What is your favorite generation era for Cartoon Network?

[Moe]

Checkerboard era? Powerhouse era? City era? Yes! era? Noods era? Real era? CHECK it era?

As for me, my most favorite era was Checkerboard and Powerhouse equally and secondly, City.

I stopped watch Cartoon Network regularly after City era ended because they lost much of relevance and Toonami went downhill until discontinuation in 2008. Sometime, I went back to Cartoon Network for my Pokemon fix when I have a time to watch TV.

I believe that most members in this forum prefer City era.

What about you? Share your opinion here. Discussion.

 

[Surreal Kangaroo]

Even though I have the most nostalgia for the Powerhouse era, I actually love the look of the City era. I wish it lasted longer.

 

[Silverstar]

Just to avoid confusion, I'll be judging by the brandings and aesthetics in addition to the shows themselves.

My favorite CN eras/brandings were/are in no particular order: Powerhouse and City. The Powerhouse era had a decent mix of classic and contemporary shows and did a really good job of capturing the whole "Bang! Boom!" old cartoon style with their bumps and idents. Like a lot of viewers, I really loved the City branding; it was just so cool and meticulously done. My only complaints about City were a) the classic cartoons like Looney Tunes were all but gone from CN by this time; it would've been nice to see some Looney Tunes and Hanna-Barbera characters taking part in the fun too, and b) as much as I loved City, I knew it wasn't going to last longer than a year or so since those bumps were hella expensive to produce; not only did they all feature 100% original animation (no re-used animations, I'm looking at you, Kids' WB!) but all the characters had their actual voice actors.

It could just be nostalgia or me getting wistful given the current state of CN, but lately I find myself re-watching some of the YES! and Fall bumps and thinking "Maybe this era wasn't so bad".

 

[JMTV]

My favorite CN eras/brandings were/are in no particular order: Powerhouse and City. The Powerhouse era had a decent mix of classic and contemporary shows and did a really good job of capturing the whole "Bang! Boom!" old cartoon style with their bumps and idents. Like a lot of viewers, I really loved the City branding; it was just so cool and meticulously done. My only complaints about City were a) the classic cartoons like Looney Tunes were all but gone from CN by this time; it would've been nice to see some Looney Tunes and Hanna-Barbera characters taking part in the fun too, and b) as much as I loved City, I knew it wasn't going to last longer than a year or so since those bumps were hella expensive to produce; not only did they all feature 100% original animation (no re-used animations, I'm looking at you, Kids' WB!) but all the characters had their actual voice actors.

THIS!!! Powerhouse is my all-time favorite era of Cartoon Network, and I'll defend it til' the day I die.

CN City was my second favorite era as well.

It could just be nostalgia or me getting wistful given the current state of CN, but lately I find myself re-watching some of the YES! and Fall bumps and thinking "Maybe this era wasn't so bad".

I don't think the YES Era wasn't as bad as people were making it out to be. I honestly don't. Other than Re-Animated, and CN shoving Cheese and Fred Fredburger down our throats, people act like the YES era is a freaking train-wreck, even though it's not. I'd seen train-wrecks. YES Era is not a trainwreck. I thought it was just okay, you know?

 

[Moe]

Powerhouse era is one of most definitive CN and as for nostalgia, CN considered Powerhouse to be one of them on their channel since Checkerboard era exported to separate Boomerang channel.

There is reason about why I preferred Checkerboard era because it is one of most original that Turner created to have all cartoon channel, also introduction of original series and Toonami started during late Checkerboard era/Starburst era.

At first place, I thought most people in here preferred City era but I do feel that Powerhouse era won the game.

I haven't experience with Yes! because 2006-2007 was my rough year because of family issues and job, so that caused me to distract from TV, also after moved to new house in fall 2005 (middle of City era) with awful Dish because new subdivision didn't have cable until later in 2010s. Dish didn't get better until they got HD channels. DirecTV was OK. I had CN with very clean picture when I had cable. 2006 should be congratulation year for me because of high school graduation but ended up got distracted by multiple issues. When I'm in mood to watch TV, MTV, Spike, A&E, Comedy Central and Toon Disney/Jetix were my choice. I went back to CN full time during CHECK it era as my favorite adult channels started to lose the cause.

My definition about CN lost the relevance and Toonami went bad was after 2007-2008 and it looks like after Yes! ended.

Checkerboard lasted 6 years and Powerhouse lasted 6 years. I didn't understand about why City era lasted 2 years.

 

[Francisque]

One of the problems about the City era ending so early was that it was definitely not a flexible era, since shows naturally get cancelled and new ones would arrive, automatically making the branding incoherent with what was being shown.

Which is a bit sad as it was one of the most expensive packages, but I naturally understand why something else replacing it was needed.

Many parts of this "era" were good, nevertheless, I prefer the current logo.

And I realize other packages too contained references to the ongoing shows, but the City graphics were more expensive and less flexible at that.

At one point, it was better to reshape everything than asking for more City bumpers to be created, and so they did

 

[J'onn J'onzz]

Checkerboard has a fun 90s style to the branding, and that is when I got into blocks like Power Zone and Toonami. We do start to see original programming like Dexter and Space Ghost Coast to Coast airing in that era too, so it’s not just HB reruns like some believe.

