Cartoons that were incredibly successful and popular in one country, but flopped or weren't very popular in others

[aegisrawks]

I meant 47. As in 47.0

What I meant to say is that The Archies (The All In The Family Stand in) aired back when Saturday Morning Cartoons were watched by 25 Million people. In the era of Dragon Tales (A Huge hit in its given era) this number went down, sure, but its 11 million STILL INSANE. Its illegal to lie in Press Releases so I dont think they are lying at all.

Can we talk on PM's? I always love a good ratings talk.

 

[CassieTheDragon]

I meant 47. As in 47.0

What I meant to say is that The Archies (The All In The Family Stand in) aired back when Saturday Morning Cartoons were watched by 25 Million people. In the era of Dragon Tales (A Huge hit in its given era) this number went down, sure, but its 11 million STILL INSANE. Its illegal to lie in Press Releases so I dont think they are lying at all.

Can we talk on PM's? I always love a good ratings talk.

Sure.

47.0 is insanity to me. WHAT THE ****. 11 million is absurd too, but 47 million takes it to a whole new level. And that 7.9 rating was just for the 2-5 demographic. Some people watched it well into grade school.

 

[Igorov]

The Kids From 402 is incredibly popular in Eastern Europe. This show is synonymous with Fox Kids and Jetix. It's like Spongebob paired with Nickelodeon. But I was very surprised that no one cared about this show in the US and Latin America. There is nothing better in similar themes.

 

[Goldstar!]

The Kids From 402 is incredibly popular in Eastern Europe. This show is synonymous with Fox Kids and Jetix. It's like Spongebob paired with Nickelodeon. But I was very surprised that no one cared about this show in the US and Latin America. There is nothing better in similar themes.

I saw The Kids from Room 402 on the now defunct Fox Family channel. I thought it was just OK. I didn't love it, but I didn't hate it either. The initial episodes were OK, but it started to fall off later on when the show's writers had these 8-year-old kids start acting like teenagers. But then, my opinion is an admittedly biased one, as I find school focused shows to be overdone and tedious.

 

[aegisrawks]

I loved hated this show. Nowadays I love it but I always wanted the kids to get away with stuff and they never did lol.

 

[Igorov]

I saw The Kids from Room 402 on the now defunct Fox Family channel. I thought it was just OK. I didn't love it, but I didn't hate it either. The initial episodes were OK, but it started to fall off later on when the show's writers had these 8-year-old kids start acting like teenagers. But then, my opinion is an admittedly biased one, as I find school focused shows to be overdone and tedious.

Interesting. To me, this show was close to reality. It also had many iconic scenes. It makes me laugh even as an adult. I think this show aired on Fox Family for a very short time. It was on the screen continuously for 10 years in my country. It was continuing on Disney XD in some countries. This channel did not exist in my country.

 

[MTAF1976]

The Kids From 402 is incredibly popular in Eastern Europe. This show is synonymous with Fox Kids and Jetix. It's like Spongebob paired with Nickelodeon. But I was very surprised that no one cared about this show in the US and Latin America. There is nothing better in similar themes.

Jetix was the biggest kids channel in Eastern Europe back in the day. Similar things apply to Whats With Andy, Wunschpunsch, Life with Louie etc.

 

[Igorov]

Jetix was the biggest kids channel in Eastern Europe back in the day. Similar things apply to Whats With Andy, Wunschpunsch, Life with Louie etc.

Definitely. That's what Fox Kids and Jetix mean to us. But it's surprising that for the American continent, it's just Digimon and Power Rangers. Even sadder, shows like 402, Andy, Wunschpusch are very difficult to access. Although these shows were branded as Fox Kids, their rights were transferred to the subsidiary studio. So they're not on Disney property.

 

[MTAF1976]

Definitely. That's what Fox Kids and Jetix mean to us. But it's surprising that for the American continent, it's just Digimon and Power Rangers. Even sadder, shows like 402, Andy, Wunschpusch are very difficult to access. Although these shows were branded as Fox Kids, their rights were transferred to the subsidiary studio. So they're not on Disney property.

