It’s crazy to think that something that has become a cornerstone of so many of our childhoods could be turning 30. But it’s true, Cartoon Network is celebrating its 30th birthday this October. After three decades of inspiring, entertaining and elevating I think we can agree they deserve nothing but celebration. So what do you think would be the best present for them? Revisiting classics? A small themed party with friends? How about a merger that could result in the termination of CN as a company?
The signs
In April of this year, Warner Brothers began its plans to merge with Discovery. Instead of existing as exclusive platforms, the plan going forward was to merge into one streaming service. Signs that something was in the water almost immediately rose to the surface. HBO Max was hit first. In July, it was announced that the upcoming films “Batgirl” and “Scooby Doo: Holiday Haunt” were being axed and would no longer be released. Followed by other shows that were scheduled to release new seasons, like “Little Ellen” suddenly going radio silent and scrapping their releases. And if that wasn’t bad enough, fans were dumbstruck when in August upwards of 30 titles were completely scrubbed of the platform, not to be seen again.
What’s the big deal?
The supposed reason for this move is that as part of the 3 billion dollar deal that was struck, space needed to be made for the shows on the other platforms coming in. However, people immediately noticed that animated shows were disproportionately thrown to the cutting block. It’s an insulting idea, as animated projects are no less film and television than anything involving filming actors. Also, there’s the fact that a lot of animated shows are leading the march in representation, especially as it applies to LGBT+ and disabled characters.
Speaking of archiving, the people most affected by this disappearance are the artist that worked on the shows. Animation is obviously on computers, but traditionally speaking animators aren’t given copies of their work to keep. They don’t want anyone leaking things, so for a lot of people, their only way to show their work to a future employer is to point to a show that they have credit in. When HBO Max deleted these shows, it was like deleting hundreds of people’s résumés.
Which brings us to today…
All of these reasons obviously caused people across the board to freak out. No one knew what was happening, or where to go. But at least we could turn to the staple of animation in the west. The goal post for so many cartoon lovers. Good ole reliable Cartoon Network. Just kidding. Leaked news shows that almost 90 Cartoon Network employees were laid off to make room for the merge. At this point, the flames have become a forest fire. Attempting to put them out though, CN came out with a statement claiming that the news of their death is indeed fake. The letter in question that leaked the news used the phrase “as you know it” when referring to the studio. This obviously lead people to assume huge changes were coming. However, according to CN, they merely are under new leadership now, but that Cartoon Network will not be closing its doors anytime soon.
Although the situation was handled, for now, this scare shows us a lot of scarier truths about the industry. Throughout this entire saga, so many artists and employees are being screwed over by the people upstairs making decisions that trickle down. So if anything comes from all this, it needs to be better support for those working in the industry. As well as legends like Cartoon Network. Because none of us, child or man-child, should have to live through the nightmare of CN closing its doors. At least until the alien invasion.
