Originally, Cartoon Network mainly focused its programming on reruns of older animated series which it had acquired through its parent company's film library, but soon began to introduce more original programming. The Cartoon Cartoons originated with Fred Seibert's animation anthology series What a Cartoon! (1995), an animation showcase series featuring pilots of original cartoon ideas submitted by independent animators. Dexter's Laboratory was the first such pilot to be greenlit by the network for a full series in 1996. After other pilots were successfully produced into their own series, including Cow and Chicken, Johnny Bravo, and The Powerpuff Girls, the collective Cartoon Cartoons were featured on the network's Friday night programming block, Cartoon Cartoon Fridays from 1999 to 2003. Not all CN original series created around this time were officially recognized as Cartoon Cartoons; Samurai Jack, for example, did not bear the moniker.
The moniker was retired by the network in 2004, and its last surviving series, Ed, Edd n Eddy, ended in 2009 after a ten-year run. Since their heyday, reruns of the Cartoon Cartoons continued to air on The Cartoon Cartoon Show (2005–2008) and Cartoon Planet (2012–2014). In 2021, the name was resurrected by the network for a new shorts program.
Through What a Cartoon!, Cartoon Network was able to assess the potential of certain shorts to serve as pilots for spin-off series and signed contracts with their creators to create ongoing series.[2]Dexter's Laboratory was the most popular short series according to a vote held in 1995, and became a full series in 1996. Dexter was retroactively labeled the first Cartoon Cartoon in 1997; however, the network's previous original shows, The Moxy Show and Space Ghost Coast to Coast, were not retroactively given the label.
The Cartoon Cartoon brand was first introduced in July 1997 for the network's Cartoon Cartoon Weekend block. Two more series based on shorts debuted in 1997: Johnny Bravo and Cow and Chicken. I Am Weasel, which aired as segments on Cow and Chicken, was spun off into its own series in 1999. These were followed by The Powerpuff Girls in late 1998 and Ed, Edd n Eddy in early 1999.[2][1]Mike, Lu & Og and Courage the Cowardly Dog premiered in November 1999, creating a lineup of critically acclaimed shows.[3][4] From 1999 to 2003, the Cartoon Cartoon Fridays block was the network's marquee night for premieres of new episodes and series.
The Cartoon Cartoons were intended to appeal to a wider audience than the average Saturday-morning cartoon. Linda Simensky, vice president of original animation, reminded adults and teenage girls that the cartoons could appeal to them as well. Kevin Sandler's article on them claimed that these cartoons were both less "bawdy" than their counterparts at Comedy Central and less "socially responsible" than their counterparts at Nickelodeon. Sandler pointed to the whimsical rebelliousness, high rate of exaggeration and self-consciousness of the overall output which each individual series managed.[5]
In October 2003, the live-action Fridays premiered on the network as a replacement for Cartoon Cartoon Fridays. The Cartoon Cartoons bumpers (that appeared before and after episodes of its original series) were dropped after the network's CN City rebrand on June 14, 2004. In November 2004, the block Cartoon Cartoons: The Top 5 was renamed to simply The Top 5. Cartoon Network still kept the Cartoon Cartoons name around in various forms applying to their older series (such as for The Cartoon Cartoon Show from 2005 to 2008), but since newer shows such as Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, Camp Lazlo, and Ben 10 were stylistically different from previous shows, the moniker was not applied to them.
In Asia and Latin America, the moniker continued to be used until 2007 with series like Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi, Camp Lazlo, and My Gym Partner's a Monkey.
