The History of Cartoon Network

[Music] all right Cartoon Network one of the most popular and successful animation channels in the history of television from un conventional Beginnings to Breaking the mold there is no denying the impact that Cartoon Network has had on the world of Animation it was willing to invest in new creators early on and support their ideas to go beyond their initial lineup of Hannah Barbara and MGM shows and the final result a wave of brilliant and Timeless cartoons their 25th anniversary will be this year that's a quarter Century of entertainment and I think it's worthy of discussion to see how it has impacted and continues to shape the animation industry so let's take a closer look at the history of Cartoon Network before we jump into it I want to give a quick shout out to our sponsor Verve a new app from the people over at Crunchyroll Verve is home to your favorite channels it's a way for viewers to discover more content from creators they all know and love and support their newest creation stick around until the end of the video to learn more and get a free 7-Day trial by clicking on the link in the description all right let's get to it when it comes to timelines Cartoon Network's history can be split up in two different ways first there is the logo timeline this is divided into eras that are based on different bumpers in graphical elements of its period it began with the checkerboard era followed by Powerhouse CN City yes summer 2007 fall nudes check it and dimensional as you can see there is some overlap between these eras and that can be somewhat confusing the other timeline is based on who is in charge at Cartoon Network at the time there is the Cohen era the samples era the Snider era and the Miller era in my opinion this timeline is much easier to follow since there is no overlap so we're going to roll with this one but none of these timelines would be possible if it wasn't for one eccentric businessman Ted Turner well you know they primarily children watch cartoons but but but but adults watch cartoons too in fact in the evening on the average evening more people more adults are tuned to the Cartoon Network they tuned to CNN Ted's origin in the world of business began when he inherited his father's billboard company in 1963 sadly it was through unpleasant means as his father committed suicide and left Ted holding the door but Ted took the company by the horns and led it to Prosperity with his new wealth he started to purchase radio stations he then sold them off in 1969 in order to acquire wjj a TV station located in Atlanta Georgia it was a floundering company at the time that held little promise but Ted was going to turn that around tell television began to grow rapidly and Ted was able to profit off of that W jrj eventually became wtbs a Powerhouse channel that featured classic shows Sports and old cartoons in 1980 Ted launched the Cable News Network AKA CNN a 24/7 News Channel that many people initially doubted I mean why would a person need access to the news any time of the day just watch it in the evening right times were changing though and people were starting to appreciate access to the news any time of the day the formula for CNN would eventually lend itself over to Cartoon Network another 247 content channel in 1986 TBS bought MGM UA for 1.5 billion the acquisition did not go smoothly though as there was enormous debt yet on Ted's end it forced him to sell off parts of his purchase and after only 74 days he sold M MGM back to its original owners but he was able to keep a good chunk of mgm's film and television Library when I bought MGM I got the cartoons too got the MGM cartoons and uh see there was another cartoon Library we got the United the the uh Warner Brothers pr50 cartoons Cor had those too and when I bought the Warner pr50 movies which was Casablanca we got 500 uh the early Bugs Bunny cartoons uh Elmer fud and then we got Tom and Jerry with the MGM cartoons so I had a thousand theatrical cartoons which was about 60% or 65% of all the theatrical cartoons that had been made up to that time and that was good because they they're Timeless you know Bugs Bunny's still good even without a cell phone in 1991 Turner purchased Hannah Barbara another well-known Animation Studio it featured characters such as Scooby-Doo Yogi Bear The Flintstones and many many others Ted now owned the majority of popular cartoon characters in the world and would even go on to create some of his own but for the library that he acquired it only made sense to create a channel where all of these cartoons can be watched all day every day the first era for Cartoon Network was the Cohen era they call it that because the channel was under the command of Betty Cohan the first president of Cartoon Network previously Betty worked as a director of onair promotion at Nickelodeon and then was a general manager at TNT but in January of 1992 she had a chance to be in charge of her own network she said that her goal was to be the most creative brand for anim entertainment with over 8,500 hours of vintage cartoons they had plenty of content to work with and on October 1st 1992 Cartoon Network was officially launched we're talking tun here in order to master the fine art of talking tun you must feel the spoing be the bo enjoy the BAM inside of you and splat there you have it blame no you want the best cartoons the coolest characters 24 hours a day Bo bam Bo bam SP now you're talking tune on the world's first Cartoon Network we're talking tune here Cartoon Network which was originally called The Cartoon Network was initially available in over 2 million homes but those numbers would rapidly increase in the coming years now Cohen understood the importance of marketing and establishing a