressive in its live-action development.
In 1986, Ted Turner's cable-TV conglomerate acquired most of the pre-May 1986 MGM film and television library[1] (which also included Gilligan's Island and its animated spin-offs, the U.S. rights to a majority of the RKO Radio Pictures library, and the a.a.p. catalog which includes the pre-1950 Warner Bros. film library, the Harman and Ising Merrie Melodies except Lady, Play Your Mandolin!, the pre-August 1948 color Warner Bros. cartoons, and the Fleischer Studios and Famous Studios Popeye cartoons originally released by Paramount Pictures). In 1988, its cable channel Turner Network Television was launched and had gained an audience with its film library.[2] In 1991, it purchased animation studio Hanna-Barbera Productions and acquired its large library as well as most of the Ruby-Spears library.[3]
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. cartoons (the pre-August 1948 Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies), the 1933-1957 Popeye cartoons, MGM cartoons, and Hanna-Barbera cartoons. Since its launch, the channel has always been broadcasting 24 hours per day, 7 days per week. The network's first theme was the Checkerboard theme with bumpers involving the Cartoon Network's first logo. Most of the short cartoons were aired in half-hour or hour-long packages, usually separated by character or studio—Down Wit' 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. Late Night Black and White showed early black-and-white cartoons (mostly from the Fleischer Studios), and ToonHeads. The majority of the classic animation that was shown on Cartoon Network no longer airs on a regular basis, with the exception of Tom and Jerry.
The network's first original show was The Moxy Show and was first aired in 1993. In 1994, Hanna-Barbera's new subsidiary Cartoon Network Studios was founded and 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.[4] It was the network's third original series (the second was Space Ghost Coast to Coast). The project was spearheaded by several Cartoon Network executives, plus The Ren & 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).[5]
The chief purpose of The What A Cartoon Show was to help Cartoon Network expand its library of exclusive programming and it introduced a number of new cartoon ideas. Six of them were spun off into their own series runs. These six series, Dexter's Laboratory (1996), Johnny Bravo, Cow and Chicken (1997), The Powerpuff Girls (1998), Mike, Lu & Og, and Courage the Cowardly Dog (1999) became the origins of the network's original cartoons, collectively known as Cartoon Cartoons.[4] I Am Weasel (1997) and Ed, Edd n Eddy (1999) were the first two Cartoon Cartoons not to be introduced in a What A Cartoon short.[4]
In 1996, Turner merged with Time Warner.[6] This consolidated ownership of all the WB cartoons, so now post-July 1948 and the former Sunset-owned black-and-white cartoons (which Warner Brothers had reacquired in the 1960s) releases were being shown on the network. 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.
Cartoon Network's programming would not be available in Canada until 1997, when a Canadian specialty network Teletoon (and its French language counterpart) was launched.
Cartoon Network underwent its makeover in 1998, launching a look that was used until June 13, 2004. The channel used bumpers involving characters from most of the cartoons it aired with the Powerhouse music, or just objects and places with the Cartoon Network's logo at that time. The Powerhouse music was no longer used starting in 2003.
On the morning of June 14, 2004, Cartoon Network updated its next logo, and its slogan: “This is Cartoon Network!”[7] This is the first Cartoon Network era with a female voice announcing for the network. The bumper (broadcasting) 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.
In 2006, the network took off more shows from the 1990s (Dexter's Laboratory, The Powerpuff Girls, etc.), put them on a 30 minute block called The Cartoon Cartoon Show and dropped the CGI City look. They were still seen from time to time and were finally abandoned for good right after the network scrapped the CGI city look on April 10, 2006. Some shows like Time Squad (2001), Mike, Lu & Og (1999), Cow and Chicken, I Am Weasel (1997), Looney Tunes (1930, first aired on the network in 1992), and Sheep in the Big City (2000) were taken off the network completely.
From April 10, 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. They used a reprise of the 2004 CGI City look, using flat, dark colors.
