How much Cartoon Network aired each show from 2004 onward?

[Stumpos]

And now here's the 2018 breakdown on how often each show aired. Half hours are the measurement for this, 0.5 being a 11-minute segment and 0.33 being a 7-minute segment.

Same sources as 2007-14 and 2017.

2018:
Originals by Cartoon Network:

1. The Amazing World of Gumball: 3071
2. Craig of the Creek: 489
3. We Bare Bears: 462.5
4. Ben 10 2017: 299.5
5. OK KO Let’s Be Heroes: 251.5
6. Summer Camp Island: 146
7. Adventure Time: 130.5
8. Apple & Onion: 81.5
9. Clarence: 78
10. Steven Universe: 76.5
11. The Powerpuff Girls 2016: 20
12. Mighty Magiswords: 13
13. Regular Show: 4

Originals by Warner Bros:

1. Teen Titans Go: 3742
2. Unikitty: 556
3. Teen Titans: 150
4. Bunnicula: 18
5. Wacky Races 2017: 10
6. Justice League Action: 3
7. Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz: 1

Acquired shows from others:

1. Total DramaRama: 308.5
2. Ninjago Masters of Spinjitsu: 27
3. Total Drama: 24
4. Mega Man Fully Charged: 10
5. Transformers Cyberverse: 9

Anime:

1. Bakugan Battle Planet: 8

Here’s the top 5 most aired this year:

1. Teen Titans Go
2. The Amazing World of Gumball
3. Unikitty
4. Craig of the Creek
5. We Bare Bears

2018 was still in the dark ages for Cartoon Network, but was still a marginal improvement over 2017 with the Teen Titans Go marathons lessened slightly but still number one. Gumball is gaining even stronger presence now. Teen Titans Go and Gumball are still the top 2, so moving on.

This year was when AT&T officially merged with Time Warner after 2 years of trying. It didn’t impact the channel yet, but we’ll see later on the consequences.

For programming blocks, the Saturday Morning action block was pretty much dead at this point. Comedy shows would return to a revived Monday Nights in February 2018. Initially alternating with NEW NEW NEW NEW for premieres, Monday Nights eventually became the home for comedy premieres again for the first time since 2014.

Bomb format is still used, but now they would have a habit of airing several episodes in an hour long block such as with the final regular episodes of Adventure Time and the final episodes of Clarence.
Episodes still got released early on the app for their shows.

This was the first year where none of the classic cartoons were aired on the channel.

For acquired shows, it’s pretty much sinking at this point with all of them only airing when premiering new episodes. While Ninjago at least had a decent primetime slot and advertising with a marathon on August 25 (for the first time since 2015), Transformers Cybertron and Mega Man Fully Charged were dumped on early weekend mornings with no promotion. Total DramaRama on the other hand was promoted a lot and given a good Saturday morning time slot at 9 AM. I guess that the 11-minute comedy nature of that show made it more favorable for the network at this point compared to the half hour reality show format. Total Drama’s first season would make a return in November to tie in with DramaRama, airing for the first time since 2014. They would make one final try at anime with Bakugan Battle Planet and gave it some advertising for the premiere, but that got sent to weekdays at 7 AM for premieres after the first episode.

For Warner Bros original outside Teen Titans Go, Unikitty would be treated well and become the most aired outside the top 2. Teen Titans still continued until leaving in the summer. Justice League Action’s final episodes were burned off at 6:15 AM for a week-long bomb before leaving for good. Bunnicula returned briefly in October for the Halloween season. Wacky Races 2017 and Dorothy & the Wizard of Oz air briefly to promote the Boomerang app, which was trying to gain original content from Warner Bros at this time.

For the CN originals outside of Gumball, things are getting a bit better than 2017, but also two steps back.

Craig of the Creek premieres and ends up becoming a favorite, arguably being one of the last well-treated shows to premiere as of now.

Summer Camp Island also premiered. In an attempt to imitate Netflix, the first half of season 1 would premiere in one day on July 7. Initially having a good rerun schedule, it got removed after summer ended (guessing they wanted a summer camp show only airing in summer).

Apple & Onion premiered as well, initially as a 10 episode limited series and was treated well until being removed in summer.

We Bare Bears is still surprisingly persisting even with what’s been happening during its run.

Ben 10 2017 is a bit more downplayed, but still doing okay and still well advertised.

Steven Universe was well advertised and even returned to weekly premieres for the most part this year (though hiatuses were still a problem due to having to stretch out the final season). However, reruns dried up with the only ones usually being at 6 AM for 15-minute time slots. This did show it was losing steam near the end.

