Checkered Past day one lineup

[Toonamiguy321]

5pm - Dexter’s Laboratory - Dexter’s Rival, Simion, Old Man Dexter

5:30pm - Ed Edd n Eddy - The Ed Touchables Nagged to Ed

6pm - The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy - Toadblatt’s School of Sorcery, Educating Grim, Its Hokey-mon!

6:30pm - Courage the Cowardly Dog - The Shadow of Courage, Le Quack

 

What do you guys think about the opening lineup for Checkered Past? To me, it looks like whoever they put in charge actually gives a shit about making it enjoyable and unpredictable, rather than the lazy approach of starting every show at episode 1 season 1. EEnE is, but the following day jumps to S3. It’s early, but I’m gonna assume they are going to curate out episodes people generally do not like, which makes sense since this block is pandering specifically to nostalgia. 
 

On top of the curated episodes it seems to have its own set of unique bumpers too, so I’m really pulling for this to succeed. 

[[classic swim]]

I dunno how many people here are actually going to watch the block.

I think this will be cool for about a month. After awhile, most will probably lose interest. The lineup itself is nice but they should really get some more shows later.

I’m waiting for when this pops up on [as] dot com’s schedule and if they’ll be making individual tabs.

[Toonamiguy321]

1 hour ago, [classic swim] said:

I dunno how many people here are actually going to watch the block.

I think this will be cool for about a month. After awhile, most will probably lose interest. The lineup itself is nice but they should really get some more shows later.

I’m waiting for when this pops up on [as] dot com’s schedule and if they’ll be making individual tabs.

The good thing is this really doesn’t need to be a huge ratings blowout. I’d think so long as it does comparable to what CN did in those hours, they are gonna mark it down as a success. I’d guess the packaging will rarely, if ever change, so the novelty of that will fade, but it’s nice they tried at all rather than just the typical nature rotation. 
 

I do think it’s first week or two will be heavily propped up by people checking it out, but it’s not something I see people making a long term commitment to due to how early it is. But it works out since all these shows are episodic, just watch when you want. And since the episodes aren’t following the seasons, you don’t have to worry about tuning in during the “bad” ones. 
 

As for other shows, what else do you think they should air? To me, Johnny Bravo seems like a perfect fit but I don’t think nu-AS would be willing to air it. Powerpuff Girls is another I see suggested a lot, but I don’t think CN wants to give that up. 

[[classic swim]]

9 minutes ago, Toonamiguy321 said:

As for other shows, what else do you think they should air? To me, Johnny Bravo seems like a perfect fit but I don’t think nu-AS would be willing to air it. Powerpuff Girls is another I see suggested a lot, but I don’t think CN wants to give that up. 

PPG still springs to mind when thinking about Dexter. In the grand scheme of things, what else they pick doesn’t matter too much. Just that if you’re doing a block on Cartoon Cartoons, it’d be beneficial to have more than just 4 entries to roll by each week.

Adult Swim airing Johnny Bravo would just mean having to avoid the viral Ben Shapiro type shitfarms to presumably come afterwards. Normal people would just watch and not care.

[Otakuninja9000]

I will be watching, but I personally hope the block fails......

[Toonamiguy321]

2 hours ago, [classic swim] said:

PPG still springs to mind when thinking about Dexter. In the grand scheme of things, what else they pick doesn’t matter too much. Just that if you’re doing a block on Cartoon Cartoons, it’d be beneficial to have more than just 4 entries to roll by each week.

Adult Swim airing Johnny Bravo would just mean having to avoid the viral Ben Shapiro type shitfarms to presumably come afterwards. Normal people would just watch and not care.

I’m thinking less about the audience reaction and more about the clowns who program AS in 2023 having an issue with it. 
 

I think PPG would have been a day 1 show if the reboot didn’t exist. The four shows they did pick have been at rest for 10-15 years. Maybe if this does well they will throw it on.

1 hour ago, Otakuninja9000 said:

I will be watching, but I personally hope the block fails......

