Inspired by a thread that I read while lurking on Toon Zone, I thought that I would pose this purely hypothetical question: What would Cartoon Network be like today if the Adult Swim block had never entered the picture? What would CN be airing during the hours after 9PM? Would Boomerang still be just a program block airing during the wee hours instead of the sister channel/recycle bin for CN than it is now? Would shows like O, Canada, Toon Heads, Space Ghost: Coast to Coast, Cartoon Planet and Late Night Black and White still be around? Would CN's prime time lineup extend past 9PM? Would shows like The Boondocks, The Oblongs, Aqua Teen Hunger Force and Harvey Birdman: Attorney At Law have even aired on Toon at all without AS? Where would shows like Delocated, Children's Hospital or Eagleheart have gone if there had been no AS block? Would would CN's weekend schedule be like? The mind boggles.
Here's what I would do if I were running a Cartoon Network without Adult Swim: I would extinguish the Boomerang channel and have Boom go back to being a program block on Cartoon Network. CN prime-time would run from 8PM to 11PM Monday through Friday, and then Boomerang (again, the program block, not the channel) would run on weeknights from 11PM to 6AM. On weekends I would resurrect an evening premiere block (similar to the now defunct You Are Here or Toonmai, except with a unified brand name) which would air on weekends from 10PM to about 2AM (or possibly the block could premiere during the prime time hours and have encores during the late night hours). Friday nights would be for comedy premieres, Saturday nights would be for action premieres and Sunday nights would be adult night, airing such shows as the aforementioned Space Ghost: C2C, The Oblongs, Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Robot Chicken and the like. I'd like to give each night for this block a catchy name like The Hub's "Saturday Mash-Up" (with "Crack-Up", "Smash-Up", "Team-Up", etc.), but I haven't thought of a good name yet.
Anyways, I would call the after 11PM CN schedule by the handle CNPM, inspired by an idea of my brother's. The logo bug on the corner of the screen would be the current CN logo with an additional blue tile with the letters P and M printed in white in the same CN font.
Thoughts?
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Procrastinators unite....tomorrow.
(This post was edited by SpaceDemon on Feb 17, 2012, 9:05 AM)
Re: What if Adult Swim had never happened?
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Suffice to say that Cartoon Network would be vastly different had Adult Swim never entered the picture. I admit that I'm not a fan of most of the current AS' programming, save for Aqua Teen and Robot Chicken, and even then I think their earlier seasons are vastly superior to their current ones, but there's no denying the cultural impact that AS has had on CN and on late-night TV in general. Adult Swim was mainly responsible for bringing Family Guy and Futurama back from the dead, it introduced Cowboy Bebop, InuYahsa, Yu Yu Hakusho and Bleach to mainstream American audiences (though the latter 3 could've also made it on Toonami had circumstances been different), it gave The Boondocks a home after FOX got cold feet and decided not to air it, it gave The Venture Brothers a place to stay after Comedy Central passed on it and it introduced mainstream viewers to shows like Mission Hill and The Oblongs, subjecting them to much bigger audiences than they ever had (or ever would have) on the WB.
I think it's also safe to say that had there been no Adult Swim, there likely would have also been no Adventure Time, Regular Show, Secret Mountain Fort Awesome, Problem Solverz or even MAD on Cartoon Network. So while I can't say specifically what CN would be like today without Adult Swim, it's a safe bet that it would be a very, very different CN than the one we know today.
Now if the question becomes "What would CN do if Adult Swim were suddenly out of the picture?", like say, AS became its' own channel like so many people want, again, only Stuart Snyder knows what they'd actually do, but here's what I'd do:
I'd restructure CN slightly, setting it up similar to early Teletoon, with the broadcasting day starting out light with kiddie fare and progressively airing more mature fare as the day progresses, with older kids and teen-centric shows airing in the afternoons, general audience-suitable shows airing in the evenings from 8PM to 10PM, and the more mature fare airing at night.
I'd have a sort of Adult Swim lite block called 'Toons At 10', inspired by an idea of Space Demon's, consisting of edgier cartoons like The Oblongs and Duckman, which would air from 10PM to 11PM, or perhaps a 60-minute action cartoon block, then from 11PM to 6AM I'd run retro CN programming, former CN shows like Dexter, Cow & Chicken, Johnny Bravo, etc., combined with some classic heavy-hitters like The Flintstones, The Jetsons, Scooby-Doo and Looney Tunes, MGM and Popeye shorts.
Re: What if Adult Swim had never happened?
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Without Adult Swim...FOX's "Animation Domination" wouldn't be the same.