OK KO started off well this year, but began to take a hit after season 1 ended with reruns getting less. It got worse after summer when reruns were removed entirely. Premiere time slots were shuffled in season 2. It initially moved to Saturday mornings. After Monster Party, they pretty much stopped advertising the show and moved it to Sunday afternoons at 4:30 or 4:45 PM, proving they gave up on that show.

The Powerpuff Girls 2016 got zero advertisement this year, still burning off episodes on Sunday afternoons at 4 PM. Surprised it even got a third season at this point.

Mighty Magiswords also got zero advertisement for the episodes premiered this year. The final episodes of season 1 premiered on Sunday nights. It got even worse when season 2 began, premiering at 6:15 AM on weekdays. Reruns were also nonexistent too.

Clarence would air its final episodes this year. While initially starting off on the wrong foot with reruns being gone after January and the final episodes already airing in other countries before America, it made a surprising comeback in June where it did get a well promoted crossover marathon with Craig of the Creek (the newest slice of life show) every Sunday to give some actual hype for the series finale. While it left after the series finale aired, it was at least given good advertising.

Adventure Time would begin to see an interesting reversal of how it was treated the last 2 years. Reruns would briefly return on weekday afternoons in January. While initially removed and going back to only airing when premiering its last regular episodes on March 18, luck began to turn around. In summer, reruns returned on Saturday afternoons and later weekday afternoons. And they finally began advertising the show for the first time in two years with the Minecraft special and the series finale getting a lot of advertising. Labor Day would even give Adventure Time a marathon to hype up the series finale. While the show was removed by October, at least it managed to end off strong.

For reruns of ended shows, Regular Show briefly returned in October to air Halloween episodes.

2018 was a small improvement and did better at advertising and giving the shows proper send offs with Adventure Time and Clarence instead of drowning their finales out with Teen Titans Go marathons like 2017 did with Regular Show and Uncle Grandpa. However, it’s still the same old Teen Titans Go and Gumball spamming and other shows struggling to breathe that’s been happening since 2015.

 

[JMTV]

I don’t have anything to say about 2018 for Cartoon Network. It’s not as bad as 2017, but still not good at all. Cartoon Network was going through the motions. They are still The Teen Titans Go Network, but now Gumball gets increasing airtime.

While they did some decent things like giving Adventure Time and Clarence great send offs, Craig of the Creek and Apple and Onion were okay, but things like OK KO got screwed over, the branding has become a lot more kiddified, and they are still prioritizing their app more than TV.

At this point, Time Warner has officially thrown the towel on CN and linear TV as whole, and decided to merge with AT&T. Despite being in debt after the merger happened, they decided to double down and start focusing on streaming because that’s where the audience go to these days.

Like I said before about 2017, I don’t have a problem with Cartoon Network focusing on the app, it made sense from a business perspective, but personally, the execution is sloppy.

So yeah, 2018 was not horrible, but not great either. Hopefully, 2019 will pick itself back up, right? Right?

 

[J'onn J'onzz]

It is another year where the channel seemed destined to lose money. It is surprising how many shows they still had running when they mainly aired episodes in terrible slots like 6 am. They could have saved a lot of money by not even making more seasons of shows they had given up on in the previous season, or not licensed shows like Transformers and Mega Man if they intended to only burn them off early on the weekends without promotion.

 

[Stumpos]

And now here's the 2019 breakdown on how often each show aired. Half hours are the measurement for this, 0.5 being a 11-minute segment and 0.33 being a 7-minute segment.

Same sources as 2007-14 and 2017-18.

2019:
Originals by Cartoon Network:

1. The Amazing World of Gumball: 3275.5
2. Craig of the Creek: 395
3. Victor and Valentino: 353.5
4. We Bare Bears: 287.5
5. Steven Universe: 241
6. Ben 10 2017: 157.5
7. Apple & Onion: 89
8. Mao Mao Heroes of Pure Heart: 63.5
9. OK KO Let’s Be Heroes: 34
10. Summer Camp Island: 29
11. Mighty Magiswords: 10
12. Infinity Train: 9
13. The Powerpuff Girls 2016: 9
14. Steven Universe Future: 8
15. Adventure Time: 4
16. Regular Show: 2

Originals by Warner Bros:

1. Teen Titans Go: 3544.5
2. Unikitty: 117.5
3. DC Super Hero Girls 2019: 38
4. Wabbit/New Looney Tunes: 36
5. The Tom & Jerry Show: 35.5
6. Scooby Doo and Guess Who: 7
7. Teen Titans: 2

Acquired shows from others:

1. Total DramaRama: 808
2. Total Drama: 344
3. Ninjago Masters of Spinjitsu: 23
4. Mega Man Fully Charged: 16.5
5. Power Players: 9
6. Transformers Cyberverse: 8.5
7. Care Bears Unlock the Magic: 2.5

Anime:

1. Bakugan Battle Planet: 42

Here’s the top 5 most aired this year:

1. Teen Titans Go
2. The Amazing World of Gumball
3. Total DramaRama
4. Craig of the Creek
5. Victor and Valentino

2019 was still in the dark ages with continued Teen Titans Go and Gumball spamming as their top 2 shows. By this point though, they were pretty much on autopilot.

For programming blocks, things still change. The Monday Night block was retooled as 5, 6, 7 Go as the comedy premiere block. However, this wouldn’t be the only comedy block this year. For the first time since Good Mornings with Uncle Grandpa, a new Saturday morning block was made for comedy shows that weren’t premiering on 5 6 7 Go, with newcomer Victor and Valentino premiering on the block. Gradually, more shows started moving premieres from 5 6 7 Go to the new Saturday morning block such as Ben 10 2017, Craig of the Creek, Apple & Onion, Total DramaRama, Ninjago, and Mao Mao until Teen Titans Go was the last one still premiering on the Monday night block. I do wonder if the new Saturday morning approach was a means of trying to compete with Disney Channel (which was also premiering new episodes of cartoons on Saturday mornings).

The bomb format was still there, but it was getting a bit less frequent than before.

For acquired shows, Total DramaRama is the clear winner with good treatment and a lot of airtime, the most aired outside the top 2. Ninjago wasn’t advertised anymore and only aired when premieres were happening. Care Bears aired only twice to promote the Boomerang app. The original Total Drama series reran a lot during the first half of the year, with Action and Revenge of the Island joining the lineup until it was removed in summer. Mega Man predictably fizzled out and after going back and forth between Sunday mornings and 12 PM bombs in spring, it ended and was quickly removed and forgotten. Power Players also premiered, but also got no advertising.

For Warner Bros originals outside of Teen Titans Go, things still aren’t looking good. Unikitty fell hard in airtime during season 2 and was removed in spring with no reruns at all. It eventually had a burn off marathon on Christmas to air the final season 2 episodes and the first few season 3 episodes. It has been said that the box office failure of The Lego Movie 2 is what led Warner Bros to lose interest in the franchise, which likely impacted how Unikitty was treated this year. DC Super Hero Girls didn’t fare well as after a decently advertised premiere, the show ended up airing on Sunday afternoons (which at this point were a bad sign if OK KO and The Powerpuff Girls 2016 are anything to go by) and eventually got weekly burn offs at 12 PM with no reruns and minimal advertising. Scooby Doo and Guess Who briefly aired unadvertised on Monday mornings in summer, likely to promote the Boomerang app. The Tom and Jerry Show and Wabbit/New Looney Tunes returned for the first time since 2016 on weekday mornings in September (why they didn’t just bring the classic shorts back is unknown) before getting removed again in a month.

For the CN originals, things are seeing a shakeup (that not even Gumball was safe from).

Gumball is still the number 2 show, but it would end up premiering its last new episode in June (granted they have said there’s a season 7 in the works, but no new information has been given about it in a while) before either a production hiatus or ending (depending on if season 7’s a thing). While there was surprisingly no celebration for Gumball’s current final episode, it’s still getting a lot of airtime and some weeks even aired more than Teen Titans Go.

We Bare Bears also aired its final regular episodes this year (but it wasn’t totally over yet), and still soldiers on for decent airtime, though it is losing slight steam with regular episodes finished and was off the schedule for a few months in the middle of the year. This was also the first year where it didn’t make the top 5 most aired since 2015.

Craig of the Creek was also still doing well this year, as their biggest currently running at the time CN original after Gumball ended. However, reruns did briefly get less during summer and only began increasing again in November.

With how successful the initial 10 episodes were last year, Apple & Onion was expanded into a full series with the show returning in November with solid advertising and a good amount of airtime as a regular series now.

Ben 10 2017 isn’t totally ignored, but airtime is getting less and less. Guessing it wasn’t as successful as the network wanted, but at least it was still advertised.