Jim Samples, president of the Cartoon Network, resigned on February 9, 2007 due to the 2007 Boston bomb scare.[8][9] Samples had been network president for 13 years.[9] Following Samples's resignation, Stuart Snyder was named his successor.[10] Under Snyder's lead, Cartoon Network underwent a number of changes. Through 2007, Cartoon Network retained the image campaign that began in 2006, albeit a slightly refreshed version.
On September 1, 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. A month later, on October 15, the channel began broadcasting in 1080i high definition.[11]
Every October since 2007, Cartoon Network airs 40 episodes of the former Fox Kids program Goosebumps.
In April 2008, Cartoon Network began airing a sign-off bumper before Adult Swim, involving a Nood painting the screen black before popping down after hearing an indistinct shout.
Cartoon Network announced at its 2008 Upfront that it was working on a new project called Cartoonstitute, which was 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 would've worked in a way similar to What A Cartoon!, by creating at least 150 pieces of animation within 20 months.[12] Cartoonstitute was eventually cancelled, and only one of the shorts, Regular Show, was selected.[13][14]
Cartoon Network has also begun to air some imported Canadian programs from Teletoon such as George of the Jungle, 6teen, Total Drama Island (and its successor Total Drama Action), Chaotic and Bakugan Battle Brawlers. 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 newer look created by Tristan Eaton and Kidrobot. The bumpers of that era had white, faceless characters called Noods, based off the DIY toy, Munny.[15] The standard network logo was then completely white, adopting different colors based on the occasion in the same style. On June 12, 2009, the screen bug then turned all black with white letters.
In June 2009, a block of live-action reality shows began airing in a programming block promoted as CN Real.[16] The network has also aired some limited sports programming, including Slamball games, during the commercials.
On February 8, 2010, Cartoon Network started using bumpers that featured vinyl Nood dolls being covered in material such as paint, grass, mud, and confetti. A new logo made its television debut on May 29, 2010 at 6:00 AM along with a new theme and new bumpers. Also on May 29, 2010, the Noods were phased out. Kevin Schmidt and Jordan Gavaris are the network's current head announcers.
A Spanish language audio track is accessible via SAP, some cable companies offer the Spanish feed as a separate channel.
Adult Swim (stylized as [adult swim]) is Cartoon Network's late night adult-oriented sister network, which premiered on September 2, 2001, in the United States. In March 2005, Adult Swim was split from Cartoon Network so that Nielsen Media Research could treat it as a separate channel for ratings purposes.[17] However, Adult Swim programming still airs as a block on the same broadcast channel as Cartoon Network.
Flicks (formerly Mr. Spim's Cartoon Theater, Cartoon Network's Cartoon Theater, Movie Madness and later The Flicks) is a Film block on Cartoon Network, featuring animated theatrical feature films, animated made-for-TV feature films, and films made for Cartoon Network. Since 2003, live-action films from Warner Bros. Pictures or New Line Cinema, in which are both owned by TimeWarner, regardless if they are cartoon-related (though most are), became part of Cartoon Network's library of movies. Although airs movies from Warner Bros. Pictures and New Line Cinema, the network also airs movies from other major Hollywood studios such as: 20th Century Fox, Columbia Pictures and Paramount Pictures. The name of this block changes on Christmas to "Flicksmas". The Flicks, the block and bumpers were often still used since the start of the current rebrand. Since July 3, 2010, " Flicks" were now rebranded with a live-action human family, no longer capable of Noods.
Mondays is an evening programming block that was launched on April 5, 2010, including programs Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated, Johnny Test, Adventure Time, Regular Show, Mad, Total Drama World Tour, and Stoked.
Cartoon Network had a long history of action-oriented programming blocks. One of the network's first blocks was Super Adventures.
From 1992-1995, Super Adventures presented action-oriented cartoons like Space Ghost, Birdman, The Fantastic Four, among many other 1960's-1980's Hanna-Barbera/Ruby-Spears action series. It aired on weekday afternoons, and also had a weekend afternoon counterpart known as "Super Adventure Saturdays".
In 1995, Super Adventures was replaced with Afternoon Adventures, which presented a more varied mix of old and then-recent action cartoons, such as James Bond Jr., Captain Planet, Swat Kats and Jonny Quest. That same year, a Saturday late-night block called Power Zone debuted, which mostly aired the same action shows as its predecessor blocks. Power Zone would eventually supplant Afternoon Adventures as the flagship weekday afternoon block in 1996.