Revival
On April 15, 2021, Cartoon Network announced a new iteration of the Cartoon Cartoons shorts program.[6][7] On November 24, 2021, the first new Cartoon Cartoons shorts were announced.[8] The first nine shorts include Accordions Geoffery & Mary Melodica by Louie Zong (of The Ghost and Molly McGee and We Bare Bears), Dang! It's Dracula by Levon Jihanian (of Tig n' Seek), Hungy Ghost by Jesse Moynihan (of Adventure Time), Fruit Stand at the End of the World by Rachel Liu, Off the Menu by Shavonne Cherry (of Ren & Stimpy and The Looney Tunes Show), Harmony in Despair by Andrew Dickman (of Looney Tunes Cartoons), Unravel by Alexis Sugden, Mouthwash Madness by Lisa Vandenberg (of Animaniacs), and Scaredy Cat by JJ Villard (of King Star King).[9]
On June 7, 2022, more Cartoon Cartoons were announced.[10] The next seven shorts include The All-Nimal by Nick Edwards (of Apple & Onion and The Fungies!), Buttons' Gamezone by Fernando Puig (of The Cuphead Show!, Middlemost Post and Tig n' Seek), Tib Tub, We Need You by Sean Godsey and Mike Rosenthal, I Love You Jocelyn by Tracey Laguerre (Art and Animation Director for brands like Google, Dreamworks, Buzzfeed and more), Pig in a Wig by Sam Marin (of Regular Show), The Good Boy Report (based on the webcomic of the same name) by Kasey Williams (of Niko and the Sword of Light and Harley Quinn) and Maude Macher and Dom Duck by Kali Fontecchio (of The Looney Tunes Show and Jellystone!).
On March 21, 2024, GiAnna Ligammari (of Niko and the Sword of Light and Inside Job) announced a Cartoon Cartoons short ISCREAM created by her.[11] Four days after, the short was announced as being completed.[12] The shorts were showcased in a screening on April 25, 2024.[13][14] The short The All-Nimal was shown at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival on June 11, 2024.[15] On November 14, 2024, Ligammari confirmed the pilots will never air on television nor they will be picked up as television series due to the budget cuts at Warner Bros. Discovery.[16]
Promotions
In June 1999, Cartoon Network began promoting its Cartoon Cartoons lineup with an advertising campaign to draw in viewership for its new Friday-night block Cartoon Cartoon Fridays, which was targeted toward viewers aged 6 to 11.[17] Marketing included brand partnerships with General Mills, Hasbro, and Pepperidge Farm as well as an on-air sweepstakes and an 11-market live touring event.[17] Advertisements appeared on television, radio, online, in movie theaters, at Six Flags theme parks, and billboards among other media with the tagline "You with us?".[17]
In mid-2000, Cartoon Network promoted its original programming by launching the Cartoon Cartoon Friday Tour 2000, a live event that ran for 10 weeks across 13 cities.[18] Active during weekdays in the lead-up to its Friday-night block, the tour cost a reported $25 million and reached a collective audience 16.2 million.[18] It was sponsored by Coca-Cola's Hi-C and was created in partnership with Adelphia, AT&T, Cablevision, Charter Broadcasting, Comcast, Cox Cable, MediaOne, and Time Warner Cable.[18] Launched as part of a three-part Cartoon Network marketing campaign occurring at different parts of the year, Cartoon Cartoon Friday Tour 2000 ended on September 1, 2000.[19]
In March 2000, Cartoon Network ran an advertisement on other networks, including rival channel Nickelodeon, featuring different Cartoon Cartoons characters persuading viewers to switch channels and watch Cartoon Cartoon Fridays.[20] The advertisement is set against an orange backdrop, Nickelodeon's signature color.[20] Time Warner City Cable withdrew the commercial from local broadcast stations in New York due to its perceived inappropriateness for children.[20]
Programming blocks
More shows premiered bearing the Cartoon Cartoons brand, airing throughout the network's schedule and prominently on Cartoon Cartoon Fridays, which became the marquee night for premieres of new episodes and shows beginning June 11, 1999. It initially aired from 7:30 PM to 11:00 PM (Eastern Time) on Friday nights.[21] The block was expanded from three and a half hours to four hours with the November 1999 premieres of Mike, Lu & Og and Courage the Cowardly Dog.[4]
On June 9, 2000, Cartoon Cartoon Fridays launched with a new lineup and quickly garnered increased ratings for the channel.[22] The block's format featured a different character from a Cartoon Cartoon series hosting each week, with the first host being Eustace from Courage the Cowardly Dog. The June 9 broadcast also began the first week of The Big Pick, a showcase of cartoon pilots that could become full series based on the results of an online viewer poll. A similar event, The Big Pick II, aired the following year.
