Cartoon Network Fans Are (Still) Going Through Things
Do you watch Cartoon Network?
They're not watching Cartoon Network. And it really shows.
So, I'll ask the question again:
Do you watch Cartoon Network?
And by "watching Cartoon Network," I'm not referring to the Adult Swim programming lineup that airs in that channel space from 5 PM to 6 AM E/P. I'm also not talking about Boomerang or Discovery Family. I'm also not referring to shows that air outside of the actual channel space, including online and on streaming platforms.
If you actually are watching Cartoon Network, you know that at the time I started writing this article (June 13, 2025), the following are on the regular lineup (shows in production are in bold):
- Teen Titans Go! (Warner Bros Animation)
- We Baby Bears (Cartoon Network Studios)
- The Amazing World of Gumball (Hanna-Barbera Europe)
- Tiny Toons Looniversity (Warner Bros Animation)
- Craig of the Creek (Cartoon Network Studios)
- Regular Show (Cartoon Network Studios)
- Adventure Time (Cartoon Network Studios)
- The Heroic Quest of the Valiant Prince Ivandoe (Hanna-Barbera Europe)
- Iyanu (Lion Forge Entertainment)
- Totally Spies (Zodiak Kids & Family)
- Batwheels (Warner Bros Animation)
- Bugs Bunny Builders (Warner Bros Animation)
- The Powerpuff Girls (Hanna-Barbera/Cartoon Network Studios)
- Steven Universe (Cartoon Network Studios)
- Ben 10 (Cartoon Network Studios)
- What's New Scooby-Doo (Warner Bros Animation)
- Scooby-Doo Mystery Incorporated (Warner Bros Animation
- Be Cool Scooby-Doo (Warner Bros Animation)
- Scooby-Doo and Guess Who? (Warner Bros Animation)
- The Looney Tunes Show (Warner Bros Animation)
- New Looney Tunes (Warner Bros Animation)
- Tom & Jerry Tales (Warner Bros Animation)
- The Tom & Jerry Show (Warner Bros Animation)
- Jellystone! (Warner Bros Animation)
- Scooby-Doo, Where Are You? (Hanna-Barbera)
- The Scooby-Doo Show (Hanna-Barbera)
- Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo (Hanna-Barbera)
- The New Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo Show (Hanna-Barbera)
It's a vast lineup with some favorites and a few shows still in production. The bulk of the lineup, as you can see, comes from Warner Bros Animation, not Cartoon Network Studios. Of the Cartoon Network Studios productions that ARE on Cartoon Network, only one series, We Baby Bears, is actually in production.
I think.
I know that they still have episodes planned to air, but I'm not sure that the series is even IN production right now. They haven't really made any announcements about it lately. In fact, the only thing that's pretty much guaranteed for Cartoon Network in the US is the 10th season of Teen Titans Go, which is from Warner Bros Animation and DC Studios, not Cartoon Network Studios.
We know that a pair of Adventure Time spinoffs is in the works for Cartoon Network as is a new spinoff of Regular Show, but as we've seen with the Steven Universe spinoff Lars of the Stars, these aren't guaranteed to even BE on Cartoon Network, at least in the United States. Lars is in development by Cartoon Network Studios for Prime Video. The Wonderfully Weird World of Gumball, a series produced by Hanna-Barbera Europe, which was formerly Cartoon Network Studios Europe, is coming to Hulu in the US in July.
Other Cartoon Network Studios shows like Primal, Invisible Fight Girl, and the upcoming Super Mutant Magic Academy and Heist Safari air outside of Cartoon Network, mostly on Adult Swim. Fionna & Cake, an Adventure Time spinoff, is exclusively on HBO Max.
There are a lot of changes happening at Cartoon Network Studios, and diehard fanatics of Cartoon Network are not dealing with any of this well.
Many of them are so escaped from reality to acknowledge that the changes that are taking place at WBD right now has been set in stone for quite a while now.
Putting Cartoon Network Studios under the umbrella of Warner Bros Animation and completely separating it from The Cartoon Network, Inc. should have been clue number one that the shows that made up that eclectic library have more value than the channel it's on.
The impending split (which is still slated for mid-2026) will have The Cartoon Network, Inc. (which is the unit holding the networks and the core network trademark brands, including Boomerang, Cartoonito, POGO, Toonami, and Adult Swim) and Cartoon Network Studios (which is already a part of Warner Bros Animation and literally under the same roof) under dual ownership.