The only Jetix show on D+ is Super Robot Monkey Team and it's 4:3 prints (the show was made in widescreen). Not even stuff like WITCH and Yin Yang Yo are on there

 

[Igorov]

The only Jetix show on D+ is Super Robot Monkey Team and it's 4:3 prints (the show was made in widescreen). Not even stuff like WITCH and Yin Yang Yo are on there

Yes, I saw a petition about this on the internet. It's like Disney has completely destroyed the pre-2010 era. Disney does not care about the popularity and artistic value of the TV series. I don't understand why Disney+ exists.

 

[Red Arrow]

I also immediately thought of the Fox Kids / Jetix shows. Kids from Room 402 and What's With Andy were very popular in the Netherlands but less known in Belgium and the USA.

Another one that comes to mind is George of the Jungle from 2007. It aired on 4 channels here and I hear nothing but good memories from people here, but online it seems to be hated (especially on IMDB) and it didn't have a good run on Cartoon Network in the USA. I personally don't think it's the best cartoon ever, but I also do have fond memories and it holds up okay.

 

[Silverstar]

George of the Jungle from 2007. It aired on 4 channels here and I hear nothing but good memories from people here, but online it seems to be hated (especially on IMDB) and it didn't have a good run on Cartoon Network in the USA. I personally don't think it's the best cartoon ever, but I also do have fond memories and it holds up okay.

A lot of people people online had their knives out for GotJ 2007 just for daring to be a reboot of the Jay Ward produced original. Jay Ward Prods, aka the team behind Rocky and Bullwinkle, Mr. Peabody, Dudley Do-Right et al, are/were considered sacred cows in the US by Boomers and Gen Xers, so naturally the internet was gonna dump on any remake. Heck, I remember a lot of people on this very forum giving it the stink eye during its' brief Cartoon Network run; I was one of the few people who stood up for the show here.

As for The Kids from Room 402, it was kind of amusing at first, but the stories and characters became tired and grating lightning quick.

 

[GRPHX]

If the topic was about Fox Kids and Jetix, my only answer to this question would be Diabolik. A famous Italian adaptation that has 4 feature films and countless comics, it didn't even have a chance to flop in the US. Although this program, which is very popular in the Central and Eastern European region, is an American production, it was NEVER broadcasted in USA. It was a real crime. Network administrators and channel programmers are responsible for this. Moreover, since it was an international show, it was produced in 40 episodes as per the contract.

Diabolik, even at his fiercest killer form, was an inspiration point for the writers at Disney Italy. For example Fantomiald/Paperinik comics (and later Darkwing Duck) inspired by this franchise. In fact, this show is also the source material used for Netflix's Carmen Sandiego.

Disney doesn't even realize they are holding onto a piece of such an important IP. I wish they would shoot a Live-Action series using him like Doctor Who. Because they need new IPs too.

Definitely. That's what Fox Kids and Jetix mean to us. But it's surprising that for the American continent, it's just Digimon and Power Rangers. Even sadder, shows like 402, Andy, Wunschpusch are very difficult to access. Although these shows were branded as Fox Kids, their rights were transferred to the subsidiary studio. So they're not on Disney property.

I feel sorry for Americans. They missed out on what was most unique and entertaining about Jetix and Fox Kids. I wish they would watch Wunschpunsch even once. It was a real spectacle. The stupidity of these wizards and the fun moments they had were exactly what a child needed at that time. Even the theme music was amazing!

The Kids from Room 402 was a successful production. I attribute this to the fact that it is Canadian made. All of the stereotypes there had an equivalent in real life, and this does not change even after years. For example, when you watch this show 30 years later, you may see that someone there was really your neighbor, your friend, or your bully. This is universal. It's admirable that they managed to do this without engaging in CN or Nick style absurdity. Everything you encounter in that show is in real life, but there is an absurdity that comes entirely from real life itself.
The fact that Disney left IPs like Wunschpunsch and TKfR402 entirely to the Canadian producer and never wants to use them again shows how uncreative and unoriginal they are.

