Toon Zone Talkback - Cartoon Network Upfront 2012 Coverage

[KPTitan]

I wasn't shocked to not see Generator Rex as a returning series. Even without knowing what happened in the last few episodes, there were more signs of its cancellation than a possible return.

It's cancellation didn't come as a big surprise to me either, especially since MoA confirmed it was meant to be for 60 episodes. But what's kind of getting on my nerves right now is that for the past few weeks, MoA have been hyping up for an announcement of some sorts regarding GR, via their Twitter and Facebook. I was half-expecting it to be brought up during this Upfront, but if they keep their word, we may hear something at San Diego's Comic-Con.

I'm happy with what we've gotten from GR, but it's this recent trollish behavior from MoA that's gettin' to me. You don't just do that for the sake of the lulz... period.

 

[StellaMagic]

That isn't fair that Thundercats won't return! I really want to see Lion-O defeat Mumm-ra in a final battle and the animals come together. They said that they will continue to update. Maybe they are just waiting to see.

 

[Silverstar]

The Good News: The Looney Tunes Show is coming back. I already knew it was, but still it's good to hear it officially. Hopefully Spike Brandt and Tony Cervone will tweak things a little for season 2 so the hate that so many people have for this show will be quelled a bit.

Also MAD is returning. The show has actually stepped its' game up in season 2, so hopefully they've now found their groove and the goodness will continue.

The Not-So-Good News: Level Up is coming back and there's another live-action show on the way, this one a sketch comedy show starring Nick Cannon. LU isn't a terrible show, but it's somewhat disheartening to hear that despite the recent successes of the animated programs, CN's Big Brass still isn't done trying to inject live-action onto the network. I don't wish to sound alarmist, and honestly as long as CN remains at least 85% cartoons I suppose I can deal, but it's a very slippery slope; all it would take is for 1 LA show to become huge, and more would/will inevitably follow. Oh well, at least there was no mention of another Hall of Game Awards show.

The Surprising News: The returns of Almost Naked Animals, Scared Squirrel, Sidekick, Casper's Scare School, Johnny Test and Hero: 108. I figured CN was done with all of those shows. Test is really scraping the bottom of the barrel in terms of quality and writing now, so I'm hoping it doesn't go too far beyond it's planned 100 episodes for its' own sake. Also surprising: the lack of news about Scooby-Doo: Mystery Inc. or I Heart Tuesdays. I know SD:MI's 2nd season will be its' last, but I thought that show was supposed to come back in May. There were even screen shots of it. I guess Tuesdays isn't ready yet, assuming it's still on. the new Lego series also came as a surprise at least to me; I knew NinjaGo was doing well, but I had no idea it was doing that well.

The Not-So-Surprising News: The returns of Adventure Time, Regular Show, Gumball, Young Justice, Green Lantern and the new Ben 10 and Batman shows, and the new Dragons show. I was either already aware of these or their announcements simply came as no surprise given their popularity. Sadly, no new Superman series yet, maybe after the movie.

 

[Neo Ultra Mike]

Well I'm glad to see at least the shows I really like now on CN (MAD, Regular Show, Adventure Time) returning at least. We already knew about RS and AT and glad MAD's coming back too since I still think it's rather funny. My thoughts on the other new shows.

Annoying Orange: I think I already said this but this doesn't seem like a good idea for a show and really CN could have much things from youtube get their own show. Truthfully I haven't watched a full episode of the new Fred show to see if that's as bad as I feared and who knows maybe this will be a lot better then the actual web series it came from... but I doubt it.

Beware The Batman: The show still looks as interesting as it did when I first heard about it and really Brave and the Bold is a show I should of given more of a fair shake then I did since I did enjoy it's campy aspects and all the various rotating DC guest heroes. I guess we're now getting the more gritty, realisitc and "mature" Batman show everyone wanted after Batman The Animated series that The Batman truly failed to live up to.

Ben Ten Omniverse: Ah Ben 10, the Cartoon Network series that doesn't die, it just regenerates every couple of years into a new form due to the fact that as an original action series that has very popular selling merchandise, something other CN action shows really need to thrive (I was hoping that Thundercats toys were selling but if they don't get another season... that's probably the reason why people). I wonder how the dynamic will change with a new kid in the mix but I still only have a passable at best knowledge of the series, and that would be with the original and Alien Force not with Ultimate Alien and now this.

