How would you rebrand Boomerang? (If you could)

[Toon Master]

I had been thinking about putting this thread out for a little while now. So here it goes...

How would you rebrand Boomerang? (If you could)

The channel has been using the same branding since 2000. How would you make it different?

Would you produce different bumpers for all shows (depending on the time of day)? Or would you do something like the Powerhouse era of CN with specific colors for the time of day? Would you go beyond the bumpers and wraparounds? And how many new shows would you add?

It's all up to you. :D

[Tobias]

Forget the bumpers/color scheme, let's get some new shows onto the channel.

I'd dig deep into the WB library and bring in:

- Thundercats
- Silverhawks
- Animaniacs
- Tiny Toons
- Pinky & The Brain
- Freakazoid
- the missing episodes/seasons of the Smurfs
- The missing episodes of Superfriends
- Reclaim the rights for Superman/Batman from Disney
- ALL seasons of Scooby Doo, including the Scrappy era and Get a Clue
- ALL the DCAU shows from Batman TAS to Legion of Superheroes

[Blackstar]

My re-branding of Boomerang would go beyond merely updating the bumps and the wraparounds. My plan for Boomerang would be similar to Darkseid's plan for the Anti-Life Equation: I would tear the channel down to nothing and then re-build it form the ground up.

Assuming that money and legal ownership were not issues, here's what I would do:



I would make Boom an ad supported channel because ads = sponsors = more money = more viewers = greater availability.
Re-christen the channel as ATA (All Things Animated) and split the daily schedule into 3 parts: Kids Time from the morning to the early afternoon, Family/General Time from late afternoon through early evening, and Adult Time from late evening through late night.
More Cartoon-Cartoons like Megas XLR, Time Squad, Sheep in the Big City, Courage the Cowardly Dog, Robot Jones, etc.
Bring Looney Tunes back to the channel. Looney Tunes Uncensored (as well as MGM Toons Uncensored) would air late nights on the channel.
Bring series from the Kids' WB lineup--Tiny Toon Adventures, Animaniacs, Freakazoid!, Pinky and the Brain, The Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries, Batman:TAS, Superman:TAS, Men In Black: TAS--to the channel.
More 3rd party acquisitions such as The Raccoons, Atomic Betty, Totally Spies!, My Dad the Rock Star, Eek!-Starvaganza, Space Goofs, The Tick, Galaxy High School, Reboot, Thundercats, The Comic Strip, Inspector Gadget, Heathcliff and the Catilac Cats, Filmation's cartoons, Ruby-Spears' cartoons, etc.
Bring a LOT of new shows (including some new old shows) to the channel. Amongst them, Wake, Rattle and Roll, Tom & Jerry Tales and Shaggy and Scooby Doo Get a Clue! (Since Cartoon Network doesn't seem to want them).
The adult cartoons would include Duckman, MTV's Liquid Television, Futurama and the like.
Bring former CN shows such as Toon Heads and O, Canada to the channel.
I would initiate a new rule: NO LIVE ACTION PROGRAMS, unless they either a) have something to do with animation, or b) are at least "cartoony" in nature or approach.
The new action block would include the entirety of Justice League (not just Unlimited), Legion of Superheroes and the remaining seasons of The Batman.

[Toonatic]

-Bring back Looney Tunes (featuring the new transfers from the Golden Collections and Super Stars sets. The widescreen shorts from the Super Stars discs will be original full screen) and no 2008-2010 cuts.
-Unrestored cartoons (like some of the Pink Panther cartoons and the Smurfs) will feature the same transfers from their DVD releases.
-Maybe restore/remaster some shows/shorts/episodes (like Snorks, rest of Huckleberry Hound and Yogi Bear)
-Add more Depatie-Freleng shorts (Tijuana Toads, Roland and Rattfink) as filler.
-Popeye featuring 2 Fleischer shorts and 2 Famous Studios Shorts (restored and remastered)
-Pink Panther, Ant and The Aardvark, Inspector, and various DePatie-Freleng shorts featuring their full openings and closings.
-Better NTSC masters for Jabber Jaw and Kwicky Koala.
-Have the ENTIRE series of Duck Dodgers (not just seasons 2 and 3)
-Add Sheep In The Big City (including pilot) and Time Squad to the schedule.
-New Boomaroyalties
-Make new bumpers.