Cartoon Cartoons: The Top 5 (simply retitled The Top 5 in 2004), an hour-long program featuring a countdown of the week's five "best" Cartoon Cartoon episodes from the network's lineup, ran from 2002 to 2008. From 2005 to 2008, the Cartoon Cartoons label was primarily used for The Cartoon Cartoon Show, a half-hour program featuring episodes of older Cartoon Cartoons that were no longer shown regularly on the network.
(+) Indicates that the show originally aired as part of Grim & Evil, and that the 2003-2004 episodes were not produced for the standalone show.
In other media
DC Comics ran an anthology comic based on the Cartoon Cartoons; the series ran from March 2001 to October 2004 for a total of 33 issues.
In the OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes episode "Crossover Nexus", the Cartoon Cartoon logo is shown in the bottom of a wall inside the Cartoon Network headquarters; the Cartoon Cartoon jingle theme song is played when Ben Tennyson (Ben 10) shape-shifts into different Cartoon Network characters.
Cartoon Cartoons was also reintroduced as a YouTube channel featuring content from older Cartoon Network shows since August 2024, it took place of the former YouTube channel for the now defunct Boomerang streaming service, that was shut down on September 30.
Dexter's Laboratory is an American animated television series created by Genndy Tartakovsky for Cartoon Network and the first original series for the channel under the Cartoon Cartoons moniker. The series follows Dexter, an enthusiastic boy-genius with a hidden science laboratory in his room, which he keeps secret from his unsuspecting parents. Dexter is at constant odds with his older and more extraverted sister Dee Dee, who regularly accesses the laboratory and inadvertently foils his experiments. Mandark, a nefarious boy-genius classmate who lives next-door to Dexter, attempts to undermine him at every opportunity. Prominently featured in the first and second seasons are other segments focusing on superhero-based characters Monkey, Dexter's pet lab-monkey with a superhero alter ego, and the Justice Friends, a trio of superheroes who share an apartment.
Courage the Cowardly Dog is an American animated comedy horror television series created by John R. Dilworth for Cartoon Network. It was produced by Dilworth's animation studio, Stretch Films. The eponymous character is an anxious dog who lives with an elderly couple, Muriel and Eustace Bagge, in a farmhouse in the middle of Nowhere, a fictional town in Kansas. In each episode, the Bagges are repeatedly thrown into bizarre, frequently disturbing, and often paranormal or supernatural adventures, with Courage often having to rescue his owners. The series is known for its dark, surreal humor and atmosphere.
Oh Yeah! Cartoons is an American animated anthology series that aired on Nickelodeon. Created by Fred Seibert, it was produced by Frederator Incorporated and Nickelodeon Animation Studio, running as part of Nickelodeon's Nicktoons lineup. In the show's first season, it was hosted by a variety of schoolchildren, and the second season was hosted by Kenan Thompson of All That and Kenan & Kel, and later Josh Server of All That in the third and final season. Bill Burnett composed the show's theme music.
What a Cartoon! is an American animated anthology series created by Fred Seibert for Cartoon Network. The shorts were produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions; by the end of the run, a Cartoon Network Studios production tag was added to some shorts to signal they were original to the network. The project consisted of 48 cartoons, intended to return creative power to animators and artists, by recreating the atmospheres that spawned the iconic cartoon characters of the mid-20th century. Each of the shorts mirrored the structure of a theatrical cartoon, with each film being based on an original storyboard drawn and written by its artist or creator. Three of the cartoons were paired together into a half-hour episode.
