June 24, 2006
And now
the truth comes out.
This past
week saw an article
published at Newsarama about the apparent demise of Cartoon Network’s Krypto
the Super Dog, which is the last DC-related property currently airing on the
network (the DCAU reruns on Boomerang notwithstanding).
The article had this interesting little tidbit, provided by a “very
well-placed,” anonymous source at Warner Bros. Animation (which is odd,
considering the long-running rumors that their animation department no
longer exists):
[Cartoon Network] wants to focus on their own properties.
[…] While I can understand this, I think that Krypto
needs saving. I know it’s not
necessarily the most popular show on CN, but it is
a WB Animation / DC property, and so saving it could have very positive
repercussions on the long-term DC / CN relationship.
We weren’t able to save JLU or Teen
Titans because we didn’t know that they were ending until too late.
But if we act now to start a ‘Save Krypto’ letter-writing campaign to
the powers-that-be at CN, it might make a huge difference in the future of the
show. Plus it shows CN there is a
large fan base for the DC properties on their network, possibly paving the way
for a return to CN of several other DC properties.
Okay,
first things first: even if they
didn’t know for sure that the series was going to end, they certainly had an idea
that there was trouble ahead. It’s
apparent that both Warner Bros. Animation and Cartoon Network are going through
a period of corporate maneuvering—the old guard steps down (or is removed),
new management comes on board, and the “fresh faces” bring with them their
plans for restructuring / rebranding / overhauling their respective company.
These can be blatant changes (Cartoon Network now airs live-action films)
to the subtle (the change from the Cartoon Network logo to “CN” is about as
transparent as Kentucky Fried Chicken changing its brand name to “KFC”).
In addition, I’ve heard uncorroborated rumors about the restructuring
of the animation divisions (see above) as well as public commentary from Toon Zone’s staff
(see here and here)
about these changes in management and strategy.
Now, I possess no pretension to being “in the know,” but I do know
what I can see with my own two eyes, and this is what I’m seeing:
Warner Bros. and Cartoon Network allowed Justice
League Unlimited to
die a slow death because of issues involving money and corporate executhink.
And, damn it, I really can't argue with their reasoning.
Despite
strong ratings, toy sales, and critical acclaim, Justice League Unlimited suffered from programming decisions that
some may consider questionable. Already
subjected to a Saturday night time slot, one-time-only airings, and minimal
promotion; Season Five made an unusual debut in September 2005 with “I Am
Legion” and “Shadow of the Hawk” both premiering on September 17th (at
10:00pm and 10:30pm, respectively) and “Chaos at the Earth’s Core” and
“To Another Shore” airing on September 24th (same airtimes as prior).
After that there was nothing for several months until, after some
back-and-forth programming, “Flash and Substance” aired on
I can’t really get into the reasons why Teen Titans and Justice League
Unlimited were cancelled—not about to air my dirty laundry here (not that
it’s really all that dirty anyway)—[but] it’s not always just about money and ratings.
If it were as simple as that, it’d make total sense, but while economic
issues are certainly a part of the story, there are many other factors as well.
It’s a complicated business, and I don’t pretend to understand it
fully myself.
I can’t speak of Titans,
but JLU’s ratings have been just fine, thank you very much.
‘I Am Legion’ and ‘Shadow of the Hawk’ were CN’s no. 1 and no.
3 top-rated shows for the week they aired, and with very little promotion.
I haven’t yet seen our more recent numbers, but I’d imagine they’re
in roughly the same ballpark. Toy
sales are solid, apparently: my
sources at Mattel tell me there are at least 3 more major waves of new figures
due over the next 18 months. Doesn’t
sound like a failing revenue stream to me.
Now, I will point out that this next paragraph is not about Titans
or JLU, but in the past I’ve seen networks deliberately sabotage their own
top-rated shows, for a variety of seemingly random, petty, or just plain bizarre
reasons, and from speaking to friends of mine in both the animation and
live-action sides of the business; it’s not at all an uncommon story.
The stuff that goes on behind the scenes is positively surreal at
times—and I’ve only experienced a small fraction of it
personally—sometimes simple logic and / or common sense just doesn’t enter
into it.
That said, I’ve got no beef with CN whatsoever.
Honestly, I’m almost relieved JLU is over (for the moment, anyway).
It was frankly an exhausting to
do, hard to write, extremely labor-intensive to produce…this season and the
last especially. With such an
action-oriented show, after awhile it becomes really
had to keep trying to top yourself, to keep pushing the envelope for
hyper-active action sequences, upping the epic scale, etc.
