CN president Betty Cohen has been fired!

[WBArchivist]

Fired may be a strong word, but officially, Betty Cohen has *stepped down* according to a recent press release.

Read all about it at the Archives: http://wba.toonzone.net/

[I.R Joey]

Not to beat a dead horse but does this have anything to o with the whole Toonami/KWB crossover thing? I've heard that some of the people at CN were very unhappy about this.

[I.R Joey]

Cartoon Network president Betty Cohen has been part of the driving force behind the revamped Cartoon Network. Her job security recently has been rumored to be "shaky" after clashing with boss Jamie Kellner over the idea of joining Kids' WB at the hip.

I yanked this from the animation archive. Coincindence? perhaps not

[James Harvey]

What Kellner Said:

``Betty and I have spoken at length about her plans, and I'm excited about this next chapter in her work here at Turner Broadcasting. She is a first-class builder of successful companies, and I am excited about the pursuit of her new dream and gratified that it will be within the AOL Time Warner and TBS, Inc. family. She has played a defining role in what is arguably the most successful cable business of the past decade. The terrific management team she has assembled and empowered will continue to direct the day-to-day operations of Cartoon Network, under the direction of Brad Siegel.

What Cohen Said:


``My tenure at Turner Broadcasting, and particularly with Cartoon Network, has been a series of remarkable opportunities. I am now excited to focus my attention on what the next big thing in my life and career will be. I am an entrepreneurial builder, and Jamie Kellner has afforded me the opportunity to pursue a dream of mine. There is no better time to do that than right now. I could not have reached this decision without the support of Jamie and Bob Pittman, who by word and example have inspired me to pursue new challenges in my life and career, as they have done recently. I am also grateful to the Cartoon Network management team, in whom I have complete confidence. Their passion and enthusiasm for our business are the bedrock of Cartoon Network's success and will continue to power its remarkable growth.''

[Dante Bunny]

I got a bad feeling that Brad Siegel and Jamie Kellner will get rid of all comedy shows and put nothing but action shows on the air. I love Dragonball Z, Static Shock, Cardcapters, and Batman Beyond, but it won't be the same without Animaniacs, Dexter's Lab., Powerpuff Girls, Johnny Bravo, Courage the Cowardly Dog, Ed, Edd, 'n' Eddy, Tiny Toon Adventures, and other comedy shows. I hope they will keep the comedy and action shows on CN, because I don't want the Cartoon Network to become a depress pool of dark, macho, action shows without the laughter just like Kids' WB and Fox Kids.:(


Please Reply.

[A1LFEHKJA]

Originally posted by G.I. D'oh!
I got a bad feeling that Brad Siegel and Jamie Kellner will get rid of all comedy shows and put nothing but action shows on the air. I love Dragonball Z, Static Shock, Cardcapters, and Batman Beyond, but it won't be the same without Animaniacs, Dexter's Lab., Powerpuff Girls, Johnny Bravo, Courage the Cowardly Dog, Ed, Edd, 'n' Eddy, Tiny Toon Adventures, and other comedy shows. I hope they will keep the comedy and action shows on CN, because I don't want the Cartoon Network to become a depress pool of dark, macho, action shows without the laughter just like Kids' WB and Fox Kids.:(


Please Reply.

Im affraid so,that is if kellner(I mean killer of comdey cartoons) gets his way,1ST to go will porbably be Freakazoid, Then Animaniacs(Coming to nick real soon,that's what nick said anyway,so I thought.) and Tiny Toons Adventures, Now That Tazmania,Waynehead And Road Rovers have been pulled off Cartoon Network Last Year in June,and that's out of the way, Kellner will now finish the job,he long and dreamed for,to brake the Fans,Tom Reuggers And Paul Ruggs Heart Completely and kill off comdey cartoons on Cartoon Network Forever,but still I say,if it gets ratings the'll keep Comdey Cartoons airing on Cartoon Network,Gods Speed Betty Cohen,You'll Be Missed,Thank You For At Least Trying To Stand Up To Jamie Kellner,and coming so close to getting cartoon network to wholely crossover to Kids WB!,meaning that 5:30 A.M. timeslot would of been,giving me a possible to see Freakazoid,Animaniacs ect.Again,hea,I can still dream can't I.


