Cartoon networks inexplicable hate for action shows..

[KrangPrime]

I'm curious..
has anyone ever read a reason why CN seems to hate action shows?

Thundercats had ALOT of problems, case one no one really understood what made the original show work (Thundercats as humans in a rock band, anyone?) and it never quite found it's voice. but it finally started to feel a little more like thundercats at the end, and that's when it got cancelled.

Young Justice. An AMAZING series. the last quality thing DC put out apart from Flash on CW. it had a decent begining and things got wrapped up at the end quite nicely. but the cliffhanger makes me still annoyed that they cancelled another action series.

now, all they have are cheaply animated looking comedy series that arn't my cup of tea.
any ideas why this trend happened? at least if there was a reason for it it might not hurt as bad that some series where not given the chance they should have been given to become legacy.

 

[blakeh1]

...cheaply animated...

There's your answer right there. It's relatively cheap to do that type of animation. I'm not a fan of most of that style.

It seems like more and more animated shows are just 2-d cutout style, sometime even just using real pictures as backgrounds etc...

it's like someone sitting at home playing around in photoshop/after effects etc...

Music has become that way as well. With all this technology, you no longer really need talent to produce it. just lots of cut and paste effects

 

[Clerval]

It's nothing about category, it's about IP.

 

[Riceball]

I think that demographics has a lot to do with it too, I think that CN wants to hit a younger demographic than shows like Young Justice and Thundercats hits. So even though those shows might be good to people like us and probably do well, ratings wise, among our demo we're not their target demo or more specifically, their advertiser's target demo. This means that those kinds of shows are less profitable because they can't charge advertiser's top dollar to advertise on those shows since they don't do that well with the target demographics.

It's a pity too since I really loved Young Justice and really would have loved to see where they would have gone with a season 3. I think somebody needs to come out with an animation channel that's aimed more at teens and adults instead of just little kids, it's well past time that Americans get past this crazy notion that somehow animation is just for kids.I'd really like to see what American artists could do if they didn't have the constraints of aiming their shows towards as well as the idea that to be adult you have to be like The Simpsons or the Family Guy and be funny.

 

[Wes R]

They hate anything entertaining too, adult swim is mainly live action shows aimed at potheads. They canceled both Young Justice and Thundercats despite good ratings because the shows were expensive, have you seen the garbage they have on now? It looks like drunk kindergarteners drew it and it's cheap to make. It's the same reason that toonami doesn't spend money on new anime, they can't get the suits to pay for it when there's so many sources for anime out there. Instead they pass over good shows to reuse 30 year old episodes of Dragonball Z. As huge as animation is with adults these days I'm not sure they think it's just for kids, it's more they know they can't compete with crunchyroll and even fansubs online so they just putter along in mediocrity. Trust me soon even Adventure Time will get canceled and it's their biggest show anymore.

I guess I'm lucky that my parents were always very open minded about cartoons and honestly I think my dad liked watching them as much as I did, he still does when he gets a chance. Then again he grew up in the 60s and 70s when you had all the Ralph Bakshi cartoons and Yellow Submarine going on.

 

[DL 44 Blaster]

Sadly I never ever stop at CN or even sadder than that Boomerang is off my stop list as well. I used to at least watch Boomerang but they don't have anything of interest to "our" demographic and haven't in years.

Old people...........

 

[Dessa]

It's the same reason that toonami doesn't spend money on new anime, they can't get the suits to pay for it when there's so many sources for anime out there. Instead they pass over good shows to reuse 30 year old episodes of Dragonball Z.

There's a lot that goes into what they get for Swimnami (I've read some of the interviews since its return), and with only 3 major licencors, with only one consistently releasing material dubbed, it affects what's available to them even further.

As for their current lineup, it's very strong:
Midnight - DBZ Kai (note that the Kai version has not aired fully in the US before)
12:30am- Akame ga Kill (1st run series from Sentai, was very high rated when it aired in Japan)
1am- Parasyte (1st run series from Sentai, also highly rated when it aired in Japan, is also an action/psychological mix like GitS)
1:30am- Samurai Champloo (re-air of older series that hasn't been on in a while, filling the gap after another show's finale)
2am- Naruto: Shippuuden (1st run episodes)
2:30am- One Piece (1st run episodes)
3am- Kill la Kill (2nd run episodes, still a popular series)

They also still have the rights to Sword Art Online, Gurren Lagann and Blue Exorcist, at least, which can be reaired (they're still on On Demand).

