How much Cartoon Network aired each show from 2004 onward?

[5YearsOnEastCoast]

I wonder, will you do for CN schedules before 2004

 

[Stumpos]

I wonder, will you do for CN schedules before 2004

Probably not, given the schedule data before that point is a lot more spottier with bigger gaps, especially pre-Adult Swim where the late-night hours don't have a lot of documentation.

 

[Lanmanna]

Good job on this! It's really interesting to see the the (d)evolution of the channel by what it aired and how much it aired.

 

[ares]

Really curious about 2025. We have seen some variety this year.

 

[RandomStranger]

I thought I'd do a fun little comparison

Johnny Test Total Airtime (2008-2014): 6677
Johnny Test Highest Airtime: 1178 (2010)

Teen Titans Go! Total Airtime (2013-2019): 20097
Teen Titans Go! Highest Airtime: 4239 (2017)

The Amazing World of Gumball Total Airtime (2011-2017): 8956
The Amazing World of Gumball Highest Airtime: 1885.5 (2017)

Craig of the Creek Total Airtime (2018-2024): 6484.5
Craig of the Creek Highest Airtime: 1679.5 (2021)

 

[RandomStranger]

The main problem with the Johnny Test airings wasn't from how often it aired.

The problem was how little the other cartoons aired.

Ed, Edd, n' Eddy aired more times in 2004 than Johnny Test did in 2010 (1294 vs 1178), but it was balanced because other shows got a solid amount of airtime.

For example, in 2004, the second most aired show behind Ed, Edd, n' Eddy was Codename: Kids Next Door with 977.33 half-hours.

The second most aired show in 2009 behind Johnny Test was Total Drama with only 592 half-hours, with Johnny Test having 1062 half-hours that same year.

1062 half-hours isn't a lot, however, it seems like a lot when the second most aired show on your channel doesn't even reach 600 half-hours of airtime. Cartoon Network did a noticeably better job at keeping their schedule balanced after 2009 (up until 2015 with the TTG/Gumball spam).

I'd like to think CN was relying so much on Johnny Test that year because of how much of a failure CN Real was, so they just used JT as time slot filler, considering the show was a huge hit with kids. The marathons were annoying, but who knows what kind of position CN would've been in right now if it weren't for those marathons raking in cash at such a low, desperate time in the channel's lineage.

 

[Stumpos]

The main problem with the Johnny Test airings wasn't from how often it aired.

The problem was how little the other cartoons aired.

Ed, Edd, n' Eddy aired more times in 2004 than Johnny Test did in 2010 (1294 vs 1178), but it was balanced because other shows got a solid amount of airtime.

For example, in 2004, the second most aired show behind Ed, Edd, n' Eddy was Codename: Kids Next Door with 977.33 half-hours.

The second most aired show in 2009 behind Johnny Test was Total Drama with only 592 half-hours, with Johnny Test having 1062 half-hours that same year.

I think that increase in gap between the first and second most aired show might have also come from Adult Swim's expansion eating up more slots. Notably between 2004 and 2009, Adult Swim expanded into the 5 AM hour, gained the 10 PM hour, and became 7 nights a week (instead of skipping Fridays).

It is telling that even when the gaps between the first and second most aired shows shrank from 2010-14, there still weren't a lot of shows going above 1000 half hours. 2010's (also when they lost the 9 PM hour in December) second most aired was Chowder at 800.5 (followed by The Garfield Show, Tom & Jerry, and Codename Kids Next Door in the 600-700 range), 2011's was Looney Tunes at 701 (followed by Adventure Time, Tom & Jerry, and The Garfield Show in the 400-525 range), and 2012's was Adventure Time at 902 (followed by Regular Show, Looney Tunes, and Gumball in the 650-850 range). Even 2013 as the first year since 2008 where Johnny Test wasn't at over 1000 half hours and its first year where it wasn't the number 1 most aired, Adventure Time and Regular Show (the top 2 most aired) were in the 850-900 half hour range, with Gumball and Looney Tunes not too behind at 550-700 range. It did show that even at the most balanced years, getting over 1000 half hours of airing for more than one show was hard with these reduced hours (compared to 2004-06 where more hours at that time meant more shows could go above 900).