Steven Universe was in a state of transition. While the final season ended in January with good advertising, this wasn’t the end of the show. Reruns still were kept at a super minimal 6 AM time slot. Things began to get better though in summer when it gained more reruns on Saturday nights. This culminated in a three day weekend marathon on Labor Day weekend to promote the big finale movie. Reruns of the show were removed shortly afterward, but it wasn’t over for the franchise. A new epilogue limited series premiered in December with Steven Universe Future with decent advertising but no reruns (given it wasn’t really rerun friendly).

Victor and Valentino premieres and got off to a good start and on the path to good treatment. It also aired a one day marathon on Halloween for Day of the Dead.

Mao Mao had a good start, but began to lose airtime quick and left the schedule during a mid-season hiatus in fall.

Infinity Train premiered and was well advertised, but sadly didn’t get many reruns after the premiere week due to the serialized nature of the show (making it so the bomb format was the best choice for the show).

Summer Camp Island briefly returned for reruns in spring and then new episodes on Sunday afternoons at 12 PM, but again got removed after summer ended, indicating it to be a seasonal airing show.

OK KO was more or less still largely ignored with the rest of season 2 and most of season 3 burned off on Sunday afternoons. While the series finale did get decent advertising and a good primetime slot on September 6, the show was removed shortly afterward and has never returned as of now.

The Powerpuff Girls 2016 was still on unadvertised Sunday afternoons and also came to an end, but on a whimper as no one at that point even cared about the show. It also got removed the moment the final episode premiered.

Mighty Magiswords aired its final episodes in a burn off bomb during May at a bad 11:30 PM timeslot when the kids were in school, with no advertising. It also got removed and never returned again (and likely never will in light of the recent news of the creator’s shady past and arrest).

For reruns of ended shows, Regular Show again only returned to air a couple Halloween episodes in October. Adventure Time also briefly returned for one weekend in May and while not counted in this, it also reran on Adult Swim for a couple months this year (foreshadowing for what will happen in 2023….).

2019 was still in the dark ages, but now we’re getting the sense that a change is about to happen. Several shows ended this year with 5 originals in total (Steven Universe, Gumball, The Powerpuff Girls 2016, OK KO, and Mighty Magiswords), the most cancellations in a year since 2008. A pretty weak end to what was initially a promising decade for Cartoon Network.

 

[Markus Nelis]

Gumball was expected to be the most overaired. At that point Gumball is the most aired show every year. It will be the most aired also in 2024.

 

[JMTV]

Yeah, 2019 for Cartoon Network ended the 2010's decade off on a whimper.

While they have strong hits such as Infinity Train, Steven Universe Movie/Future, and Mao Mao is pretty decent, they have a lot of misses that is nothing to write to home about.

Eh, there's nothing much I can really say about it. 2019 was very forgettable.

Another thing to note that AT&T now got a hold of CN/AS and Boomerang, they decided to disbanded Turner Broadcasting and put them under Warner Bros Global Kids, Young Adults, and Classics Group.

Ever since those changes, Christina Miller decided to step down in November 2019.

We'll see how 2020 pays out.

 

[Markus Nelis]

We'll see how 2020 pays out.

I predict Gumball being number one aired show.

 

[Surreal Kangaroo]

I was so hyped for the Steven Universe movie it wasn’t even funny.

 

[Stumpos]

Gumball was expected to be the most overaired. At that point Gumball is the most aired show every year. It will be the most aired also in 2024.

Teen Titans Go is still the most aired show in 2019.

 

[Markus Nelis]

Teen Titans Go is still the most aired show in 2019.

Ok. I only looked at CN originals list. But I promise you that 2021 to 2023 were the years and 2024 will be as well when Gumball aired the most.

 

[Otakuninja2006]

Wow. I had no clue how bad the network got by then... I was mainly watching Disney Channel or Nick or not watching TV at all...

 

[Stumpos]

And now here's the 2020 breakdown on how often each show aired. Half hours are the measurement for this, 0.5 being a 11-minute segment and 0.33 being a 7-minute segment.
Same sources as 2007-14 and 2017-19.

