On Fri, Oct 16, 2009 at 11:20 PM, Kevin M. <[email protected]> wrote:
> > ... and replace him with Captain Planet. He also wants control of CNN > again. Truly, he is a real-life Lex Luthor. > > http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20091016/media_nm/us_media_turner_2 > > -- > Kevin M. (RPCV) > [Note: I wrote this on October 18th, but I never figured out a way to finish my thought, so I left it sitting in the drafts folder. I probably should have stood by that decision, oh well...] On to the points at hand, we're probably all disappointed in what cable news ... strike that.... we're probably all disappointed in what news in general has become. Who knows. The seeds of destruction may have been sown when Don Hewitt at 60 Minutes showed news could make a profit, or when Roone Arledge showed it could be flashy and marketable, too. Or it could be Rupert Murdoch and Roger Ailes who destroyed news by showing that more money can be made not in informing but in confirming biases. Op Eds are livelier than straight news. And in a realization that I am jealous of not making, Jacob Weisberg notes that Fox News is literally un-American<http://www.slate.com/id/2232563/pagenum/all/>. But maybe cable news killed cable news. Turning the Gulf War into an exciting action movie. Needing to fill 24 hours a day with blather when nothing else is happening. Focusing on celebrity and gossip for cheap attractive filler. CNN did this before they could blame it on Time Warner or Fox News or E! On to Captain Planet. Ted Turner needs to realize this... Captain Planet was a bad cartoon. [end draft -- begin with additions made Nov. 22] Captain Planet was a bad cartoon. It was written deliberately with the conceit that its audience could not handle ambiguity and thus presented environmental arguments in the most cartoonish straw arguments possible -- only certifiably insane and greedy people would pollute, and environmentalism entails not even the slightest of sacrifices. This does not serve environmental or conservation efforts. It pretty much feeds its detractors, who can argue that they lie about their being no pain (never mind they wildly exaggerate those costs). On Sun, Oct 18, 2009 at 8:47 PM, Wesley McGee <[email protected]>wrote: > On Sun, Oct 18, 2009 at 12:14 PM, M-D November <[email protected]>wrote: > >> >> Presumably Cartoon still has the rights to air "Justice League >> [Unlimited]". (In fact, I think they might be in perpetual reruns on >> Boomerang.) > > > Not any more. They were taken off in favor for the long neglected Samurai > Jack. (I wouldn't be surprised if JL and JLA showed up on DisXD too, to > compliment Batman: TAS and spin offs, Superman, and Static Shock.) > > >> And there's always the possibility of Supes showing up on >> "Batman: The Brave & the Bold". >> > > There is, but with DC Comics, DC Entertainment and Warner Bros. > Entertainment, there's always some sort of red tape that has to be cut in > order to use the big characters like Supes and Wonder Woman. (Not to > mention the ongoing legal proceedings with the estates of Siegel and > Shuster. (I read an interview a few days ago where they are holding out hope > for doing an episode with big blue or Wondie, but they said there were > rights issues. If I ever find it again, I'll link to it.) > I just stumbled upon the article I was referring to (thus why I've resurrected this draft email)... http://tinyurl.com/BatmanBandBPanelSDCC2009io9 Interesting followup in this is that Cartoon Network is actually airing JLU again. Since November 7th, the last season has been airing Saturday nights at 9:30pm. Surreally, this may mark the longest time for an episode to rerun on a network. (Unless I'm mistaken, the final season ran exactly once on CN proper before being sent off to Boomerang. Thus almost four years between first and second airings of a show.) This is actually part of restructuring of the network schedule on Saturday night and beyond. Its reality show gambit and its CN Real block has failed so spectacularly (it managed to pull the network out of the top 25 cablers this summer. Who could have possibly guessed that people watching Cartoon Network would resist live-action reality?), Cartoon Network has actually been forced to plug holes in its schedule with -- CARTOONS. Not only with old cartoons it produced (Johnny Bravo, Ed Edd n Eddy, JLU), but with those Looney Tunes and MGM shorts we've never thought would see broadcast again. This is nearly akin to NBC changing its mind and ordering more eps of Trama because they have nothing else to air. Anyway, the return of JLU is part of a schedule overhaul that on Saturday night that reduces reality to a five-minute break "My Dad's a Pro", and airing action-adventure cartoons instead, including premieres of Secret Saturdays (on a Saturday -- who'da thunk it?) and Marvel Super Hero Squad, and next day encore of Batman TB&TB. (Of course, none of this will air next Saturday, because of Thanksgiving movie marathons. I hope everything returns the week after, but CN still schedules on a white-erase board.) (I wrote something like this in my weblog two weeks back, though ironically, the blog post is shorter. http://sterlingnorth.livejournal.com/365597.html ) -- Wesley McGee http://www.ambivi.com http://sterlingnorth.vox.com -- TV or Not TV .... The Smartest (TV) People! You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "TV or Not TV" group. 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