I mean, if you want it to fail, watching it is counterproductive to that goal. But I’ll bite, why exactly do you want it to fail? This is the best use of the 5-7 hours in about a decade. 

[[classic swim]]

A friend of mine still can’t wrap his head around Adult Swim having a 13 hour runtime. Which, admittedly is fucking bizarre, but that fact alone makes him dislike Checkered Past.

He’s also said kids who still watch TV (cable ded yadda yadda yadda) are missing out on their actual shit because of this decision.

A lot has changed since my high school years during Adult Swim’s launch. Besides [as] eventually doing the heavy lifting, there are times now where discussion over viewership doesn’t seem so black and white anymore. That’s what I find most interesting about this block and television as a dinosaur.

As for the debate on these reruns vs. whatever CN was airing before...I don’t know. CN getting hours back someday could still be a possibility.

[rpgamer]

Oh no, what ever will the kids do without more Teen Titans Go and Gumball? Won't somebody think of the children etc etc.

These are literally kids' shows. What a ridiculous argument.

As for what else they need.. I wanna say K.N.D. But it did sorta kinda have an overall story to it in the end..

The only other big-enough consideration might be Cow and Chicken, but I'm not sure that ever had enough draw to be justified. Like a worse version of Rocko's Modern Life or Ren and Stimpy.

After that you kinda start dipping into later generation shows. Some would be good picks, but may not necessarily fit the vibe/theme. Maybe Foster's. Regular Show, Flapjack, Chowder would be top picks. There's probably some that might pine for Camp Lazlo or My Gym Partner's a Monkey, but kinda scraping the barrel at that point.

[rpgamer]

Ooh oh, wait, dream picks that might possibly be out of reach: Swat Kats and Freakazoid.

Because honestly, this is still kinda pretty badass.

 

Edited August 22, 2023 by rpgamer

[[classic swim]]

21 minutes ago, rpgamer said:

Oh no, what ever will the kids do without more Teen Titans Go and Gumball? Won't somebody think of the children etc etc.

These are literally kids' shows. What a ridiculous argument.

His words, not mine. He knows they’re children's shows but is caught up on Adult Swim curating. This is still amazing considering everyone before was just guessing it’d be KOTH marathons in those hours.

I also didn’t realize Boomerang has been airing Popeye shorts and a whole lot else recently. If you’re going beyond CN originals that could also fit the bill perfectly.

[Toonamiguy321]

1 hour ago, [classic swim] said:

A friend of mine still can’t wrap his head around Adult Swim having a 13 hour runtime. Which, admittedly is fucking bizarre, but that fact alone makes him dislike Checkered Past.

He’s also said kids who still watch TV (cable ded yadda yadda yadda) are missing out on their actual shit because of this decision.

A lot has changed since my high school years during Adult Swim’s launch. Besides [as] eventually doing the heavy lifting, there are times now where discussion over viewership doesn’t seem so black and white anymore. That’s what I find most interesting about this block and television as a dinosaur.

As for the debate on these reruns vs. whatever CN was airing before...I don’t know. CN getting hours back someday could still be a possibility.

I have seen this argument many times, even as far back as the first AS expansion and it baffles me. CN has been a diet of TTGo and Gumball for 90% of its runtime since about 2015. The entire reason they are cutting CN and expanding AS is because kids abandoned the network many years ago. Some people are so bizarrely attached to labels that they will turn their nose up at a genuinely good change for no good reason. This block is AS in name only, likely for the sake of being able to utilize more diverse advertisers that target a demo who actually watches TV. But its programming is still pure CN. 

I could understand the outrage if CN had been doing something that was actually worth a shit but they have not. 

I honestly can’t see this doing bad enough to give any time back to CN. That’s how far the bar is set. The block has a small start up cost with the bumps and advertising, but beyond that it’s free to operate. 
 

48 minutes ago, rpgamer said:

As for what else they need.. I wanna say K.N.D. But it did sorta kinda have an overall story to it in the end..

I think it has enough stand alone episodes that they could swing it. That said, the moment they add it to the block is the moment conspiracy theorists expect GKND to get the greenlight.