 

[RandomStranger]

I think that increase in gap between the first and second most aired show might have also come from Adult Swim's expansion eating up more slots. Notably between 2004 and 2009, Adult Swim expanded into the 5 AM hour, gained the 10 PM hour, and became 7 nights a week (instead of skipping Fridays).

It is telling that even when the gaps between the first and second most aired shows shrank from 2010-14, there still weren't a lot of shows going above 1000 half hours. 2010's (also when they lost the 9 PM hour in December) second most aired was Chowder at 800.5 (followed by The Garfield Show, Tom & Jerry, and Codename Kids Next Door in the 600-700 range), 2011's was Looney Tunes at 701 (followed by Adventure Time, Tom & Jerry, and The Garfield Show in the 400-525 range), and 2012's was Adventure Time at 902 (followed by Regular Show, Looney Tunes, and Gumball in the 650-850 range). Even 2013 as the first year since 2008 where Johnny Test wasn't at over 1000 half hours and its first year where it wasn't the number 1 most aired, Adventure Time and Regular Show (the top 2 most aired) were in the 850-900 half hour range, with Gumball and Looney Tunes not too behind at 550-700 range. It did show that even at the most balanced years, getting over 1000 half hours of airing for more than one show was hard with these reduced hours (compared to 2004-06 where more hours at that time meant more shows could go above 900).

True, but that doesn't really justify the ridiculous gap between the first and second most aired shows in 2009 (1062 vs 592).

I love Johnny Test, but I think CN relied on that show a little bit too much during 2009. I understand that the show helped the channel pay the bills during a low and desperate time, but c'mon man...

 

[paddingtonwarrior]

I think that increase in gap between the first and second most aired show might have also come from Adult Swim's expansion eating up more slots. Notably between 2004 and 2009, Adult Swim expanded into the 5 AM hour, gained the 10 PM hour, and became 7 nights a week (instead of skipping Fridays).

It is telling that even when the gaps between the first and second most aired shows shrank from 2010-14, there still weren't a lot of shows going above 1000 half hours. 2010's (also when they lost the 9 PM hour in December) second most aired was Chowder at 800.5 (followed by The Garfield Show, Tom & Jerry, and Codename Kids Next Door in the 600-700 range), 2011's was Looney Tunes at 701 (followed by Adventure Time, Tom & Jerry, and The Garfield Show in the 400-525 range), and 2012's was Adventure Time at 902 (followed by Regular Show, Looney Tunes, and Gumball in the 650-850 range). Even 2013 as the first year since 2008 where Johnny Test wasn't at over 1000 half hours and its first year where it wasn't the number 1 most aired, Adventure Time and Regular Show (the top 2 most aired) were in the 850-900 half hour range, with Gumball and Looney Tunes not too behind at 550-700 range. It did show that even at the most balanced years, getting over 1000 half hours of airing for more than one show was hard with these reduced hours (compared to 2004-06 where more hours at that time meant more shows could go above 900).

Please do 2025!!! Interested to see how the landscape has changed.

 

[user341522]

Looking at the debates on when Cartoon Network went downhill, I decided to try and see when it all began and how the schedule evolved.

I decided to start in 2004 since that's often a common cited year for when the channel went downhill plus doing 1992-2003 is a huge hassle on it's own (especially with the schedule records not being as clear back then).

Keep in mind I won't include Adult Swim shows in this since they're seen as a separate brand from Cartoon Network. I'll only include movies if they're TV movies related to Cartoon Network shows (The Powerpuff Girls Movie isn't a TV movie so it won't count).

I'll count by half-hours to be on the safe side. Each post will be year-by-year.