"Power Zone" was cancelled sometime in the Fall of 1996, after which there was no permanent action block on Cartoon Network until the debut of Toonami on March 17, 1997.
Saturday CrushZone is a Saturday morning action block that shows Pokémon DP Galactic Battles,Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's, and Hot Wheels Battle Force 5 The block still airs the same shows, Saturday Crushzone is inactive at this time.
Fried Dynamite premiered on August 31, 2007 on Cartoon Network, replacing Fridays. Fried Dynamite was the Friday-Saturday block of cartoon shows, hosted by Blake Michael, which aired on every Friday night and Saturday morning. It ended October 3, 2008 in the wake of the new block, You Are Here.
Cartoon Cartoon Fridays, was launched on April 30, 1999 and last aired on February 23, 2007. 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 (Usually along with new episodes of their respective shows airing on their corresponding night). 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 before being replaced with Fried Dynamite.
Cartoon Cartoons is a collective name for Cartoon Network original series which premiered before 2003. These cartoons were originally produced by Hanna-Barbera and Cartoon Network Studios, but over the years, studios like a.k.a. Cartoon, Kino Films, Stretch Films, Blanky Blook and Curious Pictures produced these series for Cartoon Network. Any and all Cartoon Cartoons have been featured as a part of Cartoon Network's original Friday night programming block, Cartoon Cartoon Fridays.
Miguzi was a cartoon block that premiered on April 19, 2004 and finished its run on June 2007. 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. 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.
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 and vote on which shows would air during the week. The block had one thirty-minute timeslot on Mondays to Thursdays, while a two-hour block aired on Fridays.
The Saturday Video Entertainment System was a Toonami-like block of action animation airing Saturday nights which ran 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.
Tickle U was a two-hour programming block for pre-schoolers on weekday mornings from August 22, 2005 to September 2006. The block had programs like Harry and His Bucket Full of Dinosaurs, Firehouse Tales, Little Robots, Gordon the Garden Gnome, Yoko! Jakamoko! Toto!, Peppa Pig and Gerald McBoing-Boing.
Cartoon Network has aired Saturday afternoon mini-marathon blocks throughout the years. One of the first blocks the network aired was Super Chunk.
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.
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 was a yearly 48 hour marathon of Bugs Bunny cartoons which started on the first weekend in June 1995. 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.[18] 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 similar to Closing Bell was an afternoon block which aired on weekdays from August 2003 to June 11, 2004, airing franchises like A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, Dexter's Laboratory, Courage the Cowardly Dog, The Powerpuff Girls, Ed, Edd n Eddy, The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, Codename: Kids Next Door, and The Cramp Twins.
CN Real was a block that featured Cartoon Network's first live action shows that started airing in June 2009. Shows that have aired on the block include The Othersiders, Survive This, Destroy Build Destroy, BrainRush, Dude, What Would Happen, and Bobb'e Says. The block originally aired on Wednesday and Saturday nights with 2 shows on each day, but they were then merged to only airing on Wednesdays. The block received negative reception and most of the shows were canceled along with the block itself. However Dude, What Would Happen and Destroy Build Destroy continue to air on CN Real's old Wednesday night timeslot.
A sub-block of CN Real which was a time-buy from Red Bull devoted to action sports. The programs aired Saturday nights with a Sunday afternoon encore, featuring 10 Count (a countdown list program) and Re:Evolution of Sports (a program which previously aired under the same arrangement on the Fox Sports Net family of regional sports networks). Last aired on November 1, 2009.
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,The Talented Mr. Bixby, and The Bremen Avenue Experience along with shorts from The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack. This was a replacement of the original Cartoon Network Extra, which featured the usual 11-minute episodes of some Cartoon Network series. Wedgies also include skits by Blake and the Fried Dynamite crew, which air mostly after school. Wedgies now appear on Boomerang daily as well as filler on Cartoon Network.