[rpgamer]

Shame that the budget almost certainly doesn't have room to make more things like this while they're at it.

 

[Sketch]

Teen Titans Go has actually been airing a reasonable amount considering how many episodes it has but they have gone crazy with Gumball. Gumball is currently airing 5.5 hours out of 13 and considering CartoonIto is on for 1.5, Gumball is using up nearly half of CN’s day. It’s a great show but that’s beyond excessive. That said, I think CN’s schedule has improved dramatically from how it was in recent years when they did endlessly spam both TTG and Gumball.

After Checkered Past starts TTG will be down to 1 hour a day instead of 2 and Gumball will be 4.5 hours, Clarence gains a half hour and the only show entirely removed is the 6:30 airing of Adventure Time which is a bit unfortunate.

I’m sure pasting from a text pad will make this nearly unseeable but here’s a comparison

Now

06:00 The Amazing

06:30 World of

07:00 Gumball

07:30 Cocomelon

07:45 Batwheels

08:00 Cocomelon

08:15 Thomas & Friends: All Engines Go

08:30 Cocomelon

08:45 Bugs Bunny Builders

09:00 The Looney

09:30 Tunes Show

10:00 Craig of

10:30 the Creek

11:00 The Amazing

11:30 World of Gumball

12:00 Summer Camp Island

12:30 Clarence

01:00 Teen

01:30 Titans Go!

02:00 The

02:30 Amazing

03:00 World

03:30 of

04:00 Gum

04:30 ball

05:00 Craig of the Creek

05:30 Teen Titans

06:00 Keep Going!

06:30 Adventure Time

Soon

 

06:00 The Amazing

06:30 World of

07:00 Gumball

07:30 Cocomelon

07:45 Batwheels

08:00 Cocomelon

08:15 Thomas & Friends: All Engines Go

08:30 Cocomelon

08:45 Bugs Bunny Builders

09:00 The Looney

09:30 Tunes Show

10:00 Craig of

10:30 the Creek

11:00 The Amazing

11:30 World of Gumball

12:00 Summer Camp Island

12:30 Clarence

01:00 More Clarence 

01:30 Craig of the Creek

02:00 Teen

02:30 Titans Go!

03:00 The Amazing

03:30 World of

04:00 Gum

04:30 ball

05:00 Dexter’s Laboratory

05:30 Ed, Edd ‘n Eddy

06:00 Billy and Mandy

06:30 Courage

Edited August 22, 2023 by Sketch

[Sketch]

I want to see Cow & Chicken, I Am Weasel and Johnny Bravo. They should also have short series once a week like Evil Con Carne, Whatever Happened to Robot Jones? and Time Squad.

I want an action block on Saturday with SWAT Kats, Pirates of Dark Water, The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest and Samurai Jack.

They’re putting thought into curating the programming but I wonder how long they’ll keep that up and if they’ll quickly run out of “good enough” episodes and just start repeating the same ones.

Dexter has 78 half hours, Edds has 69 (nice), Billy & Mandy has 84 and Courage has just 52. But I suppose even if they only air about 50 half hours of each show, that will fill 10 weeks before repeating. They could probably get through two or three cycles before dedicated viewers would get bored of these cream of the crop series.

It would however be more of a “must see” thing if they rotated in other shows after one or two cycles. I just have a hard time believing they will continue to put that much effort into the block unless it dramatically improves the viewership and ad revenue. And even if it does that, they’ll be hesitant to swap out any shows for a good long while unless one or more of them does significantly worse than the others. Remember for AS something can last for years if it does well enough or can be immediately pulled if it doesn’t meet expectations.

[Toonamiguy321]

4 hours ago, Sketch said:

 

I want to see Cow & Chicken, I Am Weasel and Johnny Bravo. They should also have short series once a week like Evil Con Carne, Whatever Happened to Robot Jones? and Time Squad.

 

They go and have Robot Jones narrate their promos for the block and then don’t even air his show on it? Unforgivable. 

