Worst Toons of the Direct-To-Cable Era?

By J.A.Patterson
Posted on: Nov 18th 2008 at 8:50 AM

Replies: 12

I am going to start a new thread that will focus on the crap that is produced for the direct-to-cable market. We saw that cable television has made a difference in programming! We will focus on all of the garbage that has made its mark on the cable market! Here are some early choices:

Cow & Chicken: This was one of the 'Original 3' Cartoon Cartoons. The main reason why this one is not as highly regarded as Johnny Bravo & Dexter's Lab is that it was a very generic rip-off of Nickelodeon's Ren & Stimpy (This was not the first H-B rip-off of R&S. There was 2 Stupid Dogs in 1993!), with all of the gross-out humor & none of the wit of R&S. Its back-up feature, I Am Weasel, was more fondly remembered than the main feature!

Prickles: This is by far the worst of all the toons that debuted on What A Cartoon! CN actually tried to give this non-entity a shot at getting its own show in 1999 or 2000, but that failed miserably.

12 Oz. Mouse: The worst of the Adult Swim shows!

Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go!: This show had the distinction of being the first Jetix original series, but it was one of the worst superhero cartoons ever produced. Worse than the Fantastic Four toon with HERBIE. Worse than Teamo Supremo. Worse than the Swamp Thing cartoon. Worse than Battle Skipper. Worse than Super Duper Sumos.

What others come to mind?

J.A.P.

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Posted by: Don Markstein

Posted on: 2008-11-19 at 06:37:16 AM

I have to pay more attention to that era. Seems to new, but Powerpuff Girls, which I think of as one of the "recent" ones, just had its tenth anniversary as a regular series, and it had a couple of shots in What a Cartoon! as early as 1995. I might even have written it up yesterday, but the day kind of got away from me.

But the worst of the era? Come on, I never even heard of some of those things! (Still, tho, I'll probably write them up sooner or later. I've written up some really awful cartoons!)

It's hard for me to contribute to this particular conversation, tho.

Quack, Don

Posted by: J.A.Patterson

Posted on: 2008-11-19 at 10:04:27 AM

Maybe one of our other posters could have a few suggestions!

J.A.P.

Posted by: Don Markstein

Posted on: 2008-11-20 at 05:03:33 AM

There's no doubt about it. I have to get more Cartoon Network originals in here. They're not all like that, right?

Quack, Don

Posted by: Chuck Taine

Posted on: 2008-11-20 at 06:10:33 AM

My personal "favorite" of the worst of that genre is Johnny Bravo- not only is the character clueless, but to me the 'toon was as well. And, I'd put the Powerpuff Girls, and, Dexter's Lab on the best of the "direct to cable" list, with the new Speed Racer somewhere in the middle.

Posted by: J.A.Patterson

Posted on: 2008-11-20 at 08:26:38 AM

Hey, Chuck! How about telling us which Direct-To-Cable Toons do you REALLY, REALLY HATE?

J.A.P.

P.S.: Powerpuff Girls is a crappy show & pales in comparison to the far-superior My Life As A Teen-Age Robot!

Posted by: Don Markstein

Posted on: 2008-11-21 at 09:39:45 AM

Can't say I disagree about Johnny, Chuck. Even checking it out to write it up here wasn't a whole lot of fun. But -- it's a legitimate part of this site, so I'm glad to have done it.

Quack, Don

Posted by: Don Markstein

Posted on: 2008-11-21 at 09:44:23 AM

P.S.
I also disagree about Powerpuff Girls, J.A. It's aimed at a younger demographic than myself. but I find what I've seen of it imaginative and charmingly whimsical. What won me over, I think, was when their kindergarten teacher excused them from class so they could save the world, and another kid immediately put up his hand and said "I have to save the world too."

Quack, Don

Posted by: roosterdynamite

Posted on: 2008-11-21 at 02:19:18 PM

That new George of the Jungle on Cartoon Network is pretty bad.Transformers too.They need to leave the old school stuff alone.

Posted by: Chuck Taine

Posted on: 2008-11-21 at 04:04:06 PM

Nothing could compare to the original Jay Ward "George" shows. On the top it was ridiculously stupid, but it got you hooked! and, like "Rocky" you soon found that there were more layers to it. (Ah, those William Conrad narrations.)

BTW Don; Since you did Huck and Yogi's alter ego,(Daws Butler,) are you planning on doing June Foray (who might be said to be the female Mel Blanc,) and, like Daws, was part of the ensemble of the Stan Freberg radio show.

Posted by: Don Markstein

Posted on: 2008-11-22 at 07:42:46 AM

I haven't seen the new George of the Jungle, but I have no trouble accepting the observation that it's not as good as the Jay Ward version. How could it be? As for Transformers, I've never watched it regularly in any form. I dreaded writing it up here, because it's like a comic book universe -- you have to watch it for years before you really know what's going on, and I haven't. I only made myself sit down and figure out enough to write it up because of the live-action movie, and even then, I didn't see enough in it to make me want to get involved.

Chuck, I've been lax about writing up real people. The last three I did were to mark their birthdays, and two of them (Vince Colletta and Roy Lichtenstein) were done at all not so I could praise them. But I'll get to June Foray eventually. She certainly deserves to be here every bit as much as Daws Butler.

Quack, Don

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