Cartoon Network As We Know It is Ending
Cartoon Network was a massive source of entertainment for 90s kids. Just the mention of Regular Show or Looney Tunes is enough to send one into a spiral of nostalgia, missing when life was that simple, and finding ways to watch the shows now.
The nostalgic early-2000s shows that Cartoon Network produced have not put out a new episode in years, yet still hold such a sentimental value to people that they’ll rewatch the animations time and time again to feel the comfort of being a child. This is true even though many shows are long gone, and the same can be said about the network as a whole, it seems.
As of now, the network won’t be dead and buried completely. But, it is merging with Warner Bros. Discovery and Hanna-Barbera Studios to work under one name; Sam Register. He was the president of Warner Bros. Discovery, now he is the president of all three companies. Even if Cartoon Network isn’t really gone, it’s still the end of an era, and shows us how much we’ve really grown up.
The CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery, David Zaslav, made the final decision. In his attempts to save a few billion, the company lost $20 billion. With the same intention it seems, he also canceled Batgirl. His latest endeavor to make up for this is an attempt to spend less and make more.
Some consider this to be the beginning of the end for the network, however. The companies merging together definitely is better for their budgets, but many worry that it will affect the quality of content produced. Cartoon Brew reported this as “an ominous sign for the future of new, original Cartoon Network animation.”
Furthermore, the former general manager of Cartoon Network Studios, Brian Miller, posted on Twitter quoting the announcement, adding his own caption that reads: “RIP CNS.” Cartoon Network has been running things smoothly on their own since 1992, so fans are not taking this merger lightly. Mainly because this means that for the first time in three decades, Cartoon Network will not operate independently and will have other, unfamiliar, executives making some of the final decisions.
Also for financial reasons, Warner Bros. has laid off 82 employees, accounting for about 19% of their entire team. Their goal is to cut costs of programming by $3 billion. In addition to letting go of nearly a quarter of their workforce, the company has 43 empty office chairs that they have no intention of filling. Combining both of these factors, they have shrunk their team by 26%.
The CEO wants to spend as little as possible to make as much as possible. In an industry as big and as delicate as animation, this is an oxymoronic goal. He’s proven before that his efforts did not work, and one can only hope he’ll prove everyone and himself wrong this time. So, while Cartoon Network Studios is not officially dead, many consider them to be on the way to their grave.
