Someone Asked Genndy About his thoughts on toonami today

[CountFrylock]

and this was his response on the Adultswim AMA reddit post

 

[Toonamiguy321]

Let’s be real here, Genndy could think Toonami is a wet bowl of diarrhea, but he isn’t gonna say that in an official AMA with Adult Swim’s reddit account. 
 

Personally I always found “hate” to be the wrong terminology for his opinion on the block. Instead, he simply believes his material is too good for it. And his response there only further supports that. He wants his shows to stand on their own and not carry Toonami baggage. In a way, I can see from a creator aspect for why you would want that. But at the same time, I feel he undervalues how much Toonami and it’s fanbase elevated his career, and the Toonami audience rightfully feels slighted that we are only good enough for reruns in his eyes. 

[korosu]

gee i wonder who it could be that asked the question

[Sketch]

1 hour ago, korosu said:

gee i wonder who it could be that asked the question

I certainly have a guess.

[[classic swim]]

The block’s not his responsibility.

He clearly just likes the general big brand of CN/AS attached to his stuff on the network. He’s always made his money under the same Warner umbrella so it’s really not that big of a deal.

[Jman]

1 hour ago, Sketch said:

I certainly have a guess.

Um, anyway, Genndy isn't going to go out and say "Toonami sucks dick, I'm better!" during an Adult Swim sponsored AMA.  I still think my comparison of him to Ralph Bakshi that I did the other day is rather apt though.  Please bear with me for a JMan ramble - 

Genndy thinks, maybe not without cause, that he is doing things right and everyone else is screwing up royally.  "I do it right, everyone else is just pumping out uninspired, melodramatic pap or jingling keys for five year olds, and this is why it feels like it's impossible to make action cartoons unless you're Japanese, or in the case of Powerhouse, pretend to be Japanese.  And those suck too save a few exceptions."  It's the same thing Bakshi was claiming when he did Mighty Mouse in the 80s "Cartoons these days are either humorless imported stuff that doesn't know it's supposed to be funny, glorified toy commercials, or rehashed trash that stopped being original in 1972.  Sometimes a combination like Robotech."

Genndy's the same way, although we haven't reached the "Don't Touch That Dial" phase of his development where he just makes an episode of Unicorn going all in on the jingling key cartoons, the melodramatic pap that refuses to have direct conflicts, and the armada of imported animation that Genndy thinks is doing it wrong.

[brianycpht]

I asked a follow up question and he said he has nothing to do with scheduling, which I believe. I just think it’s a combination of AS knowing his thoughts on the subject and them knowing the projects are more mainstream then the average Toonami program. The general lack of awareness that Toonami is still around probably doesn’t help 

Jack did great on the block so his fears may have been before it aired, but once his thoughts were out there AS may be just reading into it too much and the Thursday compromise is born 

I respect that he at least answered the question because it would be very easy to just ignore 

[CountFrylock]

55 minutes ago, brianycpht said:

I asked a follow up question and he said he has nothing to do with scheduling, which I believe. I just think it’s a combination of AS knowing his thoughts on the subject and them knowing the projects are more mainstream then the average Toonami program. The general lack of awareness that Toonami is still around probably doesn’t help 

Jack did great on the block so his fears may have been before it aired, but once his thoughts were out there AS may be just reading into it too much and the Thursday compromise is born 

I respect that he at least answered the question because it would be very easy to just ignore 

Getting people to stay up late on a thursday night (when they probably have school/work in the morning)is a lot harder than getting them to stay up late on a saturday night though

[Toonamiguy321]

3 hours ago, brianycpht said:

I asked a follow up question and he said he has nothing to do with scheduling, which I believe. I just think it’s a combination of AS knowing his thoughts on the subject and them knowing the projects are more mainstream then the average Toonami program. The general lack of awareness that Toonami is still around probably doesn’t help 

Jack did great on the block so his fears may have been before it aired, but once his thoughts were out there AS may be just reading into it too much and the Thursday compromise is born 

I respect that he at least answered the question because it would be very easy to just ignore 

He actually answered that question in an interesting way. Ultimately, the choice is not his decision, but he did admit at the same time that he is consulted about where it airs. He could say, preferably not on Toonami, and the schedule team could tell him to kick rocks. But, he did win that Emmy, so if GT want a non Toonami premier, GT gets a non Toonami premier. Now, something way above everyone’s pay grade like CN getting chopped down and UWE moved to AS, I doubt anyone asked for opinions on that move, so can’t fault him for that. 
 

