Things I Don’t Like About Television, Episode 25: Cartoon Network

I never had the chance to watch Cartoon Network at its inception, but I was somewhat intrigued by the original series it offered. When I got to finally view the network, shows like Johnny Bravo, Dexter’s Laboratory, and Powerpuff Girls. I think I liked the third show most of all. The story was simple but there was solid humor. The other two shows lost something in their later seasons.

There was more to see on Cartoon network beyond its initial offerings. Classic shows like The Flintstones and The Jetsons were occasionally shown. However, some of these would be moved to Boomerang (which would ultimately suffer from network decay itself). Despite that, the network would also feature more original shows that would come to be beloved. I still love Operation: Kids Next Door to this day and I respect much of the writing behind Teen Titans.

I also grew to love Adult Swim. I will talk about that later in this post.

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What’s Wrong with Cartoon Network Proper Today

The lineup would suffer a sharp change in 2010. As I mentioned in Episode 1, Cartoon Network was sharply showing signs of network decay as its top executive wanted to move away from showing cartoons (!) and show original, live action programming. Former President and Chief Operating Officer of Turner Animation Stuart Snyder spearheaded this shift in 2009. There was a huge backlash from viewers and Snyder had to quickly change course. He finally left the company in March 2014 and would ultimately be replaced by Christina Miller.

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Why I Followed the Naruto Manga

As we all know, the manga concluded in 2014, with the gaiden and a couple of one-shots being released this year. The movie “The Last” was a 2014 Japanese theatrical release in between and there is at least one more movie featuring Naruto/Hinata’s and Sasuke/Sakura’s brats that will be released this year. I still would like to offer my thoughts on the story proper and maybe these other things…as I get to see them all.

Before I jump into revisiting my thoughts on the Naruto manga though, I would first like to start with a few positive posts. First of all, I will start with how I got into the story and what kept me interested in it.