I am using this as my source for the schedules: Schedules

2004 (how many half hours each show aired in the year):

Originals by Cartoon Network:

1. Ed Edd n Eddy: 1294
2. Codename Kids Next Door: 977.33
3. The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy: 691
4. Dexter's Laboratory: 532
5. The Powerpuff Girls 1998: 516.5
6. Time Squad: 266
7. Courage the Cowardly Dog: 250.5
8. Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends: 157
9. Johnny Bravo: 111.5
10. Megas XLR: 108
11. Evil Con Carne: 65.5
12. Samurai Jack: 37
13. Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi: 23
14. Whatever Happened to Robot Jones: 16
15. Star Wars Clone Wars: 14.33
16. Grim and Evil: 2
17. Cow and Chicken: 1

Originals by Warner Bros:

1. Baby Looney Tunes: 737
2. Teen Titans: 521
3. What's New Scooby Doo: 173
4. Mucha Lucha: 162
5. Justice League: 139
6. Static Shock: 121
7. Duck Dodgers: 113
8. The Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries: 113
9. Ozzy & Drix: 95
10. Justice League Unlimited: 50

Acquired shows from others:

1. Totally Spies: 623
2. Jackie Chan Adventures: 271
3. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2003: 220
4. Code Lyoko: 177
5. The Cramp Twins: 93
6. Rescue Heroes: 65
7. Atomic Betty: 42
8. X Men Evolution: 36
9. He-Man and the Masters of the Universe: 11
10. Sitting Ducks: 6

Anime:

1. Yu-Gi-Oh!: 395
2. Pokemon: 259
3. Transformers Energon: 164
4. Duel Masters: 108
5. Transformers: Armada: 100
6. Dragon Ball Z: 78
7. Yu Yu Hakusho: 77
8. Dragon Ball GT: 64
9. Dragon Ball: 57
10. SD Gundam Force: 41
11. Zoids: Chaotic Century: 40
12. Cyborg 009: 38
13. Hamtaro: 37
14. Mobile Suit Gundam SEED: 35
15. Rave Master: 25
16. .hack//Legend of the Twilight Bracelet: 22
17. Rurouni Kenshin: 20
18. Astro Boy 2003: 16
19. Knights of the Zodiac: 12
20. .hack//SIGN: 11
21. Zoids Fuzors: 7
22. Hot Wheels World Race: 5
23. MegaMan NT Warrior: 4
24. Shaman King: 4

Older cartoons:

1. Tom and Jerry: 819.33
2. The New Scooby Doo Movies: 357
3. A Pup Named Scooby Doo: 279
4. Captain Planet and the Planeteers: 257
5. Scooby Doo Where Are You: 244
6. Looney Tunes (The Looney Tunes Show anthology, The Chuck Jones Show, The Bugs and Daffy Show): 129
7. 13 Ghosts of Scooby Doo: 50
8. Toon Heads: 28
9. The Flintstones: 16
10. The Jetsons: 11
11. Josie and the Pussycats: 8
12. The Popeye Show: 8
13. The Smurfs: 7
14. Jonny Quest: 6
15. The Perils of Penelope Pitstop: 6
16. The Tex Avery Show: 5
17. Cattanooga Cats: 5
18. Dastardly & Muttley in Their Flying Machines: 5
19. Help! It's the Hair Bear Bunch: 5
20. The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan: 4
21. Dynomutt Dog Wonder: 4
22. The Funky Phantom: 4
23. Jabberjaw: 4
24. Speed Buggy: 4
25. Top Cat: 4
26. Hong Kong Phooey: 3
27. Magilla Gorilla: 3
28. Valley of the Dinosaurs: 3
29. Wacky Races 1968: 3
30. Yogi Bear: 3
31. Birdman and the Galaxy Trio: 2
32. Butch Cassidy: 2
33. Clue Club: 2
34. Devlin: 2
35. Fantastic Four 1967: 2
36. Goober and the Ghost Chasers: 2
37. The Herculoids: 2
38. Shazzan: 2
39. The Roman Holiday: 2
40. Space Ghost and Dino Boy: 2
41. Super Friends: 2
42. Yogi's Gang: 2
43. Atom Ant: 1
44. The Banana Splits: 1
45. CB Bears: 1
46. Fangface: 1
47. Frankenstein Jr and the Impossibles: 1
48. Laff a Lympics: 1
49. The New Scooby Doo Mysteries: 1
50. The Pebbles and Bamm Bamm Show: 1
51. Peter Potamus: 1
52. Quick Draw McGraw: 1
53. Sealab 2020: 1
54. Secret Squirrel: 1
55. The Skatebirds: 1
56. These Are the Days: 1
57. Wheelie and the Chopper Bunch: 1
58. Yogi's Space Race: 1

Notably, the Looney Tunes branding blocks stopped after the big CN City and new logo rebranding, airing without a brand for the remainder of their run on the network.