2020:
Originals by Cartoon Network:

1. The Amazing World of Gumball: 3452.5
2. Craig of the Creek: 986
3. Victor and Valentino: 344.5
4. Apple & Onion: 316
5. We Bare Bears: 244.5
6. Mao Mao Heroes of Pure Heart: 136
7. Ben 10 2017: 52
8. Steven Universe Future: 29
9. Steven Universe: 21
10. Adventure Time: 20
11. Infinity Train: 15

Originals by Warner Bros:

1. Teen Titans Go: 3730
2. Teen Titans: 78
3. DC Super Hero Girls 2019: 42.5
4. ThunderCats Roar: 38.5
5. Unikitty: 20

Acquired shows from others:

1. Total DramaRama: 645
2. Ninjago Masters of Spinjitsu: 29.5
3. Power Players: 22
4. Transformers Cyberverse: 14.5

Anime:

1. Bakugan Battle Planet: 42

Here’s the top 5 most aired this year:

1. Teen Titans Go
2. The Amazing World of Gumball
3. Craig of the Creek
4. Total DramaRama
5. Victor and Valentino

2020 was a year of transition, but also when they ran on autopilot. Teen Titans Go and Gumball (despite ending the previous year) are still top 2.

The year would see big changes in management as Christina Miller had left at the end of the previous year. Tom Ascheim would take over as the network head, but it would take a while for him to make actual changes to fix the damage done under Miller.

Max also launched this year, functioning as a streaming service for Warner Bros properties to compete with the rise of Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, and Disney Plus. However, this would end up having a detrimental effect on Cartoon Network as explored later in the post.

The COVID-19 pandemic also hit and led to lockdowns, which would impact how scheduling operated.
This was the last year that they released episodes of their shows early on the Cartoon Network app, likely with Max making that practice obsolete.

For programming blocks, primetime premiere blocks were officially phased out at this point, likely due to a mix of streaming rising and to follow Disney Channel’s strategy of premiering their cartoons on Saturday mornings. While the Saturday morning block had existed for a year, this would be when it was officially branded as New Saturdays, which would serve as the new premiere home for comedy cartoons from this point onward (and it’s still around as of 2024). Action shows would finally get another block to premiere with a Sunday morning action block which featured the remaining action shows left (Transformers Cyberverse, Power Players, Bakugan Battle Planet, and Ben 10 2017). Sadly, only Ben 10 2017 was given any advertising on the block and the rest were still not promoted. Said Sunday morning block would eventually end in June with Power Players and Transformers Cybertron leaving the channel and Ben 10 2017 airing in bomb format for the remainder of the year.

For acquired programming, things are at a low. Total DramaRama was still adored and got a decent amount of airtime. Bakugan Battle Planet still aired, but only when premiering on Sunday mornings unadvertised. However, Transformers Cyberverse and Power Players ended in June and left the channel, despite both of them still having episodes left unaired. Both would move to Netflix the following year to release the remaining episodes that Cartoon Network never aired. With Cyberverse’s ending, the Transformers franchise would no longer air on Cartoon Network anymore. Ninjago was still not advertised at all and only aired when premiering new episodes. After burning off more episodes on Sunday mornings, the series ultimately left Cartoon Network after season 13 finished up and would end up moving to Netflix for the final 2 seasons. I guess a mix of the box office disappointments of The Lego Ninjago Movie and The Lego Movie 2 and Warner Bros giving up the Lego license to Universal made Cartoon Network lose any motivation to continue airing Ninjago.

For Warner Bros originals outside of Teen Titans Go, ThunderCats Roar premiered. However, it wasn’t much of a success with no reruns and eventually the second half of its only season was burned off on weekdays at 8 AM in November and December until it left the channel for good, fizzling out super fast. The original Teen Titans returned in the first half of the year to tie in with the recent crossover direct to video movie with Teen Titans Go. Unikitty was more or less done at this point for the same reasons as Ninjago. Initially it aired reruns on Sunday afternoons before premiering new episodes unadvertised in March. At least the final batch of episodes would be given advertising in August when they premiered, albeit at 8 AM on weekdays, before leaving for good. DC Super Hero Girls was still being ignored and only airing when there was a new episode that was given the unadvertised Sunday afternoon slot.

For the CN originals outside of Gumball, things are also hitting another low point with no new original shows premiering this year (first time since 2009).

Craig of the Creek was still doing well, even getting an all day marathon on Father’s Day and being one of the more successful shows at this point outside the top 2 and the most aired outside the big 2. Seems Ascheim must’ve really liked the show since it’s airing even more under him than it did under Miller.

Victor and Valentino was also doing good initially, also getting an all day marathon on Cinco de Mayo. However, airtime began to decrease halfway through the year with only about an hour of airtime per week on average until it was outright gone from the schedule for the final 2 months.

Apple & Onion was moderately doing okay even if it wasn’t that big in airtime, even getting an all day marathon on April 1st.

