Scrappy-Fan92
Well-Known Member
Before we begin, I'd like to provide you with a way to show how we got here.
-The 30th anniversary thread (1992-1996)
-The 30th anniversary thread (1997-2001)
-The 30th anniversary thread (2002-2006)
And for comparison, here's the thread I did for CN's 20th anniversary about the year 2007. Good? Good.
Here we are for 2007, the year of the iPhone, iCarly, and Irate Gamer. It was also Cartoon Network's 15th birthday, not that the channel did anything to celebrate it openly. The last few years showcased a realignment for the channel as it navigated its way in a post-Cartoon Cartoon world and modernized itself, and this year would perhaps be one of the biggest shifts in the channel's history to date.
After roughly six years as Executive Vice President and General Manager of Cartoon Network, Jim Samples stepped down on February 9th after a promotional stunt went wrong. Adult Swim's Aqua Teen Hunger Force had a form of guerilla marketing involving the placement of LED lights around various U.S. cities. Boston was one of them, and its police department mistakenly assumed the unusual props were bombs. Turner Broadcasting paid a fine and Samples resigned from his post, with Stuart Snyder named as his successor.
Snyder's tenure is legendary for a multitude of reasons, but for all intents and purposes, he was largely keeping the ship afloat for the remainder of the year as far as most kids watching were concerned. It was business as usual except in all the elements where it wasn't. Juniper Lee and the recent-ish Squirrel Boy concluded their runs in April and September respectively. Two went out, and two would eventually come in during the back half of the year, and both would be rather indicative of how Snyder's tenure would look despite them being greenlit under Samples.
First up was Out Of Jimmy's Head, a TV series following up the previous year's Re-Animated. The majority of the film's principal actors returned, though protagonist Jimmy's friends Craig and Robin were recast while animated character Golly Gopher went through a voice switch. Aside from being kind of lost media now, it had the dubious honor of being the only Cartoon Network original series to be affected by the 2007-08 WGA strike. The joys of working with actual sets. Next would be the channel's sole wholly-animated original, Chowder. A food-themed series from the mind of veteran cartoon scribe C.H. Greenblatt (who also voiced Fred Fredburger on Billy & Mandy), Chowder would be one of four animated shows to make it into the 2010's. Speaking of Billy & Mandy, 2007 is a bit of an inflection point for it and several other shows. While it did not officially end this year, Billy & Mandy did air its last regular episodes by 2007's end. But not before airing a TV movie, sending the cast to fight aliens as part of a cross-show tie-in, and airing another TV movie. And then two days after the last episode, Billy, Mandy, and Grim had to match wits with the Kids Next Door. KND also aired its final episodes this year, but would also not be considered properly concluded. The gradual passing of the torch from the old(er) guard to new blood was underway.
Ben 10 debuted its fourth and final season, which aired most of its episodes this year, holding off a few to facilitate a smoother transition to an announced sequel series. Thankfully, fans would not be left hungry, as the show would get two TV movies of its own, the latter of which gave Ben 10 the honor of having Cartoon Network's first animation-to-live-action adaptation.
If the above stuff is making you feel as if the end of an era was approaching, that's because it was. Toonami transitioned into its final daytime phase, redesigning T.O.M. to have an appearance that was simultaneously more human and more robotic. S.A.R.A would be removed, replaced with two assistants named D and Flash. T.O.M. 4.0's base of operations would be redesigned as well. While this era of the now-decade-old action block would be controversial with many fans, at least they had a block to complain about. Toonami's counterpart Miguzi would bow out before year's end, with comedy-centric block Funny for Your Face effectively taking its weekday slots with CN's originals and two Scooby-Doo! series anchoring it.
...These posts are too long. I hate my life.
Fridays would also bow out, which meant it was either the end of "only" the 2003 iteration or the end of the whole experiment that began in 1999. It was given a stopgap successor via Friday Night Premiere Thunder before the comparatively more well-known Fried Dynamite took over. This too had live hosts performing skits, though they were far younger than Tommy and Tara. Fried Dynamite brought a Saturday morning action block, Dynamite Action Squad, with it as well.
Beyond the block retools and exits, Cartoon Network's biggest surface change likely came from the retirement of the short-lived "Yes!" Era bumpers to transition to the Fall Era. Named after a real song, "Fall is Just Something That Grown-Ups Invented," the block implemented an instrumental of the tune in its branding, even for months that were no longer Fall.
Some would say this was the beginning of the end for the channel. I would argue this was just Snyder finding his feet. The best and worst were yet to come.
Other tidbits, because I know you want to read more of my rambling:
Fall Era bumpers from 2007 and 2008:
Out of Jimmy's Head intro:
-Chowder intro
-Ben 10 intro (seasons 3-4)
-Toonami's T.O.M. 4.0 intro
-Toonami 10th anniversary montage collection
-Invaded promos
-Master Marathon promo
-Funny For Your Face (Summer promo); Fall promo
-Naruto Hundo promo
-Fried Dynamite promos
-Promo for Master Control, Miguzi's short-lived successor that allowed viewers to pick a faction and help determine CN's afternoon line-up
-"Fall is Just Something That Grown-Ups Invented" music video (the music video starts at 0:04)
-Ben 10: Race Against Time intro
-Class of 3000's Christmas intro
...I'm not finishing these by the end of this year.
