Call me nuts, but I legitimately think that My Adventures with Superman moved from the Cartoon Network brand to Adult Swim brand because of LGBT+ elements. Last week's episode actually contained a romantic kiss between two ladies.
CN has been trying to shy away from those elements globally too.
Craig of the Creek had LGBT+ elements as well (not to mention being unapologetically Black to boot), and they straight up canceled that series even though it was one of the highest-rated series on the entire channel.
Zaslav is a boogieman and empty suit. He's not the end boss at WBD, and I don't think he's responsible for every decision there. A lot of those decisions were made by people in charge of those units. Zaslav's just the flak jacket taking all the fire.
It does seem notable that in their "revive/reboot everything" phase they still aren't doing any Steven Universe spin-offs (while Adventure Time's spinoffs get split between an "adults" version with the gay stuff and two presumably less gay kiddy versions)
I'm almost convinced that the reason Steven Universe hasn't gotten a revival like Adventure Time, Gumball and Regular Show is more because the show is way too gay to sell internationally.
Plus, it's very suspicious that they're trying to avoid mentioning the show on every social media.
I believe the second art book said CN had to cancel the show for basically that as the other regions pitch in with funding too. CN US had to fund the movie / Future alone. or something like that
i'd say never say never though. sugar's prolly focused on the AT movie rn
I'm assuming any of the smaller order / higher risk shows CN's made over the past decade (like Infinity Train, OTGW, Royals, SU Future) were probably funded directly by CN US (or Max). Any show with massive production orders (like AT or SU or Craig) probably had all the regions pitching it
In OtGW's case, Pat mentioned that the reason why it was just a miniseries was because if it were a full series he'd have to move back to LA to showrun it, vs being able to work remotely with it being a miniseries.
With all the years of very open evidence that everything CN did against SU for 10 years, they make it very clear that they don't want it back, maybe Sugar realized that this year after her interview last year
I'm not going to get angry w her, if she changes her mind with what we are seeing with CN
I kind of felt like that last season too. This week's kiss really cemented that.
Now, I'm kind of wondering if those elements will be on Invincible Fight Girl, which is now deemed an Adult Swim show rather than a Cartoon Network show.
Oh, I know it's not the only reason (even said so later on); bsky.app/profile/nema...
I'm really glad the show is actually on television at all and not buried in some vault or thrown on some outlet I'm not interested in subscribing to largely for that one show unlike some shows.
Perhaps. I know it's not the only reason (the big studios have an allergy towards action on kids' brands), but I get the hunch that on the domestic & global side, they're trying to tone down LGBT themes on the Cartoon Network brand. CN barely mentioned Pride Month last month compared to last year.
I always chalked this up to the realm of, “Shit happens.” I don’t know what the suits thought of MAwS, nor will I foreseeably.
They can just simply make those decisions I suppose.
I'm at the point where I won't consider it groundbreaking or brave until we get a similar scene with a m/m couple in animation. That's NOT played for laughs.
This is the only real rep seen in animation, and it's been like that for years now. Background dads don't count, either.
I don't like or even respect that show all that much for too many reasons to list, so this is an unknown example for me.
And I have doubts that they treated particularly well, given what I have seen of this show.
In addition to the kiss, Mallah literally said my husband in both English and French to Brain on open screen and that was not censored in the Latin American dubbing made in Venezuela
Yeaaaah, I doubt that. This theory makes no sense because:
- CN have recently been promoting Steven Universe
- MAWS airs on other international CN feeds
The real reason is advertising. Can't make enough money with the regular ads during daytime CN.
Yeah, I think that's probably the main reason. Anymore, action cartoon = Toonami = Adult Swim with them.
It's weird how we've gone backwards on this genre.
I have to knock Michael Ouweleen for regressing on the original plans for returning action to the Cartoon Network brand compared to what Tom Ascheim was planning when he greenlit MAWS, Batman Caped Crusader, Unicorn, and Invincible Fight Girl and picked up Iyanu & the Totally Spies revival. for CN.
i still kinda think he's pushing action stuff but in a way that pleases the execs above him. got stuff airing as early as 5p now with toonami rewind + superman 7p encores. sure it has the [as] logo at the bottom right but its not midnight anymore lol. spies and iyanu still on the way.
same for his goals of aiming CN at general audiences again, had to do it in a commercially viable way to please WBD... even if it meant making AS start at 5pm with 90s CN shows and PG-13 movies. but on the CN side you got 2010s originals and H-B / Looney IPs back on the lineup in full force