[Silverstar]

Changing the bumps is a start, but it's not enough. Boomerang needs a complete overhaul. Here's what I'd do:



Rename the channel BOOM!
Make BOOM! HD.
Make it ad-supported and basic cable. I'd bundle it with Cartoon Network so the 2 channels would always be offered together, like TNT and TBS are currently.
The BOOM! logo, the word BOOM! inside a comic book-style burst, would be different colors depending on the time of day: Younger Kids' Time, early morning to early afternoon = red on yellow, Older Kids' Time, mid-afternoon to early evening =blue on orange, Family Time, evening to late night = green on blue, Adult Time, late night = black on purple.
Pull a Hub, in other words, team up with some other major company for a wider variety of programming. (Blackstar's choice of Fox is a good one, since they haven't had their own all ages channel since they lost the Family Channel to ABC/Disney, let's go with them.)
Acquire the Fox Kids and Kids' WB! libraries.
Start showing ALL of the episodes of the shows Boomerang currently airs.
Keep Boomeraction, but add some newer shows to the mix such as He-Man (2002), Justice League/Unlimited, The Batman (all of the episodes), Batman: TAS, Superman: TAS, Legion of Superheroes, Bionic Six, Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers, etc.
Start airing Rankin/Bass shows such as Thundercats, Silverhawks and The Comic Strip.
Bring Late Night Black and White, Popeye, the Tex Avery Show, Toon Heads, O Canada and Sunday Pants to BOOM!
Add Mr. Spim's Cartoon Theater.
Start airing more defunct Cartoon-Cartoons such as Time Squad, Whatever Happened to Robot Jones?, The Life and Times of Juniper Lee, Codename: Kids Next Door, My Gym Partner's A Monkey, etc.
Create a BOOM! equivalent to [adult swim]: a late night block which would air shows like Space Ghost: Coast to Coast, Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law, Dilbert, Liquid Television, Mission Hill, Sam & Max: Freelance Police, Wait Til Your Father Gets Home, etc.
Launch a 'Super Retro-Vision Saturdays' block: a block of network Saturday morning shows (both animated and live-action) from the 60's to the '90s.


Either that, or:



Terminate Boomerang (the channel).
Move all of Cartoon Network's live-action projects as well as [adult swim] to the channel formerly known as Boomerang, again make said channel basic cable and ad-supported and HD and revamp it as the general kids' entertainment channel that Snyder and Sorcher want so badly.
Boomerang, meanwhile, would simply return to its' previous state as a programming block on Cartoon Network, taking the place of [adult swim] on late nights as well as filling in various non-peak viewing hour gaps in CN's schedule.

[dth1971]

Add a BOOMERANG LIVE ACTION block with vintage 1970's-1990's live action kid shows from Saturday morning past such as:
Pee Wee's Playhouse
Korg: 70,000 B.C.(Hanna-Barbera)
Shazam! (Filmation)
The Krofft library (including H.R. Pufnstuf, Lidsville, Land of the Lost, Sigmund and the Sea Monsters, and others)
Lancelot Link, Secret Chimp
Kids from C.A.P.E.R.
Monster Squad
Big John, Little John
Hillarious House of Frightenstein

[Rho]

Rebrand it into a whole new network. Move all the live-action shows there. Target it mostly at an audience between CN's and Adult Swim's.

Programming would be, as said before, the live-action shows such as Unnatural History, as well as maybe some shows aimed at the same audience from "sister" networks like The CW (Vampire Diaries could work), as well as some animation, maybe uncut One Piece and some [AS] repeats.

Maybe SOME older animation, maybe Cartoon Cartoons for a nostalgia block or something. Boomerang would then become a online streaming service of a bunch of classic cartoons.

[Eric B]

CN Classic. Bring back all the old bumpers (many of which are now on online videos), and "Boomerang" could revert back to a year themed block.

