Looney Tunes Reduced To One Hour a Week, Popeye Show on Adult Swim

[Killtacular]

Because Saturday nights are now Adult Swim Action again (and due to the encore), the Looney Tunes from 2-5 are gone. So far CN has made no attempt to move them to a different night (you'd think they'd put it on Sunday nights from 7-10 like they USED to be! I mean come on!).

Which means, thanks to CN's idiotic programmers (NOT THANKS TO ADULT SWIM -- they, Williams St, have no control over programming/scheduling -- so please direct hate towards CN, not AS.. let's not start that up again), the only Looney Tunes are available on Saturday mornings at 7 am.

The Popeye Show will air as a part of Adult Swim Sundays at 1:30 am and 4:30 am (encore).

This takes effect April 17th and 18th.

Commence the reactions.

EDIT: Fixed thread title to include Popeye Show to prevent dupe threads.

[Jon Cooke]

It's sad... but I am also not surprised.

Enjoy that 1 hour per week while it lasts, folks...


-Jon

[Classic Speedy]

Man... with news like this, they can't get the next Golden Collection out fast enough. :sad: Then again, this doesn't surprise me at all. It was only a matter of time before Looney Tunes went the route of Tiny Toons on Nick- regulated to early mornings. Boo.

[Thad Komorowski]

This is really awful....

I've been saying it for months, classic cartoons on CN is over.... And Popeye on Adult Swim ? While I'm glad to see the sailor back, it's just plain stupid to put him as part of AS... AS has pretty much established itself of being everything classic cartoons aren't...

The world really needs a true classic cartoon channel, not a fake subsitution like Boomerang...

I'm pretty sure this sums up everybody at the TTTP's opinion on recent CN events....

http://lantz.toonzone.net/02938.gif


-Thad

[Killtacular]

And Popeye on Adult Swim ? While I'm glad to see the sailor back, it's just plain stupid to put him as part of AS... AS has pretty much established itself of being everything classic cartoons aren't...
Popeye Show is targetted at 18-34. Adult Swim is too. Adult Swim has no agenda against classic cartoon, as Mike Lazzo and the main execs of W St helped build and work with the initial CN library from 1992 and onward (and up until Lazzo became head of AS, most of them held that position, such as Andy Merill who produced and scheduled Boomerang for a very long time).

As I've said before, the people who make these stupid decisions are Jim Samples and Bob Higgins, who have no idea what their network is supposed to be representative of. They don't understand what kids like nor adults. They should leave it to the professionals, except THEY'RE considered the professionals! It's very frustrating. Betty Cohen's departure boned CN for the most part.

AS has tried running classic cartoons before, as well. They ran Popeye and Bullwinkle on Sundays as programming filler when a couple of things fell through (crazy times). Considering Bullwinkle hadn't been scheduled on CN for months (and now -- years), it was extremely generous.

Keep in mind that Williams Street is only in charge of what they can program within their own timeslot. They don't get to decide what timeslots their block is placed on, nor can they program outside of those timeslots. I'm still hoping that they get rid of the encores and use 2-5 the way I expect them to do, or at least would expect Lazzo to do, and put TH, LNB&W, and PS on from 3-5 am AT LEAST every weeknight. Noone's up then anyway. Perfect for VHS tapers.


The world really needs a true classic cartoon channel, not a fake subsitution like Boomerang...
That's understandable. To me, Boomerang's only current flaw is that it repeats itself three times a day. Of course now they're buying a lot more properties and may expand to a full 24 hour schedule by 2005, but that's not really enough right now. They have enough programming to at least extend to 12 hours. So why not just do it? Programming cowards.

[Rouge12]

This is really sad for the people on this board...
They should at least put some classic cartoons on Sunday somewhere because the stuff they air on Sundays doesn't really make me want to watch CN on Sundays except AS...

Popeye on AS?!

Didn't it sort of air there before?

EDIT:
heh...my questions are answered.

