ACME Night News & Discussion Thread

Silverstar

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im not talking about John lasseter's alleged inappropriate workplace behavior, I talking about his failed promises for Walt Disney animation studios & Pixar like they be only focus on original ideas or theres be more 2d animated movies
I guess you didn't read the second paragraph of my last post, 'cause I covered that. There's no grounds to fire Ouleween because he hasn't broken any promises; he's doing just he said he was going to do back in March: turn Cartoon Network into a general channel for animation fans, with 29 being the main age group they target. They're doing just that, albeit not in a way we might've hoped.
 

Goldstar!

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You know, it seems to me that a lot of the issues that people have with Michael Ouleween's Cartoon Network have to do with branding. I get that Mr. Ouleween wants to turn CN into an all-ages animation channel (which isn't bad idea at all) but putting everything under the Adult Swim label isn't the way to do it. Making the channel 90% AS and 10% CN is only ticking off fans who have fond memories of Cartoon Network in its heyday, and it makes no sense to call the block ADULT Swim during the hours when the kids are still up.
 

Markus Nelis

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I know all of you are upset to see ACME Night part of Adult Swim. But it's for the better imo thanks to them being consistent. If CN aired until 5p 6 days a week and suddenly air until 9p on Sunday, it's confusing.

Plus ACME NIght was confusing for a while when we didn't even know if last hour was AS or CN timeslot.

And I don't know where you're getting that 90% AS and 10% CN. AS airs around 55% and CN 45% a day.

If CN kept the hours, they wouldn't really do much special with them. Let me remind you that adults watched CN more than kids when CN was still on until 8p.

I have multiple reasons why AS deserves more hours, I told them all and I have one more thing to say: AS gets better ad revenue than CN. AS also has better ratings. And those who think CN dies, don't worry, it's too big that it's impossible for it to die.

While AS has taken 5p, they won't probably take much more, CN still airs 11 hours a day which is pretty good. Hell, more than the main Nickelodeon getting airtime on weekdays.
 

Goldstar!

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Markus Nelis said:
And I don't know where you're getting that 90% AS and 10% CN. AS airs around 55% and CN 45% a day.

That wasn't meant to be accurate. It was exaggerated for comic effect. I was suggesting that the above seemed to be Michael Ouleween's long term goal for the channel. I probably should have put an emoji after that. My bad.
 

Otakuninja2006

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Dude, back in 2006(the year I was born), AS didn't start until 10:30PM Mon-Thur, 11PM on Saturdays and 10PM on Sundays and that confused ABSOLUTELY NOBODY, and AS didn't even air on Fridays yet.

If it didn't confuse people in '06, it shouldn't confuse anyone in '23.
 

[classic swim]

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Everything that Ouweleen said before at this point was a sing and dance. I thought about as much even back then and considered the article only because of how he started up. Either the words simply weren’t genuine or he doesn’t have the willpower to make any of his own planning come true, which is why he settles for stuff like Checkered Past instead.
 

Markus Nelis

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Dude, back in 2006(the year I was born), AS didn't start until 10:30PM Mon-Thur, 11PM on Saturdays and 10PM on Sundays and that confused ABSOLUTELY NOBODY, and AS didn't even air on Fridays yet.

If it didn't confuse people in '06, it shouldn't confuse anyone in '23.
Those were the different times when kids actually watched the network. No TikToks or anything so most of my points are still accurate. There was no point keeping CN when adults watched it more during 6 to 8p. And again, I have to say that AS gets better ad revenue. It just makes sense to have AS on as much as possible.
 

PicardMan

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I guess this thread will probably be moved to the Adult Swim board pretty soon? Another unexpected blow to Cartoon Network. I was expecting Cartoon Network to be revitalized by the new guy in charge, not getting slowly eaten up by Adult Swim. On the Adult Swim side of things, it seems to be changing its identity as I'd never expect Schumacher Batman on Adult Swim except maybe as an April Fool's joke. Both Cartoon Network and Adult Swim are going in weird directions in 2023.
 

JMTV

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I haven't really watched ACME Night since last year because it started to get repetitive for me, but I heard the block is being moved to Adult Swim, which okay. Whatever. I expected that.