Mao Mao did get some weekday morning reruns at least this year, but things went downhill fast. The second half of season 1 was burned off on weekdays at 12:30 in July (admittedly not a bad idea since it was summer and more kids were at home due to COVID) and eventually the show left the network for good in September. While there were plans for a season 2, I’m guessing it’s been scrapped either for budget cuts (since COVID was making Warner Bros lose money) or higher up changes.

Ben 10 2017 has lost relevance at this point with only one rerun each week on Sunday mornings until they outright burned off the second half of season 4 in the bomb format in September at 7 AM, albeit with good advertising.

Steven Universe Future got good advertising on a good Saturday night timeslot and even got a marathon to hype up the final episode on March 27th, being the last time the network used a primetime slot regularly to premiere episodes. It was removed after it ended though, likely since it still wasn’t rerun friendly.

Infinity Train premiered season 2 with decent advertising, but it would end up moving to Max after that for the remainder of its run.

Summer Camp Island didn’t air at all this year, moving to Max instead for later seasons.

We Bare Bears wrapped up this year. While reruns had been less frequent this year, it still got a three day Labor Day weekend marathon to hype up the series finale movie. Eventually, the show was removed after September but did return to air the movie during December.

For reruns of ended CN originals, Steven Universe made brief returns to air the movie a few times. Adventure Time also returns for Sunday night reruns from April to July, likely to promote the Distant Lands series on Max.

At this point, you can see how Max is starting to siphon off shows from Cartoon Network. Cartoon Network originals that would’ve aired on the network such as The Fungies and Tig N Seek would premiere on Max instead and even some of the currently running shows such as Summer Camp Island and Infinity Train were moved to Max. Even Warner Bros Animation shows that could’ve been on Cartoon Network were premiered on Max instead such as Jellystone, Tom & Jerry in New York, Looney Tunes Cartoons, and Yabba Dabba Dinosaurs. The only show (and that’s including CN originals, acquired shows, and Warner Bros originals) that premiered on Cartoon Network in 2020 was ThunderCats Roar, but that ended the same year it began. Really shows how Cartoon Network was losing relevance to Max by this point as the home for Warner Bros/Cartoon Network owned shows.

2020 continues the dark age and more or less feels like an empty year for the network with less and less shows airing. It’d take a while for Ascheim to make big changes.

 

[JMTV]

2020 Cartoon Network is basically is a ghost town.

A lot of the good stuff from CN are moving to Max. Meanwhile, CN had Thundercats Roar. Do I need to say more?

 

[Markus Nelis]

Expect the number one show to change in terms of airings come 2021 or 2022.

 

[J'onn J'onzz]

Maybe Gumball did air more than TTG in later years, but it’s not that significant. Both Gumball and TTG aired a ton. The channel aired those two almost equally, and then a huge gap between those shows and everything else. With TTG producing so few episodes lately and Gumball having no new episodes in years, overrelying on those shows has made the last few years very weak.

 

[Markus Nelis]

Maybe Gumball did air more than TTG in later years, but it’s not that significant. Both Gumball and TTG aired a ton. The channel aired those two almost equally, and then a huge gap between those shows and everything else. With TTG producing so few episodes lately and Gumball having no new episodes in years, overrelying on those shows has made the last few years very weak.

All I know is for sure that this year Gumball has aired the most while Titans mostly has aired an hour a day. And they rerun Gumball because it's still popular. I know it's tiring but they're keeping reruns so that people won't forget about the show.

 

[J'onn J'onzz]

All I know is for sure that this year Gumball has aired the most while Titans mostly has aired an hour a day. And they rerun Gumball because it's still popular. I know it's tiring but they're keeping reruns so that people won't forget about the show.

Gumball has definitely aired more than TTG since CN lost the evening hours. But since most hours of CN are when kids are at school now, the schedule is almost irrelevant to kids over preschool age. They seem to spend a lot of time now on airing shows that were formerly only on Boomerang, like recent Scooby Doo, Tom and Jerry, and Looney Tunes shows. The current schedule is more balanced compared to late 2010s-early 2020s.

 

[Stumpos]

And now here's the 2021 breakdown on how often each show aired. Half hours are the measurement for this, 0.5 being a 11-minute segment and 0.33 being a 7-minute segment.

Same sources as 2007-14 and 2017-20.