[hobbyfan]

Changing the bumps is a start, but it's not enough. Boomerang needs a complete overhaul. Here's what I'd do:



Rename the channel BOOM!
Make BOOM! HD.
Make it ad-supported and basic cable. I'd bundle it with Cartoon Network so the 2 channels would always be offered together, like TNT and TBS are currently.
The BOOM! logo, the word BOOM! inside a comic book-style burst, would be different colors depending on the time of day: Younger Kids' Time, early morning to early afternoon = red on yellow, Older Kids' Time, mid-afternoon to early evening =blue on orange, Family Time, evening to late night = green on blue, Adult Time, late night = black on purple.
Pull a Hub, in other words, team up with some other major company for a wider variety of programming. (Blackstar's choice of Fox is a good one, since they haven't had their own all ages channel since they lost the Family Channel to ABC/Disney, let's go with them.)
Acquire the Fox Kids and Kids' WB! libraries.
Start showing ALL of the episodes of the shows Boomerang currently airs.
Keep Boomeraction, but add some newer shows to the mix such as He-Man (2002), Justice League/Unlimited, The Batman (all of the episodes), Batman: TAS, Superman: TAS, Legion of Superheroes, Bionic Six, Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers, etc.
Start airing Rankin/Bass shows such as Thundercats, Silverhawks and The Comic Strip.
Bring Late Night Black and White, Popeye, the Tex Avery Show, Toon Heads, O Canada and Sunday Pants to BOOM!
Add Mr. Spim's Cartoon Theater.
Start airing more defunct Cartoon-Cartoons such as Time Squad, Whatever Happened to Robot Jones?, The Life and Times of Juniper Lee, Codename: Kids Next Door, My Gym Partner's A Monkey, etc.
Create a BOOM! equivalent to [adult swim]: a late night block which would air shows like Space Ghost: Coast to Coast, Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law, Dilbert, Liquid Television, Mission Hill, Sam & Max: Freelance Police, Wait Til Your Father Gets Home, etc.
Launch a 'Super Retro-Vision Saturdays' block: a block of network Saturday morning shows (both animated and live-action) from the 60's to the '90s.
Preach on, brother Silverstar!

Shortening the name of the channel to BOOM! sounds like a fantastic idea. Heck, I'd go for Funtastic, and start a new advertising campaign to promote the channel as the place "where all the stars get to shine!".

How to program it? Simple.

Morning drive (6-10): Smurfs, Snorks, Pokemon, Scooby-Doo, all in 1 hour "double-play" blocks.'

Mid-day (10-3): Movies, classic shorts (Popeye, Tom & Jerry, Looney Tunes, etc.).

Afternoon drive (3-7): Classic adventure (Jonny Quest, Batman, Justice League, Teen Titans).

Prime time (7-11): Current favorites like Johnny Bravo, Codename: Kids Next Door, Powerpuff Girls, and Dexter's Lab.

Overnight (11-6): Adult cartoons like Mission Hill, Oblongs, Wait 'Til Your Father Gets Home, plus some choice black & white.

I'd also move the overplayed short-run series like Wacky Races into theme blocks on the weekends.

[cartoonscartoons]

A few changes I would make:


Move all [Adult Swim] classics such as SGC2C, Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law, SeaLab 2021, Futurama, etc. to the channel for a late night block along with uncut cartoons that feature more racy content. Call it Defective Boomerang.
Move, The Venture Bros, Metocalyspe, and ATHF premieres and re-runs to Boomerang.
Add Cartoon Planet, Sunday Pants, Toon Heads, O Canada, etc. to the channel.
Make it add supported so it can be availible on basic cable packages and acquire more programing.
Bring back old 90s-early 2000s bumpers.
Bring back Cartoons Cartoons fridays, (basically hyped up promotet re-runs of classic CC shows.) Featuring: Dexter's Lab, PPG, Cow and Chicken, IM Weasel, Johhny Bravo, Courage the Cowardly Dog and any other cartoons I might have missed that aired under CC Banner.
Bring back Toonami with uncut airings of Bleach, One Piece, and Naruto along with uncut airings of Dragonball/Z/GT, Cowboy Bebop, Lupin III, Samuri Jack, Prince of Tennis, Samurai Champloo, YuYu Hakasho, Rourin Kenishin, along with any/all of the Anime aired on [AS] also Boomerang could attempt to acquire Inuyasha, Ranma 1/2, Sgt. Frog, Cromartie High School and more
Get Animaniacs, TTA, Tazmania, Road Rovers, Freakazoid, Histeria, Pinky and The Brain (along with PE&TB) Detention, and air them in a block entitled Kids WBoomerang. (WB)
Acquire all other Kids WB shows.
Acquire all of Fox Kids programming along with select DiC shows, Ruby Spear's and Filmation libraries.
Have monthly schedule changes.
Have a special daily block at the same time every day,every day the block focuses on a different era of animation showing cartoons only from that era like so:
Mondays: 50' s
Tuesdays: 60's
Wednesdays: 70'
Thursdays: 80's