-The 30th anniversary thread (1992-1996)
-The 30th anniversary thread (1997-2001)
-The 30th anniversary thread (2002-2006)
And for comparison, here's the thread I did for CN's 20th anniversary about the year 2007. Good? Good.
Here we are for 2007, the year of the iPhone, iCarly, and Irate Gamer. It was also Cartoon Network's 15th birthday, not that the channel did anything to celebrate it openly. The last few years showcased a realignment for the channel as it navigated its way in a post-Cartoon Cartoon world and modernized itself, and this year would perhaps be one of the biggest shifts in the channel's history to date.
After roughly six years as Executive Vice President and General Manager of Cartoon Network, Jim Samples stepped down on February 9th after a promotional stunt went wrong. Adult Swim's Aqua Teen Hunger Force had a form of guerilla marketing involving the placement of LED lights around various U.S. cities. Boston was one of them, and its police department mistakenly assumed the unusual props were bombs. Turner Broadcasting paid a fine and Samples resigned from his post, with Stuart Snyder named as his successor.
Snyder's tenure is legendary for a multitude of reasons, but for all intents and purposes, he was largely keeping the ship afloat for the remainder of the year as far as most kids watching were concerned. It was business as usual except in all the elements where it wasn't. Juniper Lee and the recent-ish Squirrel Boy concluded their runs in April and September respectively. Two went out, and two would eventually come in during the back half of the year, and both would be rather indicative of how Snyder's tenure would look despite them being greenlit under Samples.
First up was Out Of Jimmy's Head, a TV series following up the previous year's Re-Animated. The majority of the film's principal actors returned, though protagonist Jimmy's friends Craig and Robin were recast while animated character Golly Gopher went through a voice switch. Aside from being kind of lost media now, it had the dubious honor of being the only Cartoon Network original series to be affected by the 2007-08 WGA strike. The joys of working with actual sets. Next would be the channel's sole wholly-animated original, Chowder. A food-themed series from the mind of veteran cartoon scribe C.H. Greenblatt (who also voiced Fred Fredburger on Billy & Mandy), Chowder would be one of four animated shows to make it into the 2010's. Speaking of Billy & Mandy, 2007 is a bit of an inflection point for it and several other shows. While it did not officially end this year, Billy & Mandy did air its last regular episodes by 2007's end. But not before airing a TV movie, sending the cast to fight aliens as part of a cross-show tie-in, and airing another TV movie. And then two days after the last episode, Billy, Mandy, and Grim had to match wits with the Kids Next Door. KND also aired its final episodes this year, but would also not be considered properly concluded. The gradual passing of the torch from the old(er) guard to new blood was underway.
Ben 10 debuted its fourth and final season, which aired most of its episodes this year, holding off a few to facilitate a smoother transition to an announced sequel series. Thankfully, fans would not be left hungry, as the show would get two TV movies of its own, the latter of which gave Ben 10 the honor of having Cartoon Network's first animation-to-live-action adaptation.
If the above stuff is making you feel as if the end of an era was approaching, that's because it was. Toonami transitioned into its final daytime phase, redesigning T.O.M. to have an appearance that was simultaneously more human and more robotic. S.A.R.A would be removed, replaced with two assistants named D and Flash. T.O.M. 4.0's base of operations would be redesigned as well. While this era of the now-decade-old action block would be controversial with many fans, at least they had a block to complain about. Toonami's counterpart Miguzi would bow out before year's end, with comedy-centric block Funny for Your Face effectively taking its weekday slots with CN's originals and two Scooby-Doo! series anchoring it.
...These posts are too long. I hate my life.
Fridays would also bow out, which meant it was either the end of "only" the 2003 iteration or the end of the whole experiment that began in 1999. It was given a stopgap successor via Friday Night Premiere Thunder before the comparatively more well-known Fried Dynamite took over. This too had live hosts performing skits, though they were far younger than Tommy and Tara. Fried Dynamite brought a Saturday morning action block, Dynamite Action Squad, with it as well.
Beyond the block retools and exits, Cartoon Network's biggest surface change likely came from the retirement of the short-lived "Yes!" Era bumpers to transition to the Fall Era. Named after a real song, "Fall is Just Something That Grown-Ups Invented," the block implemented an instrumental of the tune in its branding, even for months that were no longer Fall.
Some would say this was the beginning of the end for the channel. I would argue this was just Snyder finding his feet. The best and worst were yet to come.
Other tidbits, because I know you want to read more of my rambling:
-Cartoon Network Theatre was retired and replaced with Movie Madness. Effectively, this was just a branding change.
-Speaking of movies, this was the year of CN's shows getting TV movies (and specials). My Gym Partner's a Monkey: The Big Field Trip, Camp Lazlo: Where's Lazlo?, Billy & Mandy's Big Boogey Adventure, The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy: Wrath of the Spider Queen, Ben 10: Secrets of the Omnitrix, and Ben 10: Race Against Time aired throughout the year and many even boasted a CN Movies bumper created the year before.