How To Train Your Dragon The Series: You know to be fair it seems they have a lot more returning cast for How to return your dragon then Nickeldeon got for the Dreamwork shows on Nick (Penguins of Madascar and Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomness). In truth I was never much interested in the actual how to train your dragon movie but I heard it was actually pretty good. So maybe the show will be pretty good actually though I hope it isn't as cliched as what I saw of the Kung Fu Panda show.

Nick Cannon Variety Show: At first I was afraid that CN was cancelling MAD and replacing it with a life aciton variety show but yeah MAD's still around but we now have this variety show as well. Which is... confusing. I know someone asked if this was possible and I remember saying before that seems pretty silly when CN doesn't have as much life action shows nowadays and already have a variety/sketch show. Guess this is more just general comedy sketches and hey nice they at least got Jeremy Sheda from adventure time to do this. I do find it ironic how Nick Cannon really started his career on a Nickelodeon variety show though (All That) and is now making his own on a rival network. Now THAT is ironic. Will it be any good? Probably not but you never know for sure.

Total Drama: Revenge Of The Island: Hmmm still feels weird it took two years for us to get this show after Total Drama World Tour was done in 2010. Then again guess since this is all new characters (well new campers anyway) they needed more time to develop that. Hope that the cast gives more grief to Chris then the original cast did to try and change that dynamic up some.

 

[Brad12]

why does everyone think Thundercats isn't coming back? there were a lot of things they cartoon network upfront didnt mention but that doesnt mean they're canned. Like someone else said on here earlier. They didnt mention anything about the rumored Tom and Jerry show but that will probably still see the light of day. No one officially said "Thundercats" isn't coming back so until someone actually says that, we shouldn't jump to conclusions, plus if CN already ordered 52 episodes then i'm sure its not cancelled yet.

 

[BrianLeague]

The reason why everyone thinks ThunderCats isn't returning is because unlike those other shows that aren't listed on this upfront that are returning, ThunderCats is a major show. I honestly think that if ThunderCats was returning, then Cartoon Network would've definitely put it on this list.

 

[Sketch]

The Good News: The Looney Tunes Show is coming back. I already knew it was, but still it's good to hear it officially. Hopefully Spike Brandt and Tony Cervone will tweak things a little for season 2 so the hate that so many people have for this show will be quelled a bit.

The people who hate it will probably always hate it. I don't think they should alienate the current viewers who are enjoying it as is. Maybe they can find a happy medium though.

Oh well, at least there was no mention of another Hall of Game Awards show.

Actually... there was.

http://www.nickandmore.com/2012/03/28/cartoon-network-upfront-2012/

Cartoon Network Hall of Game Awards: Hall of Game is Cartoon Network’s signature venture into the broadcast awards arena, created and produced in association with IMG Media, the production arm of global sports, entertainment and media company, IMG. This high-energy, multi-platform experience lets viewers decide who’s got game, by honoring their favorite sports stars and sports moments of the year. From the red carpet, to the never-before-seen stunts and surprises on stage, this unconventional celebration in 2013 will be led by a celebrity host and feature icons from television, film, music and sports, as kids experience an evening of humor and fun at the most raucous and biggest sports awards show ever presented on television.

I'm not surprised. The second one did exponentially better than the first. But I was so hoping they would stop pouring money into that every year.

 

[Harley]

Cartoon Network Upfront 2012: Geeking Out at the Upfront
I wrote about the show portion of the upfront because it was really cool this time.

 

[Sketch]

That sounds amazing. I wish I could have seen it but thanks for posting the pic of Ward on stage.

 

[Anthonynotes]

More live action (sketch comedy?)... figures.

Of what I'm actually remotely interested in:

Looney Tunes Show: expected to be back. Hopefully season 2 is more "Casa de Calma"/that last epsiode with Sylvester and his Mom, way less "sitcom straitjacket". Otherwise, count me out...

Beware the Batman: Yet another Batman show, though guessing since it's the more "serious" Batman (vs "Brave and the Bold"), it'll get treated better by CN...

Johnny Test: I assume since this puts it at around 100 episodes or so, this might be the last season for Mr. Test?