Aside from one Great Gazoo themed marathon in May, the non-Scooby Doo Hanna Barbara cartoons were relegated to the early morning Boomerang block at this point that got reduced further to just a half hour in August until that ended in October. The final year that had those shows air.

By the end of the year, Tom and Jerry, Captain Planet, and Scooby Doo are the only classic cartoons still airing by that point.

Notably, Ed Edd n Eddy seems to have been the MVP show for Cartoon Network, getting the most airtime by a lot. Seems before Johnny Test, Gumball, and Teen Titans Go came, we had Ed Edd n Eddy. Though at least variety itself is pretty solid.

Definitely a transition point of the classic cartoons getting phased out and more emphasis on the original content and modern acquired shows.

Interesting how Johnny Bravo, Samurai Jack, and Evil Con Carne got way less airtime this year despite ending this year without a big celebration about it. Compared to other shows that began that year such as Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends and even stuff that ended already such as Dexter's Laboratory and Courage the Cowardly Dog, it's pretty sad how much they got shafted in the end.I used to watch Cartoon Network when it first came out and loved it's line up and the classic cartoons as well as the 70's super Explosion and the Power zone it would show at night...love that stuff...they also played the Power Puff girls as well as Dexter's Laboratory so the new shows got a chance too...but it was good then..so I'm curious as well?

 

[Stumpos]

And now here's the most recent full year in 2025 breakdown on how often each show aired. Half hours are the measurement for this and 0.5 being a 11-minute segment.
CNAS wiki and Mr. Maketsu from Twitter are the sources.

2025:
Originals by Cartoon Network:

1. The Amazing World of Gumball: 1860
2. Regular Show: 866
3. Adventure Time: 474
4. We Baby Bears: 145.5
5. Craig of the Creek: 130
6. Ben 10 2005: 36
7. Clarence: 28
8. The Heroic Quest of Prince Ivandoe: 25
9. Uncle Grandpa: 21
10. Steven Universe: 19
11. We Bare Bears: 18
12. The Powerpuff Girls 1998: 17
13. Apple & Onion: 11
14. Over the Garden Wall: 10
15. Jessica’s Big Little World: 4

Originals by Warner Bros:

1. Teen Titans Go: 399
2. The Looney Tunes Show: 373
3. Scooby Doo and Guess Who: 238
4. Scooby Doo Mystery Incorporated: 225
5. Tiny Toons Looniversity: 222
6. Be Cool Scooby Doo: 186
7. Wabbit/New Looney Tunes: 140
8. The Tom & Jerry Show 2014: 139
9. What’s New Scooby Doo: 79
10. Tom & Jerry Tales: 58
11. Jellystone: 17
12. The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries: 1
13. Duck Dodgers: 1

Acquired shows from others:

1. Total Drama: 64
2. Iyanu: 47
3. Total DramaRama: 44
4. Totally Spies: 19
5. Mermicorno Starfall: 2

Classic cartoons:

1. The Scooby Doo Show: 260
2. Scooby Doo, Where Are You: 194
3. Scooby Doo and Scrappy Doo: 102
4. The New Scooby and Scrappy Doo Show: 64
5. The New Scooby Doo Movies: 54
6. The New Scooby Doo Mysteries: 50
7. The Tom & Jerry Show 1975: 16
8. Looney Tunes: 9
9. Tom & Jerry: 4
10. Tom & Jerry Kids: 3

Cartoonito:

1. Bugs Bunny Builders: 139
2. Batwheels: 93.5
3. Barney’s World: 46
4. Let’s Go Bananas!: 26
5. Silly Sundays: 23
6. Lu & the Bally Bunch: 13

Top 5 most aired:

1. The Amazing World of Gumball
2. Regular Show
3. Adventure Time
4. Teen Titans Go
5. The Looney Tunes Show

2025 feels like things are getting on autopilot, no thanks to the Discovery merger and the next one for 2026 implies the merger problems aren’t going away anytime soon.