 

[KrangPrime]

with regards to anime, there is so much out there that it's hard to know what's worth giving a chance, and what isn't.

back when toonami first aired, I gave everything a go..but also my attention span was much longer than. shows like cowboy bebop I remember being interesting, but have not watched since it's initial airing. Yu Yu Hakusho, though, I really got into......and wish that series would have continued. I need to rewatch that again.


but, I like your explanation regarding the action shows much better than the one I remember hearing at the time. that the action shows had too many female viewers. I guess they thought the ladies didn't buy the action figures as much as boys did, and thus the shows wouldn't get as much return investment? the logic didn't make much sense then either.

 

[Kylash]

CN would rather just make 20 Adventure Time bootlegs at this point because quirky/hipster is what sells right now.

 

[Cephus]

There's nothing hard to understand about it at all. Doing good animation costs money. Unless there are a lot of people watching that show, they can't sell as much advertising. That makes the show too expensive to produce. Most of the really cheap animated shows are cheap. They cost very little. They don't need as many people to watch to make money. Therefore, that's what they do.

 

[Wes R]

There's a lot that goes into what they get for Swimnami (I've read some of the interviews since its return), and with only 3 major licencors, with only one consistently releasing material dubbed, it affects what's available to them even further.

As for their current lineup, it's very strong:
Midnight - DBZ Kai (note that the Kai version has not aired fully in the US before)
12:30am- Akame ga Kill (1st run series from Sentai, was very high rated when it aired in Japan)
1am- Parasyte (1st run series from Sentai, also highly rated when it aired in Japan, is also an action/psychological mix like GitS)
1:30am- Samurai Champloo (re-air of older series that hasn't been on in a while, filling the gap after another show's finale)
2am- Naruto: Shippuuden (1st run episodes)
2:30am- One Piece (1st run episodes)
3am- Kill la Kill (2nd run episodes, still a popular series)

They also still have the rights to Sword Art Online, Gurren Lagann and Blue Exorcist, at least, which can be reaired (they're still on On Demand).

I love seeing Parasyte as an anime, I saw it back in 1997 as a manga and am surprised it took so long to get made. I agree there's an insane amount of anime being released now compared to when i started watching it. I was shocked by how much an FYE in Pittsburgh had one time when I went in. I think CN still has the rights to Full Metal Alchemist too. Pretty much Funimation is their main provider of anime.

 

[Dessa]

Actually, they lost FMA: Brotherhood last January, and the original series before that. Though they could probably get it back if they wanted. Other shows Swimnami may still have are Attack on Titan, The Big O, Black Lagoon, Blue Exorcist, Cowboy Bebop, technically Eureka Seven (though they've said it's not likely to come back), FLCL (they've said it'll come back at some point), GitS: SAC, Hellsing Ultimate, InuYasha, Michiko & Hatchin, and Soul Eater (based on how recently they've aired, and if the rights have explicitly expired or not, according to the list on Wikipedia of what's aired on Adult Swim).

They've played the Eva movies before, and with 3.333 FINALLY being released, that might get played, too. And the new Samurai Jack is coming, too, though that's not anime.



Right now, FUNimation, Sentai, and Viz are the only companies that are licensing stuff. Aniplex of America is bringing over Aniplex Japan titles, the same with Pony Canyon. But those 5 are basically it.
Viz has Naruto and Bleach (and they're not likely to bring back Bleach, they cancelled it because of how poorly it was doing), but they don't put out a whole lot of other stuff. Of their current licenses listed on Wikipedia, while I would enjoy seeing Gargantia on Swimnami, I think One-Punch Man (currently airing) is the only one with a good shot of making it. There's a slim shot that Sailor Moon (original or Crystal) might make it on, to get a) the female viewers, and b) guys wanting to watch hot chicks semi-naked, but I think it's a long shot.

Sentai's got a more diverse catalog, but they don't dub everything. Akame ga Kill and Parasyte are both theirs, and I can see potential in some of their more recent releases. Higurashi, if they dub the second season, has a pretty good shot at being on Swimnami. Hamatora could work, but boy was it confusing in the second season. Majestic Prince and Captain Earth both would work, but Captain Earth wasn't dubbed. Black Bullet could also have a shot. And it does have loli girls fighting each other... Another long shot could be No game No Life, but it's a bit different of a series. It could go either way. I love Log Horizon myself, but a) it'll be called an SAO rip-off, b) the dub sucks, so I'd rather it not be there.

FUNimation pretty much dubs everything, and they do get a lot of action stuff. I'd be interested in seeing GARO, if only to get it more exposure, and raise the chances of the live action series being licensed.

Aniplex has had a few things on Swimnami (most notably Durarara, and there's 3 new seasons that haven't aired yet), but most of their stuff is a bit more niche (I can't see Madoka on there, as much as fanboys would like that. MAYBE the movies as a special, but not the series).

And Pony Canyon has very niche titles, and I don't think they're dubbing much. Neither of the two titles I've seen from them (Yuki Yuna is a Hero and Rokka: Flower of the Six Braves) are very Swimnami-esque.