Nickelodeon hates “Avatar: The Last Airbender”. That's right. It had to be said. OK. Maybe that's a little bit of a stretch. But the network definitely has
a love-hate relationship with the beloved franchise. Since its initial release in 2005 all the way up to its record-breaking
Netflix re-released in 2020, “Avatar: The Last Airbender”
was both a commercial and critical success and the show has quickly become
one of Nick's flagship franchises. The show's success can largely be attributed to its beautifully rich world building,
its cast of relatable characters, and its commitment
to anime influenced linear storytelling. But these are all things
that you've already heard before because everyone adores Avatar. Except for Nickelodeon,
which brings us back to today's topic: How the Avatar franchise
was sometimes held back by the very studio that created it. In this video, I'm going to cover
every single bump of the road starting from the shows inception,
all the way up to the present day. Throughout this journey, you will see
how love truly is a double-edged sword. Let's get into it. Starting off. Avatar’s creators,
Bryan Konietzsko and Mike DiMartino, often referred to as Bryke by the fans, were actually approached by Nick
to make the show. Now, at the time, this was a bit unheard of since it is normally up to the show's creators
to pitch to various studios looking for anyone who's interested. But in the case of “Avatar: The Last Airbender”, Bryan Konietzsko had already worked
with the studio before and thus had already established a friendship
with Nick's VP of animation, Eric Coleman. Specifically, Nick was looking
for a new Action and Adventure series that could capitalize
on the early two thousands craze for Legends & Lore franchises like
“Harry Potter” and “The Lord of the Rings”. Needless to say, Bryke delivered,
creating a vast fantasy world from scratch after only two weeks of brainstorming. It was during this early
concept creation phase that Nickelodeon presented
their first restriction to the show limiting the depiction of physical violence. Now, admittedly, this isn't that big of a deal. And I'd be willing to bet
that most shows airing on kids networks had to censor themselves in similar ways. Still, I decided to mention
this small hindrance because it eventually led
to one of the most fundamental parts of the Avatar world: Elemental bending. Bending was not only a genius way to incorporate natural elements
into a magical combat system. It was also a slick way
to have stunning fight scenes without fists ever having to
actually connect with faces. As a non-physical
and non-lethal combat system, bending was perfectly suited
for this mystical world. Well… At least it was mostly non-lethal,
but more on that later. Now, the actual run of the original series
basically went off without a hitch. The show was originally
green lit for 13 episodes, but the higher ups at Nick
liked what they saw so much that they went ahead and added
7 more episodes to the first season. The 13th episode of Season One
was “The Blue Spirit”. This could have been
a really cool spot to end it on, but of course I'm more than happy that the show was given the extra time
to expand on its world and characters. At the peak of its popularity
in its original run, “Avatar: The Last Airbender”
was the most popular show on basic cable with nearly 6 million people tuning in live
to watch Aang fight Ozai during the season finale. By this point, Avatar's fan base
had built up a reputation for being one of the most interactive
of any of Nick's properties. Not only was the Avatar message board
the most visited section of nick.com, but Avatar fans also had a giant presence
at real life events like Comic-Con. It was reported that before
Season Three had even aired, fans of the show had already spent
over $121 million on the Avatar franchise and this number was predicted
to double after the series finale. And it doesn't even take into account
the money earned from commercials and ads. Rather, it only focuses
on the revenue generated from merch sells, video games, toys, and DVDs. Needless to say, at this point, Nickelodeon was all aboard
the Avatar money-printing train. In a 2007 interview,
then President of Nickelodeon Cyma Zarghami optimistically said that
the Avatar franchise was on the rise with a loyal fan base
willing to follow the characters anywhere. She noted that if the network
played their cards right, Avatar could become
their very own “Harry Potter”. A big hitting franchise
spanning multiple mediums, generations and most importantly,
bank accounts. Unfortunately, when Nickelodeon
and Avatar fans alike, the very next sentence to come
from Cyma’s mouth in this interview was the following: The movies will kick
the business into high gear. And hopefully,
when I'm replaced 10 years from now, someone will be making Avatar 10. You heard that right. She said “the movies”. Cue the music. Here's a trigger warning. That's right, directly following
the show's record breaking and critically acclaimed original run, Nickelodeon thought that the best way
