What Was Your Favorite Block?

[theredninja2003]

Okay no more doom and gloom threads from me! Let's talk about favorite programing blocks. By the time I was watching during the Check It Era, my favorites were Night of Action and Monday Nights. Later on, Saturdays became my favorite because Ben 10 UA and Omniverse moved to Saturday in 2012. I also caught Bakugan and Beyblade on Saturdays along with DC Nation.

I had vert vague memories of the Noods Era blocks. I personally like them more than their Check It era equivalents. Har Har Tharsdays and YOU ARE HERE had so much personality. Comparatively, Night of Action is a mega downgrade from YOU ARE HERE. That background song and the Golden Nood doing all his tricks along with the announcer just made the block feel epic. The Line up had some of CN's best action shows: Ben 10 Alien Force, Secret Saturdays, Batman TBAB, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and Generator Rex in the last month of its run. Blocks and bumpers are the things I miss the most about cable.

 

[Surreal Kangaroo]

My favorite block is Cartoon Cartoon Fridays. If someone asked me what is the one thing I’m most nostalgic for, I’m going with CCF. I just love the character interactions in the bumpers. I have fond memories of my brother and I staying up as late as we could to watch it and them camp out in the rec room.

 

[mqg96]

Here's my top 5 favorite CN blocks of all time.

1. Fridays (both Cartoon Cartoon and live-action): I enjoyed both versions of this block. The Cartoon Cartoons hosting it, or Tommy and Nzinga/Tara hosting. At the end of the day, all I wanted was new episodes of my favorite cartoons every Friday, knowing that a rough week of school was done and I had the whole weekend ahead of me.

2. Primetime (weeknights from 7-11pm ET, had characters inside bubbles with jazz music): This block doesn't get enough recognition but I have a lot of golden memories, especially over the summers or the breaks, turning on CN on a random night, watching my fav Cartoon Cartoons or even some Hanna-Barbera, in between commercial breaks hearing that relaxing jazz and the bubbles popping out with characters and the backgrounds based on the show.

3. Saturday Video Entertainment System: only lasted one year, but 7 hours of anime, western action, and DC/Marvel mashed up together. Hot take, this short lived block was better than anything Toonami or Miguzi could ever do. Teen Titans, one of my all time favs, premiered on this block.

4. Top 5: I loved this block so much. Especially during the times Cartoon Cartoons were rarely on CN anymore so this was the best place to catch Cartoon Cartoon reruns.

5. Cartoon Theatre: There's not much to say about this one. Whenever I was in the mood for an animated movie, this was always here for me.

 

[theredninja2003]

Here's my top 5 favorite CN blocks of all time.

1. Fridays (both Cartoon Cartoon and live-action): I enjoyed both versions of this block. The Cartoon Cartoons hosting it, or Tommy and Nzinga/Tara hosting. At the end of the day, all I wanted was new episodes of my favorite cartoons every Friday, knowing that a rough week of school was done and I had the whole weekend ahead of me.

2. Primetime (weeknights from 7-11pm ET, had characters inside bubbles with jazz music): This block doesn't get enough recognition but I have a lot of golden memories, especially over the summers or the breaks, turning on CN on a random night, watching my fav Cartoon Cartoons or even some Hanna-Barbera, in between commercial breaks hearing that relaxing jazz and the bubbles popping out with characters and the backgrounds based on the show.

3. Saturday Video Entertainment System: only lasted one year, but 7 hours of anime, western action, and DC/Marvel mashed up together. Hot take, this short lived block was better than anything Toonami or Miguzi could ever do. Teen Titans, one of my all time favs, premiered on this block.

4. Top 5: I loved this block so much. Especially during the times Cartoon Cartoons were rarely on CN anymore so this was the best place to catch Cartoon Cartoon reruns.

5. Cartoon Theatre: There's not much to say about this one. Whenever I was in the mood for an animated movie, this was always here for me.

Saturday Video Entertainment System was pretty cool based on the bumpers I saw on YT. Did it run concurrently with Toonami or was it supposed to replace it on Saturdays? Also did the Gorillaz actually premiere some of their music vids on there?

