Shows You Assumed Were More Popular

[Pooky]

I suspect we've had a thread along these lines in the past, but I couldn't find one. The closest I could find was this thread in Entertainment, which isn't really the same thing. If anyone does know one feel free to post it below and we can consider merging if merited.

At any rate, I've been on a bit of a comic strip kick after the Garfield movie, and in the course of this I've remember how much I liked the Mother Goose & Grimm/Grimmy cartoon in the 90s. I first watched it on ITV in around 94, if I recall correctly it aired in a weekend "family" slot rather than the explicitly kid-centric CITV, and then later around 1996 in a very early Weekend morning slot on UK Nickelodeon, which is when I really got into because being 9/10 around this time I started to get more of the humour. I don't recall if I knew it was based on a comic strip, but I certainly was excited when I later stumbled on a pocket sized strip collection (Pick of the Litter), and I recall being seriously tempted by a £12.99 Grimmy plush, which I still kind of regret not giving into because to this day it's the only bit of merchandise I've ever seen here. I recall a few years later being amused when Jack Burns appeared on the Beyond Blunderdome episode of The Simpsons doing the same "know what I mean?" routine he did here. However, given that this show has never been released on DVD and otherwise languished in obscurity since the 90s, and lasted a fraction as long as Garfield and Friends, I've come to conclude it was never particularly popular.

I never really watched this one, but I also recall Sheep in the Big City being heavily pushed by UK Cartoon Network shortly before I lost access to the channel, so until relatively recently I assumed it had been about as big as Billy & Mandy and some of the other CN shows that were after my time/between my times, so I was surprised to realise it quickly became somewhat obscure.

Over to you.

 

[Sparklefan1234]

I thought the fifth generation of My Little Pony would be a lot more well-liked than it is because it

had references to the very popular "Friendship is Magic" series when it was first starting out.

Sadly, it feels like the fifth generation of My Little Pony might end before it really gets going.

 

[Red Arrow]

The 2007 George of the Jungle series was so popular in Flanders and aired on four channels, I still have a hard time believing it flopped in the USA.

 

[Sparklefan1234]

I assumed a lot of the current Disney cartoons were popular but they keep getting their

season orders cut short when just a few years ago

there used to be a three season guarantee (That's what it seemed like.) no matter what.

 

[aegisrawks]

I know this is cheating. But Sailor Moon in the UK, it is visually iconic but its not beloved at all, a company went bankrupt trying to release DVD's and Anime Unlimited or All The Anime venomously responded the brand has no appeal there and will never release it there again. The only release is Crystal/Eternal on Netflix.

 

[ShadowBeast]

there used to be a three season guarantee (That's what it seemed like.) no matter what.

Actually it used to be a two season guarantee. A Disney cartoon getting three seasons was very rare.

 

[Dr.Pepper]

I’m not sure if this totally counts but I thought Time Squad was more popular than it actually was. If I only think of Time Squad briefly I imagine it having 52 episodes and being a staple of CN in the early 2000’s. When I think of it harder, I remember it only had 26 episodes (and I think all but one aired within a year).

 

[Sparklefan1234]

I've seen that "Disney's House of Mouse" has the opposite issue where the show

is very popular and fondly remembered by fans but Disney seems to have forgotten all about it.

I hope this still counts and I'm sorry if it doesn't.

Actually it used to be a two season guarantee. A Disney cartoon getting three seasons was very rare.

Thank You so much for correcting me, My Friend.

 

[Golden Geek]

I know this is cheating. But Sailor Moon in the UK, it is visually iconic but its not beloved at all, a company went bankrupt trying to release DVD's and Anime Unlimited or All The Anime venomously responded the brand has no appeal there and will never release it there again. The only release is Crystal/Eternal on Netflix.

The BBFC fees likely are a major factor for that. With their current rate, it'd be about (likely more than) £44,000 just to get the series rated for home video, which is a legal requirement.

 

[Red Arrow]

Yes, I know, I know, it's not a show, but I definitely thought the movie Robots from 2005 was super popular. There were ads shown EVERYWHERE. Until everyone suddenly forgot about it...