[Daniel P]

To me, Boomerang's only current flaw is that it repeats itself three times a day.Um... How about the facts that classic cartoons are edited just as they would be on Cartoon Network and non-Tom and Jerry MGM cartoons are only shown as filler and have no actual time slot? Those should be considered flaws of Boomerang, too. Most times when a classic cartoon fan complains about Boomerang, they're usually complaining about the censoring, not the eight-hour repeated schedule.


-Dan

[Killtacular]

Um... How about the facts that classic cartoons are edited just as they would be on Cartoon Network and non-Tom and Jerry MGM cartoons are only shown as filler and have no actual time slot? Those should be considered flaws of Boomerang, too. Most times when a classic cartoon fan complains about Boomerang, they're usually complaining about the censoring, not the eight-hour repeated schedule.


-Dan
This is true too, however I think the lack of variety kills Boomerang more than anything else right now, and is preventing it from getting in more homes. Obviously uncut is the best course of action but what good would that do if noone can see it? I imagine the programming schedule is a turnoff to providers like Comcast and Cox which is why I never get to see Boomerang unless I'm at someone else's house (not a Comcast sub).

At this point Boomerang really should be in at least 55% of the homes that have Cartoon Network.

[Nelson]

I'm actually getting tired of Boomerang's schedule while that several of the programs are currently airing on Cartoon Network.Like Matt said in another different post that CN thinks that Boomrang is another kids channel and I do agree with that one hundred precent.The idea of showing the same episode three times a day, every eight hour repeats is getting very boring and I'm loosing interest in that channel very quickly.

How come that shows like Tex Avery, Bob Clampett and the Popeye show doesn't have a home on Boomerang, which would be ideal for classic cartoon fans and it's shame that the other MGM cartoons are getting mis-treated on Boomerang.What are the future plans for Boomerang and are they going to pick up any other classic cartoon material, cause they really need to expand their roster in a hurry.

[CookieS]

Somewhere an angel has lost it's wings. I swear, they expect to just ship everything to Boomerang that is older than 10 years? Boomerang is still not a widely seen network. Terrible decision.

[Tintin]

What? Finish the classic cartoons the late-night sunday? That's very coward that CN remove this block for a block already airing in the week. I'm also disapointed since last summer for Teletoon because airing the same animated series.

So CN airing now Looney Tunes only saturday at 7am to 8am, Teletoon airing again a B&TS new segment weekends at 8pm and noon (repeat at 8pm) in the Retro block since... 2 years. How are a really changement for the best of the worlds? :o

So Looney Tunes now 'has been' on TV??

[Daffyfan2003]

You mean, they're not going to air the late-night cartoon block on weekends anymore? That was usually the best place to catch pre-1948 cartoons and rare cartoons. Hopefully, because of this, they'll start to air those on Saturday mornings.

[Patrick McCart]

Well, at least there will be more than 120 Warner cartoons on DVD we'll be able to see by the end of the year.

[Karl Olson]

Keep in mind that Williams Street is only in charge of what they can program within their own timeslot. They don't get to decide what timeslots their block is placed on, nor can they program outside of those timeslots. I'm still hoping that they get rid of the encores and use 2-5 the way I expect them to do, or at least would expect Lazzo to do, and put TH, LNB&W, and PS on from 3-5 am AT LEAST every weeknight. Noone's up then anyway. Perfect for VHS tapers.

It's what I'd hope Lazzo would do to, but as much as he's got an appreciatation of the Classics, he also wants the next South Park, the next Beavis and Butthead, IE: the next cash cow. Until he has an original hit in the hole (rather than a necromancied one that CN only has syndication rights to,) I don't think he's going to stray too much from the formula (Squidbillies seems proof enough of that.) Trying the Popeye Show again on AS is a bold move (especially considering that they could always have just thrown on Brak or some other signature AS show instead,) but I don't expect them to move past that with any speed, unless it does very well (though that's a given.)

[candy17]

And Popeye on Adult Swim ? While I'm glad to see the sailor back, it's just plain stupid to put him as part of AS... AS has pretty much established itself of being everything classic cartoons aren't...Now don't say that. Just be glad that CN finally wised up and realized that classic cartoons aren't kiddie. Like most of the posters say, this is a bold move to put The Popeye Show on AS (I just wish they put The Bob Clampett Show since that show also had uncut versions of cartoons that don't show up these days for PC reasons).

