Best and Worst of Warner Bros. Discovery in 2023

[Asa]

Best:

• Looney Tunes Collector's Choice Blu-ray sets
• Scooby Doo and Krypto Too being uncanceled
• Checkered Past
• Boomerang's improvement
• The Heroic Quest of the Valiant Prince Ivandoe finally premiering on the American version of Cartoon Network.
• PPG 25th anniversary

Worst:

• More projects (such as Tom & Jerry Time) getting axed
• Cartoon Network U.S. refusing to promote the Total Drama Island reboot
• No word on Robot Chicken's fate.

 

[AdrenalineRush1996]

Best from Warner Bros. this year would have to be Checkered Past and the worst would have to be the shelving of Coyote vs. Acme.

 

[Elijah Abrams]

Worst: Shelving Coyote vs Acme

Best: Unshelving Coyote vs Acme

 

[JMTV]

Honestly, the only best thing for Warner Bros Discovery in 2023........was Checkered Past. Granted, PPG 25th Celebration was good, Boomerang's schedule has improved, and thankfully Cartoon Network aired some new shows, but Checkered Past beats out all of them.

Not to say I was the fan of the block since I already seen the shows many times. I just like the bumpers. The bumpers are the main highlight for me.

Other than that, that's pretty much it.

I can't really say which one is the worst since WBD has been the same old, same old since last year. Nothing really changes besides changing HBO Max to Max (which I thought it was stupid ass name) Except, they didn't really piss me off as much as off since I was grown apathy towards them recently, but they're still pretty bad.

I would say the worst thing they ever do was wrote off Coyote vs ACME, but since they changed their minds, I'm very hesitant to say is the worst since I don't know what they're gonna do with it. If it gets picked up, then I'll take that out. If not, then I'll say it's the worst.

So, there ya go.

 

[TsWade2]

Best: Looney Tunes Cartoons
Coyote VS Acme Unshelved, Tiny Toon Looneversity, and Animaniacs

Worst: Coyote Vs Acme being cancelled until later,
Teen Titans Go, Looney Tunes Cartoons Season 6 is not on iTunes yet, Predicting Warner Bros possible Bankruptcy, Looney Tunes and other Warner Bros cartoons in jeopardy, and most of all, David Zaslav being an evil cartoon hating creep!

 

[Silverstar]

Don't have a Best (Coyote VS ACME and The Day the Earth Blew Up might get released, but nothing's officially been announced yet; Urkel Saves Santa got released but I've never been a big Urkel fan), so moving on...

Mid:

• Checkered Past (I know a lot of fans are happy about this, but CP doesn't ding my chimes personally since it's just reruns, most of which I can already stream on Max, but like @JMTV mentioned, at least the CP bumpers are cool)
• The WB 100th Anniversary Special was OK, though Disney's Once Upon a Studio was 20 times better
• Discovery Family and Boomerang are finally airing shows that are worth watching (though again, none of them are new or original, see Checkered Past)
• Scooby-Doo and Krypto, Too! got to happen
• Cartoon Network Studios moves into the new Second Century building alongside WB Animation (a lot of people are unhappy about this, but WB was only leasing the old building and they own this new one, plus if CNS and WBA working under one roof helps increase productivity at WBD, I'm all for it)

Worst:

• Looney Tunes Cartoons draws to a close (I wish WB had stuck to their original plans to release these shorts across multiple media, with some shorts premiering on Max, others on TV and others in theaters before movies, plus they're not releasing Daffy in Wackyland anywhere Joe and Jane Average Viewer can see it)
• WBD's animation decimation continues (Jessica's Big Little World got axed after just 20 episodes which was half of its' original planned episode number, Tom & Jerry Time and Scoob: Holiday Haunt got shelved before anyone ever got to see them, Craig of the Creek is ending with a reduced final season, etc.)
• Max's Tooned In seems to have disappeared in a puff of smoke
• Cartoon Network has no new shows announced for 2024 besides Invincible Fight Girl, and we've gotten no new information about that since its' initial announcement and their current branding is still dull as dishwater
• Gross Girls - Missing, presumed dead
• Still no new toons for the 6-11 crowd
• Zazzy Dawg continues to stink up the joint

 

[Daikun]

Good:

-Discovery Family, surprisingly, makes minor improvements. They've been slowly adding WBA and Hanna-Barbera shows throughout the year. I never expected to compliment DF for anything after killing The Hub, but putting Michael Ouweleen in charge of it on top of Turner's animation networks seems to be beneficial for it.