[viperxmns]

from CN stuff that springs to mind I still primarily want Cartoon Planet

[Otakuninja9000]

9 hours ago, Sketch said:

69 (nice)

HA!

 

But seriously, it's just sad how we got to this point........

I think a weekday Toonami block with One Piece, Young Justice, Naruto Shippuden and My Hero Academia followed by Checkered Past then Adult Swim would have been far better!

[[classic swim]]

On 8/21/2023 at 3:29 PM, [classic swim] said:

I’m waiting for when this pops up on [as] dot com’s schedule

Guess not. For now.

[Toonamiguy321]

1 hour ago, [classic swim] said:

Guess not. For now.

I know AS is putting their stamp on it, but I wonder if Checkered Past will be it’s own thing just so it’s arm length from actual AS so they don’t have to incorporate all these shows into their website. And if it bombs hard and they have to abort, it will be cleaner. 
 

For its incredibly brief run, was Adventure Time ever on the AS website? 

[[classic swim]]

1 hour ago, Toonamiguy321 said:

For its incredibly brief run, was Adventure Time ever on the AS website? 

No tab but it was in their scheduling.

They’ve also never had a 5PM timeslot before so I could see them making adjustments on that day. I’d just like to see Ed, Edd n Eddy on Adult Swim’s page but if it’s not gonna be there then I’ll cut my losses.

[[classic swim]]

On 8/23/2023 at 1:20 AM, [classic swim] said:

They’ve also never had a 5PM timeslot before so I could see them making adjustments on that day.

Here we go.

Launch day!

[viperxmns]

there's still something unholy to me about a CN throwback block being labeled adult swim at 5pm

shit makes no sense but whatever lol

[[classic swim]]

People are speculating that Bob’s Burgers will be gone from Adult Swim two weeks from now.

I knew that was planned for years but didn’t think it’d be so soon into the following month. Then I looked back on the date of this block like “ohhhhhhh.” Their packaging’s gonna get buttfucked even more lol.

[CountFrylock]

Cartoon Network sign off still says good night at 4:00 pm(I’m central) which is weird considering it won’t be night time for several hours 

[[classic swim]]

Got done watching the first broadcast earlier.

How was it?

Partially how I expected. Networks still utterly terrified of 4:3, and you got the same shitty transparent version of Swim’s logo.

No split screen credits! The last time I watched Adult Swim, they put that lame bullshit over an Aqua Teen episode. And I would’ve expected the CN shows to receive that treatment more than anything else, but they made a good call.

Bumps were cool. The background ones are basically the nature bumps, but better. Main characters are inserted, but they’re also shot more uniquely than the typical Bing imagery [as] is known for using.

Pretty decent. Wish they would’ve picked a more funny Ed Edd n Eddy episode, everything else was fine.
 

Edited August 28, 2023 by [classic swim]

[Toonamiguy321]

Seeing a lot of complaints about the aspect ratio but it doesn’t bother me that much for cartoons where everything already has silly proportions. Even though this is AS, I imagine they want to rope in whatever kids they can as well, and bars immediately make kids think “this is old and thus not worth watching”. 
 

Show choice seems fine. I got a bit of a vibe that they picked specific episodes with notable memes, such as sad Dexter in the shower or him looking in his locker. Which is fine, it’s a creative way to spur some interest from younger viewers who may recognize a meme but not where it came from. 

Have not seen Billy and Mandy since probably the last time it was on proper CN, and I had kinda forgotten how reliant it was on parody references and just random humor. I won’t write it off yet, but a Harry Potter AND a Pokemon parody in the same episode? Yeesh. 

Courage was also a reminder that early on he used to talk quite a bit more. Apparently executive meddling is what had him shift to mostly stock babbling sounds later on, which is criminal. 
 

Bump are solid, some kind of remind me of the CN City era. No telling how many they actually made, but even just what we saw today was more effort than CN has put into their packaging in a decade, so that’s a big W for AS. 
 

I like it, and I wanted to be here the entire time for launch day, but I can’t see myself making this a 5 day commitment at its timeslot. I had to rush home just to barely make it in time. I have no plan to make that a habit. Seems strange to market the block as relaxing after work cartoons when the block starts the same minute millions of people clock out of work. 