KJA

[I.R Joey]

I don't think he'll kill all the comedy toons. Dexter and PPG have already been given the go for another run next season. However, it does seem like they're going to gear themselves towards action just like KWB.

[Sharklady]

I agree that the PPGs and Dexter are probably safe for now- they're pretty much the mascots of Cartoon Network (just this evening they got listed in a 'Jeopardy!' clue about CN.)

Also, there's that upcoming PPG movie. I suspect even Kellner isn't dumb enough to cancel a series that's just about to get big-screen exposure.

[WBArchivist]

Hah! I watched that Jeopordy tonite! I can't beleive Kara was the only one who knew it was Shaq O'Nielle! I need to get on that show...

The problem here is that Kellner is SMART. He isn't dumb. He knows what will make money. The problem here is that he doesn't appriciate the views of the animation community enough to make decisions that make the fans happy. Not to say that fans *matter* or anything...

[Sinople]

Boy, am I GLAD I captured and encoded the entire run of Freakazoid!

I imagine adult swim may be all washed up now?

It would've been nice to see cool tunes on the tube. But if I can see real video versions on the 'puter that will be okay.

:p ;)

[James Harvey]

A1LFEHKJA , what is it with you and your Freakzoid conspiracy? The show was canned, let it go. They didn't order a second season. They'r enot ordering new episodes of Batman Beyond and I don't think there's a big conspiracy around it, like you seem to do with Freakazoid. He's not out to get any single cartoon, man. Ya gotta drop this notion that he's out to get certain shows. Some shows didn't make the cut, and Freakazoid was one of them. Accept it.

[Psycho Fox]

Originally posted by DickGrayson
A1LFEHKJA , what is it with you and your Freakzoid conspiracy? The show was canned, let it go. They didn't order a second season. They'r enot ordering new episodes of Batman Beyond and I don't think there's a big conspiracy around it, like you seem to do with Freakazoid. He's not out to get any single cartoon, man. Ya gotta drop this notion that he's out to get certain shows. Some shows didn't make the cut, and Freakazoid was one of them. Accept it.

You never know, since when did anything make sence at WB. Maybe deep beneth their HQ is a secret room where they plot to distroy all good cartoons:rolleyes:

[The Mad Hatter]

No, DG is right. There is no conspiracy to wreck good cartoons. Kellner isn't evil, he only does what he thinks will attract the biggest kids audience. The ONLY reason Freakazoid was cancelled was because he didn't think kids were getting it. In fact, he may have really liked that show personally, but had to can it because the advertisers weren't happy with the ratings.

Is Kellner misguided? Heck yes. Is Kellner an evil being who purposefully seeks out to destroy good cartoons? No. Not to say that we shouldn't gripe about his decisions, but this fantasy that he's a minion of Satan needs to stop.

[Psycho Fox]

Originally posted by The Mad Hatter
No, DG is right. There is no conspiracy to wreck good cartoons.
Yhea maybe your right Kellner doen't have the IQ to pull something like that off;)

Kellner isn't evil, he only does what he thinks will attract the biggest kids audience. The ONLY reason Freakazoid was cancelled was because he didn't think kids were getting it. In fact, he may have really liked that show personally, but had to can it because the advertisers weren't happy with the ratings.
Uhhh that is what marketing is for, you tell the kids that this is what they want and the advertisers this is where they want to put their ads(at least that is what most tycoon types think, and is somewhat true). WB really needs to get a better marketting department I mean with their resources they should be able to get advertisers lined up for a dog ratings wise.
Is Kellner misguided? Heck yes. Is Kellner an evil being who purposefully seeks out to destroy good cartoons? No. Not to say that we shouldn't gripe about his decisions, but this fantasy that he's a minion of Satan needs to stop. But it is soo much fun;)

[DR. BELCH]

--there is a difference between evil and incompetence. Kellner's a lot closer to Col. Klink than Adolf Hitler, from what I'm told.
I've half-jokingly suggested in the past someone dummy up some fake photos of the big K in a compromising position with an underage girl and mail it to his superiors...or perhaps one could spike his latte with arsenic (a poison with the taste of bitter almonds). I wonder if we could bribe a coffee worm to do our dirty work? ;)

DISCLAIMER: I hereby absolve myself of all responsibility of some stupid s.o.b. actually attempts methods like this. D*** it, Jim, I'm a writer, not a murderer!