Things still operate the same as last year with Saturday morning premieres (aside from Jellystone’s second run premieres being on Sunday mornings) for the shows.

After limping for a few years, Cartoonito finally ended in May 2025. While three of the shows from the final line up would return in fall, there would no longer be any Cartoonito branding with the further shrunken preschool block (now on life support at only 30 minutes every weekday at 7 AM), losing the last traces of Tom Acheim’s well intentioned plan to revitalize the network back in 2021.

For acquired shows outside Cartoonito, Total Drama returned on Memorial Day to marathon the first reboot season and the second reboot season made its US premiere in summer, with reruns until leaving in November and the lack of confirmation on a new season makes it clear the show isn’t returning after that. Total DramaRama returned in spring for weekday afternoon reruns before leaving a few months later. Barney’s World was the only non-Warner Bros produced preschool series to continue after Cartoonito disbanded in May, only for the sake of burning off the last episodes of the first and only season, but stuck around for reruns after. Totally Spies returns for the first time in over a decade and initially got a few sporadic reruns, but it was gone after airing the first half of season 7 in March. Iyanu premiered and did better, but there’s only so much it could air with only 10 half hours and a movie. Mermicorno Starfall aired a couple times as a preview for the Max release.

As far as originals go, they still continue to die off. Craig of the Creek would air its last episode in January, and it did get some marathons in the month with all day marathons on New Years Day and MLK Day and a 3 hour marathon leading up to the finale. The show would leave the schedule shortly after the series finale premiered, but it did make some brief returns in the summer on weekdays and in December for holiday episode airings. Prince Ivandoe was absent for most of the year outside of airing their 5-minute shorts as interstitials, only returning in December on weekday afternoons for reruns. This was only to tie in with the show beginning the process of premiering their last episodes. We Baby Bears returned from a hiatus to premiere new episodes again and got reruns to return until it went on hiatus again in March, but it returned again in fall for the reruns and still stretching out the second and final season (which began in 2023 mind you).

For reruns of ended originals, Gumball still continued to reign as the most aired show (though nowhere near overexposing levels it had in the late 2010s despite still having a wider advantage of airtime compared to everyone else). While it did have a sequel series called The Wonderfully Weird World of Gumball, it surprisingly didn’t air on the main channel at all (instead premiering on Hulu) despite the original series still being well-loved on the channel. Regular Show and Adventure Time also continue to do good enough for shows that ended years ago, often being the go-to shows for the 6 AM and 4 PM slots (the first and last hours for the main channel’s schedule) in addition to afternoon reruns, no wonder both got revival shows a year later. Other 2010s originals such as Uncle Grandpa, Clarence, We Bare Bears, and Apple & Onion were still airing reruns when the year started, but all four would get removed in March. Steven Universe and the 1998 original Powerpuff Girls series returned for reruns on Saturday mornings from April-May, presumably for an unofficial “action girl power” block. Summer would see a new Super Summer promotion that would see Steven Universe and the original Powerpuff Girls return again for Sunday afternoon marathons from June-July, with the original 2005 Ben 10 series also returning in that time. The original Ben 10 returned again in fall for a more regular Sunday afternoon slot at 4 PM. Steven Universe would make one more return on December 19 for an hour long airing. Jessica’s Big Little World returned a few times in January, for helping hype up Craig of the Creek’s series finale. Over the Garden Wall returned again for Halloween airings.