It's on Disney+.

 

[Darklordavaitor]

I’m not sure if this totally counts but I thought Time Squad was more popular than it actually was. If I only think of Time Squad briefly I imagine it having 52 episodes and being a staple of CN in the early 2000’s. When I think of it harder, I remember it only had 26 episodes (and I think all but one aired within a year).

I remember thinking at the time (heh) that Time Squad was going to be the next big thing for Cartoon Network. It had more slots and better promotion than other Cartoon Cartoons that came and went like Mike, Lu & Og and Sheep in the Big City (which I don't think ever really had much of a chance, as much as I loved and still love it), including at least one memorable President's Day marathon, then it just... stopped.

I recall it being a regular staple on the channel around 01 through early 02 and then somewhat in 03, and it seems like that's about right, the show regularly premiered episodes up until July 02 and then scattered until November 2003. That adds up to my experience, but I could've sworn that Time Squad was a little bigger than the shows I mentioned before, but it appears to be just as obscure in hindsight.

 

[JMTV]

I remember Unikitty used to advertise everywhere on CN in the late 2010's due to success of the Lego movies and have the similar crew of Teen Titans Go.

After 2020, Unikitty just faded away into obscurity, especially after the underperformance of Lego Movie 2.

I remember thinking at the time (heh) that Time Squad was going to be the next big thing for Cartoon Network. It had more slots and better promotion than other Cartoon Cartoons that came and went like Mike, Lu & Og and Sheep in the Big City (which I don't think ever really had much of a chance, as much as I loved and still love it), including at least one memorable President's Day marathon, then it just... stopped.

I recall it being a regular staple on the channel around 01 through early 02 and then somewhat in 03, and it seems like that's about right, the show regularly premiered episodes up until July 02 and then scattered until November 2003. That adds up to my experience, but I could've sworn that Time Squad was a little bigger than the shows I mentioned before, but it appears to be just as obscure in hindsight.

Yeah, it also doesn't help that during the City era, CN rerun or air the final episodes of Time Squad at 5am in the morning, and quietly stopped airing it in 2005.

 

[Pooky]

I know this is cheating. But Sailor Moon in the UK, it is visually iconic but its not beloved at all, a company went bankrupt trying to release DVD's and Anime Unlimited or All The Anime venomously responded the brand has no appeal there and will never release it there again. The only release is Crystal/Eternal on Netflix.

You do see a lot of Sailor Moon merchandise in the UK, but over the last 10 years or so there's been an influx of 80s/90s retro merchandise for US properties that didn't really have a place in the UK culture at the time, in some cases they weren't even widely shown or distributed here (G.I. Joe being one notable example, although you don't see *that much* Joe merch). I suppose Sailor Moon is no different outside of originating from Japan. That said Sailor Moon was shown here on ITV, and I know people who watched it (I didn't, I heard of it through forums in the late 90s, possibly including an early incarnation of Toonzone). Of course watching something on TV as a kid is very different from buying it on DVD 10-15 years later. Now with that said there's no way there would be less of an audience for Sailor Moon DVDs than about 2/3rds of what you see on the Anime shelves in the UK, so I think whatever poor company that was must have made some serious miscalculations there.

I also suspect the relative lack of Sailor Moon on Netflix is likely some rights thing rather than a commercial decision. That doesn't really seem to be much of a factor in their decisions here; I know it's a Netflix production so it's a bit different, but UK Netflix has Fuller House, a sequel to a series the UK public has absolutely no connection to. And Sailor Moon is on our Crunchyroll.

 

[Darklordavaitor]

I remember Unikitty used to advertise everywhere on CN in the late 2010's due to success of the Lego movies and have the similar crew of Teen Titans Go.

After 2020, Unikitty just faded away into obscurity, especially after the underperformance of Lego Movie 2.

I remember when Unikitty! came out, some people on here thought that it was going to become the channel's new Teen Titans Go!, but I had a feeling that it was going to burn out quickly. It got a few seasons, so I was off, but it didn't become a lasting hit, so not too off. If anything, the show appeared to be a casualty of Warner losing the rights to the Lego franchise.

