The Old Cartoon Network Thread

[D'Snowth]

I got to thinking about Dexter, and I think I've figured out one of the reasons why that show was a particular smash hit for CN, aside from just the extravagant premise of a boy genius with his own secret lab: Genndy always kept the show interesting. Whereas Johnny Bravo always relied on his cluelessness, and Cow and Chicken was always a straight-up screwball comedy, Dexter was always doing different things: action/adventure episodes; heartfelt episodes; musical episodes; bizarre episodes; and even episodes that parodied genres you wouldn't expect kids would be interested in otherwise like spy movies, nature documentaries, and psychological thrillers. You never really knew what to expect.

 

[LittleJerry92]

I think that's why I was never a big fan of Cow and Chicken.

Minus the animation, it just felt like it was trying to copy every buddy duo comedy show. *Cough* Ren and Stimpy *cough*

 

[mr3urious]

I think that's why I was never a big fan of Cow and Chicken.

Looking back, Red Guy was the real star of the show. Charlie Adler's hammy performance really made the character.

 

[LittleJerry92]

The red guy was a great character. I'll give the show that.

 

[ConsummateVs]

I liked Cow and Chicken, but it was never my favorite show. My favorite character was also the Red Guy - he was hilarious. Plus, it was pretty ballsy of them to make The Devil a main character in a kids cartoon (and to make the pilot about going to H*ll for smoking).

 

[LittleJerry92]

You know what?

Maybe I'll give it a chance again. I dunno. We'll see.

 

[D'Snowth]

It also recently just occured to me that Powerpuff Girls often did sequels to their episodes: like Mojo Jojo trying to redo his original scheme of turning all people into dogs by literally replaying the original episode to point out the mistakes he made, or the family that turns into super villains after the girls make a mess with pies because the husband tried to kill Professor, or Princess wanting revenge for them not letting her be an honorary Powerpuff Girl.

Then again, Courage occasionally did revenge episodes as well, from the Chicken from Outer Space (and later his son), to the Sean Connery Snowman, to the episode where Eustace gathers them all together for a battle to the death.

EEE was actually pretty good with continuity in small details, often breaking the forth wall by acknowledging previous episodes.

 

[D'Snowth]

The old bloopers special was mentioned some time back in this thread, but I just now remembered: does anyone else remember that old awards special they did kind of around the same time? I remember how annoyed I was seeing it for the first time because they got Muriel's last name wrong.

 

[D'Snowth]

I just now realized that despite how hated Cow and Chicken was when it was on, CN actually gave it quite a bit of special treatment: it was the first CN show to have a coloring book adaptation, the first to get a DC comic, the first to get a fast food premium, I think it was one of the first CN shows to get custom Powerhouse bumpers, they got their own Got Milk? commercial, there was that Smelly Telly week where you could scratch and sniff new episodes, that Japanese vacation series of commercials and there was even C&C merchandise in Europe such as figures and plushes.

 

[Pig'sSaysAdios]

I just now realized that despite how hated Cow and Chicken was when it was on, CN actually gave it quite a bit of special treatment: it was the first CN show to have a coloring book adaptation, the first to get a DC comic, the first to get a fast food premium, I think it was one of the first CN shows to get custom Powerhouse bumpers, they got their own Got Milk? commercial, there was that Smelly Telly week where you could scratch and sniff new episodes, that Japanese vacation series of commercials and there was even C&C merchandise in Europe such as figures and plushes.

I guess either kids must've really loved it or CN really needed some merch, but since PPG hadn't come out yet and they were still pretty new to original programming it wasn't quite obvious what shows would make the most money.