Total Drama: Glad to see this one finally come back, though wonder about spoilers online (if it's already aired up in Canada)... oh well...

 

[Peter Paltridge]

It annoys me that Dreamworks has been changing the title of the franchise to just "Dragon" or "Dragons." It doesn't sound as good. The dragons aren't the main characters, the kids riding the dragons are.

 

[TheVileOne]

Well you can't call it Dragon Riders .

 

[Silverstar]

You have to wonder why there wasn't any mention of Cartoon Planet at the Upfront... or was there?

If there was no mention of that, I'm not surprised, because Cartoon Planet isn't technically a 'new' show. CP is just a collection of old shorts from former CN shows with cheaply made wraparounds, which is likely only on there as filler since everything else CN has placed on Friday nights has tanked. A hastily put together block of reruns isn't the sort of thing a network would go out of its' way to promote in an Upfront.

BTW - This just went through my mind:

Nick Cannon's Sketch Comedy = Carrot Top's A.M. Mayhem spiritual successor?

No. AM Mayhem was a compilation of cartoon shorts with Carrot Top's shtick as wraparounds. This Nick Cannon show isn't implied to have anything to do with cartoons; it sounds more like an attempt by CN to have their own equivalent to Nick's All That (was Cannon was on for a time) or Disney's So Random! Not the same thing. It remains to be seen of course, but Cartoon Planet is closer in concept to Carrot Top's AM Mayhem than this Nick Cannon show sounds.

 

[Stimpy!]

Always liked Nick Cannon projects but a live-action sketch-comedy on CN? WHAT? No thanks.

Anyways, I expected more surprises here but oh well, I'm looking forward to: Total Drama: Revenge of the Island, Adventure Time, MAD and The Amazing World of Gumball.

BTW, no news on I Heart Tuesdays?

 

[The Huntsman]

BTW, no news on I Heart Tuesdays?

The Animation Guild Blog confirmed just last week that the show was still in development. Perhaps it's just not ready to be formally announced, or maybe Ne-Yo wants to use his platforms to announce the show's launch.

 

[macattack]

Nothing really surprising other than Thundercats being ignored which isn't a good sign (then again Beyblade wasn't mentioned either and we know that one's coming back). I was expecting Level Up not bombing to usher in another live-action series and there we go, sketch comedy with Nick Cannon. I don't think Nick Cannon has the pull with kids he once did so I'm not sure it'll do all that well.

 

[RagnarokSM]

"Cartoon Network also announced its ongoing commitment to its shorts program with ten original 7-minute shorts to be produced this year with a wholly dedicated production unit at Cartoon Network Studios. With production already underway on many of these projects, this continuing investment in diverse and unique talent has resulted in many of the network’s hit animated series.

Did you all miss this? I think this is by far my favorite part of this year's upfront. I mean, it isn't slated to be as big as Cartoonstitute was supposed to be, but still, it is always good to see new ideas from independent animators. We could even get a bigger range of quality cartoons to come out of this. Really interested in these shorts. Other than that, this Upfront was as much disappointing as it was dull. Never cared for Total Drama, Beware the Batman looks "meh" to me, Level Up getting renewed doesn't sit well with me either.

 

[Lanmanna]

Well, if there's any good news with the Nick Cannon show, maybe it might encourage Nick to bring back All That?

 

[Zanneck]

...We could even get a bigger range of quality cartoons to come out of this. Really interested in these shorts...

If you're talking about that Cartoonstitute stuff, then yeah. That's the kind of drive/awesome we need right now (and not just from especially a channel in need of it like CN, but throughout all Western outlets!), besides for shows worth watching on here to get properly renewed...

I'm going to miss Thundercats, though. As far as I'm concerned, no toy sales means no chance of a 2nd Season!

Don't we have enough live-action noise polluting our airwaves elsewhere as is in place of quality action and comedy animation that we Americans are in dire need of creating and being properly entertained by if it's good enough?

With a disappointing/rage-inducing Upfront like this for 2012 being any indication, CN's days are numbered - no amount of parachuting around the truth can deny this..

 

[ToonsLover]

As far as I'm concerned, they could've aired Cartoonstitute. Why did they never bother airing the completed shorts and just space those through the year?