Why Nickelodeon Will Never Suffer From Network Decay

 Why Nickelodeon Will Never Suffer From Network Decay

Back in November, I made a thread on Twitter  to settle a neverending debate that the kids networks went downhill and responded that they never gotten worse, you just got older. Well, now I’m going to fully explain my thoughts (without worrying about character limits) on why Nickelodeon will never experience network decay.

Nickelodeon and other kids networks

Nickelodeon is best known as the first network for kids. It’s been called this way since it was first launched. What makes this channel special compared to Cartoon Network and Disney Channel is that they always put kids first, even during their worst moments. At worst, Nick just talks down to kids, which is evident for most of their 2010s works, while at their best, they often cater to kids in different ways while not alienating other demographics. Part of the main reason why Nick have a successful run for so long is that their shows have periphery fandoms. While most of their shows are aimed at kids aged 2-11, teenagers and adults can enjoy them. The biggest examples of this are SpongeBob, Rugrats, Hey Arnold, Rocko’s Modern Life, Invader Zim, the Avatar universe, The Loud House. At least from what TVTropes told me. Some preschool shows have periphery fandoms as well, especially from the parents. But it looks like no longer how long they outgrow, Blue’s Clues will always hold a special place in people’s hearts. A lot of the older live-action shows feel more for families rather than targeting kids. It wasn’t until sometimes around the mid-2000’s that their shows really started targeting towards the teen demographic, which may not interest the younger nor older viewers that much. However, shows like Drake & Josh, ICarly, Big Time Rush, and Victorious are one of the few Nick sitcoms in the 21st century to have a decent amount of adult fan base. And that is how Nick has managed to stay afloat for 4 decades. Compare that to Disney Channel and Cartoon Network's worst days - they abandoned their mission for a while before going back to their old roots.

The Side Channels

Nicktoons is one of the most consistent side channel Nick had for a while until they started playing live-action shows. They were often brief and didn’t take up half of the schedule at first. Only shows like The Troop and Supah Ninjas get a regular timeslot on Nicktoons and I don’t know why, but probably they match the action nature of Nicktoons’ current direction at the time. It wasn’t until 2015 that live-action programming would soon take over the channel. On the bright side, almost no one was watching during the morning hours which is where they aired the sitcoms. The rest of the day is still mostly dedicated to animation, but eventually we start to see more live-action programming during the middle of the day because we can’t have nice things. Luckily by January 2018, they were (almost) entirely gone from Nicktoons, aside from the occasional Henry Danger reruns. Now network decay is no more for Nicktoons for the rest of its existence, right? Wrong! By spring 2020, they didn’t learned from their past mistakes. For a short while, it became a semi-rerun farm for game shows, which were entirely removed a couple months later.  But the schedulers gave up and basically let them air whatever currently airing on the main channel. Henry Danger and The Thundermans were the only live action shows with a consistent schedule on Nicktoons and this would last for a year and a half before they start dominating TeenNick. These days, while Nicktoons actually live up to its name, it never shows classic shows and instead airs nothing but current cartoons. Next, we have TeenNick, which brings us the big debates on itself - is it worthy of being a teen channel? Some may say that the channel hadn’t been the same since Degrassi stopped airing. It’s basically an excuse to air Nick’s live action lineup nowadays and only a few of them dealt with actual teen issues. My biggest problem with the channel is how wasted NickRewind is. It should expanded to other channels instead of being limited to a nighttime block on a channel for teens (even though Rewind is certainly catered to adults who grew up on old Nick shows). But when you look at the sad state is in right now, I think a shutdown is recommended at this point. Nick Jr, on the other hand, is the only side channel will almost never suffer from network decay as long as they don’t forget their mission of airing shows for preschoolers. Occasionally, they would air something that is aimed for kids older than 6. Most of the time, it’s due to airing simulcasts of big events (Kids Choice Awards, SpongeBob Musical Live on Stage) that would look out of place airing on a normal lineup for toddlers. For some strange reason, any acquired shows starring girls would be sent to burn off on the channel, showing their blatant sexism problems. And at one point, they came up with NickMom, which is aired content of what mothers watch when their kids are asleep. It was a not good idea as you can tell and by fall 2015, it was back to 24/7 of preschool programming. On rare occasions, the Nick Jr channel aired Nicktoons (the ones aimed at older kids), such as Harvey Beaks, The Loud House, and Rise of the TMNT (which is the most violent of them all), as well as the acquired show, ALVINNN!!! and the Chipmunks. They did aired Rugrats as well but it made sense the most considering who the main characters are. Lego City Adventures remains the last time they aired a TV-Y7 rated show, and the channel is now exclusively to showing current preschool shows.

Nick @ Nite

Before I can end this journal, I want to discuss the rise and fall of Nick @ Nite. Nick @ Nite is the nighttime block of Nickelodeon when its target demographics are heading to bed. During its early years, it started as early as 8pm, with the exception of Saturdays since 1992 with the launch of SNICK, which started at 10pm (until fall 2017). It wasn’t until Nick finally expanded a full hour of screentime that N@N would officially begin at 9pm. It is the place to watch syndicated reruns of retro sitcoms. It predates the TV Land channel, which is like a 24/7 version of the block. For better or worse, Nick @ Nite invented the concept of binge watching as they would usually introduce a show to its lineup by airing a marathon. As the years go on, the block slowly started airing more sitcoms that aren’t considered retro at the time. For example, they started to air The Wonder Years sometimes in the late 90’s, even though the show already ended several years prior. George Lopez, one of their most famous acquisitions, started airing on N@N a few months after it ended. What really started showing its decay is when they decided to play sitcoms that are still making new episodes: The Goldbergs, Mom (although the show has recently ended) and Young Sheldon are examples of this. To make things even worse, they think putting SpongeBob on the block would help keep this block afloat. Yes, the show has been on the air long time to be considered N@N worthy, but one problem: it’s still making new episodes. They make a big deal out of something that is already aired enough during normal hours, and I wonder why this block is still going. They can still air sitcoms for all I can care but maybe it’s time that N@N add a little bit of classic Nick shows to its lineup. In recent months, it’s been doing slightly better than regular Nick (because Friends fans don’t know much about HBO MAX), so they could use that an advantage. Unfortunately, it may not happen so it would just continue rotting. They might ad well ditch the 9pm and 6am hour for good already because they’re basically filler hours. Nick shows will often air at those hours when they need to since some kids will be up. Nicktoons and TeenNick may have a sad network decay, but Nick @ Nite have the most depressing network decay I’ve ever seen in any subsidiary of Nickelodeon. People complain that the Nick Jr block is holding Nick back for a diverse schedule, but I think we can all agree that Nick @ Nite is the one holding this channel back the most. Over 35 years after its launch, I don’t think we need Nick @ Nite anymore, since there’s so much cable networks you can choose from if you want to watch syndicated sitcom reruns. TV Land’s clearly doing better numbers than N@N during Primetime and that’s saying a lot. Replacing it with more SpongeBob and Loud House (or movie reruns) might not be the brightest idea for a true 24/7 Nickelodeon channel but maybe turning the block into a nostalgia Nick block would do more favors than NickRewind ever could on TeenNick.