And yet, there's this conceit that Cartoon Network should own their shows because they used to air on Cartoon Network. It doesn't really work like that.
From what I understand, the shows are FAR more valuable than the networks. Warner Bros could get way more money putting their shows on other channels than keeping them on outlets they run.
This has been the Warner Bros Television model since 1955, and it's something they're still doing 70 years later. During the 2024-25 season, Warner Bros produced or co-produced over 80 shows across all the major broadcast networks in the United States and every streaming platform including Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, and Apple TV+ and has shows on nearly every cable channel, digital subchannel, and AVOD platform in the country.
The Cartoon Network fanatics feel that it isn't right that the shows from Cartoon Network Studios are no longer connected to Cartoon Network. They also feel that they should go with the Global Networks division when the split happens.
Of course, by this logic, all of the Discovery shows (which are also now owned by Warner Bros Television) should also go with Global Networks. And the movies that TCM airs that are owned by Warner Bros Pictures should go with Global Networks.
Apparently, the idea of "Global Networks" is lost among the fanatics since they also feel the "Studios" connected to them should go with "Global Networks" instead of staying in the "Studios & Streaming" unit even though they're, um, studios.
Why, it's almost like the idea of splitting company up makes no sense at all.
It doesn't, but it's what the company wants, why bother to complain?
Still, to say a channel that has treated the library so haphazardly "deserves" it is a bit unhinged. While a lot of Cartoon Network fanatics are bemoaning the fact that Cartoon Network the network won't have Cartoon Network Studios with them when WBD splits in half next year, a thought came to mind. They have convinced themselves they NEED Cartoon Network to watch Cartoon Network shows.
Meanwhile, Nickelodeon has several FAST channels with various shows from its library on at all hours of the day. Pluto TV airs lots of their bigger library shows on Pluto TV at no cost, including SpongeBob SquarePants. As far as I can tell, there is no contractual reason or obligation why older Cartoon Network Studios shows can't be on a FAST channel. WB just hasn't made one. Yet.
But they could do that. And they likely will one day. Again, I talked about how they could that last year.
WB owns the library outright, and they're going to find ways to monetize it every chance they get, just as they're doing everywhere now. As I said, the library is very, very valuable. The studio is realizing they don't need to confine themselves to *just* Cartoon Network and going where people are. Whether it's Cartoon Network, HBO Max, Hulu, Netflix, or Prime Video, you're going to see Cartoon Network shows all over the place.
And that's a great thing.
I know it's farfetched to think about, but I believe WB understands the value of the CNS library. They wouldn't be reviving everything otherwise. It's just that the guy who runs The Cartoon Network, Inc. who doesn't get it. Fortunately, by this time next year, he won't control its destiny anymore.
That's another thing people failed to grasp about the upcoming split.
Michael Ouweleen's power over the Cartoon Network brand won't be as big as it is now. CN will be more of an international brand under the Global Networks. The international networks will have far more significance in the GN unit.
Vanessa Brookman, the GM of kids, global streaming and international networks, will likely take on the reigns as the de facto head of Cartoon Network the brand while Ouweleen will, more or less, be the head of the Adult Swim brand, which I'm sure he'll be more than pleased with. If anything,
Ms. Brookman is already reinventing Cartoon Network the brand by being the catalyst behind every major production currently in production for Cartoon Network and has greenlit everything not only coming to the channel but also all of the shows coming to the non-CN outlets in the States, including the new Gumball series and Lars of the Stars, both of which will be exclusively on Cartoon Network internationally. She's also pushing for network co-production and third-party productions for the channel, which is likely going to increase in the coming years.
It'll be the international side of Cartoon Network that will guide the future of the brand, not the US side. We're seeing that more and more with recent developments and announcements. WB knows this already.
The shift in priorities from the US to the international Cartoon Network has already begun. That's a reality the Cartoon Network fanatics in the US need to understand. The CN they grew up with? That's gone. It's been gone for a long, long time.
And it's never coming back.
A new Cartoon Network is about to be born. The brands synonymous with the Cartoon Network brand are still going to be around. Just not exclusively on Cartoon Network, and that's okay too especially since a lot of the fanatics don't really watch Cartoon Network shows ON Cartoon Network in the first place.
And, again, it really shows.
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