Fridays: 90's

Acquire Classic Media's properties to air.
Retire all H&B properties from prime time airings for the first few months of the rebrand due to overplaying.
Revise BoomerAction to feature Batman: TAS, Superman: TAS, Superfriends, and any other action show received show from any of the above companys.
All classic shorts as Looney Tunes, Pink Panther, Popeye, etc. will air uncut.
Acquire Walter Lantz, Van Beuren, and Famous Studios shorts.
Bring everything thats aired on Teletoon to the channel. Along with other Canadian cartoons.
Bring of course, My Gym Partners A Monkey, Camp Lazlo, Grim Adventures Of Billy and Mandy, Squirrel Boy, George Of The Jungle, Class of 3000, Fosters Home For Imaginary Friends, L.O.S.E, Johnny Test and The Secret Saturdays to the network.
Add Time Squad, Sheep In The Big City and other 90s CN series.
Have a Sunday night movie block, featuring all WB movies etc.
Move all Chowder, Flapjack, and Adventure Time reruns to early early morning time slots.
Possibly begin a new nightly talk show like SGC2C, hosted by various cartoon characters from Looney Tunes to The Venture Bros changing host(s) when needed. The show would feature surreal [AS] like humor and have good continuity, each episode both a cartoon character, and a live human star would be interviewed, but most of the time would be spent having random stuff happen.
Make a non-cable version for kids without cable.
More will come later, if I can think of anymore. This list is already pretty exhuasting.

[Rick Jones]

The only thing I'd really do, programming wise, is make more use of the incredibly huge library they have at their disposal (Ruby Spears, Hanna Barbera, Cartoon Cartoons, Warner Bros., DC, etc) and get a wider rotation of series and movies going. They have access to so much material that there really is no need to license anything. Anything that was canceled at least three years ago and is not currently airing on any other channel would be fair game. I'd love to get new blocks, bumpers, and other stuff going as well.

[Ioz]

I'd make it all 80s and earlier cartoons. I'd make better use of the WB library they currently have and acquire some shows as well.

[Silverstar]

I'd make it all 80s and earlier cartoons. I'd make better use of the WB library they currently have and acquire some shows as well.

I'm not telling anyone how to run their Boomerang, but I personally think that would be too limiting. The 80's were 30 years ago. Animation didn't just stop after 1989, and there were so many great shows produced by H-B/Cartoon Network Studios, DC and Warner Bros. after 1990 that there's no reason that Boom can't run them as well. The '90's were two decades ago; IMO, it's been long enough for the cartoons of that era to be considered nostalgia fodder and therefore fit to run on Boom.

However, I wholeheartedly agree with second part; Boom could and should be taking advantage of their WB library and some acquisitions wouldn't hurt either.

[AJ Skyterra]

I'm pretty much on board with Silverstar and Blackstar, but to add:

For an action block, why not rebrand Toonami on weekends? Saturday nights for the western animation and DC libraries like Justice League and Batman, and Sunday nights for classic anime like Kenshin and Yu Yu Hakusho. (of course, I understand that CN doesn't have the rights to these anime anymore, but this is just considering if they did and if they had enough viewers).

Weekdays could open an after-school block for the WB libraries: Animaniacs, Freakazoid!, Pinky and the Brain, and Tiny Toons Adventures. CCF can air on Fridays again, and late nights could be for the HB classics.