[[classic swim]]

Having this start at 7:00 and end before 9:00 would’ve been the best thing and the only obstacle is the FOX syndication they have left and obviously can’t give up. If anything’s gonna kill this block it’ll be that timeframe.

[Blatch]

I work 8-5 five days a week, but at least I get Monday and Tuesday off. I thought about the block's beginning today, though I was out at 5:00 for other matters and wasn't interested once I got home. I'll have to do all of you a solid one of these days, as even back in the day I didn't watch these shows much.

[MasqueradeOverture]

But, like... 4:3 shouldn't be a "nuisance" anymore. TV's are too big now to complain about black bars.

At the same time, TNT & TBS still crop cinemascope movies to 16:9, so how am I not surprised?

[Toonamiguy321]

3 hours ago, [classic swim] said:

Having this start at 7:00 and end before 9:00 would’ve been the best thing and the only obstacle is the FOX syndication they have left and obviously can’t give up. If anything’s gonna kill this block it’ll be that timeframe.

I really hope if this block doesn’t turn in the numbers they are looking for that they consider moving it later rather than just canning it. Before expansion, 7-9 was considered their bad throwaway hours, and I doubt that’s changed much with the added time. If it was there, this would be my certified weekly background noise no question. 
 

Im assuming another obstacle they are dealing with right now is being a little skittish about deleting so much of CN, and want this time still occupied by CN viable shows. If they get the numbers in and kids still don’t watch cable, maybe they won’t be opposed to 5-7pm KotH time. And for the few kids out that are actually tuning in and seeing these shows for the first time. 7-9pm is still plenty early for that. 

[[classic swim]]

At this point I’m not equipped with any solutions for CN, but 7-9 really would give Adult Swim the easy money they’re looking for.

Only [as] will benefit from any of this at the end of the day. All CN can do right now is twiddle their thumbs and promote the block/talk about Adult Swim on their socials.

[Toonamiguy321]

7 minutes ago, [classic swim] said:

At this point I’m not equipped with any solutions for CN, but 7-9 really would give Adult Swim the easy money they’re looking for.

Only [as] will benefit from any of this at the end of the day. All CN can do right now is twiddle their thumbs and promote the block/talk about Adult Swim on their socials.

That’s a normal thing to feel, because the bottom line is, there is no solution for CN. Whatever audience potential they had abandoned the channel many years ago. That said, from a business standpoint, I can see now wanting to allow the CN brand to lapse entirely, especially since it has worldwide presence. I am of the belief they should just do whatever is best for AS. Let AS do what AS needs to do and just leave CN on autopilot as it has been for years anyway. No one is watching it so who cares if KotH isn’t a great transition? 

[Sketch]

I’d really rather CN get 5-7pm back and AS start at 7pm with Checkered Past.

Playing 2 hours of KOTH before a block of Cartoon Cartoons would feel very strange. However, Looney Tunes, Scooby-Doo and The Flintstones 5-7pm would just be classic Cartoon Network on Adult Swim. Regular Show and Adventure Time aren’t bad options either.

Of course Toonami is another option but even MHA has many TV-14 episodes so that might be a bit of a problem despite ACME Night running TV-14 movies as early as 5pm going forward. One Piece has been entirely TV-PG though and Shippuden rarely pushes TV-14 due to so much filler.

[MCPissPants]

7 minutes ago, Sketch said:

Of course Toonami is another option but even MHA has many TV-14 episodes so that might be a bit of a problem despite ACME Night running TV-14 movies as early as 5pm going forward. One Piece has been entirely TV-PG though and Shippuden rarely pushes TV-14 due to so much filler.

 

Doesn't anime outside of Toonami almost always last just a couple of month before getting pulled? Even Dragonball Super weekdays didn't last long. Supposedly, the heavy dependence on continuity and having to watch every episode in order to understand it is why anime reruns on weekdays are ratings poison and Adult Swim only does it as desperation filler.  It doesn't work as well as mindless background noise as an episodic Fox cartoon. Well, considering how much more real estate they have, can they return weekday anime without pulling it from the schedule three months later like they always do?