This journal was a recap of looking back at which of Nick’s side channels suffered the harshest decay compared to the main channel (which the branding itself never had much of a decline, no matter much you outgrew from it). And I think it’s clear that Nick Jr is the only one that deserved its own channel since you can

basically leave it on all the time for little kids. Nicktoons had so much potential of playing Nicktoons from all eras but only insists of playing current toons (and occasionally live-action to break the “Toons” name of the network’s name) in a binge watch format. All of that potential is gone and it’s too late to recover. Not to mention, Nick is still using this channel to burn off cartoons that they don’t like because of low ratings and due to the fact that cable ratings have been declining for a while now, it’s pointless and hard to tell when it’s time to pull the plug. Nicktoons should not only stop being a graveyard for mistreated cartoons, but it should cease to exist as well. TeenNick’s variety is gloomy to look at. Might as well give it the nickname “NickHeroes” while we’re at it. And even then, they did used to favor a certain producer until his departure in 2018. So who knows, if TeenNick would still be around in 10 years from now (highly impossible), it would be balanced, if they’re not doing the marathon format. But with NickRewind being reduced to 1-2 shows, I think it’s also time for a shutdown, because it’s really obvious that Nick wants nothing to do with this channel anymore. They used to promote the channel featuring Nick Cannon, but I think it’s as good as dead when he’s presumably stepped down as chairman (TeenNick Top 10 has been discontinued in 2018, shortly before the rebrand), especially after that controversy in summer 2020 when he said something bad about Jewish people. The N@N section was just a look of how much this nighttime block has fallen. When a Nickelodeon expert admits that Cartoon Network have the better nighttime block, you know that Nick @ Nite have absolutely nothing exciting to offer nowadays, unless they could pull a MeTV by turning it into a nostalgic block for Nick’s past programming. And when you take away N@N and the really poor scheduling as well as atrocious business practices that ruined the network’s reputation, the main channel has so much potential in having an outstanding and varied schedule. It’s a shame those good old days are gone especially once the side channels started gaining more subscribers and the main channel became focusing on only airing 2-4 shows. I already show you my fantasy schedule but it’s how the channel should’ve been if they weren’t held back a stale nighttime block and two side channels that are having identity crisis. Compared to Cartoon Network and Disney Channel, Nickelodeon felt like the most perfect network for kids that have stay steady over the years with no sign of network decay (even on its worst days) and if it wasn’t for those meddling executives, the cartoon community wouldn’t be so harsh on it.

The fate of Nick and its live feed

The Fate of Nick and Its Live Feed by Felix Saenz
Ah, Nickelodeon, the one network that has a strange history with scheduling. Before CBS ALL ACCESS rebranded to Paramount+ on March 2021, the live feed was always put over streaming since ViacomCBS wasn’t too active on moving on to the world of binge watching (despite their schedules already being infected with marathons after marathons). Granted, MTV has already become a shell of its former self since they insist on playing nothing but Ridiculousness when they’re not showing movies or the rest of their lineup. Comedy Central has become South Park/Office Central for those who enjoy watching Eric Cartman and Michael Scott’s shenanigans. TV Land seems to be stuck on autopilot since it has almost never changed. As I graphed other VCBS networks, though, they are a little more varied than MTV and CC, despite abandoning their gimmicks. But I am going a tad off-topic here, since we’re supposed to be covering Nickelodeon’s live feed and how it’s going to stay relevant with Paramount+ succeeding and I’ll be dividing it by networks on how to solve the problems. As you can tell, Paramount+ has been a winner for Nickelodeon content and it may or may not impact the live feed in some way. 

Nickelodeon
Since about mid 2018, Nick has weeks, if you don’t count preschool and Nick @ Nite content, where they only air two shows - SpongeBob and The Loud House. Before that, live-action shows and lesser popular cartoons (it can happen, but it never lasts long) would have a regular timeslot, preventing from both of the cash cows from taking over. But now, it feels like Nick has given up at making a decent schedule. Only the preschool block is a tad decent, but even their love of Paw Patrol can get out of hand at times.

But yes, Paramount+ is the major key factor of Nick phoning it in with the schedule. They always knew the audience only wants SpongeBob, Loud House, and family animated movies, such as Despicable Me, Ice Age, Alvin and The Chipmunks (90% of which aren’t even owned by Paramount Pictures), so they always go with the safest option instead of taking risks. What I’m going to do is stop making sure that the side channels get more screentime of currently airing shows so that the main channel can be the hub of both old and new. This is my fantasy schedule of Nickelodeon for the year 2022. It won’t ever happen but just imagine if they rebrand the same way Cartoon Network did. 

As you can see, their three desired shows will still get the most screentime while giving equal attention to other shows, who only seem to air reruns whenever they’re having new episodes. Though, eventually I’m going to have to change it up once certain shows lose relevance (which means less reruns) or gain popularity (which means more reruns). Movies will be now only air during the weekends. Saturday nights can be use to air Dreamworks/Blue Sky/Illumination movies that Nick loves to air so much. Sunday nights is mostly Viacom’s movie division, including Nickelodeon movies, something Nick rarely played outside of SpongeBob movies. There will be some mature movie, but they have to be PG-13 or lower. The most important thing I have done is turn Nick into a broadcast network (like ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC) and have them their programming air new episodes every night:
Mondays will be a night of cable premieres of Paramount+ originals (Kamp Koral, Rugrats reboot, iCarly revival, Star Trek Prodigy, Big Nate), Tuesdays will be a night of non-cash cash Nicktoons and acquired cartoons, Wednesdays is a night of unscripted content (such as NFL Slimetime and Tooned In), Thursdays and Saturdays are sitcom premiere nights (guess there’s not enough room now now that the 9pm hour is a death slot), Fridays is SpongeBob/Loud House universe premiere night, and Sunday nights are reserved for movies as previously mentioned.

Nicktoons
The Nicktoons network is a channel where you could watch animation for 24/7. However, in recent years, it has broken its premise of being an animation channel and insists of playing live-action shows because the people running schedulers are that clueless. Granted, they were on and off from 2008-2014, but since 2015, live-action content were here to stay on the so called Nicktoons network. The Nicktoons is notorious for being a dumping ground of cartoons Nick doesn’t want. It happened so often due to not matching SpongeBob’s ratings. This has dated back as early as 2004. Even worse, in the past few years, the Nicktoons network has become a clone of the main network, where they’ll air the same shows that we’re already spammed enough. Yes I’m talking about SpongeBob, which you can’t escape from it during overnight hours and since 2020, The Loud House and its spin-off have truly taken over this channel when the sponge, fairies, chipmunks, or other shows aren’t around. And worse of all, Fairly OddParents is literally the only ended show to currently play on the channel. So there’s either two things to do with it: turn the channel back into what it’s best known for - Animation Capital of the World - or simply shut down. There’s no point having a 24/7 version of the main channel when you should easily play more of the non-cash cow shows over there. It needs to be a rerun channel of ended Nicktoons from 1991 to the 2010s. The current Nicktoons can stay, they just need to only air on certain time of the day instead of engulfing the channel.