On the Warner Bros side of things, Teen Titans Go still goes on as one of the only series that premieres things on Cartoon Network first at this point, but airtime continues to swell down with 2025 having the least airtime of the show since it began in 2013. Looks like its days as the “number 1 show” on the channel are long gone, not even getting a dedicated all-day marathon for the first time in years. Tiny Toons Looniversity and Jellystone wrap up production, though while Tiny Toons Looniversity would still get a decent amount of airtime, Jellystone barely aired outside the network premieres on Sunday mornings. For the ended ones, The Looney Tunes Show still continued to be the most prominent of them (guessing early 2010s nostalgia hits hard). Various modern Scooby Doo series would air reruns frequently this year, growing more around March. Wabbit/New Looney Tunes still got an okay amount of airtime, being the go-to for movie filler whenever they aired the Scooby Doo DTV movies. The two modern Tom & Jerry shows also do well enough in airtime, though Tom & Jerry Tales left after June. Bugs Bunny Builders and Batwheels still continued in their small preschool half-hour slot after Cartoonito ended though the former would wrap up that year and the latter was still releasing episodes on Max months before Cartoon Network aired them. Duck Dodgers made a one day return on April 1 as part of ACME Fools for the first time in 20 years. The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries also returned for one day for a holiday episode airing in December.

On the classics side of things, the yearly traditions continue with the classic Looney Tunes shorts making a one day return for ACME Fools and the classic Tom & Jerry shorts and Tom & Jerry Kids returning on June 4 for the Cheese Day marathon. The 1975 Tom & Jerry series made a surprise return in summer. The most prominent would be various classic Hanna Barbara era Scooby Doo series making their return and airing regularly for the first time since the early 2000s. They really loved to air Scooby Doo this year, March marking when the Scooby Doo slots started doubling down more (likely why most of the other ended CN originals outside Gumball, Regular Show, and Adventure Time stopped airing) and digging into the more controversial shows in the Scooby catalogue with even the Scrappy Doo era shows airing regular reruns (only 13 Ghosts of Scooby Doo, A Pup Named Scooby Doo, and Shaggy & Scooby Doo Get a Clue never aired on the channel this year but the former two did air in the following year so who knows if the latter might air too if they’re digging that deep). It even spreads to the movie airings where the Scooby Doo DTVs are the only movies the channel airs now. Only reason why no Scooby Doo show made top 5 most aired just comes to them airing individual series at varying frequencies rather than sticking to one but if I did combine every Scooby series into one, it’d even surpass Gumball as the most aired franchise on the channel this year.

2025 is continuing the more autopilot vibe of 2023 onward era of the channel, with their emphasis being a mix of early 2010s Check It nostalgia (the trio of Adventure Time, Regular Show, and especially Gumball plus reduced Teen Titans Go) and a lot of Scooby Doo.

 

[theredninja2003]

And now here's the most recent full year in 2025 breakdown on how often each show aired. Half hours are the measurement for this and 0.5 being a 11-minute segment.
CNAS wiki and Mr. Maketsu from Twitter are the sources.

2025:
Originals by Cartoon Network:

1. The Amazing World of Gumball: 1860
2. Regular Show: 866
3. Adventure Time: 474
4. We Baby Bears: 145.5
5. Craig of the Creek: 130
6. Ben 10 2005: 36
7. Clarence: 28
8. The Heroic Quest of Prince Ivandoe: 25
9. Uncle Grandpa: 21
10. Steven Universe: 19
11. We Bare Bears: 18
12. The Powerpuff Girls 1998: 17
13. Apple & Onion: 11
14. Over the Garden Wall: 10
15. Jessica’s Big Little World: 4

Originals by Warner Bros:

1. Teen Titans Go: 399
2. The Looney Tunes Show: 373
3. Scooby Doo and Guess Who: 238
4. Scooby Doo Mystery Incorporated: 225
5. Tiny Toons Looniversity: 222
6. Be Cool Scooby Doo: 186
7. Wabbit/New Looney Tunes: 140
8. The Tom & Jerry Show 2014: 139
9. What’s New Scooby Doo: 79
10. Tom & Jerry Tales: 58
11. Jellystone: 17
12. The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries: 1
13. Duck Dodgers: 1

Acquired shows from others:

1. Total Drama: 64
2. Iyanu: 47
3. Total DramaRama: 44
4. Totally Spies: 19
5. Mermicorno Starfall: 2

Classic cartoons:

