Post by antiyonder on May 31, 2007 2:03:17 GMT -5
As most of you know by now, aside from the new episodes, both Kim Possible and American Dragon have been moved to late at nights. The reasoning is that apparently the ratings are poor compared to that of say Hanna Montana and The Suite Life.
The question: Are the cartoons really performing poorly in ratings or does the Disney Channel execs have too high of expectations in them? By high expectations, I mean they panic the minute the rating slips a tad. If the ratings were going down by 80% I'd be a little nervous, but given their short term thinking, I tend to think the ratings for the shows list might have gone down maybe 5% or 10%. Not a big deal, unless the shows have to be a fad.
To prove my idea about the execs having high expectations, I'm going to paste some paragraphs I typed on toon zone:
To put it short. Here's the number of successful shows VS the number of incomplete/failed shows:
90s
13 successful shows
8 canceled unsuccessful shows
2000-Now
2 successful shows
10 canceled unsuccessful shows
I'm not saying the cartoons this decade are bad, just that this decade they have more expectation placed on them. And nothing against the live action shows, just that the network needs variety.
Going outside Disney, Teen Titans and TMNT are fairly popular toons, but why don't they have as much air time. Simple, because successful isn't enough. If it's not a fad, it's crap.
And while Kim Possible and American Dragon might not be the networks proverbial bread and butter, they aren't going to help in the ratings and profit if they're at the graveyard slot.
The question: Are the cartoons really performing poorly in ratings or does the Disney Channel execs have too high of expectations in them? By high expectations, I mean they panic the minute the rating slips a tad. If the ratings were going down by 80% I'd be a little nervous, but given their short term thinking, I tend to think the ratings for the shows list might have gone down maybe 5% or 10%. Not a big deal, unless the shows have to be a fad.
To prove my idea about the execs having high expectations, I'm going to paste some paragraphs I typed on toon zone:
Look at how many successes they've had in animation in the previous decade as opposed to now:
As of today, Kim Possible & Lilo And Stitch The TV Series are the only Disney Cartoons that have made it to and/or went over the 65 episodes that a Disney cartoon is usually. The 90s had as it's hit toons:
Ducktales
Darkwing Duck
Goof Troops
Aladdin
Gargoyles
Timon & Pumbaa (I believe altogether they have about 80 half hours of material.)
And while Chip N Dale Rescue Rangers, Talespin, 101 Dalamations, Disney's Doug, Pepper Ann, Recess and Hercules weren't as big, they were still deemed successful enough to get 65 episodes. Bonkers while not as successful did better than American Dragon in the episode count. Heck, if American Dragon was being done in the 90s they would probably at least made it to the full 65 (Or at least 60).
Yes Disney had some duds in the 90s (Not that they were bad, but not the best):
Marsupalami
Schookums & Meat Funny Cartoon Show
The Little Mermaid
Quack Pack
The Mighty Ducks
Jungle Cubs
The Weekenders
So while Disney didn't always turn out top notch shows a decade ago, their successes outweighed their failures. As I said, as of this decade Kim Possible & Lilo And Stitch The TV Series are the only cartoons to make it to the magic number and beyond while the others (Either Disney Channel Originals/Jetix):
Teacher's Pet- 39
Teamo Supremo- 39 (And there were plans to continue this one)
Brandy And Mr. Whiskers- 39
Dave The Barbarian- 39
The Buzz On Maggie- 39
American Dragon: Jake Long- 52
W.I.T.C.H.- 52
Super Robot Monkey Team Hyper Force Go- 52
Dragon Booster- 52
Buzz Lightyear Of Star Command- 62
Some of those shows might have had low fanfare, others might have been successful. And of course as I've established, Disney like many other companies producing cartoons no longer settle for successful. Nope it has to be the big thing to end all big things (Like Power Rangers was in the early seasons and Pokemon).
Heck, look at Gargoyles, when the show was on syndication, it wasn't the flavor of the month but still a hit nonetheless. I'm convinced that had Disney not risen their expectations and pit it up against Power Rangers, it would have at least gotten another season or two (With the original creative team)and they would at least have the name recognition as G.I.Joe and Ninja Turtles.
As of today, Kim Possible & Lilo And Stitch The TV Series are the only Disney Cartoons that have made it to and/or went over the 65 episodes that a Disney cartoon is usually. The 90s had as it's hit toons:
Ducktales
Darkwing Duck
Goof Troops
Aladdin
Gargoyles
Timon & Pumbaa (I believe altogether they have about 80 half hours of material.)
And while Chip N Dale Rescue Rangers, Talespin, 101 Dalamations, Disney's Doug, Pepper Ann, Recess and Hercules weren't as big, they were still deemed successful enough to get 65 episodes. Bonkers while not as successful did better than American Dragon in the episode count. Heck, if American Dragon was being done in the 90s they would probably at least made it to the full 65 (Or at least 60).
Yes Disney had some duds in the 90s (Not that they were bad, but not the best):
Marsupalami
Schookums & Meat Funny Cartoon Show
The Little Mermaid
Quack Pack
The Mighty Ducks
Jungle Cubs
The Weekenders
So while Disney didn't always turn out top notch shows a decade ago, their successes outweighed their failures. As I said, as of this decade Kim Possible & Lilo And Stitch The TV Series are the only cartoons to make it to the magic number and beyond while the others (Either Disney Channel Originals/Jetix):
Teacher's Pet- 39
Teamo Supremo- 39 (And there were plans to continue this one)
Brandy And Mr. Whiskers- 39
Dave The Barbarian- 39
The Buzz On Maggie- 39
American Dragon: Jake Long- 52
W.I.T.C.H.- 52
Super Robot Monkey Team Hyper Force Go- 52
Dragon Booster- 52
Buzz Lightyear Of Star Command- 62
Some of those shows might have had low fanfare, others might have been successful. And of course as I've established, Disney like many other companies producing cartoons no longer settle for successful. Nope it has to be the big thing to end all big things (Like Power Rangers was in the early seasons and Pokemon).
Heck, look at Gargoyles, when the show was on syndication, it wasn't the flavor of the month but still a hit nonetheless. I'm convinced that had Disney not risen their expectations and pit it up against Power Rangers, it would have at least gotten another season or two (With the original creative team)and they would at least have the name recognition as G.I.Joe and Ninja Turtles.
To put it short. Here's the number of successful shows VS the number of incomplete/failed shows:
90s
13 successful shows
8 canceled unsuccessful shows
2000-Now
2 successful shows
10 canceled unsuccessful shows
I'm not saying the cartoons this decade are bad, just that this decade they have more expectation placed on them. And nothing against the live action shows, just that the network needs variety.
Going outside Disney, Teen Titans and TMNT are fairly popular toons, but why don't they have as much air time. Simple, because successful isn't enough. If it's not a fad, it's crap.
And while Kim Possible and American Dragon might not be the networks proverbial bread and butter, they aren't going to help in the ratings and profit if they're at the graveyard slot.