-Boomerang has also slightly been getting more love. They've been adding shows never before seen on the network (or CN for that matter) like Taz-Mania and Yo Yogi! and even shows that haven't aired in well over a decade like Yogi's Gang. The same can't be said for its still-dormant streaming app, though.

-Villanos finally made its U.S. debut on Max!

-CN finally premiered two new shows, and I think they're a big step up over We Baby Bears. I really enjoyed Tiny Toons Looniversity and I'm also enjoying Prince Ivandoe so far.

-Summer Camp Island returned to Cartoon Network and got to air the series in full, including the (HBO) Max seasons and its final season became a premiere on its original home network. I'm so happy it got a proper closure after its grueling hiatus.

-Adult Swim has also been kicking into high gear like they always do. My Adventures with Superman is one of my contenders for best shows of the year, and the Venture Bros. and Metalocalypse movies are excellent.

-Other great Max shows of note this year: Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai, Fired on Mars, Fionna & Cake, and Scavengers Reign.

Bad:

-Cartoon Network LOST SO MUCH this year. They lost three hours of programming to Adult Swim (one was bad enough, but THREE?!?), ACME Night was swallowed up, and three of their most anticipated shows--Unicorn: Warriors Eternal, My Adventures with Superman, and Batman: Caped Crusader--had to be moved off-network just to avoid being written off. It would've been nice to see them air on the network so they could have more programming throughout the year, but at least they get to see the light of day somewhere.

-The agonizing first 8 months of 2023. Good lord. After We Baby Bears premiered in January 2022, CN had NOTHING ELSE TO OFFER for 20 months straight! WBB wound up being their only new show of last year, and this year, they still had nothing from January-August.

-Total Drama Island... Where ya at, buddy? It already aired its first full season overseas and season two has reportedly already started, but still no sign of it here in the States. Let's hope it gets here sometime soon.

 

[Silverstar]

-Other great Max shows of note this year: Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai, Fired on Mars, Fionna & Cake, and Scavengers Reign.

I'd add Young Love to that list as well. I thought it was going to be a smarmy black Full House, but I was pleasantly surprised by how sharp and entertaining it was.

 

[Goldstar!]

Best

• Boomerang and Discovery Family have gotten a little better (of course, that doesn't mean much to me, since I now have YouTube TV, which doesn't offer either channel).
• My Adventures with Superman was decent.
• Looney Tunes: Back in Action is streaming on Max, this month, anyway. I don't care what the internet says, that movie was funny.

I don't want to celebrate Coyote VS Acme or The Day the Earth Blew Up just yet, since we don't yet know where, when or if they'll ultimately be released. I remain cautiously optimistic.

Mid

• Tiny Toons Looniversity was only average. I don't hate it, bit I don't love it either.

Worst

• Cartoon Network is slowly becoming the Adult Swim channel. AS has claimed ACME Night. There are no new CN shows announced for 2024.
• Cartoonito U.S. is effectively dead before it was ever given a real chance.
• Tom and Jerry Time was canceled before it ever aired.
• Max continues to treat Warner Bros. Animation like a red-headed stepchild, barely promoting it's animated content at all.
• Close Enough, Uncle Grandpa, The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack and Space Ghost: Coast to Coast are no longer on Max.
• David Zaslav is still Warner Discovery's CEO.

 

[John Pannozzi]

I definitely put "Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai" on the Best list.

WBA and CN Studios' recent quest for unionization should be on the list, somewhere (since it seems they've won, I think it belongs on the "best" list, despite Zaslav & co.'s efforts to block it.)

