I think late 90's Cartoon Network ruined animation. Whereas animation USED to be hand drawn, now virtually every cartoon has a cheapy cheap flash look trying to ape a minimalist Hanna Barberra. So many Nick, Disney, Cartoon Network/Adult Swim, etc shows have this terrible look to it. People laugh at some 80's and 90's animation, but least it was hand drawn. I wont name names, but man...the days of good quality animation are over. And in came the post Spongebob/Powder Puff ADHD stuff.
Actually, CN's originals, as much as they were trying to do the same thing with Nicktoons as they were, were also quite welcome. The flash stuff didn't come about until 2003 with Mucha Lucha, which actually managed to look GOOD with flahs animation (second favorite wrestling cartoon.. DISTANT second favorite wrestling cartoon). The only CN original show to utilize it that I know of is Fosters, and they didn't use it as an excuse to motion tween everything, leading to some quite beautiful full animation of some characters. What I hate is stuff that looks like 1997 web cartoons like The Cat in the Hat knows a Lot About That. Shows that use stock libraries of characters in only one pose. But it seems to be the only ones really using it are preschool shows and (how's this for a gap) cheaply produced adult swim shows. Though you have to give CN credit for their creator driven line up in the 90's.
What ruined animation today, and I say this a quintillion times... FCC regulations that were made so single companies could buy up as many media outlets as they wanted. If that wasn't bad enough, the lefties threw in annoying guidelines for kid's programming that made everything eventually unprofitable. Add to the fact parental groups still have power and want to destroy cartoons (as they have since the 80's), and those TERRIBLE live action tween coms, and you have to admit, there's no room for this stuff to thrive.
Which gets me back to the CW, the worst network out there... the one with programs only for vapid 17 year olds. I'm still growling over their disdane for Reaper.... but what really got me angry was their decision to sell their profitable (always came in #1) SatAm line up to 4Kids (I love Sonic X and all, but give it a rest! I mean, 3 times in a single Saturday?)... they clearly hadn't the money to keep Spectacular Spidey on, and Sony was all too quick to want to end it after the second season, which was shown in BULGARIA before we actually saw it. To be fair that was a little politicking from Toon Disney, but there was no where to air it for over a year since completion. I feel Disney had the prime opportunity to save the show, even if they had to pull a Doug, and just get everyone they could back to continue the series. The writer planned 5 seasons, which frankly is hubris now, since lasting a full season of 13-26 episodes is a feat in and of itself. They own these characters, and could just as easily make their own continuations of the shows.
Now, Wolverine and the X-Men, I've only seen 2 or 3 episodes of. They stuck that thing on Nicktoons... who even HAS Nicktoons? All I can say is I really liked what I saw... possibly much more than the 90's Saban series, and definitely a billion times more than the movies. I've said this about myself a lot, but I'm the strange kind that buys comics based off cartoons, and watches cartoons based off of comics.
Overall, Disney NEEDS another Ducktales. A big, fictional cartoon series that involves high adventure and comedy. Again, I can't express love for P&F enough (especially the Agent P stuff), but they really should do something with all those characters they have besides making lame preschool fare with it. I'm dying to see a Duck Avenger project, be it a TV show or DTV movie.