1. The Scooby Doo Show: 260
2. Scooby Doo, Where Are You: 194
3. Scooby Doo and Scrappy Doo: 102
4. The New Scooby and Scrappy Doo Show: 64
5. The New Scooby Doo Movies: 54
6. The New Scooby Doo Mysteries: 50
7. The Tom & Jerry Show 1975: 16
8. Looney Tunes: 9
9. Tom & Jerry: 4
10. Tom & Jerry Kids: 3

Cartoonito:

1. Bugs Bunny Builders: 139
2. Batwheels: 93.5
3. Barney’s World: 46
4. Let’s Go Bananas!: 26
5. Silly Sundays: 23
6. Lu & the Bally Bunch: 13

Top 5 most aired:

1. The Amazing World of Gumball
2. Regular Show
3. Adventure Time
4. Teen Titans Go
5. The Looney Tunes Show

2025 feels like things are getting on autopilot, no thanks to the Discovery merger and the next one for 2026 implies the merger problems aren’t going away anytime soon.

Things still operate the same as last year with Saturday morning premieres (aside from Jellystone’s second run premieres being on Sunday mornings) for the shows.

After limping for a few years, Cartoonito finally ended in May 2025. While three of the shows from the final line up would return in fall, there would no longer be any Cartoonito branding with the further shrunken preschool block (now on life support at only 30 minutes every weekday at 7 AM), losing the last traces of Tom Acheim’s well intentioned plan to revitalize the network back in 2021.

For acquired shows outside Cartoonito, Total Drama returned on Memorial Day to marathon the first reboot season and the second reboot season made its US premiere in summer, with reruns until leaving in November and the lack of confirmation on a new season makes it clear the show isn’t returning after that. Total DramaRama returned in spring for weekday afternoon reruns before leaving a few months later. Barney’s World was the only non-Warner Bros produced preschool series to continue after Cartoonito disbanded in May, only for the sake of burning off the last episodes of the first and only season, but stuck around for reruns after. Totally Spies returns for the first time in over a decade and initially got a few sporadic reruns, but it was gone after airing the first half of season 7 in March. Iyanu premiered and did better, but there’s only so much it could air with only 10 half hours and a movie. Mermicorno Starfall aired a couple times as a preview for the Max release.

As far as originals go, they still continue to die off. Craig of the Creek would air its last episode in January, and it did get some marathons in the month with all day marathons on New Years Day and MLK Day and a 3 hour marathon leading up to the finale. The show would leave the schedule shortly after the series finale premiered, but it did make some brief returns in the summer on weekdays and in December for holiday episode airings. Prince Ivandoe was absent for most of the year outside of airing their 5-minute shorts as interstitials, only returning in December on weekday afternoons for reruns. This was only to tie in with the show beginning the process of premiering their last episodes. We Baby Bears returned from a hiatus to premiere new episodes again and got reruns to return until it went on hiatus again in March, but it returned again in fall for the reruns and still stretching out the second and final season (which began in 2023 mind you).

For reruns of ended originals, Gumball still continued to reign as the most aired show (though nowhere near overexposing levels it had in the late 2010s despite still having a wider advantage of airtime compared to everyone else). While it did have a sequel series called The Wonderfully Weird World of Gumball, it surprisingly didn’t air on the main channel at all (instead premiering on Hulu) despite the original series still being well-loved on the channel. Regular Show and Adventure Time also continue to do good enough for shows that ended years ago, often being the go-to shows for the 6 AM and 4 PM slots (the first and last hours for the main channel’s schedule) in addition to afternoon reruns, no wonder both got revival shows a year later. Other 2010s originals such as Uncle Grandpa, Clarence, We Bare Bears, and Apple & Onion were still airing reruns when the year started, but all four would get removed in March. Steven Universe and the 1998 original Powerpuff Girls series returned for reruns on Saturday mornings from April-May, presumably for an unofficial “action girl power” block. Summer would see a new Super Summer promotion that would see Steven Universe and the original Powerpuff Girls return again for Sunday afternoon marathons from June-July, with the original 2005 Ben 10 series also returning in that time. The original Ben 10 returned again in fall for a more regular Sunday afternoon slot at 4 PM. Steven Universe would make one more return on December 19 for an hour long airing. Jessica’s Big Little World returned a few times in January, for helping hype up Craig of the Creek’s series finale. Over the Garden Wall returned again for Halloween airings.