TeenNick
TeenNick has one of the more bizarre history ever. It was once known as The N, which was a teen orientated block on Noggin, basically airing during the night. Eventually, when NickGAS shut down, The N became a full channel, but it wasn’t long until it renamed itself to TeenNick (like the block Nick used to air every Sundays). People growing up with today’s TeenNick forgot to know what it’s like to watch a channel that actually dealt with teen issues. Degrassi was big and was a ratings draw for the channel. But all good things must to an end. The show ended its run on summer 2015, and from there on, the channel would literally become a place to watch Nick sitcoms. If you check the schedule, chances are, you’ll most likely going to see a Dan Schneider show. His works take up most of the channel and you can see why. He was a huge part of Nickelodeon for a couple decades. Then he was let go for creative differences. While still remaining a rerun farm for teen sitcoms, I’ve noticed this weird trend since April of last year - TeenNick is slowly becoming a superhero themed network, where most of the schedule consists of Henry Danger, The Thundermans, and Danger Force. What makes this bad is that some of the older shows have been either removed or taken a backseat. Getting rid of Schneider may be one thing, but there’s one genre we might exterminate from making more of - superheroes, especially how big it’s been. Just balance it out by playing a mixture of musical and non-Schneider sitcoms and the channel can stay alive for a little longer. As for NickRewind (which have been a thing since 2011), switch it up by removing the brand completely and turn it into a throwback block for past teen shows.

Nick Jr
Nick Jr, formerly known as Noggin, was one of the first side channels of Nick. It played educational programming, and was targeted towards tweens in addition to little kids. By the time it became Nick Jr, it was mostly playing programming from the preschool block on the main channel. Which isn’t a bad thing, of course, but as the years go on, they slowly started playing more and more current programming. Notice the pattern? Although I don’t mind this with Nick Jr channel itself, since preschool programming almost never airs on Nick during the weekend, the current schedule consists 90% of current shows that are in production, with Team Umizoomi the only ended show in reruns, as well as a couple shows that are exclusive to the channel. Toddlers may not care about the scheduling, but I want to make the channel a mix of old and new. The daytime can be mostly 2010s shows, evening hours can be a repeat of what aired on the main channel’s preschool block, and overnights can be a throwback block. It’s a shame to see what this channel in the last couple years. It went from the most diverse Nick channels to having worse schedule than Disney Junior.

In the end, while Nickelodeon will survive the 2020s, I don’t think Nicktoons and TeenNick are going to last any longer. If their current schedule are of concern, Paramount+ is the only way to legally watch your favorite Nick shows. All that begging to play old shows almost never work out. NickRewind is also on its last legs, as they’re going as far to only play ICarly in the coming weeks. The Nick Jr channel, however, will be here to stay, since their shows are profitable. Unlike the other two side channels, it is a brand according to ViacomCBS. I don’t think combing Nicktoons and TeenNick would work out since they’re going to be spamming their desired shows more than it already have, so if it were to happen, they better find a way to balance their 12 hours of screentime. As a Nick expert, I have hopes that they can still pump out original ideas as long as people are interested and tuning in to the network. Right now, they’re apathetic of the live feed like Cartoon Network did when HBO MAX launched, but sooner or later, Nick will go back to their old roots. And that is why I’m making this blog a perfect start for my new era of Felix Reviews - The Nickelodeon Journals is only just beginning. Join me as I try to find the good of Nickelodeon, as well as reviewing every year of their content since 1990, and more. The annual reviews are going to consist of one or two reviews of why I consider it the best/worst year from that particular year. Though, from this decade, I will actually try to review the new shows if I can. I hope you enjoyed reading this blog. Until next time, “Why Nickelodeon will never suffer from Network Decay?”, where I compare Nick and fellow kids networks and why the channel never fell off as a network, including Nick @ Nite and its side channels.

Schneider Bakery Scorecard

SCHNEIDER'S BAKERY SHOWS SCORECARD by Felix Saenz 

All That 

Kenan & Kel

The Amanda Show

Drake & Josh
Season 1

Pilot: Decent
Dune Buggy: Great
Believe Me, Brother: Decent
Two Idiots and a Baby: Great
First Crush: Good
Grammy: Amazing

Season 2
The Bet: Great
Guitar: Great
Movie Job: Amazing
Football: Good
Pool Shark: Good
Smart Girl: Great
Little Diva: Decent
Blue Brothers: Great
Drivers License: Amazing
Number 1 Fan: Good
Mean Teacher: Great
The Gary Grill: Amazing
Drew and Jerry: Great
Honor Council: Great

Season 3
The Drake and Josh Inn: Great
Peruvian Puff Pepper: Good
We're Married: Decent
Mindy's Back: Great
The Affair: Good
Playing the Field: Good
Helen's Surgery: Great
Paging Dr. Drake: Amazing
the Foam Finger: Great
Girl Power: Good
Sheep Thrills: Good
Megan's New Teacher: Good
Little Sibling: Great
Theater Thug: Amazing
The Demonator: Great
Alien Invasion: Good
Dr. Phyllis Show: Decent

Season 4
Josh Runs Into Oprah: Great
Vicious Tiberius: Good
The Wedding: okay
Mindy Loves Josh: Good
Who's Got Game?: Great
The Great Doheny: Great
I Love Sushi: Good
The Storm: Amazing
My Dinner with Bobo: Great
Tree House: Decent
Josh Is Done: Amazing
Eric Punches Drake: Decent
Megan's Revenge: Good
Steered Straight: Good
Megan's First Kiss: Good
Battle of Panthatar: Great
Really Big Shrimp: Amazing
Helicopter: Good
Dance Contest: Amazing

Go Hollywood: Amazing
Merry Christmas: Amazing

Zoey 101

Season 1

Welcome to PCA: Okay
New Roomies: Meh
Webcam: Bad
Defending Dustin: Mediocre
Prank Week: N/A
Jet X: Meh
The Play: Decent
Quinn's Date: Meh
Spring Fling: N/A
Backpack: Decent
Disc Golf: Great
School Dance: Okay
Little Beach Party: Good

Season 2
Back to PCA: Okay
Time Capsule: Good
Election: Meh
Bad Girl: Decent
Robot Wars: Good
Haunted House: Great
Broadcast Views: Good
Lola Likes Chase: Good
People Auction: Okay
Quinn's Alpaca: Great
Girls Will be Boys: Okay
Spring Break Up: Good

Season 3
Surprise: Good
Chase's Girlfriend: Okay
Hot Dean: Decent
Quarantine: Good
Zoey's Tutor: Good
The Great Vince Blake: Good
Silver Hammer Society: Decent
The Curse of PCA (1) (2): Amazing
Wrestling: Good
Zoey's Balloon: Good
Chase's Grandma: Great
Michael Loves Lisa: Good
The Radio: Decent
Favor Chain: Mediocre
Zoey's Ribs: Good
Drippin' Episode!: Great
Paige @ PCA: Great
Son of a Dean: Good
Hands on a Blix Van: Great
Dance Contest: Good
Miss PCA: Good
Logan Gets Cut Off: Great
Goodbye Zoey (1) (2)?: Great

Season 4
Trading Places: Good
Fake Roommates: Good
Alone at PCA: Great
Rumor of Love: Decent
Anger Management: Good
Quinn Misses the Mark: Okay
Walk-a-Thon: Decent
Vince is Back: Decent
Dinner for Two Many: Mediocre
Coffee Cart Ban: Meh
Roller Coaster: Good
Chasing Zoey/PCA Confidential: Decent / Meh

Season 2

Season 3

Season 4

Zoey 102:

Victorious

Season 1

Pilot: Good
The Bird Scene: Decent
Stage Fighting: Meh
The Birthweek Song: Decent
Jade Dumps Beck: Mediocre
Tori the Zombie: Okay
Robarazzi: Meh
Survival of the Hottest: Okay
Wi-Fi in the Sky: Good
Beck's Big Break: Okay
The Great Ping Pong Scam: Okay
Cat's New Boyfriend: Mediocre
Freak the Freak Out: Okay
Rex Dies: Good
The Diddly Bops: Decent
Wok Star: Okay
The Woods: Meh
A Film by Dale Squires: Decent
Sleepover at Sikowitz's: Great

