In terms of quality and consistency, how does anyone felt during CN city era back then?

[Santana434]

Alrighty guys, I know a lot of people saying CN city is some of the best eras of CN. But when I woke up during June of 2004, I wasn’t pretty please with the new logo at first because it took time to get used of and isn’t as iconic as the original logo. But during the first few months or so, CN city had a great start it’s basically almost the same as powerhouse era. Now sadly, when CN city came older CN fans left because the channel that point started geared towards children instead of all ages(even teens and adults), and aside from Ben 10, Fosters and Megas XLR which are very well-received by fans and audiences, A lot of shows had mixed reception at best maybe that’s just me. But anyways, how does anyone felt during City era that time, do you think it’s the best era, or do you think powerhouse era is better since it cared for a wider demographic than just kids. To me, CN city is a great era, but that era kinda been losing some quality to me when fall 2005 came because of Tickle U and making the channel aimed more for kids, and the Fridays lineup during midnight isn’t that good either.

 

[JUS28]

Alrighty guys, I know a lot of people saying CN city is some of the best eras of CN. But when I woke up during June of 2004, I wasn’t pretty please with the new logo at first because it took time to get used of and isn’t as iconic as the original logo. But during the first few months or so, CN city had a great start it’s basically almost the same as powerhouse era. Now sadly, when CN city came older CN fans left because the channel that point started geared towards children instead of young kids, and aside from Ben 10, Fosters and Megas XLR which are very well-received by fans and audiences, A lot of shows had mixed reception at best maybe that’s just me. But anyways, how does anyone felt during City era that time, do you think it’s the best era, or do you think powerhouse era is better since it cared for a wider demographic than just kids. To me, CN city is a great era, but that era kinda been losing some quality to me when fall 2005 came because of Tickle U and making the channel aimed more for kids, and the Fridays lineup during midnight isn’t that good either.

I'm actually friends with Geoff Valent on X (one of the animators who worked on the City era). He and Andy Merrill developed Tickle U back in the day. By the way, what do you think of Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi? (I used to love Janice Kawaye as the cutesy Ami!)

 

[Silverstar]

In terms of branding and aesthetics, Powerhouse and City will always be my favorite CN eras. In terms of shows, the City era was just like every other era: there were some shows I liked and some I didn't.

I tend to avoid comparing eras, i.e. "X era was better than Y era" or "My era could beat your era" type debates for the simple fact that NO era is perfect. Each era has its' share of gems and garbage; what you prefer depends on your personal tastes and experiences. No era of CN (or any other channel, for that matter) is objectively good or bad.

 

[JMTV]

Well, I would say, CN City when it first launched still remained the same from the Powerhouse era in its final years. Same shows, same blocks, but a different coat of paint. New shows like Foster's and Atomic Betty, and HiHi Puffy AmiYumi, and new blocks like Saturday Block Party came to arise during that time. Plus, I don't mind the CN squares logo. Look very unique, but nothing can beat the classic checkerboard logo.

When Boomerang block ended in October 2004, and CN becomes a kiddy channel in March 2005, that's when CN started to take a completely different direction, for better or for worse.

For me, in terms of quality and consistency, CN City in its initial launch in 2004 was fantastic. 2005 was good. It's still good, but I have a couple of issues with it. 2006 is where things went completely went off the rails. But that's a whole different can of worms.

 

[Dr.Pepper]

I liked the City Age even back then. I remember when the rebrand first happened, I tried to watch CN as much as I could. I absolutely adored the idea of all the characters living in the same city.

 

[Pooky]

I was out of the loop with CN at the time, but I have seen the bumpers since and they're very cool and fun. Perhaps a shame they didn't come up with it a few years earlier when PPG, Johnny, Dexter etc were at their peak.

 

[Marble]

(speaking from the UK perspective)
It was about the time after they had enough original shows to not have to rely on the old HB/WB back catalog anymore, but before they started to hyperfocus on specific shows and have them take up most of the schedule. In my opinion, it was the best it has ever been in terms of programming variety.
I think people remember the bumpers fondly because crossovers were not all that common at the time. It'd be seen as passé now, as every media conglomerate has done the concept to death.

 

[AdrenalineRush1996]

I'd say it was the best era for the channel, especially with the crossover impact on the idents after all.

 

[J'onn J'onzz]

Well, I would say, CN City when it first launched still remained the same from the Powerhouse era in its final years. Same shows, same blocks, but a different coat of paint. New shows like Foster's and Atomic Betty, and HiHi Puffy AmiYumi, and new blocks like Saturday Block Party came to arise during that time. Plus, I don't mind the CN squares logo. Look very unique, but nothing can beat the classic checkerboard logo.

When Boomerang block ended in October 2004, and CN becomes a kiddy channel in March 2005, that's when CN started to take a completely different direction, for better or for worse.

For me, in terms of quality and consistency, CN City in its initial launch in 2004 was fantastic. 2005 was good. It's still good, but I have a couple of issues with it. 2006 is where things went completely went off the rails. But that's a whole different can of worms.

Good points. There are some changes in 2004 from the beginning though, like they started adding more frequent commercial breaks. This is not much of an issue on comedy cartoons with a 7 minute short format like Dexter’s Lab, because you can just place ads between each short. With anime, it got annoying because of bad ad placement.

 

[Darklordavaitor]

Personally, I've always been a bigger Powerhouse fan, both in terms of scheduling (greater variety, with classics still an integral part of the network but not as dominant as they were during Checkerboard- with City era, basically everything pre-90s aside from Tom and Jerry were relegated to Boomerang) and, to me, more appealing advertising. I still love how sharp the bumpers were during this period, and the ads were undeniably clever, like Scrappy snapping or Sheep in the Big Cafeteria.

Personally, I felt that the City era's bumpers had potential and definitely had some memorable bits, like Megas racing the Mystery Machine, but I also found them somewhat limiting and less fun to return to. And maybe it's just my age (I was starting to hit adolescence when the City era started), but I do think that the schedule for Powerhouse was better to my taste. I liked still getting to see Looney Tunes daily and preferred Toonami staying on weekdays.

But that's just me, and there was still a lot that kept me tuned into CN for years after.

 

[Markus Nelis]

Great branding. But Powerhouse for me was slightly better. City era had too many double bill slots. A time when streaming didn't exist yet and they lost some amount of variety.