Cartoon
Network
http www.cartoonnetwork.com is a
cable television network created by Turner Broadcasting which primarily
shows animated programming.
In recent years, Cartoon Network
has also made attempts to attract viewers outside its core audience.
Their Saturday-night cartoon block Toonami consists of
acceptable-for-preteens and -teens anime from Japan, as well as some
American animation, while a late-night cartoon block called Adult Swim
shows more risque, teenage- and adult-oriented cartoons (with a
combination of anime and American-produced comedies such Futurama and
Family Guy). |
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Cartoon Cartoons
Cartoon Cartoons were first
showcased in the What a Cartoon! show, a series of comedic animated
shorts produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions guided by Fred Seibert, who
founded the Nickelodeon-based Frederator Studios years later. Originally
known as "World Premiere Toons," the shorts were essentially series
pilots—the idea was to measure audience response and turn the most
popular shorts into series.
Only a small handful of the shorts ever
made series, however. The first short to air was "The Powerpuff Girls
Meat Fuzzy Lumpkins," but it would be three years before the girls got
their own series. The first series to spin off from What-a-Cartoon! was
Dexter's Laboratory in 1996. A year later, Johnny Bravo and Cow and
Chicken joined Dexter on the Cartoon Network lineup. The Powerpuff Girls
became a Cartoon Cartoons series in the fall of 2001. Ed, Edd, n Eddy
came later as the first Cartoon Cartoons series not to be introduced in
a What-A-Cartoon! short.
More shows premiered bearing the Cartoon Cartoons moniker, airing
throughout the network's schedule and prominently on Cartoon Cartoon
Fridays, which became the marquee night for premieres of new episodes
and new shows. For two years, Cartoon Network actually let fans pick
which of that year's crop of Cartoon Cartoon shorts made series, by
staging a vote where fans could choose from among the three most popular
entries. The first short to be voted into a series was The Grim
Adventures of Billy and Mandy, and a year later Codename: Kids Next Door
was voted in. Both have gone on to become two of Cartoon Network's
longest-running series.
As of September 2005, the name is primarily used for The Cartoon
Cartoons Show, an hour-long program featuring episodes of older
Cartoon Cartoons that are no longer shown regularly on the network. |