brand that was their goal right out the gate and they started to advertise on their sister networks it slices it dices it stirs and Fries it's the world's first Cartoon Network and it will do almost everything but wait there's more a 24-hour supply of your favorite toptoon Stars while you'll be talking tune in no time flat it's all the viewing excitement your family deserves and more the Cartoon Network Bugs Bunny The Flintstones the Jetson Space Ghost Tom and Jerry Cartoon Network had plenty of Firepower and they used it they typically aired the cartoons and blocks but also had some unique segments such as ton heads a show that featured trivia about classic cartoons you could truly see the creativity that was coming from the network they were willing to try new and crazy things in order to grow their brand the checkerboard logo the goofy bumpers it was firing on all cylinders and was making a name for itself in 1993 Cartoon Network aired a Bugs Bunny Marathon called June bugs and was temporarily number one in ratings they knew how to put a tasteful spin on their vintage properties and that led to some amazing results they even had a contest to see who was the best cartoon mom Wilma Flinstone Jane jettson or race Bannon guess who won but on April 15th 1994 Cartoon Network premiered its first fully produced show Space Ghost Coast to Coast a parody talk show of the Hannah Barbara superhero and it was a massive success but you're supposed to be in jail yeah and you're supposed to be dumpster diving for ham scraps you six-piece chicken MCN nobody get out of my seat this wasn't the first original series on Cartoon Network that title belongs to The Moxy Show but Space Ghost was the one that made the network stand out as in it wasn't just a channel for old cartoons Cartoon Network had original ideas of their own and they were starting to grow on October 21st 1994 Cartoon Network Studios was founded and on January 20th 1995 World premiere Tunes made its debut though it would eventually be called what a cartoon now this show played a very important role in the growth of the channel Cartoon Network wanted to recapture the old magic that led to the creation of its vintage shows and that required High budgets and artistic freedom for its creators but this was a smart investment these young artists were able to create quality shorts that could be showcased on the network to see what cartoons had potential and resonated With Their audience this led to the creation of some of the best shows on the network Dexter's Lab the Powerpuff Girls Johnny Bravo Courage the Cowardly Dog heck there was even an early version of Family Guy though it was never picked up wow a dog that speaks English what you know and I once had a Jack Russell teret that spoke Dutch but I I couldn't understand the word he was saying Cartoon Network saw the success that Nickelodeon had with its Nick tunes and they desired the same to have both classic and new cartoons Betty Cohan was very supportive of this direction and was a big fan of Dexter's Lab this show created by the legendary gendy tarkovski was the first spin-off from what a cartoon and on April 28th 1996 Dexter's Lab made its official debut on Cartoon Network it was a massive success one that built confidence and was soon followed by other popular shows they were fun they were energetic and they reflected the animations of old this new wave was dubbed cartoon cartoons and it really improved the Network's brand less than 2 years after its launch Cartoon Network was one of the most popular channels on Cable and would only continue to grow in 1996 Turner merged with Time Warner now cartoon Network had access to all of Warner's library and not just the post 1950 stuff they also had access to DC and the new cartoons from Warner Brothers at this point Cartoon Network's library was outstanding and one wondered how it could possibly get any better getting late boredom setting in nothing's on and you're too tired to hit the sack don't worry we're here for you I can't hold them off much longer let's do you see my power every Saturday at midnight T is taking over the TV resistance 5 hours of your favorite tunami program in 1997 tunami arrived and was another wonderful addition to the network for many Western audiences anime wasn't too accessible but now they could watch it on Cartoon Network Sailor Moon Voltron Dragon Ball Z all complimented by a chilled out Space theme with a cool robot host called Tom in June of 1999 cartoon cartoon Fridays launched it was a popular block of programming that featured premieres new episodes and reruns of original series from the network is that it not that is not it at this point the new programming was overshadowing the classics this wasn't n necessarily a bad thing though and Cartoon Network still aired their vintage shows on their schedule but in April of 2000 many of these old properties were moved over to Boomerang the retirement home for Cartoon Network this is Boomerang from Cartoon Network in 2001 Cartoon Network was at the top of their game it was one of the most popular cable channels profits were soaring it had original programming that not only rivaled but surpassed Nickelodeon all in all things were really good and seemed to be maintaining that direction but on July 16th 2001 Betty Cohan announced that she would be stepping down from Cartoon Network it's hard to say why Betty left Cartoon Network was there a disagreement between EX Executives maybe another Network offered her a better deal who's to say but the fact remained Cartoon Network lost its leader so what now who was going to step up and take the Reigns enter Jim samples just like Betty Jim 2 had experience at Turner entertainment and was promoted to lead Cartoon Network after Betty resigned