Cartoon Network

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The current Cartoon Network logo, was used in North America since June 14, 2004, in Latin America since January 1, 2005, and in Europe since April 11, 2005.

Cartoon Network is a cable television channel created by Turner Broadcasting and dedicated to showing animated programming. It premiered on October 1, 1992 in the United States, and September 17, 1993 in the United Kingdom.

History

USA

By the end of the 1980s, Ted Turner's cable TV conglomerate had acquired the MGM film library (which included the older catalog of Warner Bros. cartoons), and its cable channel Turner Network Television had gained an audience with its film library. In 1991, they purchased animation studio Hanna-Barbera Productions and acquired its large library. The Cartoon Network channel was created as an outlet for Turner's considerable library of animation, and the initial programming on the channel consisted exclusively of re-runs of classic Warner Bros. and MGM cartoons, with many Hanna-Barbera TV cartoons used as time fillers.

In 1996, Time Warner purchased Turner Broadcasting, and the Cartoon Network came under their corporate umbrella. This provided still more material for the Cartoon Network, as the channel now had access to the Warner Bros. cartoon library from the 1950s and 1960s.

Time Warner changed the direction of Hanna-Barbera Productions, and focused the studio exclusively on creating new material for the Cartoon Network channel. Among the numerous shows the studio has produced are Dexter's Laboratory (1996), Johnny Bravo (1997), Cow and Chicken (1997), and The Powerpuff Girls (1998).

The old Cartoon Network logo, used in the United States until June 14, 2004, in Latin America until January 1, 2005, in Britain until April 11, 2005 and in Australia, India, Southeast Asia, Taiwan until October 1, 2005. Despite that it's not the main logo anymore, it has still appeared on recent official CN ads on TV and in magazines, as well as on official CN DVDs.

The older Hanna-Barbera cartoons have been largely moved to the nostalgia-themed Boomerang sister network.

In recent years, Cartoon Network has also made attempts to attract viewers outside its core audience (young children). Their mid-afternoon cartoon block Toonami consists of reruns of acceptable-for-teens anime from Japan, while a late-night cartoon block called Adult Swim shows more risque, teenage- and adult-oriented cartoons (with a combination of anime and American-produced comedies such Futurama and Family Guy). On April 17, 2004, Toonami was moved to Saturday evenings and the afternoon slot was filled with Miguzi, showing action-oriented American TV shows aimed at a slightly younger age group than Toonami.

By October 2004, nearly all of CN's classic cartoon programming had been replaced by new programming, except for Tom and Jerry (a longtime staple of the Turner networks). In Europe, Boomerang is a block on the original Cartoon Network. In Brazil and Latin America, Boomerang is a separate channel.

United Kingdom

In Britain, in September 2000, Toonami began broadcasting weekdays for two hours between 4pm–6pm, and 9pm–11pm, as well as weekends from 10am–12pm and 10pm–12am. Its output consisted almost solely of Japanese anime such as the cult Dragonball Z, Tenchi Muyo, and Gundam Wing. The only non-Japanese shows for quite some time were the American-produced The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest and Batman Beyond (Batman of the Future in the UK). Around the same time, there was almost completely new programming on the channel, and so Boomerang began in a late night slot. On May 27, 2000, most "classic" cartoons were removed from Cartoon Network and moved to Boomerang, which became a channel in Britain on that date, running from 6am–12am. Before long, however, it became 24 hours, and the remaining shows were removed from Cartoon Network.

In June 2002, Toonami disappeared from Cartoon Network UK, and in October, a new channel was created called CNX. It was hailed as a high-octane, "'triple A' mix of Action, Adventure, and Anime." All American and Japanese animation shown on Toonami was broadcast on this 24 hour channel from 6am–12am, and during the night, there were hard hitting American dramas such as The Shield, adventure shows such as Spawn, martial arts films and extreme sports programmes. In 2003, there was a slot between 9pm and 10pm showing Cartoon Network produced comedy such as Aqua Teen Hunger Force and Space Ghost Coast to Coast. The extreme sports and films were moved to a small slot between 10pm and 2am. For the rest of the time, Toonami returned, on CNX, showing all of its previous output, plus a number of new shows. In September 2003, after 11 months on air, CNX was shut down, and Toonami became a 24-hour channel, in line with Cartoon Network and Boomerang.

Cartoon Network also broadcasts in other languages like Japanese, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, French, Italian, Polish, Hungarian, Romanian, Hindi, Urdu (in Pakistan), etc. Most of the Cartoon Network channels in Europe are broadcast from the United Kingdom, including an English language audio channel). Most of the Kids' WB shows are broadcast on Cartoon Network in locales where Kids' WB does not exist, such as Latin America and Poland.

Special programming blocks

Fridays

'Fridays is a live action show that shows premieres of cartoons, sneak peeks of cartoons and new episodes of cartoons, It is hosted by Tommy Snider and Tara Sands, and kids act as comic relief. It airs at 7.P.M. (E/P).