Giving the channel that catchy theme which permeated all the bumpers of the late 90s and early 2000s was a good move. Of course at the time I had no idea what the song was called or that anyone considered it the “powerhouse” era. I didn’t really become a huge jazz fan until my 20s, so I just thought of it as a cartoon song.

“City” was more self explanatory of an era name. This is not a perfect era. It’s very transitional, with a lot of what made the Powerhouse era special coming to an end. The Cartoon Cartoons like Dexter, Johnny Bravo, and PPG were either already recently over or came to a close early in this era. After the first few months, Boomerang block and other retro cartoons were removed.

Toonami fared badly in this era. First it lost weekdays in the late Powerhouse era, replacing SVES with a shorter Toonami block. This block mainly aired movies for the first few months and dropped almost all of the existing Saturday night lineup, leaving shows like Transformers Energon to die at 6 am. Almost every single anime to premiere on Saturday night Toonami failed to finish their run there, besides Bobobo, which barely managed to squeak in its final episode the week the block contracted to two hours. The aborted attempt to target Toonami to teens ended in failure around a year in, as shows like Gundam Seed, Yu Yu Hakusho, and Rurouni Kenshin were exiled to late Friday night or removed entirely. A block can’t grow with its audience if the network insists it continue to target 6-11 year olds for advertising purposes. The attempts to use Toonami as a transition between CN and AS with more mature shows ended with shows like 4Kids One Piece airing in the 10 PM hour as an AS lead in.

By the time the yes era came, I was kinda done with main CN. The simplistic red bumpers didn’t do much for me and I found the new mascot characters like Fred and Cheese annoying. I didn’t watch the newer cartoons like My Gym Partner is a Monkey. It seemed to me like the channel was being dumbed down and I didn’t watch it much anymore. I was also aging out of the CN target demo at this point though. And with YouTube becoming big at this time, CN began having to compete with the internet for my eyes.

 

[[classic swim]]

Unoriginal answer, but Powerhouse and City. Checkerboard bleeds into that as well.

Powerhouse had a good grip on what made Cartoon Network its own experience. City was one where even when I was older and not watching religiously, there was just no denying how everything was packaged together.

City was also sometimes a great combo when waiting for [as].

 

[Moe]

Unoriginal answer, but Powerhouse and City. Checkerboard bleeds into that as well.

Powerhouse had a good grip on what made Cartoon Network its own experience. City was one where even when I was older and not watching religiously, there was just no denying how everything was packaged together.

City was also sometimes a great combo when waiting for [as].

Adult Swim is your sweet home.

I was late teen with 17th birthday was 6 months away at time when City era came on.

During City era, I watch shows on Toonami most of time and can't watch shows on Adult Swim because my bedtime was at 10:30 pm (all students in Grade 10-11 stay in room at 10 pm as prepare for bedtime) at dorm in deaf school. After I got out of deaf school when I was senior, finally, I was able to stay late, sometime, late as 2 am and enjoyed watch Adult Swim. Less sleep is bad for me because of school and class start at 7:30 am. Weekend is not problem at all. Sleep in class got written up with demerit (at deaf school, pink paper).

 

[cartoonnetworkpoke]

It was check it!

 

[mqg96]

It's always Powerhouse era for me. 2002 and 2003 are the full years of CN I enjoyed the most, and I don't think any other years in its history have come close to this day in overall variety, feel and appeal of the network. 2004 and 2005 are right in 2nd place (good runner ups), the Powerhouse/City transition and the only full year of CN City + Summer 2005. You all know why I've picked those years so many times, so I don't need to explain lol.


I will say, if I had to pick a 3rd place spot, it goes to 2010-2012/13. You had Adventure Time and Regular Show coming out, combined with Young Justice, Sym-Bionic Titan, Generator Rex, and Scooby-Doo Mystery Incorporated. Then you had the return of Toonami on adult swim and the 20th anniversary + Cartoon Planet block for classics.

 

[mqg96]

By the time the yes era came, I was kinda done with main CN. The simplistic red bumpers didn’t do much for me and I found the new mascot characters like Fred and Cheese annoying. I didn’t watch the newer cartoons like My Gym Partner is a Monkey. It seemed to me like the channel was being dumbed down and I didn’t watch it much anymore. I was also aging out of the CN target demo at this point though. And with YouTube becoming big at this time, CN began having to compete with the internet for my eyes.

2006, also known as the YES era, was the beginning of the end for me too, and I was still in CN's main target audience. You know when something inside of you says "something ain't right with this".... you get that eerie feeling, and I knew hard times were along the way, then Re-Animated, TOM 4, Fried Dynamite, ending of original shows, and CN Real happened later on. I started watching Adult Swim and Boomerang more around this time. CN didn't become exciting again for me until I was in high school during the CHECK it era.

 

[Late Noods Era Guy]

Check It 1.0 was my favourite. They should bring that back, I'm sick of Pastel

 

[cartoo5007]

The early check it era is my favorite Check it 1.0/2.0