And besides, like Boomerang, CN also had a bad habit of repeating the classic cartoons ad nauseam (and the same goes for the contemporary shows, but that's not the point). I don't really care what happens to CN at this point, so long as they don't do anything to Samurai Jack or the Adult Swim line-up, because I have uncut classic cartoons on video and DVD and I can watch them whenever I want.

[Killtacular]

I don't really care what happens to CN at this point, so long as they don't do anything to Samurai Jack or the Adult Swim line-up, because I have uncut classic cartoons on video and DVD and I can watch them whenever I want.
I don't want to get you upset, but CN is pulling Jack off the air as of the 17th.

Why must I always spread bad news? That gives me such a loathed reputation.

[candy17]

I don't want to get you upset, but CN is pulling Jack off the air as of the 17th.

Well, fine. I'll have Adult Swim, Totally Spies, and some Cartoon Cartoon reruns. I already have some Samurai Jack episodes on video and the first season is coming to DVD in May (I think). As long as Baby Looney Tunes doesn't end up on Adult Swim (ugh!) then there's no problem, right? Right?


Why must I always spread bad news? That gives me such a loathed reputation.

I dunno. And I always thought you had a rep for thinking you're right all the time. No offense.

Thanks for telling me that Jack won't be on for long. I just have to capture some episodes I never taped before and I'll be set.

[Mike]

This is true too, however I think the lack of variety kills Boomerang more than anything else right now, and is preventing it from getting in more homes.
My cable system (which happens to be Cox; they offer it on their digital tier) gave me a free preview of Boomerang for a week, and I wasn't real impressed. Obviously, I'm disappointed with the lack of timeslots for the WB and MGM cartoons, and, like you said, there's just such a lack of variety. And there's really no excuse to program only 8 hours a day. The way I see it is, if CN could program 24 hours a day when they launched in 1992, Boomerang, which shows a lot of what CN in '92 showed, can certainly program 24 hours a day too.

I've said it before many times on this forum, but when I first got CN, in 1995, their weeknight lineup was: 8 p.m.,Flintstones; 8:30, Jetsons; 9 p.m., Bugs and Daffy; 10 p.m., Tom & Jerry (which was actually an even mix between T&J and non-T&J MGM cartoons in those days); 11 p.m., Scooby Doo; 12 a.m., Toon Heads (old school Toon Heads, which showed mostly H-B cartoons); 1 a.m., Down Wit Droopy D (an hour-long mix of Droopy and MGM one-shot cartoons). That was the best nightly lineup CN has had, IMO, and while I realize it's unrealistic to see something like that on CN these days, I think the lineup would be a perfect fit for Boomerang.

Mike

[Mike]

Now don't say that. Just be glad that CN finally wised up and realized that classic cartoons aren't kiddie. Like most of the posters say, this is a bold move to put The Popeye Show on AS (I just wish they put The Bob Clampett Show since that show also had uncut versions of cartoons that don't show up these days for PC reasons).
Yeah, I'm pretty happy to see Popeye on Adult Swim too. Hopefully a lot of people will watch it, and maybe they'll add some more classic cartoons to the Adult Swim block. I've always thought classic cartoons had a place on Adult Swim.


I don't really care what happens to CN at this point, so long as they don't do anything to Samurai Jack or the Adult Swim line-up, because I have uncut classic cartoons on video and DVD and I can watch them whenever I want.
But what about those who don't have the classics on DVD? And if the classics are strictly kept to DVD, and not shown on TV, how is that going to entice new fans? I still think a substantial part of BIA's failure at the box office (and now on DVD) had to do with CN doing almost everything it can to keep LT out of the public eye. If the classics are no longer shown on TV, we could soon be looking at the last generation of Looney Tunes fans.

Mike

[rodney]

Yeah, that's very true. Like many others, I'm not really affected by the changes personally. I already own copies of every cartoon that they'd be showing, but it's important to remember that were it not for constant TV showings very few of us would have ever heard of these cartoons.

