The Nicktoon Thread

Drtooth

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I've been very annoyed by how Nick handles their shows, and I've basically given that rant like a billion times by now, so I'll just cut to the chase.

Robot and Monster they really must've hated. I really like the show, I think it's highly underrated...and here's the but... BUT I can see why Nick would try and screw that one over. It's a very negative, if not outright dark show. I can totally see them having flashbacks of Invader Zim (before it became the Hot Topic cash cow it was), and feeling the show isn't kid friendly. And I'm not sure I can agree or not. It does feel like a very depressing show to watch, and Ogo's affection for the main characters comes off as depressing and creepy at the same time, not to mention how...ummm...unfortunate the character is portrayed. It's a very good show and all, I watched it on Nicktoons and thought it was a lot better than Nick was treating it, but in the end, the show is pretty much the reason why you'd never see a kid's equivalent of Venture Bros. The show's all about failure and futility. The characters make Charlie Brown look like Gladstone Gander.

Korra... well, I give Nick credit for one thing here. They knew the audience was older than the standard kid's cartoon demo. They did show it on Teen Nick for a while, and they at least dumped the whole thing online instead of sitting on the episodes for the rest of forever. That's a low bar, the equivalent of not crapping your pants. But the thing about Nick is they don't know what Disney and CN already know and do well. That tweenagers and teens can watch cartoons too. While they sort of got the hint about Korra, they still seem to think cartoons are just kiddy stuff for kids just old enough to stop watching Nick Jr. And I think that and the lack of merchandising on their newer shows (to get you're undies in a twist, Fanboy and Chum Chum had a toyline), is a huge part of that. Heck...even El Tigre got at least a Happy Meal. While there is a comics magazine and series of graphic novel reprints of Sanjay and Craig, Harvey Beaks, Pig Goat Banana Cricket, and Breadwinners (which all but stopped showing up in the magazine), there isn't a line of Sanjay and Craig Go-Gurt tubes or a Harvey Beaks Burger King promotion.

Now back to Korra, Mattel handled the Avatar toy line, but being Mattel they never made toys of the female characters because little boys don't like the girl characters, unless they do... it's very complicated and disproportionate. Obviously, a female lead cartoon series is not going to generate a boy's toyline. And again, before Nick took the hint that Korra is not for little boys, they probably took it as a sign of the show's failure. Which sucks because even CN has moved away from that. Otherwise Steven Universe, one of their most popular shows, would have been cancelled in its first season.

That said, there is NO excuse for PGBC, S&C, or HB not having a regular slot on the network. Don't see why they can't just air them on Saturday Mornings inbetween Spongebob marathons. I'm glad we're at least getting that week of Harvey.
 

Pig'sSaysAdios

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Nickelodeon president Russell Hicks has stepped down. He's basically responsible for everything Nickelodeon did right and wrong for the past four years. He's certainly done wonders for the animation department, but terribly where live action shows are concerned. He's stepping down almost immediately but Nick doesn't have a replacement lined up yet.
I really think this could potentially be a good thing for the channel. Hopefully the live action shows get better and the animated shows are finally treated with respect.

http://www.cartoonbrew.com/business/nick-animation-president-russell-hicks-steps-140347.html

In other news, Russell Hicks' 93 year old boss, the owner of Viacom, Sumner Redstone may have gone senile. Right now he's been wrapped in some legal battles . Some people who worked under him are suing him, saying he's incompetent. And there's this whole mess involving his family, it's all very complicated and confusing.
 

Drtooth

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I really think this could potentially be a good thing for the channel. Hopefully the live action shows get better and the animated shows are finally treated with respect.
Or it could be the exact opposite. When stuff like this happens, you need to be wary. When the crap that went down with the idiotic Mooninite stunt, the CN president was "stepped down" and replaced by someone who wanted to take the network in that obnoxious stolen programming from Discovery Kids direction that no one not even the target demo liked.

If this new replacement means better treatment of their cartoon programming, giving them more balance with the live action shows (as Nick always has done in the past), I'm all for it. If this means, among other things, canning the TMNT cartoon because the movie didn't win over audiences, I'm going to worry.
 

Pig'sSaysAdios

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Well i'm not too worried about TMNT, half of the fourth season still hasn't aired and the show's been renewed for a fifth season.
But yeah, i'm a little worried about the channel as a whole, the ratings were finally just starting to come back after that long slope in the viewership. But, we don't know what will happen either way so i'm choosing to remain optimistic unless something happens that I should be truly upset about.
 

Drtooth

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I really hope that the movie franchise can be separated from the cartoon franchise. And they did a good enough job with that the first movie. I kinda remember TMNT III being the beginning of the end of the original Turtles (that was at least a year before MMPR came in and stole their thunder). I don't want to blame TMNT 2k7 for the end of the 2K3 cartoon and eventual buyout by Viacom, but Playmates torpedoed the toy line for movie figures that would wind up being the downfall (as they were still a huge stake holder in the TMNT's revival). Something I'm glad they didn't do this time, sticking to the same price point and size as the others. It seems to be their merchandising cash cow that isn't Spongebob or Nick Jr (which Dora's still bafflingly in the picture still).

I really want good things to happen with a new network head, though. I wasn't keen on how they've been subtly sabotaging their cartoons the past 10 years or so. 2005, I can see because that was the golden age of "Look how Disney's killing in the ratings with mediocre kidcoms and HSM." And I hope whoever's next doesn't think the only way to combat kids skipping television to go online isn't making online content on television. Which ALWAYS sucks ('cept maybe for 2 More Eggs, but that was probably never supposed to be on TV).
 

Pig'sSaysAdios

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Excited that most of the voices are returning, even Arnold and Gerald's original voices are coming back (as different characters of course). The fact that the new voice actors are a bunch of random actors from Nickelodeon's current shows is a bit worrisome. Hopefully Nick picked them for their talent and not just because they're from other Nick shows.
 

MuppetSpot

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I wonder if we're going to see the trailer this year?
 

Mo Frackle

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Incredibly thrilled that this is really happening! We're no longer in "maybe some day, but most likely not" territory!

I was a bit concerned about the cast being replaced, since Craig Bartlett was always into the idea of kids being played by kids. I'm for that too, sure. But I can't picture anyone but Francesca Smith doing Helga, Justin Shenkarow doing Harold, etc. I'm fine some of the others being recast (Arnold and Eugene both went through different actors multiple times, so this is nothing new). But there are those specific few characters that I can't see anyone else playing.

I wonder who will voice Oskar now that Steve Viksten is gone. Perhaps they just won't feature the character. I would at least hope for a cameo, preferably a silent one, as Oskar is another character that I can't picture with a new actor.

 
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