to submit Avatar as a household franchise was to turn it into a Live Action trilogy directed by none other than M. Night Shyamalan. At the time, Shyamalan, of course,
wasn't yet known as the man responsible for eviscerating
an entire beloved franchise. He was actually a respected
up and comer in Hollywood with a few classics already under his belt. Nevertheless, Shyamalan was still
a strange pick for the Avatar series. The franchise spans a lot of genres: Action, Adventure, Comedy,
Martial Arts, and Family Friendliness. But still, it doesn't cross over that much with the mysteries and horror films
that Shyamalan was known for at the time. There are plenty of red flags
that Nickelodeon overlooked following M. Night's hiring. Such as his previous two movies, which both ended up being
commercial train wrecks. Both 2006’s “Lady in the Water”
and 2008’s “The Happening” were such bizarre departures
from Shyamalan's previous work, he had already become a bit of a laughing stock before “The Last Airbender”
had even finished production. But Nickelodeon missed
yet another opportunity to axe Shyamalan before things really got out of hand. I'm talking of course about the movie's casting. For a franchise that prides itself on its Asian inspired roots
and cultural inclusivity, Shyamalan’s cast looked a tad bit…
Um, let's just say homogeneous. Backlash quickly followed
the cast announcement with fans, journalists,
and academics, all wondering if there were any racial undertones
motivating the decision. Rather than seeing
this massive red flag for what it was and firing the project's main decision maker, Nick decided to stick with Shyamalan and only force him to change out
Zuko's actor Jesse McCartney for the more ethnically diverse Dev Patel. Way to go guys! Now all the good guys are white
and all the bad guys are brown. That fixes literally nothing
and makes things even worse somehow. We all know how this story ends. -That wasn't a good play.
-I'll say. -No kidding.
-Horrible. -You said it.
-But the effects were decent. No, Sokka. No, the effects were not decent. They were trash too. Despite all of this nonsense, “The Last Airbender” movie
wasn't technically a failure because it still made a profit
of about $20 million in the box office and about $70 million
when you factor in the DVD sells. Still, the movie's horrific reception convinced Nickelodeon
to make their first ever and their only ever good decision
pertaining to this movie. They canceled the planned sequels. Yay! Yay! Remember Cyma Zarghami’s quote about Avatar 10 coming out before she retired? Well, just be thankful we don't live
in an even darker timeline where that actually could have happened. Before we jump into all of the problems
surrounding “The Legend of Korra”, I think now would be a great opportunity
to look at some of the more minor hiccups that Nickelodeon made when dealing
with the original animated series. Let's start with the official
“Avatar: The Last Airbender” DVD release and that it was absolutely terrible. I know a lot of you, me included,
probably grew up with these DVDs and are feeling
a little bit defensive right now. So let me explain. Most of the disks are perfectly fine. Beautifully showcasing
the hand-drawn animation in mid-2000’s appropriate 480p resolution. However, notice how I said most of them are fine. The big problem lies
with disc number one exclusively, the DVD that contains
the first four episodes of the show. For whatever reason,
this disc is the victim of a haloing, a double line effect that is so abhorrent
the episodes are nearly unwatchable. I mean, just look at your screen right now. It's a mess. Or maybe it's not and I'm overreacting. I'm definitely a tad bit spoiled
with all the 4K content of 2022. Let me know in the comments down below if you think this effect is as bad as I think it is. But regardless of what you think, I at least have Amazon reviewer
Rhett G on my side. Rhett, of course, is practically world famous
for ending his 4 star Amazon review by saying: “What's unfathomable to me
is that the quality was not fixed between Book 1's original 2006 box set release, and this complete collection in 2015. It’s deplorable. A sorry state indeed.” I agree, Rhett, it is a sorry state. And an embarrassing one too
since Nick had every opportunity in the world to fix this issue
sometime during the past 16 years. But for whatever reason, they haven't. The only thing that Nick
has changed about the DVDs in more than a decade and a half
is the set’s box art. This, in my opinion,
is a true disservice to the Avatar fans who are just trying to relive
their favorite show. It wasn't until the Blu-Ray
upscaled version of the show began selling in 2018, 12 years after the fact, that fans were finally able to watch
the first four episodes of Avatar with a little bit of dignity. While the DVDs offer one way to relive
the magic of the original series, the other way to relive it is through reruns. And wouldn't you know it? Nickelodeon managed to flub
their way through those as well. According to Avatar's creators, Mike and Bryan, they initially butted heads with Nick execs about how reruns should be handled
after the show ended. You see, the network who was