Cartoon Network Invaded was a special crossover event that aired on May 4, 2007 and involved a continuing storyline involving paranormal or alien like themes that ran through five different Cartoon Network cartoons: Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, Ed, Edd n Eddy, My Gym Partner's a Monkey, Camp Lazlo, and The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy. It also aired on Cartoon Network (Southeast Asia), Cartoon Network (Philippines) and Cartoon Network (Australia) during the Halloween season of the same year.
On May 28, 2007 and June 1, 2007 the event concluded with a mini-marathon of all shows aired back-to-back with their alternate endings.
Johnny Johnny was a block airing weekday afternoons, featuring one episode of Johnny Bravo and one episode of Johnny Test. The block launched on November 10, 2009. and ended after Christmas time.
Summer @ 7 was the name of the summer line up that premiered on June 4, 2007. New episodes were shown every Monday through Friday night along with Pokémon Diamond and Pearl with Storm Hawks premiering during the block. The block ended August 31 and was replaced by Hullabanew on September 3.
Total Drama Tuesdays was a comedy block that aired Tuesday evenings, showing Total Drama Island, Total Drama Action, Stoked and 6teen. Sometimes it featured the newest episode of Total Drama Action, plus new episodes of Stoked and 6teen. This block was dedicated to showing cartoons created by Fresh TV, Inc. The block finished its run on November 10, 2009.
Har Har Tharsdays (originally CN Thursday Nights) was a block of programming on Cartoon Network that started airing June 5, 2008. The block aired comedy series such as Chowder, The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack, Total Drama Island, Total Drama Action, 6teen, Stoked, and Johnny Test. These shows rotated through. 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) "Heart Heart Theartsdays" (for Valentine's Day) or "Scare Scare Scaresdays" (for Halloween). Also, without any changing of the name, the block took on a Green look for Ben 10 week, featuring Ben Tennyson in clips with the other characters directly before or after commercial breaks. This block ended before April 5, 2010, when all of Cartoon Network's comedy programs moved to Mondays.
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.
The Thumbtastic Afterschool Event was an afternoon block on Cartoon Network that premiered on November 3, 2008. It was 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 aired every other weekday.
25 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, 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 , The Secret Saturdays and Class of 3000, respectively.
Action Flicks is a movie block that replaced Toonami on Saturday evenings in October 2008. The majority of the movies that have been broadcast on Action Flicks included numerous DC super hero films (mostly Batman) and all three Naruto movies. The block's final broadcast was February 28, 2009.
Super Chunk is a marathon block on Cartoon Network that first aired from 1992–2001, then started airing again on August 17, 2009. This block was dedicated to airing three-hour marathons of shows from its library of programming. It was replaced by Cartoon Olio. Then, after an almost eight-year hiatus, Cartoon Network brought the block back again, yet again revamped with a giant Nood in the forest with the words Super Chunk painted in the sky, but the block ended a few weeks after.
You Are Here was a Friday night action/adventure block that premiered on October 3, 2008. It was taken off the air again after May 28, 2010, the night before the network rebranded along with a new logo. The programming consisted of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Ben 10: Ultimate Alien, Batman: The Brave and the Bold and Generator Rex. Currently, the aforementioned shows still air on Friday night, even without a block.
Boomerang was originally a programming block on Cartoon Network (since the network's launch in '92) aimed towards The Baby Boom Generation. The block's start time jumped frequently but was always aired in the weekends. On April 1, 2000, Boomerang received both a new look and a cable spin off channel.[21] The block lasted until October 2004.
Get Animated is a campaign of the channel, encouraging children to get active, more importantly in outdoor areas. Original promos involved many different cartoon characters, and real kids. 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.
On October 15, 2007, Cartoon Network began to provide content in high definition. Presently, only the East Coast feed of Cartoon Network HD ever provides content in high definition formats and the West Coast feed only provides content in standard definition (4:3) format.
A Cartoon Network HD channel is available from many cable and all satellite service providers. Actual high definition content however, remains limited to a few newer programs. Older 4:3 content is stretched to fill a 16:9 aspect ratio. This process results in a warped picture, which is especially apparent during horizontal panning. All programs produced in HD are aired in letterbox on the SD feed.
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