On the Warner Bros side of things, Teen Titans Go still goes on as one of the only series that premieres things on Cartoon Network first at this point, but airtime continues to swell down with 2025 having the least airtime of the show since it began in 2013. Looks like its days as the “number 1 show” on the channel are long gone, not even getting a dedicated all-day marathon for the first time in years. Tiny Toons Looniversity and Jellystone wrap up production, though while Tiny Toons Looniversity would still get a decent amount of airtime, Jellystone barely aired outside the network premieres on Sunday mornings. For the ended ones, The Looney Tunes Show still continued to be the most prominent of them (guessing early 2010s nostalgia hits hard). Various modern Scooby Doo series would air reruns frequently this year, growing more around March. Wabbit/New Looney Tunes still got an okay amount of airtime, being the go-to for movie filler whenever they aired the Scooby Doo DTV movies. The two modern Tom & Jerry shows also do well enough in airtime, though Tom & Jerry Tales left after June. Bugs Bunny Builders and Batwheels still continued in their small preschool half-hour slot after Cartoonito ended though the former would wrap up that year and the latter was still releasing episodes on Max months before Cartoon Network aired them. Duck Dodgers made a one day return on April 1 as part of ACME Fools for the first time in 20 years. The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries also returned for one day for a holiday episode airing in December.

On the classics side of things, the yearly traditions continue with the classic Looney Tunes shorts making a one day return for ACME Fools and the classic Tom & Jerry shorts and Tom & Jerry Kids returning on June 4 for the Cheese Day marathon. The 1975 Tom & Jerry series made a surprise return in summer. The most prominent would be various classic Hanna Barbara era Scooby Doo series making their return and airing regularly for the first time since the early 2000s. They really loved to air Scooby Doo this year, March marking when the Scooby Doo slots started doubling down more (likely why most of the other ended CN originals outside Gumball, Regular Show, and Adventure Time stopped airing) and digging into the more controversial shows in the Scooby catalogue with even the Scrappy Doo era shows airing regular reruns (only 13 Ghosts of Scooby Doo, A Pup Named Scooby Doo, and Shaggy & Scooby Doo Get a Clue never aired on the channel this year but the former two did air in the following year so who knows if the latter might air too if they’re digging that deep). It even spreads to the movie airings where the Scooby Doo DTVs are the only movies the channel airs now. Only reason why no Scooby Doo show made top 5 most aired just comes to them airing individual series at varying frequencies rather than sticking to one but if I did combine every Scooby series into one, it’d even surpass Gumball as the most aired franchise on the channel this year.

2025 is continuing the more autopilot vibe of 2023 onward era of the channel, with their emphasis being a mix of early 2010s Check It nostalgia (the trio of Adventure Time, Regular Show, and especially Gumball plus reduced Teen Titans Go) and a lot of Scooby Doo.

Thanks for compiling all of this data for us. Last year I started tuning into the channel again, mostly for nostalgia. But I was shocked by how much it feels like its on autopilot. I think the Pastel era is attempting to relive the "best days" of CN while trying to disguise the fact there isn't much new coming to the channel itself. Although this could all change after Regular Show: The Lost Tapes premiered.

The TTG draw down is kind of crazy to witness because it's been such a constant presence since 2013. I haven't seen it air at all this year.

 

[Asa]

For acquired shows outside Cartoonito, Total Drama returned on Memorial Day to marathon the first reboot season and the second reboot season made its US premiere in summer, with reruns until leaving in November and the lack of confirmation on a new season makes it clear the show isn’t returning after that.

Despite the fact that Soar Losers ended with Chris mentioning the next season.

 

[ares]

Despite the fact that Soar Losers ended with Chris mentioning the next season.

They always do that in case they do get greenlit again