this was a first for Cartoon Network and people held their breath to see what would happen next but fortunately things were initially in good hands and the first major breakthrough for Jim was Adult Swim no kids under 17 though so that's new too Sunday at 10 Adult Swim on Cartoon Network launched on September 2nd 2001 Adult Swim is a programming block of mature content for older audiences since most kids were going to bed at night it only made sense to introduce an evening segment for adults one filled with original programs reruns anime and sketch comedy it's free real estate Adult Swim had its own brand that evolved over the years one that started with swimming pools but eventually gave way to a black backdrop with a white font it is a very successful block and remains popular to this day in 2002 Cartoon Network released its first film with the Powerpuff Girls movie directed by the show's Creator Craig McCracken the movie performed modestly it wasn't a Smash Hit but it was a good step forward another great addition to the network was the introduction of the CN City bumpers it was the new branding image for the network and featured different cartoon characters interacting with one another you seem to like like black shirts quite a lot and it looks like you like it in pink oh I'm just saying oops sorry about that now this isn't to say that this was a first for the network they had plenty of interesting crossover bumpers but now all of these Tunes had a city of their their own hey hey why don't you use some chemical a the years went on and some shows came to an end but there were some new contenders Samurai Jack Billy and Mandy Fosters Home for Imaginary Friends the network still had quality content to offer but around 2006 Cartoon Network started to go in a different direction in December of 2006 Cartoon Network aired its first liveaction movie reanimated we're all in your head ex SE pickles he's in your ear reanimated premier's Friday December 8th on Cartoon Network it wasn't all liveaction and featured some cartoon characters but this was Uncharted Territory for the network the channel was primarily for animation but it was starting to give way to this new trend now many people have blamed the f in president Stuart Snider for this creeping change at Cartoon Network but it officially began under Jim samples era in 2006 reanimated would eventually get its own Series in 2007 called out of Jimmy's Head there were also other liveaction shows on the way when asked about the lineup of shows Jim said most of the stuff coming through the pipeline is animation but you shouldn't be surprised to see more live action programming but we're predominantly an animated Network and that's not changing anytime soon According to some sources many of these shows were never completed due to the 20072 2008 Writers Guild strike but this would not stop Cartoon Network from trying again in the near future but in February of 2007 Jim samples resigned from Cartoon Network following a bomb scare in Boston photographs documented 17 sites where the devices were planted and later found at the tops of buildings under bridges at Fenway Park all across the city this little creature that lights up in the dark and makes an obscene gesture is on his website it was also found over the entryway to a comic book store in Alon in an effort to promote aquatine Hunger Force packages were left all over the city and that created a panic for Jim this was the perfect time to leave Cartoon Network as I have already said Cartoon Network was beginning to accept liveaction shows into its roster this began with Jim samples but would truly evolve under Stuart Snider the new president of Cartoon Network steuart stepped in after Jim resigned and took control in May of 2007 he wanted to continue the live action trend for Cartoon Network and rumor has it that he wanted to bring Golf and military training shows to the network fortunately that never happened but 2009 was the year of live action shows with the programming block CN real real kids doing real stuff in real situations Wednesday nights on C and real brain rush destroy Bill destroy dude what would happen these shows were not successful on the network and most of them came to a quick end the CN real segment was discontinued in 2010 with most of the liveaction shows ending around the same time in 2017 the CN City era came to an end and the channel tried its hand with other types of branding yes summer 2007 nudes they were going through these images quite quickly and seemed to be Treading Water many of the original shows from the 9s and early 2000s were coming to an end and were moved off the network but there was hope in 2008 a new project was announced called cartoon stute it was the spiritual successor to what a cartoon and had the same goal in mind to find the next wave of New Creations headed by Craig McCracken and Rob renetti this was a recipe for success but it never officially saw the light of day the project was scrapped and only 14 of the 39 shorts were completed Uncle Grandpa and Regular Show were two of those 14 shows and were able to find a spot on Cartoon Network but most of the rest were uploaded to Cartoon Network's website in 2007 cartoon cartoon Fridays came to an end tunami soon followed in 2008 and most of the old shows were being cleared out an interesting addition to the channel was made in 2008 with the quied programming from telet Tunes a Canadian television channel 16 Total Drama Island Johnny Test some of these shows found moderate success but were much lower quality when compared to Cartoon Network's original programming Mr teacher man says you're not paying attention in class he's got it in for me he's way nasty crazy and very unattractive Cartoon Network has had some