What was WB's biggist blunder

[Psycho Fox]

From time to time WB has really messed up and I don't mean something small like cancelling a really good show, not marketting a film or show, I mean they really make them selves look bad and sometime even like jerks. So here is a poll, which of these three moments in recent WB history do you think is WB greatist blunder.

1)WB vs TTBS - WB set out to stop TTBS (adult fanworks) by yelling like a maniac and sending out cease and desist letters like crazy. Of course the TTBS community wouldn't lay down and made comics basicly telling WB to F off. All WB acomplished was to piss off fans, the TTBS community still thrives (infact I've seen a few TTBS works on pay sights). Now Disney did the same thing but went after it a diffent way, while they too failed in denting the adult fanworks they did not piss off their fan community that badly.

2)WB's asking nicely - WB wanted to use a mag in one of their movies so they ask permisson. The bottom half of the letter was strait out of a cease and desist letter. The mag printed it and made fun of it. Natch they said they would even talk to them unless they ask nicely.

3) WB vs Harry Potter fans - WB went after a domain sqauter that had 107 Harry Potter domain names and won the case so WB desides to use this to bully fans. They bluffed young webmaster saing they had the legal right to take anyones Harry Potter domain name. When the more mature fans came in to defent them and called their bluff WB changed its tune quickly saing that handing over their domain names (for free) would aid them in helping the fan community. Unfortunately for WB their plan to get the fans to die of laughter failed and WB backed down.

[Psycho Fox]

Seems like we have some votes for other. Anyone care to post what they think was WB greatest blunder?

[don Jaime]

The 180 they did on their own animation department.

When KidsWB started, it had a grand total of one show that they didn't produce themselves. Result - WB Animation was overtaxed and typically wasn't as good as the (fewer) shows done before. Then, when KidsWB started showing Pokemon, they completely abandoned the in-house work. WB Animation is effectively dead now. That was really dumb.

[Sharklady]

What don Jaime said.

[Danielle]

Ditto.

[The Mad Hatter]

Agreed here. Though another big mistake came when they threw out two great movies, Cats Don't Dance and Iron Giant, with little to no advertising and they sank without a trace. That's just about unforgivable.

I'm not the only one here who digs Cats Don't Dance, right?

[Narfcake]

Originally posted by The Mad Hatter
I'm not the only one here who digs Cats Don't Dance, right?

I enjoyed it a lot too. Unlike Iron Giant, though, this was a tough one to point 100% blame on, as CDD occured during the Turner/WB merger. Still, a darn good movie that not too many knew about (Somewhere laying around, I have the soundtrack, a few employee shirts, the Subway toys, and a NIB video tape).

Agreed with don Jaime with WB's blunder. I have no compelling desire whatsoever to visit the new WBA studio's.

-- Kane ... who still hasn't dropped by the new CN studio's after all these months, though I have been to the old one 4 times on business and/or invitation (their second studio, as they were bounced from Tower 14th, to Garden 1st, to CalFed 1st, before their new studio in Burbank).

[Psycho Fox]

Originally posted by The don Jaime
The 180 they did on their own animation department.

Oh yhea that was really a blunder I should have put it in but I didn't think of it.

Originally posted by The Mad Hatter
Agreed here. Though another big mistake came when they threw out two great movies, Cats Don't Dance and Iron Giant, with little to no advertising and they sank without a trace. That's just about unforgivable.

Well I can't really say that is a blunder it is more of just bad business practise I mean SEGA, Commadore, IBM and others have also launched products with little or no marketting budget.

[Jack]

Yeah but the the small amount of TV advertisement shown for "The Iron Giant" was awful. If it weren't for me reading so many shining reveiws for it, and all I had to go on was a commercial with skateboarding kids set to a terrible tune about how there's an iron giant in all of us, I wouldn't have cared to watch it. It was almost a negative advertising campaign.


Jack

[Maxie Zeus]

. . . it's almost impossible to pick.

I think I have to go with don Jaime's nominee, though.

Look: Warners launched WB as a showcase for its own programming when it becames worried that the Big Four would start squeezing out non-network produced programming. So what did WB wind up doing? It built both its prime-time and afternoon programming around shows they don't own. Consequence: Warners' own award-winning animation arm gets decimated, and when a hit show's contract is up (like "Buffy") it moves to another network.

I think WB is the blunder that keeps on blundering.

[Sveven Dvorking]

The fact that all of the shows on Kids WB weekday afternoons and Saturday mornings seem to be running out of episode order. Most kids stations show some of their TV show episodes in order. That seems like a real blunder to me, since I like taping shows in episode order.

[Narfpinky]

Don Jaime sums it up best.

The other WB blunder that's on my mind is the closing of the entire WBSS chain.

[RockItShipper]

WB had been trying to find new ownership for the SS, to no avail. Does seem like they're pressed for cash, though.

They showed 15 minutes of clips from the upcoming Harry Potter movie to the networks, reportedly promising more extensive screenings to whichever forked over 60 million for the b'cast rights. Twice as much as Titanic got _after_ box office success. The movie version of Harry Potter and the Philosopher/Sorcerer's Stone is 4 months away.

[Craig Marinaro]

...would be for the rumor (if it's true) that they've put all their eggs into the one basket of Osmosis Jones, and that if that film bombs, it'll mean the end of WBA.

'Cause, boy, does that film look like it's gonna blow.

-C

[Psycho Fox]

Originally posted by Craig
...would be for the rumor (if it's true) that they've put all their eggs into the one basket of Osmosis Jones, and that if that film bombs, it'll mean the end of WBA.

'Cause, boy, does that film look like it's gonna blow.

-C

Say it aint so, say it aint so!!!!

[DR. BELCH]

CRAIG:
...would be for the rumor...that they've put all their [money] into Osmosis Jones, and [if it fails], it'll mean the end of WBA. 'Cause, boy, does that film look like it's gonna blow.

An oddly appropriate statement/pun for a film that seems to revolve around mucus.
I could be cynical and say some of WBA's biggest blunders were terminating directors like Tex Avery and Chuck Jones, failing to properly promote Wakko's Wish and Iron Giant,"Static Shaq", cancelling Earthworm Jim, their fallout with Charlie Adler, and losing WGN...but I'll kindly refrain from that pettiness.

[icecold]

What was their greatest blunder? Hmmmm...well...there's the ones mentioned above, the destruction of iconic characters such as Batman and Superman, aw hell! they've made so many blunders, it's just impossible to remember them all.

[Psycho Fox]

Originally posted by icecold
What was their greatest blunder? Hmmmm...well...there's the ones mentioned above, the destruction of iconic characters such as Batman and Superman, aw hell! they've made so many blunders, it's just impossible to remember them all.

Hmm they need a behind the scenes book of the history of WB that list all of the stupid moves they have done over the years.

[Sveven Dvorking]

Originally posted by Psycho Fox
Hmm they need a behind the scenes book of the history of WB that list all of the stupid moves they have done over the years.

Why would they want to publicize their stupid moves? You would think they would like to forget about them.

[icecold]

They weren't stupid to the WB, and still aren't apparently because they keep making them