Season 2
Beggin on Your Knees: Good
Beck Falls for Tori: Okay
Ice Cream for Kesha: Decent
Tori Gets Stuck: Decent
Prom Wrecker: Mediocre
Locked Up: Okay
Helen Back Again: Good
Who Did It Trina?: Decent
Tori Tortures Teacher: Okay
Jade Gets Crushed: Decent
Terror on Cupcake Street: Good
Blooptorious: Decent

Season 3
A Christmas Tori: Good
The Breakfast Brunch: Decent
The Gorilla Club: Okay
The Worst Couple: Meh
Andre's Horrible Girl: Okay
Car Rain and Fire: Meh
Tori and Jade's Play Date: Decent
April Fools Bank: Mediocre
Driving Tori Crazy: Meh
How Trina Got In: Meh
Tori Goes Platinum: Great
Crazy Ponnie: Mediocre
The Blonde Squad: Okay

Season 4
Wanko's Warehouse: Meh
The Hambone King: Decent
Opposite Date:Okay
Three Girls and a Moose: Mediocre
Cell Block:Meh
Tori Fixes Beck & Jade: Okay
One Thousand Berry Balls: Decent
Robbie Sells Rex: Good
The Bad Roommate: Meh
Brain Squeezers: Bad
The Slap Fight: Okay
Star-Spangled Tori: Okay
Victori-Yes: Meh

Sam & Cat

Game Shakers

Season 1
Sky Whale: 4/10
Jacket, Falling Pigeons: 3/10
Dirty Blob: 5/10
MeGo the Freakish Robot: 4/10
Tiny Pocket: 3/10
Scared Triples: 5/10
Trip Steals the Jet: 4/10
Lost on the Subway: 5/10
You Bet Your Bunny: 6/10
A Reggae Potato Christmas: 7/10
Poison Pie: 3/10
Party Crashers: 6/10
The Girl Power Awards: 5/10
A Job for Jimbo: 3/10
Shark Explosion: 5/10
Nasty Goats:  4/10
Babe's Fake Disease:  2/10
The Diss Track: 7/10
Revenge at Tech Fest: 6/10

Season 2
Armed and Coded: 3/10
Secret Level:  5/10
The Very Old Finger: 5/10
Buck the Magic Rat: 4/10
Baby Hater: 3/10
Byte Club: 5/10
Babe's Bench: 3/10
The Mason Experience: 3/10
Burger Games: 5/10
Wedding Shower of Doom: 5/10
Bears, Butts, And Lasers: 6/10
Air Tnp: 5/10
Llama Llama Split Split: 4/10
Clam Shakers: 5/10
Wing Suits and Rocket Boots: 4/10
Game Shippers: 6/10
The One with Coffee Shop: 3/10
The Trip Trap: 3/10
The Switch: 5/10
Dancing Kids, Flying Pigs: 6/10
?: 5/10
Spy Games: 7/10
Babe Gets Crushed: 4/10

Season 3
Babe Loves Danger: 6/10
Lumples: 5/10
Subway Girl: 7/10
Snackpot!: 5/10
Babe and the Boys: 6/10
Escape from Utah: 6/10
Super Ugly Head: 7/10
Hot Bananas: 6/10
Snoop Therapy: 8/10
Flavor City: 5/10
Wet Willy's Wild Park: 8/10
Demolition Dollhouse: 6/10
Hungry Hungry Hippo: 6/10
Breaking Bad News: 5/10
Bug Tussle: 6/10
Why Tonya: 6/10
Boy Band Cat Noise: 7/10
He's Back: 7/10 

Why Does The Loud House Get a Mixed Reception These Days?

 Why Does the Loud House Gets a Mixed Reception These Days?

It’s been 5 years since The Loud House came out. What made the show stood out from most of Nickelodeon’s animated shows is that it was an immediate success. The rest didn’t stood a chance against the yellow sponge. But there’s something appealing to a show about a white haired boy and his 10 sisters (for better or worse) as opposed to a dog becoming a secret agent, a robot and a monster, a boy and his snake go on gross adventures (to be fair, that one didn’t got burned off to Nicktoons), two ducks delivering bread, a blue bird spends time with two weird creatures, etc. The show has a large cast of characters to choose from. At first, Lincoln (the only boy of the titular house) was the main focus of the show and would usually speak directly to the audience, much like Clarissa Darling. Add that and the comic strip art style and you’ll have yourself a 90s-esque cartoon. Now you’ll know why it won the audience over. However, over the past 5 years, opinions on the show has changed a lot. And I’m going to give a few reasons why.

First of all, it was created by a man named Chris Savino. You may have remembered his works for cartoons such as Rocko’s Modern Life, Dexter’s Lab, The Powerpuff Girls, Kick Buttowski , the latter three in which he took over as showrunner and director. A lot of people had their doubts on the guy’s resume since he happened took over two of the aforementioned Cartoon Network shows while their creator moved to their second creation, while other think he’ll do just as great as Kick Buttowski (where he directed all the episodes for the show). For the first year and a half into its run, people trusted him to make a decent show that everyone could enjoy. But on October 2017, the bad news happened. It turns out he was a sexual predator and his history of molesting women dated back to the 2000s. What made the situation even more awkward is that the first cartoon he ever worked on was Ren and Stimpy, also created by another sexual predator (in this case, a child predator). Which adds another asshole creator for Nickelodeon. Thanks to the situation, people’s views on The Loud House has suddenly shifted. They went from claiming to be the savior of Nickelodeon to being one of the most generic cartoons they’ve ever seen.  In my opinion, it became the Fairly OddParents of the 2010s. Both are Nicktoons created by an animator from Michigan and went out to outlast the other Nicktoons from its era (except for SpongeBob, of course, when it comes to 2000s Nicktoons). TMNT 2012 had a decent run as well and up until now it was Nick’s longest running animated show from the 2010s, but that was based off an existing property. In spite of all the behind the scenes mess, The Loud House is still going strong and is now the longest running Nicktoon from the 2010s. Savino has been replaced by Michael Rubiner, story editor of the show, and a longtime Nick veteran.

Second, the show’s writing. A lot of people are very divided on its reputation, whether it deserves to be Nick’s biggest animated success in recent years. Even during its early seasons, the show was accused as being predictable. It was noticeable, but it wasn’t to the extreme in later seasons where there seems to be a formula for most episodes. Most episodes will begin with the problem of a plot kicking in, the characters (usually Lincoln) messing up, they must fix things, and everything is all solved in the end. In recent years, they have went overboard with formula is that you can’t almost not go an entire episode without hearing a soft piano tune, usually played on sentimental moments. It has gotten for the point that it has became exactly what The Fairly OddParents suffered: Strictly formula writing (again, both are created by Michiganders who aren’t nice people at all). People has simply stopped watching TLH altogether.