 

[theredninja2003]

My favorite block is Cartoon Cartoon Fridays. If someone asked me what is the one thing I’m most nostalgic for, I’m going with CCF. I just love the character interactions in the bumpers. I have fond memories of my brother and I staying up as late as we could to watch it and them camp out in the rec room.

You can't go wrong with CCF, unfortunately that one was around before I started watching. I would give anything to have been there to experience it. Character interactions between the different shows is when CN is at its best imo. I think that's why CN City is so fondly remembered.

 

[LinusFan303]

My favorite was Cartoon Cartoon Fridays/ Fridays. A lot of people talk about Saturday AM blocks, but I love cable networks making Friday night feel special. Cartoon Cartoon Friday and Fridays were part of the special part of the night. I loved CCF's presentation too, having the cartoons host cartoons was fun and the mix of what cartoon network was doing at the time. The Jingle theme was cool too. Fridays was also fun, I didn't hate the live-action hosted segments because it was still something different and fun and the shows were still fun. I never got to see the the last hours of the block though, since it would end at 1am or something in my time zone.

 

[theredninja2003]

My favorite was Cartoon Cartoon Fridays/ Fridays. A lot of people talk about Saturday AM blocks, but I love cable networks making Friday night feel special. Cartoon Cartoon Friday and Fridays were part of the special part of the night. I loved CCF's presentation too, having the cartoons host cartoons was fun and the mix of what cartoon network was doing at the time. The Jingle theme was cool too. Fridays was also fun, I didn't hate the live-action hosted segments because it was still something different and fun and the shows were still fun. I never got to see the the last hours of the block though, since it would end at 1am or something in my time zone.

Was CCF around before Adult Swim existed? I can't imagine CN going that long into the night even back during my heyday. I wish we got more of the characters hosting the blocks too. I'm sure that was phased out due to animation and voice acting costs. I think I saw a clip of Eustis from Courage hosting CCF one time lol.

 

[wonderfly]

Saturday Video Entertainment System was pretty cool based on the bumpers I saw on YT. Did it run concurrently with Toonami or was it supposed to replace it on Saturdays? Also did the Gorillaz actually premiere some of their music vids on there?

Saturday Video Entertainment System (SVES for short) ran from March 2003 to April 2004. It was replaced by the "Saturday Evening" version of Toonami in April 2004 (when Toonami moved from Weekdays to Saturday Evenings). Before April 2004, Toonami was a weekday afternoon/weeknight block.

I don't know about "premiered" (I thought it was Daft Punk that premiered songs on the block) but yes, Gorillaz and Daft Punk were on the "Toonami Midnight Run Special Edition" (which aired a couple of times in 2001). Iconic stuff, it was great.

Was CCF around before Adult Swim existed? I can't imagine CN going that long into the night even back during my heyday. I wish we got more of the characters hosting the blocks too. I'm sure that was phased out due to animation and voice acting costs. I think I saw a clip of Eustis from Courage hosting CCF one time lol.

Cartoon Cartoon Fridays ran from June 1999 to February 2007. So technically Cartoon Cartoon Fridays existed for a couple years prior to Adult Swim premiering in September 2001.

If I have to pick "Favorite Blocks"...it's probably mostly going to be stuff from 2001 to 2003 (what I consider to be "The Golden Age" of Cartoon Network). But let me do some thinking on that, and I'll get back to you shortly.

 

[theredninja2003]

Saturday Video Entertainment System (SVES for short) ran from March 2003 to April 2004. It was replaced by the "Saturday Evening" version of Toonami in April 2004 (when Toonami moved from Weekdays to Saturday Evenings). Before April 2004, Toonami was a weekday afternoon/weeknight block.

I don't know about "premiered" (I thought it was Daft Punk that premiered songs on the block) but yes, Gorillaz and Daft Punk were on the "Toonami Midnight Run Special Edition" (which aired a couple of times in 2001). Iconic stuff, it was great.