mostly familiar with anthology series like “SpongeBob” and “The Fairly Odd Parents”, noticed that Avatar reruns
were performing relatively poorly. Bryke took a look at the issue. And suggested that rather
than airing the episodes at random, like Nick often did with their other shows, they should instead
air the Avatar episodes in order so that audiences could become invested
in Aang and Zuko’s stories. Rather than listening,
Nick decided to try a few other strategies. Including things like airing
all the Sokka focused episodes at once or airing all the coolest
fight scenes together, but nothing was working. So eventually they decided
to trust the creators and they just aired the episodes in order. Nick later informed Bryke
that once the change was made, Avatars ratings skyrocketed again and the show
was the number one show on the channel. Go figure. After the colossal failure that was
the 2010 movie that shall not be named, Nickelodeon decided to go back
to the Avatarverse source and directly ask Bryke for more serious ideas. Bryke pitched a concept for an animated movie that followed an older Gaang
as a search for Zuko’s lost mother. This pitch was flat out rejected by Nick. Said that they had no interest in straight to television
animated movies at the time. Now, this is a bit surprising
because if you ask most Avatar fans what future series
they'd be most excited about, adventures with an older Gaang
are usually at the top of their lists. Despite this small setback though, the network was so confident
in Bryke’s abilities that they went ahead and green lit
a 12 episode long miniseries without even needing another pitch meeting. The only requirements
for the miniseries were: A) It had to include bending,
and B) It had to be in the Avatar universe. So the rejected pitch about a movie
to find Zuko‘s mother was eventually adapted into a trilogy
of graphic novels called “The Search” while the green lit miniseries went on to become Season One
of “The Legend of Korra”. Nickelodeon mainly took a backseat regarding the development
of the sequel Avatar show. Some executives did initially express
concern over Korra being a female lead because conventional knowledge reasons
that boys would not watch shows about girls, even though girls watch shows
about boys all the time. But these fears were quickly quelled when boys who saw
early test screenings of the show just thought that Korra
was very awesome and very buff. And that's a pretty accurate assessment. So Season One of Korra
basically went off without a hitch. It wasn’t until Season Two of the show
that the network interference really began and Nick's love-hate relationship
with the franchise seemed to definitively tilt towards hate. Everyone knows
about Saturday morning cartoon. They are a staple of nearly every generation, whether they be “G.I. Joe”, “Pokemon“,
“Sailor Moon”, or “The Magic School Bus”, Saturday mornings
were the prime time for animated shows because kids who are outta school
had nothing better to do than to let their brains rot just a little bit. During its first season,
“The Legend of Korra” aired during this coveted Saturday morning slot. However, when ratings began declining
in the lead up to Season Two, Nickelodeon booted the show to air instead
on the less desirable Friday night. Nick defended the move by reasoning
that Korra's older audience of teenagers was more active during the late afternoons
than they were used to. That almost makes some sense, right? I thought so too at first, but the data clearly does not
back this reasoning at all since the viewership numbers
continued to diminish into Season Three. Now, the show was still very popular relative to other Friday night programming, just that the time slot itself
was not as popular or as populated. So why didn't Nick at some point
respond to the poor performance by moving the show back to Saturday mornings
when it had previously done very well? I'm not sure, and neither was Bryke. There were several other factors
that likely contributed to Season Three’s lackluster performance. The first of which
was a total lack of marketing. The third season of “The Legend of Korra” was announced only a week
before it premiered. One week. 7 days. That is… almost unheard-of. Especially when compared
to the modern practice of announcing new MCU projects
years before they have even begun production. In addition to only giving
the season a week of buildup, Nickelodeon also aired
Season Three episodes two at a time. Almost like they were trying to rush
through the season as quickly as possible. It's just so weird. But these previous offenses all pale
in comparison to what Nick did next. They pulled “The Legend of Korra” off the air
and made it only viewable online at nick.com. You heard that right. Nickelodeon effectively soft canceled
one of their most popular shows in the middle of its best season. Because by the way, Season Three
of “The Legend of Korra” was just… Chef's kiss. And Bryke was caught off guard too since they were only notified a few hours
before the announcement was publicly made. -Do you know of any other shows that were on-air and then in mid-season got relegated to digital? -I don't.