Last and the worst part of them all: the show has a questionable fandom. Now don’t get me wrong, the show has its fair share of nice people of the fandom as I follow them. They represent the show very well and are friendly people. But here’s where the creepy side of the fandom reside in: DeviantART. If you even dare to look up the Loud House on the Internet (especially on DA), you’ll see nothing but porn art of the show. It’s been this way since it’s first year of existence and it has gotten worse over time especially after the whole scandal surrounding its creator. I understand why people are turned off from this show. Since it has a large character of sibling character, there’s this nasty shipping called Loudcest. Which means if you ship Lincoln or any of the girls together, it’s considered to be incest ship. Because it worked so well with Pinecest (Dipper and Mabel from Gravity Falls)...not to mention, everyone except Lori as of season 5 are minors. So you might as well as call it Pedocest while we’re at it. (At least Lori happens to be dating someone, which is Bobby Santiago)

In the end, what was once to be considered the savior of Nickelodeon, ended being up a punching bag within the cartoon community (unless you’re still a fan). Other reasons why they’re getting sick of it might’ve something to do with its popularity (some people wished Harvey Beaks was the savior of Nick). The Loud House will be remembered as the show that wasn’t good enough to save Nick’s reputation because of the bad things associated with it. I don’t blame you if you’re not into the show these days, but it wouldn’t killed you if just respect it for paving the way for comic influenced shows for Nick. We are getting a few Nicktoons that are based on comics like Big Nate and they’re so boastful about acquiring the rights to Garfield. Frankly, I has grew tired of the competition surrounding both it and SpongeBob. They came out a day apart (by 17 years) and the fans attack each other for minor things. But who knows will be the next big thing for Nicktoons branding?

Pokemon Sun and Moon Scores

Season 20
Alola to New Adventure!: 10/10
The Guardian's Challenge: 9/10
Loading the Dex: 8/10
First Catch in Alola, Ketchum-Style!: 8.5/10
Yo, Ho, Ho! Go Popplio!: 9/10
A Shocking Grocery Run!: 6/10
That's Why the Litten is a Scamp!: 9/10
Lillie's Egg-xhilarating Challenge!: 10/10
To Top a Totem!: 9/10
Trial and Tribulation!: 9.5/10
Young Kiawe Had a Farm!: 8/10
The Sun, the Scare, the Secret Lair!: 8.5/10
Racing to a Big Event!: 8/10
Getting to Know You!: 10/10
Rocking Clawmark Hill!: 7.5/10
They Might Not Be Giants!: 8/10
Crystal-Clear Sleuthing!: 9/10
A Seasoned Search!: 8/10
A Guardian Rematch!: 9/10
Partner Promises!: 8/10
One Journey Ends, Another Begins...: 10/10
A Shivering Shovel Search!: 8/10
Getting the band Back Together!: 9/10
Alolan Open House!: 8.5/10
A Team on Team Tussle!: 9/10
So Long, Sophocles!: 8.5/10
A Glaring Rivalry!: 9.5/10
Pulling Out the Pokemon Base Pepper!: 9/10
Lulled to La-La Land!: 8/10
The Ol' Raise and Switch: 9/10
The Island Whisperer!: 7/10
Treasure Hunt, Akala Style!: 8/10
Big Sky Small Fry!: 8/10
A Crowning Moment of Truth!: 8/10
Currying Favor and Flavor!: 7/10
Trials and Determinations!: 8/10
Rising from the Ruins!: 8/10
Mimikyu Unmasked!: 9/10
Mallow and the Forest Teacher!: 8/10
Balloons, Brionne, and Belligerence!: 8/10
Mounting an Electrifying Charge!: 9/10
Alola, Kanto!: 10/10
When Regions Collide!: 10/10

Season 22
A Dream Encounter!: 810
Now You See then, Now You Don't!: 8/10
Deceiving Appearances! 8/10
A Masked Warning!: 9/10
Night of a Thousand Poses! 9/10
Mission: Total Recall: 8/10
Faba's Revenge!: 9/10
Family Determination! 9/10
Revealing the Stuff Of Legend! 10/10
Rescuing the Unwilling! 9/10
10,000,000 Reasons to Fight! 10/10

The Professor’s New Adventure!: 9/10

Let Sleeping Pokémon Lie!: 8/10

The Dex Can’t Help It!: 6/10

Fighting Back the Tears!: 8/10

Tasting Bitter With The Sweet!: 8/10

Getting a Jump on the Competition!: 8/10

A Mission of Ultra Urgency!: 9/10

Acting True to Form!: 8/10

Pushing the Fiery Envelope!: 8/10

Satoshi and Nagetukesaru! A Touchdown of Friendship!!: 5/10

Turning Heads and Training Hard!: 9/10

Smashing with Sketch!: 9/10

Love At First Twirl!: 7/10

Real Life...Inquire Within!: 8/10

Rise and Shine, Starship!: 8/10

The Young Flame Strikes Back!: 8/10

Dewpider Ascending!: 6/10

Sours for the Sweet!: 8/10

Why Not Give Me a Z-Ring Sometime?: 9/10

Tough Guy Trials!: 8/10

Some Kind of Laziness!: 7/10

A Battle Hand Off!: 8/10

Guiding an Awakening!: 8/10

Twirling with a Bang!: 9/10

Showering the World with Love!: 8/10

Not Caving Under Pressure!: 8/10

A Young Royal Flame Ignites!: 9/10

All They Want to Do is Dance Dance!: 9/10

Dummy, You Shrunk the Kids!: 7/10

The Shape of Love to Come!: 8/10

The Long Vault Home!: 8/10

I Choose Paradise!: 9/10

Filling the Light with Darkness!: 9/10

Full Moon and Many Arms!:9/10

The Prism Between Light and Darkness!: 9/10

Securing the Future!: 10/10

A Plethora of Pikachu!: 7/10

Turning the Other Mask!: 9/10

Season 22

Lillier and the Staff!: 9/10

A Haunted House for Everyone!: 9/10

Sparking Confusion!: 8/10

Don't Ignore the Small Stufull!: 8/10

No Stone Unturned!: 9/10

Bright Lights, Big Changes!: 8/10

We Know Where You're Going, Eevee!: 8/10

Battling with Beast Within!: 9/10

Parallel Friendships!: 9/10

Alola, Alola!: 10/10

Heart of Fire! Heart of Stone!: 10/10

That's Some Spicy Island Research!: 8/10

Showdown on Poni Island!: 8/10

Evolving Research!: 9/10

Run, Heroes, Run!: 8/10

Memories in the Mist!: 8/10

A Grand Debut!: 9/10

Keeping Your Eyes on the Ball!: 8/10

Show Me the Metal!:  7/10

Got Meltan? 8/10

This Magik Moment!: 9/10

Beauty is Only Crystal Deep!: 8/10

The Dealer of Destruction!: 9/10

The Secret Princess!: 8/10

Drawn with the Wind!: 8/10

Aiming for the Top Floor!: 9/10

A High Speed Awakening!: 8/10

The One That Didn't Get Away!: 9/10

A Recipe for Success!: 8/10

Spying for the Big Guy!: 9/10

A Fiery Training Camp Trick!: 8/10

Living on the Cutting Edge!: 8/10

A Timeless Encounter!: 8/10

Pikachu's Exciting Adventure!: 5/10

Chasing Memories, Creating Dreams!: 9/10

League Offenders and Defenders!: 8/10

Battle Royal 151!: 8/10

Battling Besties!: 9/10

The Battlefield of Truth and Love!: 8/10

Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Strategy!: 8/10

Battling on the Wing!: 9/10

The Road to Semifinals!: 9/10

The Final Four!: 9/10

Getting Down to the Ire!: 9/10

The Wisdom Not to Run!: 10/10

Final Rivals!: 10/10

Enter the Champion!: 10/10

Z-Move Showdown!: 10/10

Exhibition Unmasked!: 9/10

A Full Battle Bounty!: 9/10

Fiery Surprises!: 10/10

From Z to Shining Z!: 10/10

Dreams of the Sun and Moon!: 10/10

Thank You, Alola! The Journey Continues!: 10/10

Why Disney Channel Feels Dead At This Point?

