As far as I could tell both were very popular. Animaniacs especially. Power Rangers still comes on and that sucks. Why, I ask. WHY?
Damned if I know. Far as I can tell it’s because they hate me. Same reason they stopped making Batman:TAS and Futurama.
Animaniacs lives on in my cell phone though. I have the Animaniacs theme as my ring tone (plus I own 3 or 4 cd’s)
Because the executive in charge of Kids WB at the time, Jamie Kellner, hated Animaniacs. You probably know Kellner better as the person that presided over the sale of WCW and from the “skipping commercials is stealing” comments.
So he hated Animaniacs AND sold WCW?
EVIL!
I was a huge fan of the animaniacs, especially Pinky and the Brain! I never did get the giant chicken Boo, but most of them were fantastic. I’d love to see them come back.
Jamie Kellner, eh? Another one for my list… when the revolution comes.
They stopped making them because they were good, and quality TV shows are evil in LA. Rocko’s Modern Life, Animaniacs, Pinky & The Brain, Freakazoid, Sam & Max: Freelance Police, you name it. If it’s good they stop making them. Except The Simpsons, but that’s kind of a grey area, since it’s sucked so much in the passed few years.
What’s there to get? He’s a giant chicken that dresses up in elaborate costumes, and succeeds until he’s revealed. Kind of like The Emperor’s New Clothes…only with a chicken.
You forgot a key part of the formula. Someone early on has to try and convince everyone he’s a chicken.
One of my favorite Anamaniacs was the Apocalypse Now parody.
I used to be a HUGE fan of Animaniacs(still have quite a few t-shirts and other tie-ins), but I gave up on them because when it came time for the second season, they kept showing repeats, finally, I lost interest. Ironically, my 7-yr-old, who wasn’t even born when animaniacs first came out, absolutely LOVES them.
Another great show from kids WB was Freakazoid!
Chris W
Did Animanaics ever make fun of Kellner?
Does anyone know if Animaniacs will be coming out on DVD?
Animaniacs at 4 followed by Batman: TAS at 4:30… man, those were my Golden Days of weekday cartoon watching…
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can we throw in the people that cancelled The Tick at it’s most popular as well?
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I was a so so fan of animaniacs but I haven’t caught a show in so long I wasn’t even aware of it’s demise. It seemed like a smartly written show.
Dig the sig, babe! Not only do I have every episode taped, I have the hard to find “Yakko’s World” cd and even some crappy fanfiction.
“Animaniacs” had myriad problems, not the least of which was James Kellner. He had the IQ of a flatworm, and lesser morals. Kellner is often blamed for driving away Peter Hastings, the man who ran the P&B show, when the network wanted to make it into a Simpsons clone. Kellner was never ridiculed directly, but there were plenty of snarky remarks about the network. (On Kids’ WB, BIG KIDS GO FIRST! {In reality, big kids sleep in.}) Kellner’s currently in charge of Cartoon Network, and I assume their running the same Kids WB Pokemon/Jackie Chan line-up I can watch for free without cable is his work. But there were other factors.
“Pokemon” is a big one. It was a cheapy nothing show that generated huge ratings. “Animaniacs” was a pricey show that had lost much of its writing talent. Result: fewer episodes of “Animaniacs” purchased, and those few were buried in the “Pokemon” marketing blitz. Exit “Animaniacs.”
I’ve mentioned the loss of the better writers. Hastings was involved more in the P&B spinoff, Paul Rugg was distracted by “Freakazoid!” (which was good), and Sherri Stoner and Deanna Oliver left for another network altogether. Their replacements were never as good, and that’s not a good way to drum up fan support. So you could say poor quality shows helped bury it, too. Just to make matters worse, Steven Spielberg, the show’s moneybags, lost interest in doing any more Warner Bros shows and instead bankrolled “Toonsylvania” or something like that someplace else. I don’t know. It’s not like anybody watched it.
“Histeria!” was born and died on the FCC requirements for X amount of educational programming on the network each week. It was never particularly good, got no buzz, and is hardly missed. It still had a better fate than most of the WB cartoons. Remember “Channel Umpty-3”? Or “Waynehead”? Anyway, Tom Ruegger, the driving force behind that show and the creator of Yakko, Wakko, and Dot, has also left Warner Bros., and no one seems to have heard from him lately, so don’t plan on a revival soon. Only Tom Minton is left. I’ve had the pleasure of talking to him online. He’s talented, but he’s also two quarts of bitter in a one-pint bottle, and if he has any good ideas, there’s no one left to listen to him. The Silver Age of Warner Bros cartoons is dead.
“Animaniacs” showed up for a while on Cartoon Network, then was sold to Nick, where they wrecked the opening sequence and chopped up the shows to make them impossible to watch. Then they buried it altogether. I have no idea if it will ever return. There’s no official history, and likely won’t be one until everyone involved starts dying off just like the classic old movie shorts. This is already taking place – Richard Stone, who wrote the theme song, passed a few years ago. Think of him when your cellphone rings.
Quick last note regarding the second season, per Riserius1’s remarks: When plans for a Warner Brothers network were announced, and that “Animaniacs” would be making the move, Fox decided they didn’t really want to promote competition and ordered only five episodes. That’s why it was always in repeats. Again, a network to blame.
Tiny Toons was very good.
Animaniacs fucking ROCKED!
Histeria! was by far my favorite and one of the funniest/smartest shows EVER!
~“Lydia Karaoke, Network Censor, can we change that to 'Animaniacs FREAKING rocked!?”
Who’s the Presidential one
Who weighs almost a metric ton?
TAFT!
Y’know, don Jaime, it sounds like there should be an E! True Hollywood Story on the Animaniacs (or maybe Warners in general).
And Tiny Toons is missed: “We’re tiny, we’re toony, we’re all a little looney…”
Oh, Hysteria was, well, hysterical. Get outta the boat!. I read a little about this and see that Animaniacs was replaced on the WB schedule with Pokeman.
Freakin’ POKEMAN! There is no justice.
Back in college, one of my professors asked the class to bring in samples of modern cartoons so he could show how the quality of animated tv entertainment has diminished over the years. I brought in my copy of the episode where the Warners are abducted by aliens/Pinky and the Brain fake an alien invasion a la War of the Worlds radio.
My professor changed his stance right then and there.
(Probably didn’t hurt that this was a tv class and Brain rightly gave credit to Desi Arnez for developing the 3-camera sitcom setup. (Very much impressed my teach. )
Save the eyes for me.