[TheVofSteel]

Personally, I would take Boomerang off the air altogether and replace it with an online streaming service, similar to the now-defunct Toonami Jetstream. Every single show in Boomerang's library would be available for streaming anytime. In addition to that, I'd put a few of the shows from Boomerang back on Cartoon Network during the weekday morning hours, from 9AM to 12PM, perhaps. Since Boomerang is carried by so few cable systems, I think this would make a lot more sense.

[Eric B]

Wouldn't that be like Kids On Demand? (which I've forgotten completely about, yet remember tham having a lot of CN/Boomerang stuff (classic HB, Johnny Bravo, etc, and other stuff not owned by Turner/WB)

[Mr Flintstone]

One thing I'd do is have the weekend schedule different from the weekday schedule. Outside of that, add more cartoons and use the ones we haven't seen in a while.

[The Nameless]

Branding-wise, I would keep the "toys" theme, and commission new additions to the look.

All the Cartoon Cartoons would have toy bumpers made to fit with the rest of the network, along with new music cues for them.

I would, schedule-wise, shake up the stagnant feeling of the network by adding blocks. Cartoons Without A Clue, Boomerang Theater, and the old Saturday "years" theme might come back in weekly form. Don't know what I'd do about Boomeroyalty, though. And Boomeraction would not be on all day Sunday like it used to be, I would probably slot it in the afternoon or evening. Also, I'm echoing the idea of adding more shows to the channel. The 90s WB shows would definitely be on the channel, not sure about what else.

And management-wise, I would not add advertising to the channel. Yes, that would boost its profitability and availability, but in five years' time it would look nothing like Boomerang and lapse into "Cartoon Network 2", most likely. Look at Nicktoons Network.

[SpideyTerry]

* Redo all the bumpers to freshen up the channel's image.

* Retain the old classics, like Flintstones, Yogi Bear and the like. However, I'd also be sure to add in Looney Tunes and other oldies that don't get much (if any) play anymore.

* Feature the more recent Cartoon Network releases, such as Duck Dodgers, Johnny Bravo, Dexter's Lab and so forth.

* Bring back Toonami in a nightly block with old favorites (like JL/JLU, Megas XLR, Samurai Jack, The Batman, Teen Titans, ReBoot) and shows that never aired in the block but would fit in just fine (SWAT Kats, Juniper Lee).

* Air shows in their entirety. It really bugs me that Boomerang only airs select seasons of given shows. (For the life of me, I can't understand why there was a period when they would just air the final season of JLU.)

* I'd have marathons of shows on the weekends - kinda like Boomer Royalty, but a couple hours longer and not just exclusive to one show a month. I'd have different shows each marathon and feature shows that weren't getting any play in the regular schedule.

* Air a movie everyday and make it a different one each time.

* I'd keep the shows that didn't have that many episodes from airing everyday to keep people from getting sick of seeing the same episode every few weeks. Maybe an hour block once a week for those shows that only had twenty or thirty-some episodes.

* No serious overlap of shows between CN and Boomerang. If a show is already regularly airing on CN, I'd keep it off Boomerang and devote that airtime to a show that wasn't getting any play.

* No live-action. A movie like Roger Rabbit is one thing, but Snow Day? I don't think so.

[Silverstar]

* Redo all the bumpers to freshen up the channel's image.

This. Definitely.



* Air shows in their entirety. It really bugs me that Boomerang only airs select seasons of given shows. (For the life of me, I can't understand why there was a period when they would just air the final season of JLU.)

This x 10. Is it really such a chore for the folks at Turner to dig into their own vaults and pull out every episode of every show that they own to air?



* I'd keep the shows that didn't have that many episodes from airing everyday to keep people from getting sick of seeing the same episode every few weeks. Maybe an hour block once a week for those shows that only had twenty or thirty-some episodes.This too. Very good suggestion.



* No live-action. A movie like Roger Rabbit is one thing, but Snow Day? I don't think so. That's more of an object lesson for Cartoon Network than Boomerang, but nonetheless, I agree.

[Checkerboard]

I think this look could work for Boomerang:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E-n2rDYj6X8

It's from CN Japan (2007)