[Sketch]

It’s worth trying at least. After all 5-7pm 5 days a week is where Toonami found it’s most success with all audiences. 8pm didn’t work out because it’s going up against network prime time. 9-11 on Saturday struggled against sports.

Though IMO 6pm or 7pm is a safer hour for Toonami because many adults get off work at 5pm.

At this point AS could definitely spare midnight or 1am on other nights to encore some action shows but comedy is their bread and butter.

As long as they can air King of the Hill they probably won’t try anime reruns on weeknights again.

[MCPissPants]

29 minutes ago, Sketch said:

As long as they can air King of the Hill they probably won’t try anime reruns on weeknights again.

 

Even 4 AM weekday Naruto and MHA got pulled after a few months. Adult Swim apparently wants to keep anime quarantined to Saturday nights. 

[Jman]

I’m pretty sure at this point the people in charge (not necessarily Zaslav himself but other higher ups) just view airing anime as advertising streaming services that aren’t Max.  So why keep that going?

[MCPissPants]

1 hour ago, Jman said:

I’m pretty sure at this point the people in charge (not necessarily Zaslav himself but other higher ups) just view airing anime as advertising streaming services that aren’t Max.  So why keep that going?

But by that logic, isn't King of the Hill advertising Hulu? Why has Adult Swim briefly flirted with weekday anime only to yank it away a few months later? Are the ratings for 4 AM MHA and Naruto really that bad to yank them after a few months?

[Jman]

7 minutes ago, MCPissPants said:

But by that logic, isn't King of the Hill advertising Hulu? Why has Adult Swim briefly flirted with weekday anime only to yank it away a few months later? Are the ratings for 4 AM MHA and Naruto really that bad to yank them after a few months?

Viewing habits of serial vs episodic television.  If you watch King of the Hill, you’re not in a rush to see the next one.  If you watch Naruto and want to see what happens next, you could wait, or you could find the whole damn thing on Crunchyroll and watch it at your pace.

[CountFrylock]

It’s sad how it’s entirely possible adultswim will air ten episodes in a row of koth as the normal schedule one day 

[Blatch]

35 minutes ago, CountFrylock said:

It’s sad how it’s entirely possible adultswim will air ten episodes in a row of koth as the normal schedule one day 

I would say they'd do it next time Pete Smith Day rolls around, but they're apparently going to be losing Bob's Burgers soon. Maybe if they ever need to do an American Dad! marathon, they'll resort to that.

[Otakuninja9000]

The Dexter's episode where he whispers in that girl's ears aired today, as well as the episode where the Eds try to make a movie.

[PokeNirvash]

And, of course, the one where Mandy smiles and breaks reality as a result.

[Toonamiguy321]

11 hours ago, MCPissPants said:

 

Even 4 AM weekday Naruto and MHA got pulled after a few months. Adult Swim apparently wants to keep anime quarantined to Saturday nights. 

The problem with rerunning anime is it’s just such a small potential market. How many people really want to jump in to Naruto at episode 376, or watch an MHA episode from season 5? The shows they tried to do weekday reruns were the least likely to succeed. They would have to improve their anime catalog to include more episodic types of shows, but as we know, they can’t get any anime so that’s not really a solution.

[MasqueradeOverture]

I'll admit, watching anime on a week-to-week basis has become a turn off.

Most of this shit has a million characters and plot points I'm not gonna remember in more than 3 days if I don't continuously marathon. Maybe that's the nature of the beast? Maybe I'm getting old? Idk.

[Sketch]

11 hours ago, Toonamiguy321 said:

The problem with rerunning anime is it’s just such a small potential market. How many people really want to jump in to Naruto at episode 376, or watch an MHA episode from season 5? The shows they tried to do weekday reruns were the least likely to succeed. They would have to improve their anime catalog to include more episodic types of shows, but as we know, they can’t get any anime so that’s not really a solution.

