The Old Cartoon Network Thread

[Schfifty]

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.

I think that might have been the 13th Annual Fancy Anvil Awards (or whatever it was called) from back in 2002. I don't remember much from it other than it had some guest stars presenting segments, including the late great Robin Williams. And it had a Chuck Jones tribute too, IIRC.

 

[D'Snowth]

Wasn't Mary Hart one of the guests too? I'm suddenly remembering in the back of my mind an old promo with Dexter doing a voice-over announcing the celebrity guests, and saying the name, "Mary Hart" in a love-struck voice, lol.

 

[Schfifty]

Well, looking on IMDB, it doesn't appear she was in that special.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0314073/reference

 

[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.

Oh, and I remember a couple of other examples:

Cow and Chicken had one of the first games on CartoonNetwork.com (I'm pretty sure I shared a Let's Play of it in this thread).

Remember in the beginning when "The Cartoon Network Thing to Do" was presented by a generic singing cow? When they revamped the segment during the Powerhouse Era, they threw in a random generic chicken into the mix as well, who bore a resemblance to Chicken.

 

[D'Snowth]

I know I've said before that MIKE, LU & OG feels more like an abandoned Nicktoon that Cartoon Network adopted, between the Klasky-Csupo-esque character designs, Nika Futterman and Nancy Cartwright voicing two of the lead characters, and the cast of characters consisting of precocious kids and quirky/eccentric adults, but watching a couple of old episodes the other night, I came to notice that the overall look of the show seems very ARTHUR-esque as well: the animation has those disjointed outlines that ARTHUR uses in imitating Marc Brown's illustration style, and the backgrounds and layout have that same kind of watercolor illustration look ARTHUR is known for as well.

 

[D'Snowth]

Ummmm. . . .

Spoiler: contains language, drugs, and racial slurs

At least Danny Antonucci likes it.

 

[Pig'sSaysAdios]

Ummmm. . . .

Spoiler: contains language, drugs, and racial slurs

At least Danny Antonucci likes it.

What the bong?

 

[D'Snowth]

Danny actually shared it on Facebook last night, that's how I found out about it.

And yeah, it's legit.

 

[LittleJerry92]

Ummmm. . . .

Spoiler: contains language, drugs, and racial slurs

At least Danny Antonucci likes it.

Ghetto black Ed, Edd 'N Eddy?

 

[D'Snowth]

So back in the spring, I put together this video compilation of what was something of a forgotten, transitional mini-era in CN's history that took place between the Checkerboard and Powerhouse eras from the summer of 1997 into the spring of 1998; not knowing what else to call it, I dubbed it the "Starburst" era, based on the design of many of the promos and commercials at the time:

And since then, not only has it apparently garnered its own page on CN's wiki:
http://cartoonnetwork.wikia.com/wiki/Starburst

But now, somebody has done a video based on my previous compilation, further explaining in commentary why this short-lived era is all but forgotten in CN history:

Guess this makes me something of a CN historian.