 

[LinusFan303]

Best

• Putting more Hanna-Barbera stuff on Tubi and going back to putting things beyond Max
• Discovery Family being poked a bit it's alive!
• I don't get Boomerang , but nice to see they are giving it some life too
• Gremlins: Secrets of the Mogwai
• The Free streaming channels (not perfect, but good they finally jumped in)
• Checked Past, in concept was a good idea
• Villanos making it in

Hopefully works out

• Picking up 'Hellicious for TBS

In Between

• CNN, they made News Central and Licht's stuff was alright some hit and miss, but the network seemed to be in a mess too, seems to have hit a better stride 2nd half of the year.

Worst

• (Worst might be too strong a word for this one) Changing HBO Max to Max the color scheme from Purple to Blue, and the interface those really didn't need to be changed , don't care about the name change. [I'm the person that will tell you I'm glad they didn't try and put a Warner name on it]
• The Strikes (it's not a just them thing, but they were part of it so... bad)
• Cartoon Network really feels kind of dry , and looks like the drought will continue

 

[Silverstar]

Worst

• (Worst might be too strong a word for this one) Changing HBO Max to Max the color scheme from Purple to Blue, and the interface those really didn't need to be changed ,

Agreed. I don't have anything against the color blue (it's one of my second favorite colors, after my fave color, indigo) but Disney Plus and Paramount Plus are already using blue as their background color, the purple stood out more.

• don't care about the name change. [I'm the person that will tell you I'm glad they didn't try and put a Warner name on it]

I could have stood that, but the name Max doesn't bother me anymore.

• The Strikes (it's not a just them thing, but they were part of it so... bad)

Yeah, losing five months of work didn't help anybody.

• Cartoon Network really feels kind of dry , and looks like the drought will continue

Sadly that's true, and the streaming services (both Max and others) aren't much better; every animated show is either for preschoolers or adults with no general cartoons in between, and toons receive little to no promotion or advertising.

 

[AngusTinMan16]

Honestly, the only best thing for Warner Bros Discovery in 2023........was Checkered Past. Granted, PPG 25th Celebration was good, Boomerang's schedule has improved, and thankfully Cartoon Network aired some new shows, but Checkered Past beats out all of them.

Not to say I was the fan of the block since I already seen the shows many times. I just like the bumpers. The bumpers are the main highlight for me.

Other than that, that's pretty much it.

I can't really say which one is the worst since WBD has been the same old, same old since last year. Nothing really changes besides changing HBO Max to Max (which I thought it was stupid ass name) Except, they didn't really piss me off as much as off since I was grown apathy towards them recently, but they're still pretty bad.

I would say the worst thing they ever do was wrote off Coyote vs ACME, but since they changed their minds, I'm very hesitant to say is the worst since I don't now what they're gonna do with it. If it gets picked up, then I'll take that out. If not, then I'll say it's the worst.

So, there ya go.

Yeah, I'm with you.

Unless Warner Bros ends its ties with Discovery, the merger with Universal, I'm afraid, is going to be a reality.

 

[harry580]

Yeah, I'm with you.

Unless Warner Bros ends its ties with Discovery, the merger with Universal, I'm afraid, is going to be a reality.

that won't happen, its will be too much debt, remember what happened with disney & fox, too much debt & a monopoly, so no, I don't see that happening, if anything, they could at least fire David zaslav for what I care

 

[Silverstar]

^^Yeah, as much as several folks would like to see that happen, Warner and Discovery won't be splitting up anytime soon, unless things go really far south over there. Mergers/acquisitions/corporate synergies are a lengthy, time consuming, risky and expensive process, and WB hasn't been WBD for three whole years yet. We may hate a lot of what Zaslav is doing with WB's animation department (and believe me, we do), but not all of his decisions have been terrible: putting Michael Ouweleen in charge of Cartoon Network, Boomerang, Adult Swim and Discovery Family seems to paying off somewhat; CN's still stale and largely empty, but AS is thriving and Boom and DF are slowly improving; Barbie made a billion at the box office this year and Wonka seems to be paying off as well. DC's in the dumpster, but they're just about done with the DCEU movies; we'll have to see how well James Gunn's DCU does. Zaz isn't likely to get the sack unless he does something truly unethical or royally screws up somewhere.