And very true that Boomerang isn't the greatest thing in the world, but it's a heck of a lot better than the alternative.

[Nelson]

If there is anything good coming out of this, is the return of "The Popeye Show" this time on ADULT SWIM.This will mark the second attempt to bring a classic cartoon series to the all night adult show and what the folks over at CN needs to realize that there is adults that loves classic cartoons and would love to see a series of uncut cartoons, besides the current animated shows and anime that is featured on AS.

[Killtacular]

If there is anything good coming out of this, is the return of "The Popeye Show" this time on ADULT SWIM.This will mark the second attempt to bring a classic cartoon series to the all night adult show and what the folks over at CN needs to realize that there is adults that loves classic cartoons and would love to see a series of uncut cartoons, besides the current animated shows and anime that is featured on AS.
The only reason it was taken off the last time was because at the time it was programming filler, when 9/11 forced several shows off the air.

Now it's being placed on the block genuinely, and will be on at least till the end of May.

[lislebartman]

The only reason it was taken off the last time was because at the time it was programming filler, when 9/11 forced several shows off the air.


Uh, what? :confused:

What do the events of 9/11 have to do with the scheduling of cartoons?!?

After reading this statement, I guess I'm not the only one on this board who uses controlled substances on a daily basis...!

[Killtacular]

Uh, what? :confused:

What do the events of 9/11 have to do with the scheduling of cartoons?!?

After reading this statement, I guess I'm not the only one on this board who uses controlled substances on a daily basis...!
Um, excuse me?

Anyway.

After 9/11, the 12 AM hour (back then AS was from 10-1) was removed due to Cowboy Bebop having material that was considered very sensitive to victims of the tragedy. The episode in question involved a building similar to the twin towers exploding and crashing downward. The show was pulled for several weeks.

Most of CN's programming, otherwise, wasn't affected, though the PPG episode Uh Oh Dynamo (lots of building destruction) was skipped for a while, Toonami removed Mobile Suit Gundam (war cartoon), and made a few new edits to Dragon Ball Z.

In this time period, Rocky & Bullwinkle and Popeye aired at 12 and 12:30 on Adult Swim. (It may actually have been a later time period, but it was definitely during the era of the "Old People in the Pool" packaging).

[Tintin]

Why "Popeye Show" on Adult Swim? I alway see Popeye for more family :confused:

[Jon Cooke]

Why "Popeye Show" on Adult Swim? I alway see Popeye for more family :confused:

Yeah, I don't like labeling classic cartoons as being for "kids only" or "adults only". In my opinion, part of what makes the classic shorts so great is that they can be enjoyed by anybody.


-Jon

[DSRGirl]

Most of CN's programming, otherwise, wasn't affected, though the PPG episode Uh Oh Dynamo (lots of building destruction) was skipped for a while, Toonami removed Mobile Suit Gundam (war cartoon), and made a few new edits to Dragon Ball Z.
I remember they also skipped an episode of Dragon Ball Z (during that era), mainly because the second half focused on a building catching on fire.

[Killtacular]

Yeah, I don't like labeling classic cartoons as being for "kids only" or "adults only". In my opinion, part of what makes the classic shorts so great is that they can be enjoyed by anybody.


-Jon
That's unfortunately something you'll have to take up with the advertisers who keep CN on the air. They like "kids only" and "adults only". They like rigid defined demographics and nothing inbetween. And if the demographic interest is too vague, advertisers will drop off real fast. Thus the labels.

[Thad Komorowski]

Don't worry, MORE classic cartoons will be appearing on upcoming episodes of Harvey Birdman! Rather than 1970s characters, they're going to be tarnishing GOOD H-B characters! An upcoming episode is going to feature Augie Doggie and Doggie Daddy! I can't wait! :shrug: :sad: :( :mad:


-Thad

[Jon Cooke]

I have a feeling Popeye won't last too long on AS anyway, so record him while you can before he disappears again. I am sure the show will be replaced in a few weeks by reruns of some cancelled sitcom cartoon or more redubbed Hanna-Barbera parodies.