Why Does Disney Channel Feels Dead At This Point? By Felix Saenz

 I wrote a journal about why Disney XD needs to die and I decided why not do the same for Disney Channel? The channel doesn’t seem to be as dead as Disney XD, but compared to Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network (when they eventually rebrand later this year), it’s looking to be one of the next kids channels to shut down, even if it won’t happen for a long time. But with a streaming service under its belt, it makes you wonder if watching Disney shows on linear tv is worth these days. I won’t be as critical as I was towards DXD but it’s still going harsh since I was never big on Disney to begin with.

First of all, I think Disney Channel has no purpose as a network anymore because most of the exciting stuff are now on Disney+. The linear network these days has nothing to offer outside of new episodes. There’s a person who runs the Disney Schedules account and you’ll notice how dead their channel are, especially Junior. https://twitter.com/DisneySchedules?s=20 All they do is constantly air the same shows over and over again. I’m pretty sure the target demographics will get sick of seeing nothing but Jessie, BUNK’d, Big City Greens, Puppy Dog Pals, Bluey, and TOTS fast and beg for the network to air other shows (but they can’t because those shows get all the ratings). I talked about how uneven the animation and live action ratio is and while 2018 show promise (with animation returning to Disney Channel full time), it’s too late to go exactly the same it was many years ago when they were perfectly balanced especially with its own streaming service being prominent. If you’re not preschool, BCG and Miraculous Ladybug (somehow that show is getting more screentime than the other Disney cartoons currently running), then animation is useless on Disney Channel. Even Disney and PIXAR movies have stopped airing on this channel for the most part. They are now mostly on Freeform if you can watch on live tv. They have aired a few times in the past year but only for certain events. As for DCOMs reruns, they have ran out of stuff to air. It’s mostly Descendants and Zombies reruns with the occasional standalone movies (that aren’t musicals). Basically there’s no variety anymore. I mean it’s sad since it used to take an advantage from Nick and CN: not having an adult themed block. But even their overnight schedule is a waste. It used to be a 6 hour block for ended shows (never mind the fact that their currently most played show is a show that already ended back in 2015), but now currently running shows get to play during those hours as well. Where’s Disney Replay when you need it? It’s getting so sad that freaking Disney Junior has lost better ratings than the main channel. And yet their scheduling aren’t any better (it’s been crap for years now even though the first few years were diverse). I think it’s time for Disney to shut down their channel in the States, if the time ever comes. Granted it used to be a premium channel so I don’t know how it’s ratings were like during its first 15 years of existence. But if they don’t do anything to impress the viewers the next few years, it’s time to say bye bye bye. Oh and another thing, the promos these days are atrocious. If you thought Nickelodeon being hip and cool was bad, then Disney is even worse at it and that may be the main reason why I’m slowly growing out of it. I’ve given up on the channel a couple times and this will be my next time if they don’t shape up. So long, Disney Channel. You were fun during my childhood but now it’s time to let it go. At least I’ll still have Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network on my side to watch for kids cable networks (and Disney+ for all the stuff related to Disney but that’s streaming). Keep in mind while I’m still looking forward to some of their shows, I’m better off watching them on Disney+ instead so I can have a better binge watching experience. I tried to not make this an essay because I didn’t have three reasons why. It was mostly about the streaming wars being a huge factor of declining interest in Disney networks.

Why TV Animation Is Better Position Now?

Why Is TV Animation in a Better Position Than They Were 12 Years Ago?

Hello this is Felix Saenz, writing a series of journals that will make people argue with me over my differing opinions. For this journal, I have decided to write about the state of television animation and how much it have came from their dork age in the late 2000s. And even though streaming is taking over, western animation is going strong more than ever. And here’s why...

First of all, better access. This can applies to tv in general but cartoons have a much better access to watch outside of cable, even if it’s piracy. Around 2010 is when cable being available in households started to decline and Netflix subscribers start to rise. During this time, Viacom had a deal with Netflix to stream their shows. This lasted until May 2013 where they suddenly got removed. Around the same time, Turner struck a deal with Netflix to stream their content. The biggest problem with this was that Netflix only streamed one season at a time, which means you had to wait a few months to see the other seasons. Unsurprisingly this didn’t last long as Viacom’s contract with Netflix and by 2015, they were gone. Both Viacom and Turner content went to Hulu for several years until they migrated to their own streaming services. And look where we are now. Thanks to streaming services, we now have a much better access to short lived and older shows. 

Second reason (and this is relevant to the journal), animation have seen a strong reassurance since 2010 started. If you people are feeling for nostalgic for the late 2000s, I urge you get to fuck out of this journal. I don’t have the nicest things to say about tv networks around this time period (especially aimed at kids). There’s a reason why I don’t look fondly back at Cartoon Network and Disney Channel during those years. Not so much with Nickelodeon but even they started to have their own problems like dedicating so much screentime to SpongeBob and by the time Cyma Zarghami became the president, Nick started favoring live action shows more than cartoons that wasn’t popular. The Noods era was beginning for CN in July 14, 2008 and you’d expect a fresh new outlook for CN’s future. Wrong! At the time, some greedy executive named Stuart Snyder thought it was a good idea to do live action on a network that have the word cartoon in its name. It was a rough time for us Animation fans. If you go up and ask any Cartoon Network fan, the general census that 2009 was THE WORST YEAR of all time. There were no new original cartoons from their own studios and all they did was shove CN Real down our throats. The only good thing to come out of was the schedule and to give this era credit is something I don’t want to do, because they did had more shows airing at the time as opposed to just Gumball and Teen Titans GO dominating the schedule (even with better content). By the time Snyder left, we never heard of those shows again. However, he did gave us CHECK IT era, where the network suddenly made its comeback by being Cartoon Network and not the Reality TV Network. There were shows like Adventure Time, Regular Show, Sym-Bionic Titan, Gumball, Steven Universe, etc. Yep, it was clear that CN was back to its old roots. Though its a matter of time before the schedule was no longer important to the live feed and became limited to just a few shows because binge watching is the hip thing to do. Now let’s discuss the Disney Channel debacle. This is purely my opinion (and other cartoon fans), but I also feel like Disney Channel itself (not the movie studios, the live action remakes won’t be a main thing until the mid 2010s) was starting to drift away from animation and instead show more content that was aimed at tween girls. Stuff like High School Musical and Hannah Montana weren’t exactly what tween boys who are animation fans want to watch Disney Channel. I did the same thing and didn’t watched much of the network until Phineas and Ferb and Fish Hooks were prominently airing. They’re in a better position now with extra animated shows on their channel (especially since Disney XD is about to be irrelevant) but only if they can let BUNK’d end so that Jessie can stop rerunning more than the other shows that are still airing new episodes. Nick on the other hand, had one of the most notorious and stricter business practices ever. Any new cartoon would dead if they didn’t stand up to SpongeBob’s ratings. It was a Cyma thing and it got worse over time. With Brian Robbins at the helm, this had only happened to Rise of the TMNT only because it was made from the previous management. But rest assured you, Nick is going to get better with this. They’ll have Netflix and Paramount+ to work with so we don’t have to deal with shows being dumped to Nicktoons and Teennick for low ratings. 

