Cartoon Network loses its 8pm hour, with more Adult Swim

[mr3urious]

Beware the Bat... Why so unloved by the execs? When will it return? The world may never know.

It's way expensive to produce. It's also one of the reasons why Green Lantern TAS was canned after 26 episodes.

And it should be returning later this month.

 

[Drtooth]

Beware the Bat... Why so unloved by the execs? When will it return? The world may never know.

It could be something to do with, aside from the budget thing already stated, the lack of a major merchandising presence. Other than a Happy Meal promotion (where the only character was Batman... not even a Pygg), one solitary older collector's action figure (not even a line of it's own. It was incorporated into an adult collector's general DC line), and an oddly timed release of Valentines, you just don't see specifically Beware the Batman Batman merchandise. Just general Justice League/comic book type stuff. I'd blame that on the fact his partner in the series is a woman. And having a female lead character in a boy's cartoon is really something you can only get away with if you're Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

That was the main thing that killed Green Lantern TAS. The show undid the damage to the character the movie did, but because the movie merchandise hurt Wal*Mart so much that they wouldn't carry a GLTAS toy line, despite being something different entirely. Meanwhile, the Teen Titans Go line (from a different toy company than Mattel) actually sold out in every TRU I've been in, and they're the only carrier. Plus, you have to admit, TTG is much more kid friendly.

 

[The Count]

At least Batman's partner in Beware the Bat has been acknowledged as part of the Bat-family. Unlike it's predecessor that paired Batman with a female lead/sidekick in the form of Batman Beyond (however that kid's name is spelled) and Maxine Gibson. And that line suffered from not enough villains to counterbalance the glut of variant Batmans. Oh, and then there's the worst thing inaginable... They produced a Virtual Joker figure from the Return of the Joker animated film that was nothing more than an ED-206 with a joker face painted on its dome. The fracking stupidest robot in all of cinematic history, and you call it a "Virtual Joker" action figure? ! ?

*Hands out chocolate chip muffins.

Interested to see what CN fills up the newly vacated 8-9 PM spot with if anything to help pass the time at that late an hour.

 

[tutter_fan]

Frankly, they should bring back shows like Dexter's Laboratory, Samurai Jack, and the Powerpuff girls!

 

[D'Snowth]

and COURAGE THE COWARDLY DOG, and COW AND CHICKEN, and JOHNNY BRAVO, among others... but most of them have been dumped onto Boomerang by now (and I'm still just a little peeved Comcast/xfinity refuses to carry it because it's, "Commercial free", yet they had no problems with carrying Noggin).

 

[The Count]

Actually, CN airs its classic stuff in the early afternoon... At least I've caught Kids Next Door around 2 PM EST/3 PM local time. They also air their classic stuff over on Boomerang if you have that channel, which has become a CN half-clone.

 

[D'Snowth]

KND really isn't a classic.

 

[Drtooth]

Frankly, they should bring back shows like Dexter's Laboratory, Samurai Jack, and the Powerpuff girls!

You know that if they did, they'd only show a quarter of the episodes. There's nothing wrong with a classic series block on the network, but they should do it right.

 

[The Count]

Commercial free? Says who? Boomerang airs commercials for all of CN's regular scheduled fare, even the stuff that's not CN yet part of their SatAm lineup or other upcoming programming like the Hall of Game crud in a couple of weeks.

 

[Drtooth]

At least Batman's partner in Beware the Bat has been acknowledged as part of the Bat-family. Unlike it's predecessor that paired Batman with a female lead/sidekick in the form of Batman Beyond (however that kid's name is spelled) and Maxine Gibson. And that line suffered from not enough villains to counterbalance the glut of variant Batmans. Oh, and then there's the worst thing inaginable... They produced a Virtual Joker figure from the Return of the Joker animated film that was nothing more than an ED-206 with a joker face painted on its dome. The fracking stupidest robot in all of cinematic history, and you call it a "Virtual Joker" action figure? ! ?

Yeah. I don't get why Batman toylines are so lackluster. The only thing I think they did right with the Brave and the Bold line up were the 2 figure Buddy Packs that I wish I collected more of. They pull the non-stop Batman variants any time there's a Batman project.

Except this one.

And for some reason, CN requires shows to have a toy line (at least if they're action oriented), and if the line doesn't do well even if they get one, they tend to throw the shows under the bus.