MHA weekday morning reruns did start from the start of season 1. IMO it was wasted in that early morning slot and they should have tried that at 8pm but oh well.

If One Piece and Shippuden can only be aired from whatever the oldest episode they still have is, then they aren't likely to catch on. Even if One Piece were to start back at 517 like it did on Toonami, it has an uphill battle to appeal to new viewers. Though it does help that Hulu has everything up to the time skip now and nothing beyond that. If there was ever a time to attempt rerunning One Piece from the start of the time skip then it would be now.

If the Netflix show manages to appeal to the broader audience then going back to episode 1 for a weekday strip of One Piece could actually make sense for the first time in over a decade. Personally I'd be annoyed that the first 206 episodes are cropped from 4:3 but Toei can offer that cropped HD version of those episodes to CN/Adult Swim so there's no black bars or stretching. But realistically the network isn't going to do that. One Piece does well enough for 1 to 2 slots of Toonami and they won't spend money on a bunch of glorified reruns for something that isn't a sure bet like KOTH. You almost wonder if they have some buyers remorse for Futurama given how they buried it.

If anything an early morning Cowboy Bebop is an approachable option but that's not gonna suit a time slot between 5pm and 8pm.

So I know I'm repeating myself here but they should really move Checkered Past to 7-9pm so they don't have to run quite as many KOTH and American Dad episodes and actually put some effort into making 5-7pm attractive to younger viewers rather than giving up on them entirely. But if that's not going to happen then I say expand Checkered Past another hour and include Johnny Bravo and Cow & Chicken.

[PokeNirvash]

So is airing Futurama earlier than 4AM not an option or...

[Sketch]

36 minutes ago, PokeNirvash said:

So is airing Futurama earlier than 4AM not an option or...

I think we’ll finally get the answer to that when they lose Bob’s Burgers.

[Toonamiguy321]

13 hours ago, Sketch said:

If One Piece and Shippuden can only be aired from whatever the oldest episode they still have is, then they aren't likely to catch on. Even if One Piece were to start back at 517 like it did on Toonami, it has an uphill battle to appeal to new viewers. Though it does help that Hulu has everything up to the time skip now and nothing beyond that. If there was ever a time to attempt rerunning One Piece from the start of the time skip then it would be now.

If the Netflix show manages to appeal to the broader audience then going back to episode 1 for a weekday strip of One Piece could actually make sense for the first time in over a decade. Personally I'd be annoyed that the first 206 episodes are cropped from 4:3 but Toei can offer that cropped HD version of those episodes to CN/Adult Swim so there's no black bars or stretching. But realistically the network isn't going to do that. One Piece does well enough for 1 to 2 slots of Toonami and they won't spend money on a bunch of glorified reruns for something that isn't a sure bet like KOTH. You almost wonder if they have some buyers remorse for Futurama given how they buried it.

My main concern would still be, who exactly is the market? If you want to get up to speed on One Piece, do you commit 206 consecutive weekdays to doing so via cable? Or just handle it on your own which allows you to skip the OP and recaps for a more efficient journey? 
 

I feel like the only reason Toonami works is because it’s a 4x a month commitment with a die hard fanbase cultivated over 20 years. This is obviously not the way anyone should be watching OP or Naruto, but it’s part of the experience, only recently becoming the only part of the experience. 
 

I could see a smaller anime working out on a weekday run (so long as it’s had a sizable gap from its last Toonami run), but these giant shonen? It doesn’t make sense. A 26 day commitment to a 2 cour show would be just a little over a month 5 days a week. For the average One Piece arc that’s not even the half way point. 

[Jman]

That's the thing at the end of the day.  The anime that's popular is serialized.  But as much as DeMarco despises it, the magic of streaming would make airing anime mere advertising for the streamers.  That's why it doesn't work to air it outside of that Toonami quarantine zone.  What's the point of directing people to Crunchyroll or Netflix?

Although given how the reviews have been, Netflix may have genuinely turned One Piece into their next big hit.  We'll see how the ratings pan out, but things are about to get VERY interesting on that end.