And last but not least, the quality of animated shows themselves. Many people will claim that television animation peaked in the 80s, 90s, or 2000s, but I digress. It doesn’t matter when animation was at its high point, there’s no end point when cartoons stopped being good. The 2010s and so far the 2020s prove that tv animation is still going strong. Don’t listen to what anime profile pictures on Twitter have to say, they are not going woke. They are jealous that western animation is taking more risks than their fanservice driven shows ever have. Some of the examples are representation of various culture like ethnicity, sexual orientation, etc. They also have expanded beyond comedy, and there’s various of cartoons with story arcs (even if they are going overboard in recent years), as well as sci-fi, slice of life (which was very popular in the 90s) and more. Now it doesn’t mean I’m dissing anime or the classic cartoons, but animation is evolving, and I mean that in a very good way. I thought most cartoons during the late 2000s were hit or miss. There were more misses because there weren’t that many memorable cartoons unless you look for a few quality ones like Phineas and Ferb and Chowder. All I’m saying, if it wasn’t for those shows and Flapjack and Adventure Time, we wouldn’t be in the position we are right now. And while there are quite a bit of revivals and spin-offs for some companies especially Nick, I really hope they don’t overshadow the promising original ideas from animators. What matters is that TV Animation is still in good hands. Nothing will ever go the way of 2009 ever again...let’s continue supporting new cartoons, regardless if their quality. Even if streaming takes over, there will still be quality cartoons on cable, it’s just the risky stuff have to be on streaming for having story arcs.

What to Expect from Tom Ascheim’s Cartoon Network

 What to Expect from Tom Ascheim’s Cartoon Network by Felix Anthony Saenz

    As of July 1, 2020, Tom Ascheim has become the president of Warner Bros.Global Kids Young Adults and Classics (which includes Cartoon Network, Boomerang, and TCM). Previously, he played a huge part of Nickelodeon in the 90s and the 2000s and then he joined ABC Family where he was responsible for renaming to Freeform. Judging from his resume, it looks like he’s going to be a much better CEO for Cartoon Network than Christina Miller ever will and I will explain why.

    It’s only been 6 months and Ascheim’s Cartoon Network hasn't been in effect right away. What’s happening right now is that just like with other networks when they have a new management team, they will just cancel shows from the previous CEO and get prepared for a bunch of new shows. Unfortunately, 2020 was such a messy year to be a Cartoon Network fan. As you can see, only ONE new show premiered on the linear network and it’s the widely hated show, Thundercats Roar. It only lasted one season, leaving the network devoid of exciting new shows. The schedule has become fully automated at this point as the only shows constantly getting screentime and new episodes are Teen Titans GO, Gumball, Craig of the Creek, and Total Dramarama. What makes it even more frustrating is that Gumball already ended back in June 2019, and yet it somehow continues rotting as a zombie. Yes, if you’re unaware, the remaining crew members of the show have decided to do clip shows because they are desperate to keep this show alive for two reasons (most likely to keep viewers patient from the Elliott from Earth premiere or the 10th anniversary in May). It’s a slap in the face that newer shows get shoved aside while an almost decade old show is still dominating the network (Disney Channel have the same issue with Jessie as well but you can pretty much guess why that show is still airing). But I don’t want to complain about the schedule, but it’s something that new management has got to improve. What I want for Tom Ascheim to do as a president for Warner Bros kids division is to cool it with the spinoffs and reboots. From the look of the upcoming series, We Baby Bears and that Tiny Toon Adventures reboot, they don’t seem to be winning people over (especially since we’re already having a PPG 2016 moment with the TTA reboot). And besides, we already HAD enough of the whole baby trend anyway (WBB has more than enough episodes focusing on the bears as cubs). And yes, thanks to Ascheim’s involvement, it looks like he will be pushing preschool to CN for the first time since Tickle U was a thing back in the mid 2000s. And I can see why everyone is so skeptical of this idea. While I have hopes that Cartoon Network get better again, I fear that this is going to be more watered down than the time they tried to do PG shows. I already saw those darn anime weebs whining about how safe this channel is these days. I don’t blame them. They stopped showing anime constantly (unless you’re Bakugan which only airs at 6:30AM on Sundays) and with Steven Universe being reduced to promotions like the “Don’t be racist” PCA short, so they must find a new show to fill in the void. Enter another new show from Genndy, called the Unicorn Warriors, which seems to be more of his usual genre: action/adventure. I don’t know how many shows he have created, but unlike Butch Hartman, he haven’t lost his touch whatsoever, who knows? If the show can impress the audience, then this and Kid Cosmic (another cartoon from Craig McCracken coming to Netflix) will prove that Genndy and Craig are the best veteran cartoonists to come out of the early Cartoon Network days. Sorry Butch. I forgot to bring up the elephant in the room, but while we learn that most of the recently ordered shows will be airing on the live feed and HBO Max, this got me an idea. You know how certain projects like Tig N Seek, The Fungies, Distant Lands, and Infinity Train Book 3 headed to HBO Max instead of Cartoon Network? Well, to keep this network alive, they should be doing a TV premiere of those shows so that people can watch them the old fashioned way (we can continue the daily premieres for the latter two, even though I think they are becoming outdated in an age of streaming). I don’t understand why the first two shows are HBO Max originals as they don’t have that story driven fare that most modern CN shows have. Right now, CN is finally outperforming Disney Channel because the Disney+ hype train is that strong. What they should be doing is the most important thing of all when you get a new CEO: a much needed rebrand. You see, this channel has the exact same branding style since they made a slight logo change back in 2010. It may no longer be called CHECK IT anymore, but the influences are still there (even if things have changed a lot during the last 10 years). It was good when it was new, but now it has become stale as heck. Who even uses CMYK branding these days? At least Boomerang’s current branding is a little more appealing to the eyes (and yes I’ll go into more details about the future of Boomerang later). A new look is long overdue. Next, the bumpers should look livelier. Most of them are poorly designed nowadays and look like they were made in 5 minutes. I want to see CN characters interacting with each other like during 2004-2006 (I’m bummed that didn’t last long). So bringing back CN City would be a perfect solution. It will bring back the charm from many years ago. As for Boomerang, they have been getting better in recent months and I wonder if that Ascheim’s first major decision. Either way, the schedule is shaping up and is certainly a lot more bearable than CN’s sluggish lineup right now. Classic tv shows reruns still have a reason to exist and if METV are to be concerned, Boomerang also needs a rehaul. Anyway, I’m losing track on what I’m saying in this journal, so that’s all I’m going have to say. Cartoon Network needs to start fresh this year with their new President on board, everyone is bored of the emptiness the live feed has for a while.