-May was the Cartoon Network Invaded event month. Five shows (Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, Ed, Edd n Eddy, My Gym Partner's a Monkey, Camp Lazlo, and The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy) would feature their respective characters dealing with an alien threat, whose design was mostly consistent in all shows. Think of the Warrior King arc for USA Network's Action Extreme Team block for those in the older crowd. Billy & Mandy's episode served as the finale to the event, airing on Memorial Day after a 9-movie marathon that also reaired the other four shows' portions of the tie-in.
-In anticipation of the airing of the Diamond & Pearl phase of Pokémon: The Series, Cartoon Network aired the Pokémon Master Marathon in June, showcasing select episodes from the first season up through Battle Frontier. Later in August, Naruto would also receive a multi-day marathon to commemorate 100 dubbed episodes.
-Fried Dynamite kicked things off with the CN broadcast of Chill Out, Scooby-Doo!, the last Scooby project to have any significant involvement from Joe Barbera and the franchise's veteran artist Iwao Takamoto, who passed away on January 8th at the age of 81. Adult Swim would air a bumper in tribute to him.
-The founding of CN's European animation division, aptly named Cartoon Network Development Studio Europe. This division opened its doors on September 18th (my birthday), and will be very important later.
-Sunday, November 11th, 2007 -- erroneously given the airdate of Friday, October 19th in some magazines -- saw the premiere of The Grim Adventures of the KND, a 30-minute Kids Next Door crossover that was in some respects the "true" final episode of Billy & Mandy. It was preceded by a marathon of episodes and movies from both shows.
-Class of 3000 received a Christmas special titled The Class of 3000 Christmas Special. A reboot of George of the Jungle would also premiere with Christmas-themed episodes by year's end.
-Meanwhile in Canada, some show called Total Drama Island premiered. I don't think it caught on anywhere.
-Speaking of movies, this was the year of CN's shows getting TV movies (and specials). My Gym Partner's a Monkey: The Big Field Trip, Camp Lazlo: Where's Lazlo?, Billy & Mandy's Big Boogey Adventure, The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy: Wrath of the Spider Queen, Ben 10: Secrets of the Omnitrix, and Ben 10: Race Against Time aired throughout the year and many even boasted a CN Movies bumper created the year before.
-May was the Cartoon Network Invaded event month. Five shows (Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, Ed, Edd n Eddy, My Gym Partner's a Monkey, Camp Lazlo, and The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy) would feature their respective characters dealing with an alien threat, whose design was mostly consistent in all shows. Think of the Warrior King arc for USA Network's Action Extreme Team block for those in the older crowd. Billy & Mandy's episode served as the finale to the event, airing on Memorial Day after a 9-movie marathon that also reaired the other four shows' portions of the tie-in.
-In anticipation of the airing of the Diamond & Pearl phase of Pokémon: The Series, Cartoon Network aired the Pokémon Master Marathon in June, showcasing select episodes from the first season up through Battle Frontier. Later in August, Naruto would also receive a multi-day marathon to commemorate 100 dubbed episodes.
-Fried Dynamite kicked things off with the CN broadcast of Chill Out, Scooby-Doo!, the last Scooby project to have any significant involvement from Joe Barbera and the franchise's veteran artist Iwao Takamoto, who passed away on January 8th at the age of 81. Adult Swim would air a bumper in tribute to him.
-The founding of CN's European animation division, aptly named Cartoon Network Development Studio Europe. This division opened its doors on September 18th (my birthday), and will be very important later.
-Sunday, November 11th, 2007 -- erroneously given the airdate of Friday, October 19th in some magazines -- saw the premiere of The Grim Adventures of the KND, a 30-minute Kids Next Door crossover that was in some respects the "true" final episode of Billy & Mandy. It was preceded by a marathon of episodes and movies from both shows.
-Class of 3000 received a Christmas special titled The Class of 3000 Christmas Special. A reboot of George of the Jungle would also premiere with Christmas-themed episodes by year's end.
-Meanwhile in Canada, some show called Total Drama Island premiered. I don't think it caught on anywhere.
Fall Era bumpers from 2007 and 2008:
Out of Jimmy's Head intro:
-Chowder intro
-Ben 10 intro (seasons 3-4)
-Toonami's T.O.M. 4.0 intro
-Toonami 10th anniversary montage collection
-Invaded promos
-Master Marathon promo
-Funny For Your Face (Summer promo); Fall promo
-Naruto Hundo promo
-Fried Dynamite promos
-Promo for Master Control, Miguzi's short-lived successor that allowed viewers to pick a faction and help determine CN's afternoon line-up
-"Fall is Just Something That Grown-Ups Invented" music video (the music video starts at 0:04)
-Ben 10: Race Against Time intro
-Class of 3000's Christmas intro
...I'm not finishing these by the end of this year.
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![[classic swim]](/forums/data/avatars/s/324/324637.jpg?1668169542){kind=avatar}