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The Mountain Wrecker Wins and a Studio Dies

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Warner Bros Discovery, a once proud and powerful global media powerhouse that has revolutionized the entertainment industry for over a century, is now officially dead. Back in February, the company has announced that it would be purchased by Paramount Skydance, a fascist-leaning media company financed by foreign governments who sponsor state terrorism and heavily favored by a despotic administration who feels he is the permanent leader of the United States and ruler of the world. And today, April 23, a majority of the company's stockholders officially okayed the deal, which is still being thoroughly investigated by several state attorneys general as well as a few global trade organizations. This is not the end I wanted to see, but it was one I was prepared to admit was always a possibility, especially in an era in our history where truly vile nepotic businessmen have determined to rid the world of progressive, diverse, and established media in favor of authoritative, fascist-leanin...
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Craving a Box of Yock

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My grandma was the best cook I’ve ever known, and a lot of people would agree with me. She used to fix meals for church and family functions from picnics to massive dinners. I don’t think there was anything she couldn’t fix, and everything she made was done with love and care. A few months ago, someone brought up regional foods on BlueSky, and I thought about her and something she excelled at. Yock. Yock is a regional noodle dish from my part of the world that has Chinese and Black culinary roots, and to be honest, I haven’t had a good bowl of it yock in ages. I just knew my grandma made it better than anyone I’ve ever known or ever will know.  Here’s a brief history about yock. Yock, sometimes called yock-a-mein (a box of noodles), originated with Chinese immigrants who came to the Tidewater region of Virginia back in the early part of the 20th century. The locals largely call the southeast portion of Virgina Hampton Roads nowadays, though there are some who still call it Tidewat...
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Don't Panic

You people made me break my hiatus for this one post. I explicitly stated that I did not want to talk about the deal anymore. I'm not entirely talking about it, but there is something that has been grating at me the moment the deal was officially determined.  Look, I get it. You hate this deal. I really hate this deal. Folks who work at Warner Bros Discovery hate this deal. Even some of the stockholders and board members hate this deal. It's a terrible deal. It's not even sealed. It's not completed. And there's still a chance it might not legally get cleared by most trade commissions and jurisdictions and completely fall apart. But please hear me out for just a moment.  I want you folks, especially you animation fans, take the time to actually read this because a huge chunk of you folks is acting like petulant children. Since I have to be the grown-up in the room, I'm going to have to say this. Paramount Skydance is NOT going to just get rid of Warner Bros prog...
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A Final Thought (Not THE Final Thought)

"I, not events, have the power to make me happy or unhappy today. I can choose which it shall be. Yesterday is dead, tomorrow hasn't arrived yet. I have just one day, today, and I'm going to be happy in it." - Groucho Marx I don't take anything I've done for granted in the nearly 30 years I've been writing professionally. In 1998, I created a simple GeoCities page about my favorite programming block, Toonami. CN2 Toonami Inner Circle was part love letter for the block/part news and opinion outlet. I also was trying to convince the folks of Cartoon Network to launch a Toonami channel.  An ambitious task in 1998, mind you, but I was prepared to fight. Cartoon Network eventually launched a spinoff channel in 2000, albeit one based on its Boomerang classic cartoons format. That change forced me to change my site into CNX: Toonami Revolution. A few years later, I changed my site from CNX to The X Bridge (TXB for short) largely because, well, they actually made ...
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Project Paramount - Rebuilding Nickelodeon and Parting Words

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Much like its first real sibling MTV , Nickelodeon has lost its way. While no longer the destination for kids entertainment it was decades ago, Nick is still largely seen as a kids brand and should be respected as one. Children’s entertainment is still important, and Nick should be the center of children’s entertainment.  However, I think the folks at Paramount need to understand an ultimate truth: Nickelodeon is also a nostalgia brand , much like MTV.  Second-half members of Generation X, Millennials, and Zenials were the core audience of Nickelodeon at its peak and still look fondly on the brand a lot more than their kids do. Nick has constantly tried to attract them more, especially the audience that largely dominated the culture in the 1990s.  Some folks have a problem with Nick going in a little more into its '90s-era nostalgia more than with today's audience and not really where they are, which is everywhere BUT cable and streaming platforms.   So, there’...
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Tubi Enters Its Cartoon Era

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Fans of Cartoon Network and Warner Bros Animation haven't had a lot of victories in the last couple of years. Cartoon Network abandoned their webpage and shifted everything to HBO Max, then called MAX.  The Boomerang stand-alone streaming service shuttered and threw everything to MAX. Then MAX dropped nearly everything animated, including nearly every Cartoon Network series, every Hanna-Barbera cartoon including The Flintstones, The Jetsons , and Scooby-Do o, Tom & Jerry, and even the venerable classic Looney Tunes shorts and most of the spinoffs. The message seemed clear to the "fandom:" Warner Bros HATES cartoons. It did look bleak, but something started happening in spring 2024. First, Warner Bros launched Cartoon Rewind, a FAST channel that aired older and seemingly random cartoons. Silverhawks, Beetlejuice, Richie Rich, Shirt Tales, Pac-Man, Challenge of the Go-Bots, Mister T, Pirates of Dark Water, Thundarr the Barbarian, Fantastic Max, Centurions, Police Aca...
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Project Paramount - Rebuilding CBS Studios and Showtime

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Much like Paramount Pictures , I’m not going to talk about what CBS Studios should do creatively because, again, creativity shouldn’t be mandated by the suits, and creators should have a playground to tell their own stories, share their own experiences, and create their own visions without the political and cultural interference of studio executives and owners. CBS Studios, as di  all television studios, should allow creators to create. I also want CBS Studios to understand the collective legacy of their past. CBS Studios foundation was built by CBS Productions (which gave the world Perry Mason, The Honeymooners, Gunsmoke,  The Twilight Zone, Hawaii Five-0, and The Carol Burnett Show ),  Desilu Productions (the studio founded by Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz and produced iconic shows like I Love Lucy, The Andy Griffin Show, The Untouchables, Mannix, and Star Trek ) , the original Paramount Television (one of the most iconic television studios that produced shows that c...
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