And honestly I’d rather get off-stage while the audience is still
having a good time, before the show just starts running in place / jumping the
shark / what-have-you. Since the
very beginning, Cartoon Network’s been nothing but great to us overall, gave
us almost unlimited creative freedom to do the show the way we wanted to do it,
and bottom-line, that’s the most important thing; if they kept moving our
time-slot all over the place or didn’t give us as much promotion as some of
their own home-grown shows, so what? Ultimately
these shows will live on in DVD and whatever home-video format comes next, and
in future syndications, etc. I’ve
actually been spoiled rotten by the experience; I only hope that whatever
project I work on next, I’ll have patrons who are half as easy-going and
non-meddlesome as the folks at CN have been.
As for the
Warner Bros. Animation side, I found this little nugget of information on
TitansGo.net; it’s an excerpt from a podcast created by Teen Titans voice actor Wil Wheaton (which can be accessed here;
a partial transcript here).
Here he’s speaking, of course, in regards to Teen
Titans, but I suspect that JLU could also apply here:
Some new people came into Warner Bros. Feature
Animation—new bosses—and as part of their “We’re here, we’re the
bosses, get used to it,” they had all of the existing shows come in and
re-pitch—the producers and writers had to come in.
It didn’t matter if the show had been on the air for 10 years or 5
years or if it had only run 3 episodes—they had to come back in and re-pitch
it.
Now,
setting aside the rumors that Warner Bros. Animation and Cartoon Network’s
animation studios have merged, it's pretty apparent that, for reasons that are
their own, both divisions were not
terribly interested in continuing the series.
This could be because Justice
League and Unlimited had
cumulatively passed the magic syndication number of 52 episodes (the suits treat them as
separate shows only when it’s convenient), but it’s more likely that individual
issues led them to put the kibosh on future seasons.
For Warner
Bros. (and, by extension, DC Comics), who are busy prepping their characters for a variety of projects on the
large and small screens, Unlimited
poses problems in regards to the rights issues of its enormous supporting cast.
As previously seen with the controversial Bat-Embargo and the loss of Aquaman to
the will-it-be-picked-up-or-won't-it Mercy Reef, the screen rights to the
characters cannot be easily divided between multiple projects (ironically, the
exception appears to be Batman himself, as his presence on Unlimited
was necessary for the series’ continuation).
As Paul Dini recounted on his LiveJournal page,
“I had heard people were getting more territorial with certain DC characters
(no more Joker in JLU, for instance), but I didn’t know the details.
I knew two years ago when I left, that as heroes (and their villains) got
snapped up in live movie options, it tended [to limit] their appearances
elsewhere.” In order to facilitate
the upcoming crop of DC-related movie and television projects, they needed the
rights back to their heavy hitters.
As for
Cartoon Network, it largely boils down to money.
In regards to animated television properties, the companies get their
money from licensing and marketing, and Cartoon Network gets more money back
from their own homegrown shows than they do shows that are from other studios
(or utilize characters owned by other companies).
So, even though Cartoon Network and DC Comics are both owned by the same
parent company, CN still needs to pay licensing fees to DC to use their
characters. Based on this logic, it
should come as no surprise that this Newsarama article came out the same week
that it was announced
that Cartoon Network had inked a major licensing deal with Mattel designed to
capitalize on their original programming. Based
on this activity, it would appear that Cartoon Network is 1) trying to broaden
its audience by airing more than animation, and 2) altering its approach by
looking to the Nickelodeon model (own all the licensing rights to your shows,
market the hell out of them). Simply
put, they’d rather air the show they can make the most money on.
Again,
I’m no expert, but these are the answers I came up with.
There was no grand conspiracy to end the series; they did what was best for
their companies. I don't blame them, but it still sucks. It’s a shame
too—this month’s ToyFare magazine (#108) had an article
about the show’s cancellation, and Bruce Timm had a few words about what might
have been Season Six:
We had talked just briefly about doing 13 more episodes; we
had an idea of doing something that would be a season-long journey through time.
It would give us a chance to revisit a bunch of DC heroes from different
[time] periods. We’d go to the far
future and see the Atomic Knights, have an adventure with Enemy Ace during World
War I, or do something again in the Old West.
And there was also talk of possibly doing a whole season […] in the Batman Beyond universe.
Still,
even without Cartoon Network, I
guess there’s hope for future material, as there have also been reports this
week of future Timm-related projects, which may or may not tie into DCAU
continuity. Whether or not they
feature our beloved territory or blaze a new frontier, we’ll be in good hands.
Just keep those Brainiac Attacks people far, far away from them!
***
Otherwise, things are good. I'm currently working my way through Season Two of Justice League, and because I helped orchestrate the campaign to get that set in widescreen, I can't help but feel a sense of accomplishment while watching them. Also, things are in motion here, as I'm currently working on updates to this website, as well as a few related projects that I can't discuss right now. Be seeing you.
Yours in chaos,
Karkull
Image courtesy of Toon Zone and The World's Finest.