2021:
Originals by Cartoon Network:

1. The Amazing World of Gumball: 3149
2. Craig of the Creek: 1679.5
3. Victor and Valentino: 249
4. Apple & Onion: 187.5
5. We Bare Bears: 78
6. Elliott from Earth: 29
7. The Fungies: 26
8. Tig n’ Seek: 10
9. Ben 10 2017: 6
10. Steven Universe: 5
11. The Powerpuff Girls 1998: 2
12. Adventure Time: 1
13. Chowder: 1
14. Dexter’s Laboratory: 1
15. Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends: 1
16. Regular Show: 1
17. Uncle Grandpa: 1
18. Codename Kids Next Door: 1
19. Courage the Cowardly Dog: 1
20. Ed Edd n Eddy: 1
21. Ben 10 2005: 1

Originals by Warner Bros:

1. Teen Titans Go: 2690
2. Baby Looney Tunes: 220
3. Jellystone: 16
4. DC Super Hero Girls 2019: 13
5. Looney Tunes Cartoons: 10

Acquired shows from others:

1. Total DramaRama: 421

Anime:

1. Bakugan Battle Planet: 13

Cartoonito:

1. Pocoyo: 320
2. Caillou: 252
3. Thomas All Engines Go: 161
4. Mush-Mush & the Mushables: 150
5. Bing: 149
6. Lucas the Spider: 15
7. Esme & Roy: 15
8. Love Monster: 15
9. Care Bears Unlock the Magic: 15

ACME Night filler:

1. Harry Potter Hogwarts Tournament: 8
2. Wipeout: 4
3. Bob’s Burgers: 2
4. The Cube: 1.5
5. Family Matters: 1
6. The Carbonaro Effect: 1

Here’s the top 5 most aired this year:

1. The Amazing World of Gumball
2. Teen Titans Go
3. Craig of the Creek
4. Total DramaRama
5. Pocoyo

2021 marked a much needed change for the network after 6 years of stagnation and decline. The top 2 is still Teen Titans Go and Gumball for the 8th year in a row. However, there would be a power shift for the top show. For the first time since 2014, Teen Titans Go was dethroned as the most aired show with Gumball taking the title of most aired show.In fact, Teen Titans Go actually began decreasing airtime in the second half of the year (sometimes even getting less than Craig of the Creek too) and this was the first year since 2014 where it got less than 3000 half hours worth of airings.

There was a new branding this year with Dimensional replaced with Redraw Your World in an attempt to refresh the channel’s image.

For programming blocks, New Saturdays was still going strong as the go to premiere block for every series this year. However, there would be two new blocks that Ascheim added to reinvigorate the channel and expand the demographic.

The first was Cartoonito on September 13, which was their first attempt at a preschool block since Tickle U ended in 2006. In a more extreme case than Tickle U, it initially aired from 6 AM to 2 PM on weekdays and 6 to 8 AM on weekends. However, this would lead to backlash from older viewers and led to the block losing hours gradually with the 1 PM hour lost in November and the 12 PM hour lost in December.

The second was Acme Hour on September 19 which would air movies on Sunday nights (the first movie block since Flicks ended in 2015) at 6 PM. This would end up cutting into Adult Swim’s 8 PM hour. When a movie didn’t run the full 3 hours, they would air shows from other Warner Bros owned networks or Adult Swim as filler at the end of the block, giving an interesting array of shows that aired.

For acquired shows outside of Cartoonito, it’s on life support by this time. Total DramaRama was still doing okay and getting a solid amount of airtime. Bakugan Battle Planet left in March unceremoniously once season 2 finished up, moving to Netflix for later seasons. The loss of Bakugan Battle Planet would mark the current end of anime airing on the channel after 26 years and action shows in general were now gone.

For Warner Bros originals outside of Teen Titans Go, it’s not looking good. DC Super Hero Girls burned off the second and final season on Sunday mornings unadvertised. Baby Looney Tunes returned to air on the Cartoonito block all seven days of the week at the 6 AM hour. After being released on Max the previous year, Looney Tunes Cartoons would air on the channel for two weeks on weekday mornings. Similarly Max original Jellystone would also air during the fall on Saturday mornings and got one marathon.

For the CN originals, things are trying to pick up.

Craig of the Creek is getting more love, becoming the most aired outside the top 2 and frequent marathons.

Elliott from Earth premiered, but didn’t last long due to burning off the show on 9 AM weekdays for two weeks until leaving as soon as the final episode premiered.

Ben 10 2017 came to an end with the final specials airing over a three day weekend in April. While they were advertised, reruns were gone by this year and the show was removed for good once the series finale aired.