I would be interested to hear if other AS creators are given a voice on where they think their shows should air, or if that is a special luxury that is only afforded to Genndy. Considering almost every other premier in recent years on AS has been at the same time on Sundays, I have my doubts other creators get a chance like that. 

[brianycpht]

40 minutes ago, Toonamiguy321 said:

He actually answered that question in an interesting way. Ultimately, the choice is not his decision, but he did admit at the same time that he is consulted about where it airs. He could say, preferably not on Toonami, and the schedule team could tell him to kick rocks. But, he did win that Emmy, so if GT want a non Toonami premier, GT gets a non Toonami premier. Now, something way above everyone’s pay grade like CN getting chopped down and UWE moved to AS, I doubt anyone asked for opinions on that move, so can’t fault him for that. 
 

I would be interested to hear if other AS creators are given a voice on where they think their shows should air, or if that is a special luxury that is only afforded to Genndy. Considering almost every other premier in recent years on AS has been at the same time on Sundays, I have my doubts other creators get a chance like that. 

I’m going to guess no, but a lot of those guys are just starting out.

GT has his reputation, but he’s also friends with all of these guys going back to the CN days. That alone probably helps him get his way 

I do appreciate him actually answering the questions, but it does leave us with a few more. The biggest is how will airing Primal/Uniciorn on Thursday get it more attention? The only obvious thing is do it can get out on MAX before the weekend 

Lastly, his SJ answer has never made a lot of sense. It really boils down to he had a show he wanted in what he thinks is a more visible timeslot and Toonami not only airs late, but it’s known for anime. However, they also aired it on Sunday and Wednesday Primetime slots. I can definitely understand if he wanted Primal and Unicorn to be there, but they are at midnight. 
 

As far as “making a big hooplah” for Jack, they definitely did so I don’t know what he’s on about there. It seems he’s just dancing around the fact that he doesn’t like the timeslot and he thinks it needs more visibility. 

[CountFrylock]

1 hour ago, brianycpht said:

I’m going to guess no, but a lot of those guys are just starting out.

GT has his reputation, but he’s also friends with all of these guys going back to the CN days. That alone probably helps him get his way 

I do appreciate him actually answering the questions, but it does leave us with a few more. The biggest is how will airing Primal/Uniciorn on Thursday get it more attention? The only obvious thing is do it can get out on MAX before the weekend 

Lastly, his SJ answer has never made a lot of sense. It really boils down to he had a show he wanted in what he thinks is a more visible timeslot and Toonami not only airs late, but it’s known for anime. However, they also aired it on Sunday and Wednesday Primetime slots. I can definitely understand if he wanted Primal and Unicorn to be there, but they are at midnight. 
 

As far as “making a big hooplah” for Jack, they definitely did so I don’t know what he’s on about there. It seems he’s just dancing around the fact that he doesn’t like the timeslot and he thinks it needs more visibility. 

Thursday At Midnight isn't much better honestly if anything I'd say Thursdays at midnight is worse because it's a work/school night and the amount of people who'd be interested in watching it would do so later instead of when it premieres

as such I Have My Doubts most fans of the series even watch it on thursdays

Edited May 28, 2023 by CountFrylock

[Jman]

5 hours ago, CountFrylock said:

Thursday At Midnight isn't much better honestly if anything I'd say Thursdays at midnight is worse because it's a work/school night and the amount of people who'd be interested in watching it would do so later instead of when it premieres

as such I Have My Doubts most fans of the series even watch it on thursdays

Logic dictates most of the fans watch it on Max.  And airing it earlier in the week means it airs on Max earlier in the week.