Craig McCracken is an American cartoonist, animator, director, writer, and producer known for creating Cartoon Network's The Powerpuff Girls and Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, Disney Channel and Disney XD's Wander Over Yonder, and Netflix's Kid Cosmic.
Frederator Studios is an American animation television production studio founded by Fred Seibert in January 1997. It is a division of Frederator Networks, Inc., itself apart of Kartoon Studios' Canadian holding company Wow Unlimited Media. The studio's slogan is "Original Cartoons since 1998."
Frederick G. Seibert is an American television producer.
Random! Cartoons is an American animated anthology series that aired on Nicktoons. Much like Oh Yeah! Cartoons, it was created by Fred Seibert and produced by Frederator Studios and Nickelodeon Animation Studio. It premiered on December 6, 2008, and ended on December 20, 2009.
Cartoon Network Too was a British television channel that was owned by Turner Broadcasting. CN Too was the sister station of Cartoon Network, and it often aired programmes a while after they are shown on the main Cartoon Network. Cartoon Network Too was shut down on 1 April 2014.
Cartoon Network is a Philippine pay television channel operated by Warner Bros. Discovery under its International division, which primarily shows animated programming. The Philippine version is a branch of Cartoon Network Asia and broadcasts exclusively in the Philippines.
Cartoon Network Australia & New Zealand is an Australian pay television channel broadcast as a local feed of its American counterpart. launched on October 3, 1995 and owned by Warner Bros. Discovery Asia-Pacific. It primarily shows animated programming.
JBVO: Your All Request Cartoon Show was an American anthology talk show programming block that aired Sundays from February 9, 2000, to January 14, 2001, with reruns continuing until it was fully removed in August 26, 2001, on Cartoon Network as a sequel to Johnny Bravo. The show was hosted by Johnny Bravo, along with some infrequent guest stars such as Chicken. In this show, callers would write into the show via mail or through the Cartoon Network website.
Cartoon Network is an Indian cable and satellite television channel operated by Warner Bros. Discovery under its international division. It is the Indian equivalent of the original American network and was launched on 1 May 1995 as the first television channel in India dedicated to children. The channel primarily airs animated programming in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, and Kannada.
Cartoon Network Arabia is a pan-Arab free-to-air children's television channel that is broadcast to Arab audiences in the Middle East and North Africa. It is one of two Arabic-language versions of the original Cartoon Network, the other being a pay television channel on beIN, OSN and additional providers known as Cartoon Network MENA, which is available in both English and Arabic.
Cartoon Network is an American cable television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. It is the flagship property of The Cartoon Network, Inc., a division that also oversees Boomerang, Cartoonito, Discovery Family, Adult Swim, and Toonami. The channel is headquartered at 1050 Techwood Drive NW in Atlanta, Georgia.
Cartoon Network Korea is a South Korean pay television channel which launched on 11 November 2006 and is localized the South Korean version of original United States television channel and owned by Warner Bros. Discovery under its International division, and primarily shows animated programming.
Lawrence "Larry" Huber is an American television producer, writer, and animator who is known for his long history as a producer at Hanna-Barbera, Ruby-Spears, and Nickelodeon. Huber began his animation career in 1969 while working on Hanna-Barbera's The Perils of Penelope Pitstop. He went on to work for Ruby-Spears for 15 years. Returning to Hanna-Barbera in 1990, Huber worked on 2 Stupid Dogs and Fish Police. He was hired by Buzz Potamkin to supervise production on Cartoon Network's World Premiere Toons in 1995.
Cartoon Network is an American basic cable and satellite television channel that is part of The Cartoon Network, Inc. unit of the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks division of Warner Bros. Discovery which primarily focuses on animated programs.
1 2 3 Stanley, T. L. (November 8, 1999). "Marketers of the Next Generation; Unique On-Air Promos and Off-Air Partnerships Have Made Cartoon Network a Destination". Brandweek. Vol.40, no.42. Adweek. p.28. ISSN1064-4318.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