-Jon

[Tintin]

I have a feeling Popeye won't last too long on AS anyway, so record him while you can before he disappears again. I am sure the show will be replaced in a few weeks by reruns of some cancelled sitcom cartoon or more redubbed Hanna-Barbera parodies.


-Jon
You're right Jon. I check the april 17th schedule and that's not Popeye on air but Trigun. :sad: :( :shrug: :mad: :rolleyes: :o

[Killtacular]

You're right Jon. I check the april 17th schedule and that's not Popeye on air but Trigun. :sad: :( :shrug: :mad: :rolleyes: :o
That's Saturday, not Sunday.

[jbanks97]

Not that this is in any way a commentary on the merits of the popeye cartoon.....
I just don't think it will be a successful fit on adult swim.

(I can already see the reaction "they took off ________ show for POPEYE?" "Popeye is so old!" "and parts of it weren't even made in Japan!!!!!")

Adult swim has carved a very specific niche in the market with 1. irreverant low-budget williams street shows and 2. irreverant popular but cancled sitcoms (and anime). Popeye, on the other hand, is presented in a historical context that honors rather than makes fun of the source material. It's also likely to suffer the "home movies" effect, where high quality tamer shows are ignored in favor of the edgier material.

(If nothing else, it will stick out like a sore thumb because they can't use the text bumpers with the popeye show, since each cartoon comes with a pre-packaged introduction)

I personally would LOVE for the popeye show to succeed on adult swim, and for adult swim to diversify with considerably more show choices. I just don't think the current market (especially the large part of the adult swim audience that hardly classifies as adult) will appreciate it.


Besides, there's currently 21 other hours in a day that the popeye show would be a better fit. It absolutely boggles the mind some of the crap that gets put on cartoon network currently. I mean seriously, who honestly believes showing pokemon 5 nights a week is a good idea? Jackie Chan adventures/ totally spies..... they paid for the rights to this crap?
I personally have been Jones-ing for a classic cartoon fix ever since it has declared by CN execs that "classic cartoons are old" and "old=bad". It sucks now the current CN administration is too stupid to realize the potential of the entire library they have...and they shouldn't just marginalize it on some almost non-existent satellite channel

[Boy Wonder]

It's sad... but I am also not surprised.

Enjoy that 1 hour per week while it lasts, folks...


-Jon
I couldn't agree more. From 4 hours on Saturday and Sunday to 1 hour on Saturdays. This was the last 4 years in CN.

[Daffyfan2003]

Yeah. I'm glad I taped Bugs & Daffy this weekend. It will probably be the last time I'll be able to do so. :sweat:

[song cycle]

The Bob Clampett Show would be a much better fit for Adult Swim than Popeye. Just my opinion though.

[Killtacular]

Adult swim has carved a very specific niche in the market with 1. irreverant low-budget williams street shows and 2. irreverant popular but cancled sitcoms (and anime). Popeye, on the other hand, is presented in a historical context that honors rather than makes fun of the source material. It's also likely to suffer the "home movies" effect, where high quality tamer shows are ignored in favor of the edgier material.
There are problems with this logic.

1. Sunday nights are the lowest-rated nights of Adult Swim's entire week. Clearly people aren't interested in low-budget W St shows anymore.

2. Eventually people will tire of seeing Futurama and Family Guy for the 34th time. Not yet but soon. Family Guy will have new episodes, sure, but Futurama's days are already numbered.

3. Home Movies wasn't cancelled because it was tame but because people didn't watch it. It wasn't JUST the somewhat limited Flash animation, it wasn't JUST the style of the show, it wasn't JUST a couple of relatively weak episodes in general. It was the sum of these parts. I think people, on the whole, prefer more direct, obvious humor to subtle, conversational humor. And in that respect, Popeye Show comes closer to what they'd like than Home Movies. Just in that respect, though.


The Bob Clampett Show would be a much better fit for Adult Swim than Popeye. Just my opinion though.
Mike Lazzo is also a fan of that show (and of course he'd have to be if he exec produced it), but I think he's trying to see if Popeye Show will do well enough before he can branch out to some of CN's other adult/niche-targetted programming (Bob Clampett, LNB&W, even Toonheads to some extent).