Since 3 of the shows are made by Seth McFarlane ("Family Guy", "American Dad", and "Cleveland Show") and "Family Guy" got revived in 2005 because of the popularity on Adult Swim.
And SpaceDemon reminded me that "Futurama" regained popularity on Adult Swim, if "The Simpsons" went to Adult Swim rather than "Futurama"...it'd be different.
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Thank God for kids who love obscure things-Lee Hazelwood (1929-2007)
Re: What if Adult Swim had never happened?
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In Reply To
Space Demon reminded me that "Futurama" regained popularity on Adult Swim, if "The Simpsons" went to Adult Swim rather than "Futurama"...it'd be different.
It would be especially different if there never was and Adult Swim for it to go to, like in SD's original scenario. If Cartoon Network had never launched an adult programming block, Futurama might have gone to FX instead, while The Simpsons probably would have just stayed in syndication.
Williams Street in all likelihood didn't have the bank to acquire The Simpsons based on what FOX apparently wanted for it; the show is FOX's biggest cash cow and if it had gone to AS, then there would've been no point in running the show on local and syndicated markets, since then it wouldn't have been exclusive.
Also, no Adult Swim would've also meant no Sealab 2021, no Brak Show, no Harvey Birdman: Attorney At Law and no stoner-heavy Space Ghost: Coast to Coast episodes, since the AS lineup and all of WS's other H-B funhouse mirror shows were spawned by the success of SG:C2C. Space Ghost would've probably just remained a kid-friendly parody of his former self on Cartoon Network and his 2 shows would've simply died out after a while.
Re: What if Adult Swim had never happened?
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Without Adult Swim...FOX's "Animation Domination" wouldn't be the same.
FOX would still have "Animation Domination", but with no Adult Swim, it's unlikely that Family Guy would be part of the block today, since FG was only brought back from the abyss because of the sudden wave of popularity that the show received after the reruns began airing on AS. If Cartoon Network had never created an adult animation block, then the reruns of FG would have gone somewhere else. Most likely to FX, but it may have just gone to syndication, assuming that the pre-cancellation FG had enough episodes to go into syndication, that is.
I don't know what the ratings/viewership for FX are, so I don't know if the reruns of FG would have blown up on FX the way that they did on AS. All I know is that it was the FOX animated sitcom reruns which made AS a formidable brand on weeknights, so it can be assumed that AS would still be airing on weekends only if the FOX acquisitions had never been obtained by Williams Street.
Getting back to the point, I was told that Aqua Teen Hunger Force was originally planned as a G-rated Cartoon Network series before the Adult Swim block was launched. If AS had never happened, it's likley that ATHF wouldn't have been made over into a TV-PG rated show and would likely have just aired on weekends after Space Ghost: Coast to Coast, which ran on Toon before there was an Adult Swim.
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if "The Simpsons" went to Adult Swim rather than "Futurama"...it'd be different.
Honestly, I don't think that Cartoon Network would even have been in the running to acquire The Simpsons or Futurama if the Adult Swim block didn't exist. Where would CN put The Simpsons if they had acquired it? It would seem weird seeing The Simpsons airing alongside of reruns of Yogi Bear and Popeye. Keep in mind that Turner Broadcasting also owns TBS, so they could have aired them on that channel.
It's also likely that more recent cartoons such as Adventure Time, Regular Show and the now defunct Robotomy wouldn't have aired on CN at all if Adult Swim didn't happen first; those shows would never had been able to get away with the content if AS hadn't dissolved the barriers and made it possible for Turner to program for shows with a higher than TV-Y7 rating. No AS would also mean no acquisitions from Canada such Total Drama Island and 6Teen. Even as it is, some episodes of 6Teen had to have "questionable content" removed from them before CN US would air them (One episode contained a reference to homosexuality which was removed, while another episode which dealt with mensturation never aired on CN).
It's also unlikely that live action series like Childrens' Hospital, Delocated and Eagleheart would have aired on CN without an Adult Swim block to air them on. Those shows managed to get aired without receiving much flack from viewers because they're airing on a program block which for legal reasons is considered a separate network which doesn't contain the word 'cartoon' in it's brand name.
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Procrastinators unite....tomorrow.
(This post was edited by SpaceDemon on Feb 20, 2012, 10:56 AM)
Re: What if Adult Swim had never happened?
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Where would shows like Delocated, Children's Hospital or Eagleheart have gone if there had been no AS block?