Cartoon Cartoon Fridays ran from June 1999 to February 2007. So technically Cartoon Cartoon Fridays existed for a couple years prior to Adult Swim premiering in September 2001.

If I have to pick "Favorite Blocks"...it's probably mostly going to be stuff from 2001 to 2003 (what I consider to be "The Golden Age" of Cartoon Network). But let me do some thinking on that, and I'll get back to you shortly.

Toonami on weekdays must have also been really cool to have been there for! I know people felt like 2004 to 2007 was the beginning of the end for Toonami because it got cut down to just Saturdays in 04. I guess that was a prelude to Tom 4.

I also remember hearing Daft Punk premiered their music videos on SVES too!

It's kind of a meme but why do OG CN fans say the channel died in 2004? I get when people say 2007 or 2009 but why 04? That's the beginning of CN City and when a lot of the big mid-2000s shows premiered. I know I'm really weird for feeling like the Noods and Check It era were my personal CN Golden age. But why is 04 marked as the beginning of the end?

 

[Stumpos]

It's kind of a meme but why do OG CN fans say the channel died in 2004? I get when people say 2007 or 2009 but why 04? That's the beginning of CN City and when a lot of the big mid-2000s shows premiered. I know I'm really weird for feeling like the Noods and Check It era were my personal CN Golden age. But why is 04 marked as the beginning of the end?

This was when the older classic cartoons by Hanna Barbara and Looney Tunes got removed from regular rotation, with only Scooby Doo (Though even that was thining out in 2006-2007) and Tom & Jerry remaining.

 

[Surreal Kangaroo]

Was CCF around before Adult Swim existed? I can't imagine CN going that long into the night even back during my heyday. I wish we got more of the characters hosting the blocks too. I'm sure that was phased out due to animation and voice acting costs. I think I saw a clip of Eustis from Courage hosting CCF one time lol.

Yes. CCF started in 1999 and Adult Swim didn’t launch until 2001, and then it was only on Sunday nights. AS didn’t come on all seven nights until like 2006 (I think).

 

[wonderfly]

Favorite Blocks:

1. Toonami!

But Toonami is such a big block, there's so many different versions of "Toonami", it's hard to narrow it down to which version of Toonami is my favorite.

We had:
a. Weekday afternoon Toonami (Moltar Era) 1997 to 1999
b. Weekday afternoon Toonami (July 1999 to March 2004)
c. Late Night Saturday "Midnight Run" Toonami (July 1999 to March 2000) - it ran from 12 midnight until 6 am.
d. Weeknight MIdnight Run Toonami (March 2000 to January 2003) - in the midnight hour.
e. Toonami "Rising Sun" (Saturday morning version which ran from April 2000 to March 2001)
f. Toonami Evening (from April 2004 to September 2008).

Eh, who am I kidding? I loved afternoon Toonami the most, but weeknight "Midnight Run" is a close 2nd.




2. Saturday Video Entertainment System

Yes, it only lasted one year, but I think @mqg96 is correct. Toonami was quickly becoming known as the "Anime block" by 2003, but this block had a great mixture of Western cartoons and anime. A nice mixture of reruns and new stuff. A block that can air Justice League, Pokemon, Teen Titans, GI Joe, .hack//SIGN, Rurouni Kenshin, Batman: The Animated Series, Yu-Gi-Oh and X-Men: Evolution. It was just great.




3. Adult Swim (Sunday Nights, reruns on Thursday Nights).

This is the version from 2001/2002. To be clear, I consider "Adult Swim" to be still part of Cartoon Network until early 2005 (though 2004 was the transition year).




4. Adult Swim Action (2002 to 2004).

Started off on Saturday Nights in 2002, but in January 2003 it went to Monday through Thursday nights. Then in 2004, it went back to Saturday nights (after Saturday Evening Toonami). Most of the love is for the 2002 version.




5. Miguzi: The replacement for "weekday afternoon Toonami".

This aired from 2004 to 2006, many living off of reruns of Teen Titans and the 2000's version of "Ninja Turtles" (and "Totally Spies"). Charming, but not really as "legendary" as Toonami's run on weekday afternoons.