The only Jetix show on D+ is Super Robot Monkey Team and it's 4:3 prints (the show was made in widescreen). Not even stuff like WITCH and Yin Yang Yo are on there

It was one of the worst Jetix shows alternatives to add to Disney+.

 

[Pooky]

Thinking about it I don't know if Jay Ward's shows are/were really popular anywhere outside of the US and Canada. Rocky and Bullwinkle were shown in the UK on ITV in the 60s and BBC in the 80s, but I don't think either run had much impact. The film was released here, and did OK all things considered, but a lot of reviews seemed to be confused about whether they were pre existing characters or not. The OG George of the Jungle played on the then new Channel 5 for a while after the film was a hit, but I'm not aware of any of his shows turning up on satellite etc here. I don't think I've ever seen any merch for Jay Ward characters on sale here that didn't tie in with the film releases. One DVD set for the first season of Rocky and Bullwinkle was released in the mid-00s, but I believe there were no previous or subsequent home video releases of any Ward cartoons here. Keith Scott, the voice of Bullwinkle for a time and a Jay Ward superfan who wrote the book The Moose that Roared, is Australian and first saw the show in Australia in his youth, but by his own admittance he was one of the few fans.

 

[John Pannozzi]

It's not that surprising that most of Jay Ward's shows would have little pull outside of North America. Much of the humor is not only specific to that area, but also to that tile in history (i.e. the middle of the Cold War).

I imagine that among Americans (and possibly other people from English-speaking territories), that Diabolik is most known for its 1960s live-action film adaptation being the subject of the final episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000's cable run. Which I'd pretty sad, actually.

It is funny that Saban/Fox Kids/Jetix had so many shows that us Americans had little to no exposure of. I get the feeling that Haim Saban himself might be viewed differently, and more positively, by Europeans. Among the more Western-centric Power Rangers Fandom, Saban and his company are quite infamous for their penny-pinching, anti-union ways.

I'd imagine the animation side of things at Saban Entertainment and its related companies owed more to Jean Chalopin than even to Saban himself, maybe.

Chalopin also used to run Dic Entertainment. And I feel that Saban and Dic are comparable in that the European side of their businesses (and the fans of their shows from those respective regions) took themselves considerably more seriously than the American side.

Like, the Nick Knacks (YouTube retrospective series by PopArena) episodes on Inspector Gadget and Heathcliff highlight some of this. Towards the late 1980s, Andy Heyward, who ran the American side of Dic, eventually bought out Chalopin and Radio TV Luxembourg's stake in Dic, and basically wrote them out of the company's narrative. And Heyward was also very anti-union.

I apologize if this is getting too political.

 

[GRPHX]

It is funny that Saban/Fox Kids/Jetix had so many shows that us Americans had little to no exposure of. I get the feeling that Haim Saban himself might be viewed differently, and more positively, by Europeans. Among the more Western-centric Power Rangers Fandom, Saban and his company are quite infamous for their penny-pinching, anti-union ways. I'd imagine the animation side of things at Saban Entertainment and its related companies owed more to Jean Chalopin than even to Saban himself, maybe.

That's right, SIP was a truly unique studio, in which the main share belonged to Jean Chalopin, Bruno Bianchi and Jacqueline Tordjman. And even Disney produced 3 series from Saban's leftovers. One of them is W.I.T.C.H.

Unlike Saban's monotonous content structure in US, there was a completely different world in Europe. I have only one request from Disney regarding this library.

Despite this, Disney didn't even see W.I.T.C.H. as a significant asset. I wouldn't mind if TVA produced this kind of works, I could understand this attitude but these guys were making art. Their efforts were flushed down the toilet. Although these titles were more popular in this region, they brought things like Goof Troop, Ducktales, Chip&Dale '89, Mighty Ducks, which could be considered regionally obscure. I have never seen these published in my country. It is no coincidence that even the most comprehensive English article you can find on the Internet about the historical development of Saban, Fox Kids and Jetix is written by Eastern European authors.

