Confessions Of An Animation Nerd

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Confessions Of An Animation Nerd
Year-end wrap-up, 1996

The year the cartoons died

As far as cartoons specifically made for TV go, this year marks the point where they became an endangered species. NBC, aka Not Broadcasting Cartoons, killed their SatAM lineup years ago, and now comes word that CBS is following suit. CBS is the network that caved in to Rev. Donald Wildmon and killed "Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures," and which destroyed the highly promising and poorly-targeted "The Twisted Tales of Felix The Cat" , so this comes as no surprise. This leaves only ABC and Fox in the running for the SatAM market, because now that WGN is being taken off of many cable systems The WB is losing many domestic markets, and they have precious few affiliates of their own. UPN, who shows their small KidVid lineup on Sundays, isn't even in the running for the forseeable future.

So what of the two titans left in the cartoon mosh pit? Well, ABC, since it is owned and operated by The Walt Disney Co., is probably not going to be in the market for shows not produced at Disney, and since Fox Kids Network was partially spun off of Fox Network and is now in cahoots with Saban, they will probably not be actively in the running for non-Saban product.

Can you see just how bleak it is out there for TV animation now? Things are baaaad, folks. Way bad. Cable is still a place where independent and small-studio animation can be sold, but even in the 1990s not everyone has cable. And not every cable system carries every cable network. My cable company, TCI of the East San Fernando Valley, LLC, is only now starting to take the Cartoon Network after years and years of dawdling. And they aren't going to get the Sci-Fi channel, home to reruns of Star Trek: The Animated Series and Anime Saturday Nights, for the foreseeable future. (note 1/98: the new TCI Digital Cable lineup will include the Sci-Fi network.) And they have a bigger and more modern Cable system than most.

And look at how many studios are floundering, too. Despite what some have said on rec.arts.animation, it is growing increasingly and depressingly apparent that Hanna-Barbera, for good or for ill a Force Majeure in 1950s-1990s animation, will be thoroughly assimilated, Borg-style, into Warner Bros. Animation. The Marque might remain, but only for merchandising purposes. Considering just how bad most of WB Animation's modern-day product has been, "Batman: The Animated Series" aside, this does not look good for the Studio formerly known as H-B. It is extremely unclear just how many "Dexter's Laboratory"s and "Cow And Chicken"s WB will tolerate....probably not many, if any. Look for a lot of attempts to milk the classic WB characters and make more kiddie bastardizations of said characters in the future...more shows along the lines of "The Tweety and Sylvester Mysteries", "Animaniacs!" "Tiny Toons" and more. "Space Jam: The Series"? I wouldn't put it past them. There are rumors of a new "Scooby Doo" series as the sole bow to their newly acquired franchise. "Scooby Doo" was bad enough when being produced at Taft-era H-B, but expect a sub-"Scooby and Scrappy Doo" result if the WB track record on "wacky" shows is any indication.

That's right, folks...H-B is about to join the ranks of Filmation, Ruby-Spears, DePatie-Freleng aka Marvel Animation, Graz and so many others in the history of TV animation. Resistance is futile. You will be assimilated. We are Pinky and The Brain of Borg.

What's an animation fan to do? Live completely in the past? No. Even more importantly, what are small animation studios to do? There needs to be a new shift towards alternative distribution for small-studio animation in the future. Look to the East, to the concept of Original Animation Video which is so popular in Japan and which could conceivably be big business in the future. Small animation studios should start doing cooperative ventures with other small studios if capital isn't enough to make it on ones own. Revive the concept of "four-walling" motion picture theatres, that is, renting theatres out one at a time and showing independent features that way...this is the approach already used with such money-making ventures as the Spike and Mike festivals. Only it should be cooperatives of small animation producers doing this, not festival organizers who often pay pittances for the work of small studio and independent animators.

The concept of small-studio cooperative alliances could extend even further, to TV syndication which is the only aspect of American TV which remains wide open now. A bunch of smaller studios could put together a bloc of programming which could be offered to independent TV stations and the affiliates of the "mini-nets" like UPN and The WB who often have to add syndicated programming to round out their kidvid schedule. Claster Syndication's "Power Block" breathed new life into "Re-Boot" in the United States, and although by and large controlled by toymaker Hasbro should be an example of such a programming bloc. One studio does a 13 to 26 episode run of a series, then hitches it to a cooperative syndication bloc with four others with the idea of selling it as a weekday strip...that could very easily work.

And the fans? They should support these alternatives when they arise. Support the produce of small animation studios and independent animators! Reject corporate animation! Go to festivals! Buy OAV videos! Drop by Animation World Network at http://www.awn.com to find out more about International independent animation alternatives! Don't leave it to the Disneys, WBs and Sabans of the world to control your cartoons.

If you have a rebuttal to this editorial, send it to mhass703@2cowherd.net. We'll be happy to post it here.

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