 

[wonderfly]

6. Cartoon Planet (1995 to 1998):

Arguably a show, not a programming block, but they had host segments with Space Ghost and Zorak (and Brak) and then they'd air old retro cartoons. That sounds like a programming block to me.




It aired at different times, weekday afternoons, weeknights, Saturday mornings on occasion.

7. Fridays (the Fall 2003 to 2007 version): I'm probably the one guy who preferred "Fridays" over "Cartoon Cartoon Fridays"

 

[Classic Speedy]

I'm probably in the minority, but Miguzi! Loved the underwater motif and the host characters were cute. Plus at the time I enjoyed most of the shows on it.

 

[LinusFan303]

Was CCF around before Adult Swim existed? I can't imagine CN going that long into the night even back during my heyday. I wish we got more of the characters hosting the blocks too. I'm sure that was phased out due to animation and voice acting costs. I think I saw a clip of Eustis from Courage hosting CCF one time lol.

Yeah, infact, Adult Swim had expanded to every night but Friday night until 2007 when Fridays ended and before Fried Dynamite launched they expanded AS to Friday nights. I will also mention , I was in the Mountain Time zone we got west coast Cartoon Network so the block started at 8pm here.

 

[Stumpos]

I had vert vague memories of the Noods Era blocks. I personally like them more than their Check It era equivalents. Har Har Tharsdays and YOU ARE HERE had so much personality. Comparatively, Night of Action is a mega downgrade from YOU ARE HERE. That background song and the Golden Nood doing all his tricks along with the announcer just made the block feel epic. The Line up had some of CN's best action shows: Ben 10 Alien Force, Secret Saturdays, Batman TBAB, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, and Generator Rex in the last month of its run. Blocks and bumpers are the things I miss the most about cable.

Also funny to see how even Adventure Time had gotten a Har Har Tharsdays bumper toward the block's last weeks.

 

[Markus]

I loved Christmas in November which used to be a CN Nordic exclusive. Each year they either aired a new show for the entirety of November or had 30 new episodes in just a month. They also then aired Christmas specials in rotational slots each day.

Some examples:
New show Dr. Dimensionpants
New show Sidekick
New episodes of The Looney Tunes Show
New episodes of Scooby-Doo Mystery Incorporated

Eventually in 2014 it didn't return but they got N-Ooo-vember for Adventure Time premieres but that only lasted a year. Then around 2015 to 2017 they would air Teen Titans Go!vember and then that special block for November disappeared.

Of course they can always take their time to have Christmas blocks in December but having this for November in my opinion was something special. Back then the local team was creative.

 

[theredninja2003]

Also funny to see how even Adventure Time had gotten a Har Har Tharsdays bumper toward the block's last weeks.

This is why I'm obsessed with the final months of the Noods Era. I vaguely remember watching Adventure Time's premiere before Check It officially kicked off.

 

[Checkerboard]

Hmm. Have to think this through. I remember all blocks from all feeds from launch/checkerboard era till today. CN had globally maybe 100+ blocks over time.

 

[nottoptext]

I loved Christmas in November which used to be a CN Nordic exclusive. Each year they either aired a new show for the entirety of November or had 30 new episodes in just a month. They also then aired Christmas specials in rotational slots each day.

Some examples:
New show Dr. Dimensionpants
New show Sidekick
New episodes of The Looney Tunes Show
New episodes of Scooby-Doo Mystery Incorporated

Eventually in 2014 it didn't return but they got N-Ooo-vember for Adventure Time premieres but that only lasted a year. Then around 2015 to 2017 they would air Teen Titans Go!vember and then that special block for November disappeared.

Of course they can always take their time to have Christmas blocks in December but having this for November in my opinion was something special. Back then the local team was creative.

Speaking of that, did anyone remember the competitions they held for that block? I remember being able to meet Finn & Jake and be driven in a limousine to spend 10000 Swedish kronor at BR (a now defunct toy store).