A WB/Universal merger would just be more of the same: as @harry580 noted, it would just be more debt and an even more bloated near-monopoly; no one company should have that much power and that many IPs. If WB/WBD ever does get a new sugar daddy, it shouldn't be another entertainment company; it should a tech company like Amazon, Apple or Google who are swimming in money and don't already own a ton of entertainment IPs.

 

[Vuxovich]

Worst

• There are no new CN shows announced for 2024.
• Tom and Jerry Time was canceled before it ever aired.

Don't lose hope! The Powerpuff Girls' second reboot and the Foster's Home reboot are in development. As for Tom and Jerry Time, the real reason why it got axed was because of Tom and Jerry in Singapore. You can't have two Tom and Jerry projects running at the same time.

 

[Fone Bone]

As for Tom and Jerry Time, the real reason why it got axed was because of Tom and Jerry in Singapore. You can't have two Tom and Jerry projects running at the same time.

"It's amazing. Every single thing you just said is wrong."

--Luke Skywalker.

 

[prpis]

Tom and Jerry Time was canceled?….oh that’s sad

 

[Goldstar!]

As for Tom and Jerry Time, the real reason why it got axed was because of Tom and Jerry in Singapore. You can't have two Tom and Jerry projects running at the same time.

Nope. That's not why Tom and Jerry Time was canceled at all. There's no such thing as a Tom & Jerry embargo and why would that matter when the T&J Singapore shorts aren't even airing in the U.S.? It was canceled because the current team in charge of Cartoon Network led by Michael Ouleween isn't interested in preschool shows. Tom and Jerry Time was a leftover from Tom Ascheim's run as CN president, so it canceled as a tax write-off, despite the project being in the works for 2 years. It has zilch to do with T&J Singapore.

 

[JMTV]

Apologies if I came in this discussion late. Very busy IRL and studying and all that. I already read you guys' comments and I'm ready to say piece on it:

As much as I don't like what Warner Bros Discovery has been doing recently, I don't think they're not gonna split off and sold to another company like Universal. Like @Silverstar said, corporate mergers are a very expensive and time consuming process, and I don't think WB merging with Universal is gonna make that much of a difference. As @harry580 said about Disney and Fox; too much debt, more layoffs, more things have to be cut, it'd be such a mess all over again.

Also, I will have to agree on Silverstar on this. Even though I don't like David Zaslav when it comes to his business decisions and I will still criticized him like I see it, at least he didn't do something legitimately criminal (as far as I'm aware). The shareholders could get rid of him if he was doing a poor job. Otherwise, they seems like what he's doing. Yeah, it sucks that a lot projects are not gonna see the light of day, but the tax write off practice is not really anything new, even before Zaslav came along. It just when Zaslav came in, the write offs has become a lot more apparent. I personally think it's not a good idea of him to wrote off projects that were completed, but whatever, it is what it is.

Plus, not every decision that Zaslav made was completely horrible. At least Michael Ouweleen was doing okay. Boomerang and Discovery Family are actually improving, Cartoonito was doing decently, despite being shortened to a 90 minute block, and Adult Swim has been kicking it lately thanks to Checkered Past, Toonami, and ACME Night. At least the Barbie movie was doing fantastic at the box office, and I do like that movie. A lot of people do like Fionna and Cake. Finally, James Gunn is gonna reboot the DCU and hopefully done much better after the crap DCEU left behind.

Like I said many times before, I understand Zaslav wanted the company to put back on the black after the garbage from the previous management took over, I get it, but my biggest problem with WBD right now is that they treat Cartoon Network and their animation department as a afterthought at the moment. Hell, Max is no better either. We have no new kids shows that gear towards 6-11, and even if we do get them, they barley even advertised them. It also doesn't help that Cartoon Network did not released anything new, besides some shows that were announced from the previous management. Considering that CN's current slate has been dry lately, I'm just tired of waiting for something new. When your own competitors like Disney and Nick were able to released a lot of new stuff than CN does this year, we have a problem.

The point is that I wish WBD make Cartoon Network more active again because I'm already lose faith in them as it is. I lost interest in the network after Zaslav took over last year, but this year, I'm about to give up.

I could be wrong, and I hope things can turn around, but I'm going in 2024 by hoping for the best, but be prepared for the worst.