I have nothing much to else to say, so I'm just gonna leave it there.
 

[classic swim]

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I still have vaguely to no idea what ACME even is beyond just movies, but it’s so ugly and foreign for Adult Swim.

The three physical release flicks + whatever else ATHF’s back to doing was just about my final and only reason to keep supporting the brand. What I started feeling 2008-2011 hardly compares to what I feel now. Now it’s entirely consumed by mediocre, lowest common denominator methods. All the previous creative freedom they had was something taken for granted.

Yeah, they had an hour of Smalls a couple weeks ago, but how long is that gonna last, really? Casper Kelly’s special from last December wouldn’t have even been possible without lucrative funding.
 

Markus Nelis

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Better have risky stuff on AS rather than keep the block on CN to get away from potential risks. While I get that it may be frustrating that ACME Night moves to AS, at the end of the day nothing changes for viewers. You don't have to switch to a different channel because AS and CN share the same channel slot. The only thing that will be different is AS screenbug and adult ads.

Oweleen may take too many hours away from CN, but CN itself will stay in the mornings and afternoons. AS can't run 24/7, it just can't. Please don't say CN dies because it's not. We have promising new shows this Fall. We haven't been getting new shows since We Baby Bears. We're getting back to normal when it comes to content.
 

Moe

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I don't have issue with Michael Ouweleen and I do miss Tom Ascheim in some parts, but Michael Ouweleen did good with schedule for Boomerang and added WB shows to Discovery Family. ACME Night isn't taken away but moved to Adult Swim. Cartoonito is reduced because of not enough viewers, unfortunately.

Adult Swim's expansion don't bother me.

He should just use the Cartoon Network name for that strategy. Remember that CN wasn't just for kids back in the day.
Boomerang is basically CN in old day but it isn't included in many cable operators.

so, is it a dark age for the u.s. animation market?, I mean, blue sky studios closing, Netflix animation cancels almost all of its movies, Disney animated films bombing in 2022, hbo max tax write offs, the writers strike & now this?, is this the dark age for the u.s. animation market now?, did adult swim just take our jobs
Animation union workers aren't in strike.

Adult Swim is nearly all animated shows and they don't lose the animated shows. Look at Checkered Past.

WBD see worst before getting better.

Dude, back in 2006(the year I was born), AS didn't start until 10:30PM Mon-Thur, 11PM on Saturdays and 10PM on Sundays and that confused ABSOLUTELY NOBODY, and AS didn't even air on Fridays yet.

If it didn't confuse people in '06, it shouldn't confuse anyone in '23.
Oh wow, I graduated from high school in 2006. 1980s babies graduated in late 1990s until late 2000s.

Cable and satellite TV were very strong in 2006 and streaming services didn't exist.
 

PicardMan

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I'm kinda surprised when Ouweleen said that he wanted to make Cartoon Network an ages brand, I thought Cartoon Network was going to mature, not Adult Swim getting kiddified. It will be wild if crap like Minions ends up on Adult Swim's Acme Night like it did on Cartoon Network. Condom and liquor commercials during kids movies will be a bizarre sight to behold, if that's where the future is headed for Adult Swim.
 

Tacomaster

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I do think that AS going beyond the "frat boy" mentality is a good idea, but all this family-friendly stuff like My Adventures with Superman (originally meant for Cartoon Network, and don't tell me it wouldn't have been a big hit THERE), Checkered Past (literally just CN reruns), and now ACME Night will do nothing but dilute the Adult Swim brand. And the expansion to 5 PM will not only get less and less viewership for CN (since kids have less of a chance to even watch it), but what they're doing with that slot will ultimately flounder in comparison to their competition on the same timeslot (AfterToons on Nickelodeon, Simpsons reruns on FXX).

Say I was a parent. Even if I watched these shows as a kid, would I want to show them to my child on ADULT Swim?

If I was an adult who was a fan of adult animation, would I rather watch kids’ shows on Checkered Past, or watch Simpsons reruns on FXX? And before you say anything about nostalgia and childhood memories, Simpsons predates all the Checkered Past shows and has had multiple Burger King kids meals as early as 1990 and as late as 2013. Or do you not remember Bartmania?

