Has Anybody Heard of Cartoon Monsoon?

I'm still trying to understand what it's about myself. I think I have the gist of it.

Warner Bros. Animation has this online "battle" competition of animators called Cartoon Monsoon. Every competitor creates a series of Flash-animated shorts for consumption, and the visitors vote on the best ones.

I think that's how it goes. Everything else is a blur to me. Here's the first cycle of shorts created, including a short that basically turns a popular C-level DC Comics heroine known as Zatanna into what is essentially an "American magical girl" series. I'm sure the powers that be at DC never even thought of that concept for the character. The second round is underway, and a new cycle of shorts are coming to the Monsoon stage.

So, how come you don't hear so much about this in the animated press? And why isn't it even advertised on that aniamtion channel TimeWarner owns in the US? No, not Boomerang, the other one with the checkerboard logo . . .

Speaking of that network, I want to see the pilots shorts! There has been a new cycle of original shorts that were made for Cartoon Network, but the public aren't going to see them any time soon. I guess that they don't want another Kitty Bobo incident on their hands. You remember Kitty Bobo, right? It was that great short about these city-living felines that was with Mission Hill/Downtown-like hipness. Came out the same year the Kids Next Door pilot was shown. It'll probably never be seen again, as won't the other shorts of that year. Gosh, I remember when August celebrated the original shorts, but people (read: CN execs) don't really have the threshold for seven-minute stand-alone short subjects anymore, do they?

You know, for the longest time, I thought it was just a bias towards the classic shorts, but now I realize that unless it's a part of a 30-minute franchise or it's a 12-minute Flash series/pilot for adults, CN really doesn't care for shorts anymore. At all.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

MeTV TOONS: A Few Pre-Launch Thoughts

Image
  On June 25, 2024, Weigel Broadcasting and Warner Bros Discovery are launching MeTV TOONS, an over-the-air broadcast network devoted to classic animation featuring the best of the best.  You'll have the usual suspects from the Warrner Bros library including Looney Tunes, Tom and Jerry, Scooby-Doo, The Flintstones, Yogi Bear, Top Cat, The Jetsons, The Smurfs, Jonny Quest, and Wacky Races .  You'll also find some shows that rarely get the airplay or shine from the studio like Silverhawks, Police Academy, Challenge of the Go-Bots, The Mask, and Beetlejuice and surprising shows like Freakazoid. In addition, you'll have some popular shows from other studios like Woody Woodpecker, Betty Boop, Casper the Friendly Ghost, Rocky and Bullwinkle, Underdog, Speed Racer, Thunderbirds, and The Real Ghostbusters. With a lot of support from historians like Jerry Beck and talent like Bob Bergen, MeTV TOONS is a dream come true for older classic animation fans who felt abandoned by kid-...
Read more

Let's Ride This FAST Car... toon Network Concept (Part 2)

Image
Three channels. That's all the Cartoon Network brand needs to expand into FAST media. Three channels. Why three? Because with nearly 30 years of original programming, you can't put it all in one place. That's why you don't see much of the library on television nowadays. Cartoon Network itself has a limited lineup, and they're hyper-focused on the younger demographics and push more modern shows. They tried to put some of the older CN library on Boomerang, but it was buried in late-night slots.  Plus, most major TV markets don't have Boomerang on their cable lineup. You'd think they'd try to get wider distribution deals, but I think Time Warner just gave up more than a decade ago. And yeah, I put the blame on Time Warner.  Not AT&T and WarnerMedia. Not Warner Bros Discovery. Hell, not even AOL Time Warner.  I'm putting much of Boomerang's lack of carriage on Time Warner. But I digress. With the Checkered Past block on Adult Swim, some of the ol...
Read more

What to Do with WBD's Networks?

 If you've followed Thoughtnami over the past 20 years, thank you for your patronage and your support . It's so great to be back writing posts like this after all of these years. It feels more natural and less constrictive than tweets and occasional posts across social media. You also know that when it comes to one particularly Hollywood media company, I have a love-hate relationship with them. And that studio has had many names during the course of those two decades. AOL Time Warner.  Time Warner. WarnerMedia. Warner Bros Discovery. And they've all been called "the most poorly run media company" by me throughout those two decades. Now, granted, I may be a little hyperbolic with that statement. They're really not the most poorly run media company (looking at you both, Paramount Global and Chicken Soup for the Soul Entertainment), but considering the two years the current management team of David Zaslav (President and CEO), Gunnar Wiedenfels (Chief Financial ...
Read more