In the absence of an Adult Swim block (or in the event of a re-branding like the one I mentioned in my initial post), I'd move those live-action "comedies" over to TBS, possibly have Family Guy and/or American Dad air at midnight after Conan, then follow that with the Tim & Eric, Delocated, Ealgeheart, Childrens' Hospital et al shows. That would add some much needed variety to TBS' schedule, since currently aside from Conan and the occasional movie or TV's Funniest Commercials special, TBS literally shows nothing but 80s through 90's sitcom reruns.
Re: What if Adult Swim had never happened?
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TBS only has two series that started in the 80s and dedicates most hours to shows that had the majority of their episodes in the past 10 years.
If AS kicked the bucket the live action comedies would probably just get cancelled. I agree that moving AS shows to TBS would add some much needed variety but TBS doesn't air non-mainstream comedy. Not only that, they seem to avoid TV-MA programming as well. So while they can run American Dad around lunch time, theh couldn't air Robot Chicken's MA episodes at any time of the day unless they loosened up a lot. It is kind of funny that Turner's most content heavy programming resides on their childrens network. They should probably fix that.
CN would take a substantial ratings loss without Family Guy and American Dad but if you look at Disney that runs family friendly programming all night still, I think it is fair to say CN could do the same and not do worse than many networks operating in those hours. There a probably some stoners out there who would rather watch Regular Show and Adventure Time than anything AS has produced recently. Maybe they could go the sitcom method with The Flintstones filling in late nights for FOX reruns but probably few vintage series would draw a crowd comparable to what AS did. If AS is out of picture they'd just have to do the best they could not to lose kids to Disney, DXD and Nicktoons or adults to NAN, TBS, FX, CC and particularly whoever took Family Guy and American Dad of their hands.
I'm somewhat on the fense as for what to do with CN's overnight hours. Boomerang may not yield the best results but they could maybe mix some oldies in with some newer shows. PT should run until 10 or 11 and then they could do two or 3 hours of lower draw kids shows with adult appeal followed by some classics and perhaps late night airings of some current CN hits. Maybe some early morning Flintstones and Looney Tunes for the early rising working stiffs. Seems to be working at 6 am but the 4-6 am seems even better for that.
If the AS originals are still on tap then maybe they could have late nights on weekends. Friday and Saturday are actually the most ideal for attracting Adult Swim's low brow humor audience. They just got home from social outtings and are probably drunk so they are looking for cheap laughs and senseless violence. What better time to air Robot Chicken and Aqua Teen Hunger Force? Sunday night is not ideal after about 1 am or midnight because people have work in the morning.
Cartoon Network has a good thing going with weeknight premieres trying to beat Disney and Nick on Friday and Saturday is a fools gamble right now. They are better off airing movies or reruns both nights but with 3 hours or more PT a night they can fit all their premieres on Monday-Thursday. Only naive nostalgics pine for comedy premieres on Friday. Action on Saturday might pan out because it is counter programming but Friday comedy should remain fond memories unless Nick and Disney change their premiere strategies. I see the suggestion for 10 pm premieres for kids and I'd say that's prettg late for a substantial premiere even on weekends. Maybe for series that do better with teens or adults than kids but not stuff like Adventure Time and Gumball or even Regular Show and The Looney Tunes Show. That is after Disney finishes its' premieres but CN would still get better ratings on weekdays 8 pm - 10 pm.
Lastly the anime on AS could be incorporated for the most part into a night time action allotment if only on Saturday from around 10 pm or 11 pm till 2 am because unlike the folks scheduling AS, I see opportunity for raunchy comedy in those post 2 am hours. If it means some anime drop off, then so be it but they really only need six slots without encores for Bleach, Fullmetal, InuYasha, the newest series, Cowboy Bebop and Ghost in the Shell. Even less if InuYasha and Fullmetal aired on weekdays at 1 am or something. I'd be pretty willing to put the dog boy down soon and GitS is streaming so it could go too. As I happen to like anime I would want to leave some of it if possible but what kind of ratings they can get will be the decidimg factor on how much time they are granted.
So for AS type programming I'd go with 1 am or 2 am till 5 am on Friday and Saturday and 10 pm or 11 pm until 2 am or 3 am on Sunday.
If the goal is to remove all TV-MA programming then AS series would go to another venue, get cancelled or retooled and no anime with TV-MA episodes would remain. But if they drop MA they may as well avoid TV-14 as well and that would mean no AS leftovers other than maybe Home Movies and some episodes of SGC2C if that.
(This post was edited by Aniki on Mar 14, 2012, 3:29 AM)
If Cartoon Network had never launched an adult programming block, Futurama might have gone to FX instead, while The Simpsons probably would have just stayed in syndication. 