Yeah, it also doesn't help that during the City era, CN rerun or air the final episodes of Time Squad at 5am in the morning, and quietly stopped airing it in 2005.

Yes, that adds up. I think that's a little better than other underperforming CN originals- I don't recall Mike, Lu & Og or Sheep in the Big City making it to the City era at all- but not the massive success I thought it would be at one point.

 

[Silverstar]

When Chowder first hit Cartoon Network, it was hyped pretty hard (probably because it was one of the few new show premieres CN had during that year). It seemed to be doing well, some people even speculated that Chowder was destined to be CN's Spongebob Squarepants (something CN has yet to achieve, unless one counts Powerpuff Girls and Ben 10); while the show did OK enough and didn't completely drop off the radar, it never reached the heights that several people were projecting it would. I can't help but think that some of it has to do with when the show debuted; it came out during the Fried Dynamite era, which was very divisive to CN purists; CN's only other big hit at that time was Naruto, an import/acquisition.

 

[Darklordavaitor]

When Chowder first hit Cartoon Network, it was hyped pretty hard (probably because it was one of the few new show premieres CN had during that year). It seemed to be doing well, some people even speculated that Chowder was destined to be CN's Spongebob Squarepants (something CN has yet to achieve, unless one counts Powerpuff Girls and Ben 10); while the show did OK enough and didn't completely drop off the radar, it never reached the heights that several people were projecting it would. I can't help but think that some of it has to do with when the show debuted; it came out during the Fried Dynamite era, which was very divisive to CN purists; CN's only other big hit at that time was Naruto, an import/acquisition.

Chowder's an interesting case, because like you said, it was expected to be a bigger deal and usher in a new age for Cartoon Network, but it really ended one side of the channel's history rather than start another more than anything and didn't quite blow up.

However, I see the show brought up often on social media, largely by people younger than me who would have been in its target audience. The show seems pretty well remembered even if it never became a SpongeBob killer or CN's next Foster's.

 

[JMTV]

I don't recall Mike, Lu & Og or Sheep in the Big City making it to the City era at all- but not the massive success I thought it would be at one point.

If I recall correctly, I think the last time CN aired Mike, Lu, and Og and Sheep in the Big City was....mid-2002 (before or after Robot Jones came out).

 

[Red Arrow]

During my childhood, we had Transformers: Energon / Cybertron / Animated. I liked Animated but I seemed to be the only one in my school. I always assumed that the Transformers cartoons were more popular in the United States ("Why else do they keep making new series?"), but now as an adult, I am not so sure anymore.

What do you guys think?

 

[Sparklefan1234]

I remember Unikitty used to advertise everywhere on CN in the late 2010's due to success of the Lego movies and have the similar crew of Teen Titans Go.

After 2020, Unikitty just faded away into obscurity, especially after the underperformance of Lego Movie 2.

"Unikitty!" is one of my all-time favorite cartoons!

---

Is "Aladdin: The Animated Series" popular or not?

People talk about wanting it on DIsney Plus but I don't remember how good it actually was.

 

[Silverstar]

During my childhood, we had Transformers: Energon / Cybertron / Animated. I liked Animated but I seemed to be the only one in my school. I always assumed that the Transformers cartoons were more popular in the United States ("Why else do they keep making new series?"), but now as an adult, I am not so sure anymore.

What do you guys think?

Here in the States, Transformers was hugely popular during its' initial run in the 80's, when it had its' first syndicated cartoon which led to the animated movie (the one with Orson Welles as Unicron). Since then, Transformers has never really gone away; we get new shows, movies and adaptations every few years, but it's never repeated its' 1980's peak here in the US.

Is "Aladdin: The Animated Series" popular or not?

People talk about wanting it on DIsney Plus but I don't remember how good it actually was.

It was pretty popular during its' initial run, not surprising, since it was riding the wave of the movie. It was popular enough to spawn two DTV sequel movies. Aladdin: The Series did well enough, but the original movie was much more popular. It's been my experience that a lot of the people clamoring for the show to come to Disney Plus do so mainly because it was part of the Disney Afternoon, which was a lot of peoples' childhoods.