Fanboy and Chum Chum Scorecard

FANBOY AND CHUM CHUM SCORECARDS
Season 1
Wizboy/Pick a Nose - Okay / Mediocre
The Janitor Strikes Back / Dollar Day - Decent / Meh
Trading Day/The Hard Sell - Meh / Decent
Digital Pet Cemetery/Fanboy Stinks - Mediocre / Bad
I, Fanbot / Berry Sick - Mediocre / Good
Chimp Chomp Chumps/Precious Pig - Okay / Mediocre
Monster in the Mist/Fangboy - Meh / Decent
Brain Drain/Fanboyfriend -  Meh / Okay
Chicken Pox/Moppy Dearest - Okay / Bad
Norse-ing Around/The Janitor's Apprentice - Decent / Okay
Excuse Me/Night Morning - Decent / Okay
Marsha, Marsha, Marsha/Secret Shopper - Meh / Good
Prank Master/Little Glop of Horrors - Decent / Good
Total Recall/Refill Madness - Good / Decent
Cold War/Fanboy in the Plastic Bubble - Meh / Okay
Sigmund the Sorcerer/Fanboy Ahoy - Great / Okay
Fan vs Wild/the Incredible Shrinking Fanboy - Decent / Meh
Separation Anxiety/Strings Attached - Okay / Decent
The Book Report of the Dead/Stan Arctica  - Okay / Good
Man-Arctica the ride/Fanbidextrous - Good / Meh
Saving Private Chum Chum/Jingle Fever - Good / Great
Eyes on the Prize/Battle of the Stands - Decent / Okay
Lord of the Rings/The Incredible Chulk - Good / Decent
Norse Code/The Great Bicycle Mystery - Decent / Good
A Bopwork Orange/Freeze Tag - Okay / Decent

Season 2

I'm Man-Arctica/No Toy Story - Decent / Okay

GameBoy/Crib Notes - Okay / Good

Schoolhouse Lock/Back from the Future - Meh / Decent

Tooth or  Scare/The Big Bopper - Good / Okay

Present Not Accounted For/The Sword in the Throne - Good / Meh

Brain Freeze - Great

Slime Day/Boog Zapper - Great / Okay

Risky Brizness/Kids in the Hall - Decent / Good

Frost Mart Dream Vacation/Field Trip of Horrors - Okay / Decent

There Will be Shrieks - Great

Igloo of Irritation/HypnotOZed - Okay / Good

Robo-mance/Rattleskunkupine! - Good / Good

Bubble Trouble/Lucky Chums - Okay / Okay

The Last Strawberry Fun Finger/Power Out - Okay / Good

Champ of Chomp/Dental Illness - Decent / Good

Get You Next Time/Lice Lice baby - Meh / Okay

A Very Brrr-y Icemas - Okay

Funny Face/Put That Cookie Down! - Good / Good

The Winners/Two Tickets to Paladise - Okay / Decent

Hex Games/Speed Eraser - Great / Decent

Heroes vs. Villains / Face-Eating Aliens From Planet X - Great / Okay

The Cold Rush/Camp-Artica - Good / Meh

Buddy Up/Normal Day - Okay / Decent

Freezy Freaks/Microphonies - Okay / Good

Super Chums - Great

Attack of the Clones/Secret Club - Okay / Good

Why Disney XD Needs to Die?

 Why Disney XD Needs to Die? By Felix in the Future Productions

Another journal is about to published and to make this relevant to current events, I decided to talk about how Disney XD is useless now. First of all, let me tell about the history of this channel. It all started in 1998, when Disney wanted to make a premium channel about their animated lineup. And thus, Toon Disney was born. I remembered watching it a few times as a kid, but I didn’t fondly remembered as much as I did with Nicktoons and Boomerang. The name lasted until February 12, 2009 where it rebranded into Disney XD. During its final years under the Toon name, they were starting to milk the Jetix block as much as they can and they even started airing some live-action shows (especially from Disney Channel). It can explains the name change because DXD is basically your boy version of the original Disney Channel. As you can see, when High School Music and Hannah Montana became popular, the main channel became a cesspool of being a pop star, which is something that appeals to tween girls. Now I didn’t mind some of the shows, but Hannah Montana, Cory in the House, and Jonas weren’t my cup of teas. And when it become dominant on the channel, that when I stopped watching for a while. Disney in general is supposed for everyone (hence why they’re more safe than their rivals), not a tween factory. But back on topic, Disney XD at first was a cool channel, especially if you wanted to get away from all the saccharine shows the main channel was airing at the time. It was also different in that it was ad supported. So instead of seeing proud sponsors, you’ll see regular commercials. I had memories watching it when I used to have Dish Network. I watched shows such Kick Buttowski, Zeke and Luthor, I’m in the Band, Pair of Kings, and more. Notice how they all had male leads? Yep, this is the boy Disney Channel alright. As the years went on, some genius executive had the brightest idea ever by deciding that animation doesn’t belong on the main channel, so DXD eventually became a grounding dumping for Disney Television Animation production. Especially during the mid-2010s, outside of the occasional Phineas and Ferb and Fish Hooks airings, the only time Disney Channel ever aired animation was during the Disney Junior block and whenever they air Disney/PIXAR movies. Good for animation fans, but not good either because of the cable package. DXD has less viewers than the main channel and relying on a premium package just to watch Disney cartoons was ridiculous. This lasted for good awhile until it was announced in 2018 that most of the new cartoons (including Star vs, Milo Murphy, Ducktales) would move to the main channel. There were some hope after all! But wait, here’s one big problem we have to deal with in the future: the streaming wars. Disney decided to enter the streaming business by creating a service simply titled Disney+. To me, it is proven without a doubt that Disney XD has become a goddamn zombie once that service launched. It is an irrelevant, afterthought of a network that I regret being a viewer in the first place. I always more of a Nicktoons and Boomerang person anyway. And this is my bias on Nick and CN speaking, but even though I grew up with some Disney shows, I never look fondly at Disney’s tv content as much as I did with their movies growing up. But with D+ being a thing, you would expected less burnoffs to that channel. Wrong! In the year of 2020, they decided to burn off Ducktales and Big Hero 6 the Series over there instead of Disney Channel because they do better in ratings. And thus, the boy ghetto animation strikes again. Thankfully, they’re both ending, so we don’t have to worry about them rotting at a dead channel any longer. Oh did I forgot about two elephants in the room on what this damn channel has become? It is now an anime and gaming channel. I mean, who in the hell wants to watch a Disney network for those things? If G4 haven’t died, none of this wouldn’t be happening. But nope, hope you enjoy Player Select, which refuses to go away. As for the anime part, yes you heard it here. There is anime on Disney. They started it with Naruto Shippuden (which was too mature for Cartoon Network) but it left after a couple years. And then, they decided to form an anime block. It clearly flopped because who wants to see kid anime on Disney XD? If Cartoon Network wasn’t so stubborn with their Teen Titans GO and Gumball fetish, this would’t happened either. Nowadays, anime and superhero shows are the only thing airing new content. And yes Pokemon was there at one point, for the Sun and Moon series, but now the Journeys anime is now at Netflix (which have more viewers than DXD). And once all of those shows end (including the aforementioned two Disney TVA shows), it’s B-Y-E B-Y-E to Disney XD. I wouldn’t miss this channel at all, I’m sure most of you wouldn’t, either. All of this shit would’ve been avoided if the executives at Disney Channel gave a shit about animation and now thanks to Disney Plus, it’s too late to have the channel feel like it was growing up: a perfect balance of live-action and animation. But it’s still uneven and they still air Jessie a lot because Bunk’d refuses to die (yes, it got five seasons) and Big City Greens, as good as it is, seems to be the only cartoon they constantly give screentime whenever the others are on hiatus. Oh well, Disney+ is the future of Disney TV anyway. Thanks for reading this journal turnt into a rant in the end. Next time, I’m writing a journal on TV schedules and why I believe cable TV won’t being dying anytime soon.