Victor and Valentino started off doing decent, but things began going south in the second half of the year with reduced airtime and reruns.

Apple & Onion also took a hit, but it wasn’t totally ignored. The show wrapped up this year, but reruns stayed for a while.

After being released on Max the previous year, The Fungies began airing on Cartoon Network. However, it only aired on Friday mornings at 8 AM during the summer with the only reruns being on Saturday mornings and eventually left by the end of the summer before it could even finish season 1. The show itself would release its second and final season on Max in December, but never aired on Cartoon Network.

Tig N Seek also made its network debut after getting a Max premiere last year and aired on Friday nights at 7:30 PM. However, it only aired half of the episodes from the first two seasons before leaving the network in October and never returning to the channel. The series ultimately finished up in May of the following year when season 4 was released on Max.

For reruns of ended shows outside of Gumball, things are turning around. Steven Universe and We Bare Bears aired their TV movies at the start of the year. In fall, We Bare Bears returned for regular reruns and even got a few marathons to hype up the premiere of the We Baby Bears spin off for next year. December would be when things began to get good, with several of the ended originals returning to the schedule to air their Christmas episodes during holiday season. That marked the first time since 2014 where the pre-2010 shows (outside of Ben 10 2005 and Courage) aired on the network and it’s only getting better from here.

2021 feels like the shot in the arm the channel needed. After spending a few years in a rut and losing shows, Ascheim tried to turn things around between the return of older shows, new blocks, airing the Max originals, new branding, and lessening the overreliance on Teen Titans Go. I know people give Cartoonito flak, but it was at least trying to spice the channel up. Sure it wasn’t a great year and there’s a lot of room for improvement, but it was a good start for what could’ve been a promising future. Let’s see how much they could keep this new momentum.

 

[JMTV]

I gotta say, 2021 for Cartoon Network, while it wasn't the greatest, but it is a massive improvement over the last few years.

It's interesting to note that Gumball is getting a lot more airtime than Teen Titans Go was, despite Gumball had "ended" since 2019. While I'm glad that CN slowly started to toned down the TTG airings and as much as I love Gumball (at least through Season 1), I don't know how to feel about this. On one hand, at least it was something different. On the other hand, it's started to get a little bit repetitive after a awhile and I just wish they could've aired other shows. But hey, at least Craig of the Creek is getting a lot more love, so that counts for something.

Tom Aschiem brining in Cartoonito and ACME Night was a just a major highlight for me at the time, and I was so hyped for them. Say what you will about both of those blocks and yes I have issues with them myself, at least it was something different than your usual TTG marathons for the past 5 years in a row. Not to mention, I was so happy that the old shows are coming back to CN again, even if they only air on the holiday season.

With that said, my biggest problem with Tom Aschiem, and it's not necessarily his fault, is that the parent company, AT&T, seems to be still so hell-bent on making HBO Max to become a huge thing rather than investing Cartoon Network as a channel. A lot of Cartoon Network shows such as Summer Camp Island, Infinity Train, Tig n Seek, and The Fungies are now became Max exclusives. Sure, some of them did aired on cable TV later, but they weren't really premieres. Have those shows aired on Cartoon Network first, and then later on Max, it would've give CN a lot more variety. But for some reason, they just don't want to. It's wierd.

I understand people were mixed to Aschiem's leadership, and some of his decisions were...questionable, but at least he tried to do something different. At least he does see the value of Cartoon Network as a channel.

Which I could not say the same thing for his successor…We’ll get to that later…

 

[Stumpos]

Sure, some of them did aired on cable TV later, but they weren't really premieres. Have those shows aired on Cartoon Network first, and then later on Max, it would've give CN a lot more variety. But for some reason, they just don't want to. It's wierd

Do you think even the Warner Bros originals such as Jellystone, Yabba Dabba Dinosaurs, Tom & Jerry in New York, and Looney Tunes Cartoons also could've easily aired on CN first and then release on Max a day later? They would help in giving CN more variety too in an era where originals are drying up and those shows honestly lend themselves better to weekly airings on TV as more comedy driven shows rather than binging everything at once. Jellystone especially would feel like things are coming at full circle given CN started off airing reruns of old Hanna Barbara shows.

I get Infinity Train being on Max (despite what happened later on) since it's too serialized and feels more like something to be binged on in one go, not so much for the comedies like Summer Camp Island, Tig N Seek, The Fungies, Jellystone, Yabba Dabba Dinosaurs, Tom & Jerry in New York, and Looney Tunes Cartoons.