Semi-off topic: Ted Turner -- Rich and bitter

[J Lee]

The Associated Press ran an interview with Ted Turner (http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20011129/en/people_turner_s_plans_2.html) today, where he expounds on various things, including his hatred for AOL Time Warner boss-in-all-but-name Gerald Levin and his regrets about the Turner merger with Tim Warner back in late 1995.

Now, while the current AOL Time Warner people overseeing Cartoon Network can certainly be -- lets say, reluctant -- to show many very inoffiensive cartoons while editing others in bizzare fashion, much of this was the product of Turner's insuffrably politically correct tenure in the late 1990s. It was under Ted's watch that Speedy, all the Indian cartoons and (earlier) all of the Inki cartoons went either AWOL or became late-night rarities.

The current suits at the network suffer from excessive timidness, which isn't good, but in contrast, Ted took his PC crusade to Talibanian levels (CN could probably run Speedy if they'd rotoscope a Burka on him). Given the choice between the two, I'm glad Turner was the one that got snookered and ushered out of power, even if his stock holdings still make him somewhat of a force to be reckoned with.

[Captain Caps]

You know that "Globe" logo that runs on every movie in Turner's library? It kind of excites me, yet at the same time it scares me, too...especially if followed by the MGM logo. I wonder, does WB use the Turner logo on later MGM releases now issued by Warner on DVD and VHS? (examples: the WB issues of "Strange Brew" and "Victor/Victoria" on VHS and "9 1/2 Weeks" on VHS and DVD) Just wondering...it's quite an interesting logo.

What do you think the chances that WB will chyron in the words "An AOL Time Warner Company" on future uses of the Turner logo?

Sincerely,

John "Captain Caps" Kilduff

[Matthew Hunter]

As much as I dislike Ted Turner, I kind of have to feel sorry for him here...an egotistical man to begin with, he went from one of the most powerful media executives in the world to just another rich guy...plus his wife recently left him, the main issue for that being Christianity-she found God, he's an atheist, HE wanted to be in control, and the rest is history. He sounds really sarcastic there in that article too. He's used to being in complete control, and now he has nothing... I believe "bitter" is an accurate description. Poor guy...ah, but the joik had it comin to him. We can say that Turner, for all his abuse of cartoons, did acchieve an important milestone in Looney Tunes history anyway, as his merger brought the pre-1948 and post-1948 cartoon packages together for the first time in years.
-Matthew

[Cartman]

Originally posted by Matthew Hunter
We can say that Turner, for all his abuse of cartoons, did acchieve an important milestone in Looney Tunes history anyway, as his merger brought the pre-1948 and post-1948 cartoon packages together for the first time in years.
-Matthew

So is this why TNT only showed those pre-48 cartoons?

[BobChief]

To Cartman: Exactly. That's all they held at the time.

To Captain Caps: The only things the flying Turner logo appears on, are theatrical and TV properties administered by Turner Entertainment Co. (the so-called "World's Greatest Film Library"), which survived both the mergers but has since moved to the Warners lot from Atlanta. To the best of my knowledge the only animation Turner Ent. holds are the MGM-branded toons. Everything else you or we might be familiar with, is either held by Cartoon Network Studios (incorporating the H-B library) or WB Animation. I've heard that films up until 1980 or '81 put out by MGM-UA are allegedly part of the Turner Ent. library, so your claim about the logo on those three flicks might easily be true, John...

And as to the AOL submoniker, several classic-film documentaries I've noticed on TCM, most of which have been produced in the last three years, all have said submoniker under the Turner Ent. copyright notice, so again, a possibility...

I keep meaning to ask, here or somewhere, if Turner Ent. was destined to disappear into the ozone at some point if and when ol' Captain Outrageous decides to hang it up...

[BobChief]

Following up to my earlier post, we won't need to wait that long... an article in last Wednesday's L.A. Times suggested Mr Turner is retiring the end of the year.

The Times article -- the Tedmeister speaking about his vision of the cable TV industry's future -- is in a for-pay archive, so I'll refer you to where I saw it... Don Fitzpatrick's ShopTalk list on http://www.tvspy.com/shoptalk.cfm?page=1 ; do a search-in-page for "Turner", it's early in the page.

[Sogturtle]

This may sound way, way out... But it has for some time appeared strongly that the merger of Time-Warner with AOL was really to accomplish three UNSTATED major goals (and NOT necessarily in this order)...

1. Pay off once and for all the massive debt load created by the earlier mergers of Warners with Time, and then of Time-Warner and Turner. (Their selling off their Six Flags theme parks and such only made a tiny dent in the debt). Having the massive debt had made them extremely unattractive to hostile suitors like GE, but it was a staggeringly heavy insurance to carry...

2. Being merged with AOL effectively makes the company virtually invulnerable to a hostile takeover. Possible corporate-piranhas GE or Microsoft would both likely run into GIGANTIC problems in any attempt.

3. Dilute the stock holdings of Mr. Ted 'mouth of the South" Turner to the point of where he could be run quickly and cleanly through the corporate paper shredder. Would Turner do anything hideous to the company that he continues to own a mountain of stock in??? No way!!! Ted never grasped that his giant block of Time-Warner stock could be used both by him to obtain tremendous clout in Time-Warner, but could be used to help silence him if and when he became obnoxious to all...

Goodbye Ted, thank-you for bringing the classic pre-mid-1948 WB cartoons and features back home, and with the wonderful bonus of the MGM classic toons and films (lab and lot) and the RKO library. Maybe we'll get a statue erected to you somewhere on the lot... But your Stalinesque political correctness, and political and religious views and pronouncements were hated and despised by all... This might end up being a VERRRRRY small statue ;)

[J Lee]

But just to make sure everyone dosen't forget Ted's "PC for thee but not for me" stance, the statue should have a mechanical arm showing Ted doing the tommahawk chop, the same way he did at the Atlanta Braves games while ordering all the Indian cartoons yanked off Cartoon Network.

[Sogturtle]

Originally posted by J Lee
But just to make sure everyone dosen't forget Ted's "PC for thee but not for me" stance, the statue should have a mechanical arm showing Ted doing the tommahawk chop, the same way he did at the Atlanta Braves games while ordering all the Indian cartoons yanked off Cartoon Network.

Cool touch John... Obviously to be called... "Ted the Mechanical Hypocritical Megalomaniac"

[Larry T]

Originally posted by J Lee
But just to make sure everyone dosen't forget Ted's "PC for thee but not for me" stance, the statue should have a mechanical arm showing Ted doing the tommahawk chop, the same way he did at the Atlanta Braves games while ordering all the Indian cartoons yanked off Cartoon Network.


Good one, John!!

I would feel a lot stronger about this whole thing if I didn't catch the opinions already refelected on "Family Guy" last week ;)

[DR. BELCH]

--for the day Turner apparently gets bored of his celebritydom and does that one big thing that ruins him, like many big stars inevitably do. Something to send his career swirling down the porcelain along with Pee-Wee Herman, O.J. Simpson, Shannon Doherty, and that kid from The Sopranos who was busted for selling weed. Or has he done it already?