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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 ...

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 dead. 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.  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-leaning media that erases any viewpoint they don't agree with and anyone who doesn't fit their ideal in order to appease a racist, sexist, xenophobic, homophobic, transphobic, fascist administration that is actively declaring war on its own citizens...

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’...

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...

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...

Project Paramount - Rebuilding CBS and Paramount Pictures

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I started this project largely because of hate towards the current ownership of Paramount as well as their lack of understanding of what they actually have on tap. And it's a lot.  As I mentioned from the start, I'm not going to rebuild the entire company. I actually rebuilt MTV back in September, and what I'm doing here isn't going to be as extreme as that.  These are just small bullet points for the most vital units of Paramount, or at least the units that need the most help, and if I were in charge, these are the ones I'd focus on.  And I obviously have to begin with the unit that's been most prominent in the news cycle largely because of its news division, the CBS television network. While many consider broadcast television being on borrowed time, I feel CBS is the most important unit at Paramount because it reaches a wider audience than theatrical releases and streaming media.  I also feel that CBS should have more of a place in streaming beyond the sub...

From One Hanna-Barbera Fan to Another

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 I love Bluesky as well as the folks I interact with over there. It's pretty calm and not as chaotic as other social media platforms. Having better tools like muting of words and individuals as well as de-tagging your username and removing your posts from those who want to attack you really enhances the experience. Is it a perfect place?  No. There's no such space known as "the perfect place." That's a lesson I learned from Yogi's Ark Lark when I was a little kid.  I've been a huge Hanna-Barbera fan since I watched the lion's share of their works in syndication and on the USA Cartoon Express back in the early 1980s, and I still am to this day. Those shorts and shows not only entertained me for decades but, much like their corporate cousins Looney Tunes, they are a core part of my creative DNA.  I think that's a reason I've been enjoying MeTV Toons lately.  One of the many, many reasons. Folks, I'm still lucky I could watch it locally via c...