So the BVS-SIP library was available only for a certain region of Europe, that would be enough. Nobody forced them to release these in the US. At least for the Central and Eastern European region, having local teams identify titles that have been popular here in the past and make global deals with Prime Video or Netflix to broadcast them.

Chalopin also used to run Dic Entertainment. And I feel that Saban and Dic are comparable in that the European side of their businesses (and the fans of their shows from those respective regions) took themselves considerably more seriously than the American side.

The continuation of this story is as follows. Jean Chalopin establishes Créativité et Développement (C&D), takes over some of DIC's businesses and continues to work with Saban. Later, Saban buys C&D and its library. Although I'm not sure, I know there were 5 or 6 series produced by C&D that were later handed over to Saban. It can be assumed that these belong to Disney today. AB Productions-Mediawan co-productions are already back in their catalogue. However, their distribution rights remained in Saban's hands for a while. Although it is not well known, Diabolik was initially a Jean Chalopin project.

I imagine that among Americans (and possibly other people from English-speaking territories), that Diabolik is most known for its 1960s live-action film adaptation being the subject of the final episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000's cable run. Which I'd pretty sad, actually.

In fact, 3 more movies were shot between 2021 and 2023. Its comics have been sold more than 150 million times worldwide and it has a certain audience. Kino Lorber later acquired the American theatre rights. Disney could at least give this title to Netflix. I had no doubt that with its algorithms I would make it one of the most watched. Definitely a wasted animated series. Even Netflix was inspired by it when producing Carmen Sandiego. I understand that sometimes things getting flop, but this series was deliberately sabotaged.

Like, the Nick Knacks (YouTube retrospective series by PopArena) episodes on Inspector Gadget and Heathcliff highlight some of this. Towards the late 1980s, Andy Heyward, who ran the American side of Dic, eventually bought out Chalopin and Radio TV Luxembourg's stake in Dic, and basically wrote them out of the company's narrative. And Heyward was also very anti-union.

I don't like organizations and unions like the WGA and SAG-AFTRA either, considering the damage they've done to the streaming landscape today and their greedy greed for money. The audience, which even considers its own right of access the content, will be against them. It is shameless to expect exorbitant payments from a 30-year-old TV series. These greedy people are the reason why most content never arrives or is removed. Obscure or underrated titles rot in the vaults of companies because of them, the user is forced to choose from fewer options. This is called extortion.

 

[Vuxovich]

Skysurfer Strike Force is very popular in my country, but the local dub sounds awful to me. I don't know why!

 

[GRPHX]

Funky Cops, which tells the adventures of two disco-crazy cops in San Francisco, was exactly such a show. Although it was never successful in its original home country of France, it became very popular in other countries. (Including my country)

The art style was definitely original but also realistic. It was not easy to do these two together.

It was a parody of the popular 70's TV Series Starsky & Hutch. There was also a S&H video game around the same time. And the game's sequel was canceled because of Disney. Yet another reason to hate Disney, damn it!

 

[CassieTheDragon]

View attachment 307274Funky Cops, which tells the adventures of two disco-crazy cops in San Francisco, was exactly such a show. Although it was never successful in its original home country of France, it became very popular in other countries. (Including my country)

The art style was definitely original but also realistic. It was not easy to do these two together.

It was a parody of the popular 70's TV Series Starsky & Hutch. There was also a S&H video game around the same time. And the game's sequel was canceled because of Disney. Yet another reason to hate Disney, damn it!

I only know this from a rather poorly done TV special called "The Fight For The Fox Box", which basically just had voice actors/actresses of the shows on the Fox Box (Sonic X, Kirby Right Back At Ya, Funky Cops, etc) redub lines over clips from existing episodes.

Here it is, in all it's full "glory"

 

[AdrenalineRush1996]

Ed, Edd n Eddy failed in Canada and Japan.

Which is funny since the show's cast and crew including creator Danny Antonucci are Canadians.