Miguzi

'Miguzi is a cartoon block that premiered on April 19, 2004 and currently airs every night from 5–7 P.M. (E/P) on Cartoon Network in the U.S. This block is themed around Erin, a girl who finds refuge within the confines of a strange spaceship that is trapped underwater and inhabited by aquatic creatures. Not surprisingly, this lighter-toned action block is 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.

Miguzi airs action fare based on comic book titles like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Static Shock; pseudoanime like Totally Spies, France's Code Lyoko, the American series Teen Titans; and the popular anime based on the best selling Nintendo games, Pokémon.

Toonami

Main article: Toonami

Toonami (a combination of cartoon and tsunami, suggesting a "giant wave of animated entertainment") was initially a block of action-oriented programming on Cartoon Network in the US and UK, among other countries. The American version premiered on March 17, 1997 as a weekday afternoon block. The Toonami brand was subsequently used in the United Kingdom as the title of a Cartoon Network-operated UK spinoff channel in its own right in September 2003, a little under a year after the network launched as CNX. Today, the US Toonami airs on Saturdays from 7 to 11 PM EST/PST. Some shows in this program include Justice League Unlimited, Teen Titans, Dragonball Z, Naruto, and IGPX. Toonami is hosted by TOM, a robot who pilots the Absolution along with an AI unit named Sara.

Adult Swim

Main article: Adult Swim

Adult Swim is the name for the more adult-oriented television programming block on Cartoon Network, which premiered on September 2, 2001 in USA.

Originally a Sunday-only block (that also reran on Thursdays), Adult Swim airs Saturday through Thursday nights at 11 PM (E/P) with an encore airing at 2 AM and then ending with an hour of older shows. The block, programmed by Williams Street, the same group that created Toonami and Miguzi, plays American animated comedy series and shorts geared towards adults and a wide variety of anime series and OVAs, all intended for older audiences. However, many kids and teens ages 10 thru 18 watch it also, as many shows are classics that aired on regular programming before Adult Swim existed (like Space Ghost Coast to Coast, Sealab 2021, and Cartoon Planet), many anime series that are intended for teens, or that teens like (Inuyasha, Case Closed, etc.), because it reruns Family Guy, and because many kids who have moved here from Canada know that Adult Swim is the only way for them to watch popular kids programing in Canada (Futurama and Inuyasha), which run on YTV and Teletoon, and finally, most shows are only rated TV - PG (although a few are TV-MA). Some are even rated TV - Y7 or TV - G. The name "Adult Swim" is a misunderstanding. The name comes from the name for hours designated at public swimming pools where only adults can swim in the pool. On March 28, 2005, the programming block was spun-off as a separate entity from Cartoon Network for Nielsen Ratings purposes.

Preschool programming

Tickle-U (USA)

Main article: Tickle-U

Tiny TV (some countries)

A special block of cartoons for young children in the morning slot. It features:

• Noddy
• Pingu
• Oswald
• Thomas & Friends
• Bob the Builder
• Skipper

Half Ticket Express (India)

A special block of cartoons for young children in the morning slot. It features:

• Franklin
• Dragon Tales
• Miss Spider's Sunny Patch Friends
• Bob the Builder
• The Koala Brothers
• Maisy
• Postman Pat
• Little Red Tractor

Live-action programming

Although the network's programming is a majority animation, live-action programming has been a part of Cartoon Network over the years. Human-hosted shows like Carrot Top's A.M. Mayhem and the current Cartoon Network Fridays format had live actors introducing animated shows and shorts. In the mid-90s, the Children's Television Workshop co-produced Big Bag, a series that featured a Muppet character and a human counterpart. In mid-2004, Osmosis Jones, a film that was half live-action and half-animation, premiered on the network.

On November 6, 2005, Cartoon Network began airing a month-long marathon of what network executives called "cartoon-inspired" live-action movies. The move was made in response to the slumping ratings thanks to competing live-action shows on Nickelodeon and Disney Channel. The scheduled movies, originally acquisitions for sibling Turner networks TBS and TNT, are mostly considered controversial by a majority of viewers because of the fact that animation is either sparse or nonexistant.

The Sunday night Cartoon Theater showings are:

• Who Framed Roger Rabbit (the only movie deemed "worthy" to air on Cartoon Network by loyal viewers)
• Small Soldiers
• The Goonies
• Honey, I Shrunk The Kids

The lone Toonami live-action movie, airing on November 19, will be the 1989 film Batman, which inspired the classic 1992 series.

In the future, Cartoon Network will create shows that blend live-action with animation as well as cartoony live-action shows in the vein of Pee-Wee's Playhouse, The Three Stooges, and Krofft Brothers shows, although the network maintains the dominant programming will remain animation.

See also

• List of programs broadcast by Cartoon Network
• Pogo TV

External links

• Cartoon Network site
• Cartoon Network at the Big Cartoon DataBase