And if I was a kid, would I rather watch these old reruns of old kids shows I’ve never heard of (even if my parents DO let me watch them on ADULT Swim), or watch new SpongeBob or Loud House on Nickelodeon’s AfterToons? And if I’m a naughtier child who likes “edgier” stuff, go back to “if I was an adult”.

Combine this with Adult Swim losing their Fox shows to FXX (first Family Guy, soon Bob's Burgers; they have all the episodes of KotH and Futurama, but so does FXX), which they're currently neck and neck in the ratings with, and cable in general falling off a cliff, and I'd say expanding is the LAST possible thing they should do. But I know why they're doing it. Advertisements. Like it or not, not only can "grown up" channels like AS air more commercials than "kid" channels like CN, they can also air edgier, but more profitable commercials. Beer ads. Condom ads. Freakin' insurance ads. And like it or not, more adults are watching CN than kids nowadays. Who cares if it's because they prefer the modern kids shows to retro Simpsons reruns on FXX? We have ads to sell, baby!
 

Daikun

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Now I'm wondering what ACME Night movies will look like in the future under Adult Swim branding. Will they start airing R-rated movies now? I doubt they can get away with airing Tooth Fairy or The Emoji Movie again.
 

PicardMan

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I do think that AS going beyond the "frat boy" mentality is a good idea, but all this family-friendly stuff like My Adventures with Superman (originally meant for Cartoon Network, and don't tell me it wouldn't have been a big hit THERE), Checkered Past (literally just CN reruns), and now ACME Night will do nothing but dilute the Adult Swim brand. And the expansion to 5 PM will not only get less and less viewership for CN (since kids have less of a chance to even watch it), but what they're doing with that slot will ultimately flounder in comparison to their competition on the same timeslot (AfterToons on Nickelodeon, Simpsons reruns on FXX).

Say I was a parent. Even if I watched these shows as a kid, would I want to show them to my child on ADULT Swim?

If I was an adult who was a fan of adult animation, would I rather watch kids’ shows on Checkered Past, or watch Simpsons reruns on FXX? And before you say anything about nostalgia and childhood memories, Simpsons predates all the Checkered Past shows and has had multiple Burger King kids meals as early as 1990 and as late as 2013. Or do you not remember Bartmania?

I think the kiddification of Adult Swim is alienating its audience. Primal seemed to suggest that Adult Swim could do other genres than vulgar adult comedies and I hoped it herald a new age for the block as I am more of an action cartoon fan, but I never imagined 2023 Adult Swim to be like this. My Adventures with Superman probably would have had it better on Cartoon Network where its actual target audience could see it. We are still getting some actual adult stuff like Uzumaki and I have hopes for that, but this kiddy direction is not the direction I was hoping for. I think both the people in the block for the adult comedy cartoons like Rick and Morty and the action stuff like Primal are not really into this. Checkered Past at least makes sense when you consider nostalgia, but I think the Adult Swim audience won't be happy if the Adult Swim Acme Night has Minions and Emoji Movie airings.
 

Tacomaster

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Oh yeah, I forgot to mention Primal. Primal is a perfect fit for a new, more mature AS. Heck, while I don't approve of Unicorn's moving from CN to AS, I will admit it could fit well on both.

Not Superman, though.
 

Markus Nelis

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I think the Adult Swim audience won't be happy if the Adult Swim Acme Night has Minions and Emoji Movie airings.
AS can always play other movies while CN sometimes airs something like Minions at 3p before that block. CN can air movies for kids even outside ACME Night.

And speaking of Superman, that show is safe on AS. If it aired on CN it wouldn't be safe as WBD either wanted to write it off or CN was going to treat it badly. It's better to have this stuff on AS rather than being straight up cancelled. Even if Superman is way too safe for AS standards, it doesn't matter anymore. The channel is now for teenager, not just adults anymore.
 

Tacomaster

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Yeah, I am aware that AS essentially saved Unicorn and Superman from being killed by WBD. That just makes it worse, IMO. "Alright, you square pegs! Fit into your round holes or die!"
 

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