-I think that might be a miss. Like, that's a dubious honor. -Fans of the show
immediately began speculating as to why the unprecedented
move to digital was made. And many assumed
that their question was answered two episodes later when this happened. You think freedom is something
that you can give or take on a whim? But to your people,
freedom is just as essential as air. And without it, there is no life. There is only… darkness. Why was the show pulled from cable? Because suddenly it had become too mature
for Nickelodeon's kid friendly network. It almost made too much sense. But Mike and Bryan
have remained pretty adamant that the move online wasn't influenced
by the show's content at all. Rather, they repeatedly claimed
that the show was moved online because it performed really well online. And that by moving it there,
Nickelodeon was making an early play at the emerging online streaming market. But this doesn't make that much sense because if a show is doing
really well in one area (Cable) and extremely well in another area (Online), the solution to boosting one
isn't to just completely cut out the other. And Bryan seemed to have been
on a similar wavelength because at one point he asked: We said, “Isn't that gonna hurt the ratings
if everyone's seen it online?” And they're like, “they don’t really… Those two audiences don't really
cross over”. So I'm like, “Okay”. Listen… Nick. If we are to believe you
and the audiences don't cross over as you say, then why are you completely shutting
the door on one of those audiences? They don't cross over. It just doesn't make
any amount of sense, but I digress. As I mentioned before,
on the scale from Love to Hate, Nickelodeon was definitely
sending “The Legend of Korra” a whole bunch of mixed signals. And it only gets more convoluted
in Korra's final season. Season Four of “The Legend of Korra”
also aired exclusively online. But regardless of that,
production went pretty well until the network unexpectedly slashed an entire episode's worth of budget
from the final season. We're talking a budget slash to the tunes of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Maybe even a million. This is once again bizarre behavior from Nick. Not only was “The Legend of Korra”
still a very popular show with a very energetic fan base,
but now (according to Nick), the show was supposedly the face
of their entire online streaming strategy. Someone might wanna tell
Nickelodeon executives that it is usually not a great idea
to shoot yourself directly in the foot. The budget cuts presented Bryke
with two paths forward. They could: 1. Fire a bunch of their staff early. Or 2. Make a “clips” episode. Being such wholesome guys,
they never even considered the first option. So that leaves the question, what exactly is a clips episode
and how are they made? Basically, clips episodes are a sitcom trope where all the characters sit around
and say: “Hey, you remember when…?” Followed by a montage of highlight clips
from the show's previous seasons. It's kind of like the Emerald Island play
from “Avatar: The Last Airbender”, but without all the new animation
and innovative ideas. Clips episodes usually get a bad rep
for being pointless and self-indulgent and Bryke was not happy
about having to make one. They were so unhappy in fact,
that right before the episode aired (online), Bryan publicly posted to his Tumblr
to explain the situation and to preemptively apologize
for the clips written episode: “Remembrances”. In his post, Bryan threw a lot
of not-so-subtle shade towards the network. And despite “Remembrances”
definitely feeling a bit off compared to the rest of the season,
Bryke was still able to keep it interesting. The final bit of network interference
concerning “The Legend of Korra” involved the onscreen depiction of Korra
and Asami's romantic relationship. Keep in mind,
the final season of Korra aired in 2014. Although it was only a few years ago, it was a vastly,
vastly different era for LGBT rights. For context: At the time, only 18 countries out of 193
had legalized same sex marriage and the United States
was not one of those 18 countries. It wasn't legal in the United States
until six months after Korra ended in July, 2015. All that to say
that while it's not too surprising that while Nick was supportive
of the idea of Korrasami, there were a lot of limitations involving
how the romance was allowed to be shown. Basically meaning that it wasn't allowed
to be shown. Like at all. During the final moments of the season finale when Korra and Asami entered
the spirit portal holding hands, it's no wonder why so many people felt like the romance
had come completely outta left field. Because it kind of did, but by necessity. Yes, when revisiting the show,
there were definitely strings and subtle hints sprinkled throughout the series,
pointing towards the idea of romance. But you can't blame someone
for initially missing them because they were so small. I do not necessarily blame Nick
for censoring Korrasami because it was a needle