[I.R Joey]

We like conspiracys though!!!

[Sinople]

I never thought there was a Freakazoid conspiracy. I always thought Freakazoid was more suited to prime time that Saturday morning or weekday afternoon. It really wasn't a kid show.

But Kellner treated all the Spielberg produced toons with contempt. Almost as much as he had for Buffy. Buffy and Roswell are now at UPN. And one day Dreamworks will probably produce animated tv shows. :cool:

[The Mad Hatter]

Actually, Dreamworks already has. Invasion America was all theirs... and it was reasonably bad. So maybe it's better that they don't.

[Psycho Fox]

Originally posted by The Mad Hatter
Actually, Dreamworks already has. Invasion America was all theirs... and it was reasonably bad. So maybe it's better that they don't. It takes time for a good studio to evolve.

[James Harvey]

Why did they get AKOM to do the animation? There's no one worse than AKOM...

[Nftnat]

Originally posted by DickGrayson
Why did they get AKOM to do the animation? There's no one worse than AKOM...

Not even Kennedy?

[James Harvey]

Hmmm...AKOM still reeks. AKOM ruined Fox's X-Men series, and did a gut-wrenching, vomit inducing job on IA. The ruin all they destroy...well, almost everything.

[The Mad Hatter]

I had forgotten how bad Kennedy was... they truly mangled the Tiny Toons and Darkwing Duck eps they did. Are they even around anymore? Have they produced anything over the last few years?

[DR. BELCH]

Well, other than the few TTA shorts they frigged up and A Pup Named Scooby Doo, I haven't seen their work around since the mid-nineties. I wasn't aware they had animated on Darkwing Duck, though. For those who don't know, the Special K trademark seems to be weird mushroom-like heads and floppy boneless-looking arms that sort of stay adhered to a character's sides as they move about frantically.

Was I the only one who liked Invasion America? Of course, I look more for good voicework/scripts than anything. Ironically, though I like the animation better on the X-Men Evolution series than much of the early Fox shows, their scripts and v/o drives me mad. I watched the X-movie last week, and I think "The Cauldron" was heavily inspired by Magneto's mutation machine there...but the big screen handled it better. Plus they handled my two favorite X-characters, Wolverine and Rogue, very nicely (Rogue's real name is Marie! I'll be g.d.'ed.). Though both the series and the movie never bothered to touch on the Magda issue, which I think affected Magneto far more deep and personal that the horrors of war. :( :mad:

[The Mad Hatter]

I think Kennedy did only one episode of Darkwing Duck before they got fired. I can't remember the name, but it's the one with Quackerjack where everybody gets put inside a video game for some reason. But yes, it's got that fun boneless, cigar-puffing mouth quality to it that everyone despises.

I don't think there are too many IA fans around here... my main complaint about the show (which I've said before) is if a full-scale assault on the earth by an alien civilization is rendered boring, you know you're doing something wrong. I applaud them for the effort, but I just found it boring and cliche'd.

[WBArchivist]

Akom did excellent work for Animaniacs in it's first season - I think the standard animaniacs design that people recognize is that of AKOM.

Startoons is still the best quality television animation house (I suppose, in the united states if ya want to get technical). Contrary to popular beleif, their talents aren't limited to cartoony styles, they've done some incredible anime-influenced material and are working on a semi-adult war short called "Defiant".

I for one, enjoyed Invasion America (mainly because of the palentology involved). The animation certainly clashed with the CGI effects, but it was innovative in many other ways... (C'mon, at least admit that an animated sci-fi miniseries is ambitious!)

[Nftnat]

It is. If I'd been into toons @ the time I'da given it more than a second look; maybe I'da really liked it. I'm kinda a sucker for some sci-fi.

[Sinople]

I liked Invasion America. I thought it was a good opening shot for DW. Too bad Dreamworks really hasn't followed it. But they are peoducing interested animated features. Mostly not my cuppa, but insteresting just the same.