good animated shows of their own though such as Flapjack and chowder there was also a lot of promise with a new series called simionic Titan but it never found success overall many people look at Snider's era as the Dark Age for Cartoon Network old shows were removed new shows were not as good liveaction programs were pushed beloved segments were cancelled the first few years for Snider were pretty rough but things would start to turn around in 2010 with the arrival of some popular [Music] [Applause] cartoons in 2007 Nickelodeon made the mistake of turning down Adventure Time the idea for the show was then pitched to Cartoon Network and was made into a full series it premiered in 2010 and was incredibly successful Regular Show soon followed and made its debut on September 6 2010 despite the bizarre choices and mistakes made by Cartoon Network this was somewhat the turning point and the channel would slowly enter a Renaissance period in the coming years didn't to bring in Superior anime action yeah tun to Cate Tom's return to television in May of 2012 tunami returned to the network and has remained ever since other popular shows arrived and gave Cartoon Network a new but familiar look The Amazing World of Gumball Clarence Steven Universe it was nice to see the Network return to its roots old fans were turning new fans were staying things were starting to turn around but in 2014 Snider had a falling out with President David Levy at Turner entertainment this led to his removal at Cartoon Network in July of 2014 Christina Miller was named the new president of Cartoon Network prior to this she worked at Turner and was in charge of young adults consumer products she also worked with the sports marketing department at this point there isn't much to say about Christina while being interviewed she said that she was excited for the new Powerpuff Girls and the message it would send to young people but the show was met with much criticism it wasn't made by its original Creator and has abandoned its original formula instead of being a superhero show it's more Slice of Life and has a modern spin on it you need someone to sing so bad you do it no my gooa the network also seems to be stuck on Teen Titans Go and continues to push that as their Premier cartoon ironic considering that it's not even an original series from the network Studio but there have been some good decisions such as the return of Samurai Jack despite being only 10 episodes long it was met with high praise and set the bar for reboots and reimaginings on the network that's 50 credits Bud trust me babe I'm good for it yeah well the last guy I trusted did this to me oh it's all good Baboo I c will give me anything once he hears the [Music] news whoa what a freak look like a turing penis from what I can tell though the main push from Miller has been more of a digital one to connect Their audience via the Internet and interact with them online a big change that might be occurring soon is a possible merger between Turner Time Warner and AT&T but it's still in negotiations and might be turned down by the US government if it is approved though I'm not sure what it will do to Cartoon Network hopefully it will just maintain status quo no 0000 0 graas at I don't understand what you're saying overall Cartoon Network is now in a much better place yeah it might not have the same feel as the old days but it has vastly improved when compared to 2008 many of its major shows though are starting to come to an end Regular Show finished in January of 2017 Adventure Time will be ending in 2018 and I imagine other cartoons will soon follow suit but there are some new shows that hold promise and there's also quite the selection of pilot cartoons for the network to work with all in all Cartoon Network was a major step forward for both animation and cable television it became home for the cartoons of old a place where they could connect with a new Young audience but also reacquaint themselves with the fans they grew up with it was a place for young bold creators to spread their wings and share their ideas to the world where new artists were given the chance to pursue their Creations this led to the birth of a new wave of Animation one that gave Cartoon Network an original image and allowed them to grow they had their good times they had their bad times but they were never afraid to try new things to put their faith in people and see where it takes them Cartoon Network will always hold a special place in the heart of its viewers past present and future hey guys just wanted to give another shout out to the sponsor of this video Verve you can download The Verve app now on Xbox PlayStation iOS or Android by clicking on the link in the description it has all of your favorite anime both subbed or dubbed in 1080P right now Attack on Titan season 2 has me on the edge of my seat and my hero Academia season 2 is helping me get my superhero fix both of these shows are available via crunchy roll and FUNimation and if you sign up for the combo pack you can watch everything ad free plus some other awesome content like cartoon hangovers be and cat Bravest Warriors or rooster teeth's Ruby it's a great way to support your favorite creators so what are you waiting for check out the link in the description to get a 7-Day free trial of The Verve combo pack and start watching your favorite shows on whatever device you want today [Music] n

Channel: Saberspark

Views: 865,216

Keywords: history of cartoon network, cartoon network, history, saberspark, saber, cartoons, animation, analysis, video essay, nicktoons, nickelodeon, teen titans go, steven universe, what ruined cartoon network

Id: 3qcqdjC6U6U

Length: 30min 16sec (1816 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 01 2017