that had to be threaded very careful. For another example, the show “Adventure Time” faced a similar obstacle
over on Cartoon Network. Only a month prior
to Korra’s Season Four premiered, Adventure Time's creator
confirmed during a book signing the female characters Princess Bubblegum
and Marceline had previously dated. While the news got cheers from the
small audience attending the book signing, Adventure Time’s creator
had to further explain that the relationship could never
actually be shown on the show because of its illegality
in so many countries. This was the exact same pressure
that Mike and Bryan faced with Korrasami. So confirming the same-sex relationship at all
was a giant gamble, one that seems to have paid off because Korra is now celebrated
as a beacon for queer representation. Additionally, during
Adventure Time’s finale 4 years later, times had already changed so much
that the show's creator finally felt confident enough
to show this on screen. After Nickelodeon's blatant mishandling
of the later seasons of Korra and with no new plans
for the Avatar franchise on the horizon, fans begin to question
the network's ulterior motives. Some began to imagine a world
where Disney bought the franchise and continued to produce
big budget Avatar series. Others took to signing
a 2015 change.org petition that argued for Nickelodeon
to license the franchise to Netflix. The petition, which stated
that the possibilities are endless and is practically guaranteed that the show
would be successful in Netflix, turned out to be right in a huge way. In the summer of 2020,
“Avatar: The Last Airbender” became available on Netflix
in the United States. What I'm sure Nick thought would be
a big splash for the nostalgic show turned into a tsunami
as the show captivated the world at large. The 2005 animated kids' show
went on to break the record to become the longest running series
to stay on Netflix's top 10 chart, beating “Tiger King”,
“Stranger Things”, and everything else. It was an extraordinary success,
and Nick was definitely taking notes. Current president of Nickelodeon and recently appointed CEO
of all of Paramount Pictures, Brian Robbins recently revealed that a big part
of ViacomCBS's current day strategy is licensed content. And by the way, for those who are unaware, ViacomCBS is Nickelodeon
and Paramount's parent company. Yay, monopolies! Back to Brian Robbins. He explained that Viacom's main goal right now is to boost the number of subscribers
to Paramount+, their streaming service. Viacom's tried and true method of getting
extra eyeballs on their shiny new service is to first license content
to the bigger players like Netflix so that these shows can attract new audiences. Then, once everyone watches
the old show on Netflix and becomes hooked, Viacom ends the license and makes the show
and all future content from the franchise exclusive to Paramount+ subscribers. Viacom did this with “iCarly”,
and now they're doing it with Avatar. Gotta love corporate America. So when Avatar became the biggest show
on the planet during the summer of 2020, Nickelodeon's dream of having their very own Harry Potter-esque money machine
came roaring back. Suddenly, Nickelodeon
was firmly planting themselves back on the Love side of the love-hate equation. That's where they'd like to stay. Nickelodeon immediately hit up
Mike and Bryan with a new offer. Not for a new show or a new movie, but for a new studio
completely under Bryke's control. Avatar Studios
is an extremely ambitious effort to once again turn the Avatarverse franchise
into a household name. Bryke will be juggling
multiple projects at once. Including movies and TV shows,
books and video games, animation and live action, past, present, and future
reincarnations of the Avatar. Viacom recently offered
the creators of South Park a very similar deal for the development
of Paramount+ exclusives. There's no word on the precise
monetary value of the Avatar Studio's deal, but given the show’s new status
as a bankable franchise alongside the confirmed $900 million that Viacom just gave
South Park's creator for a similar deal, I have no doubt that Mike and Bryan
are finally getting their due. Because whether the Nickelodeon
loves Avatar or whether they hate it, at the end of the day,
one thing has always been true. Money talks. And right now people are screaming
for more “Avatar: The Last Airbender”. So there you have it.
That was my first ever YouTube video. It took a while to make,
and it is much longer than I expected it to be. And I am definitely not used
to the sound of my own voice, but if you made it all the way through
and can even hear this message, then just go ahead and press subscribe,
ring the bell and all that because you clearly like Avatar and clearly appreciate
in-depth analysis about Avatar. And that's basically
what I'm going to be doing here. This video was more about production
and how the franchise was created, but future videos
are gonna talk about Avatar lore and Easter eggs and secrets and stuff like. So if you love Avatar,
then you are in the right place. Captions by Nicosubs.
