Cartoons ruined by executive meddling.

[Xarathox]

Guess I'm going to be the one who mentions it: Family Guy.

Fox just straight up cancelling their highest rated show for fuck all reasons. Took years and untold number of death threats to bring it back, but it just kinda sucked.

 

[Bat Vader]

I don't think Korra was hurt by executive meddling. I think only having two writers is what hurt it (although I'm assuming this wasn't caused by executive meddling). The production value was excellent, but the plot was terrible.

That kinda sucks that Bruce and Diana never got together. At the same time though it makes sense. While I think it would be nice to see Bruce in a happy and committed relationship I just can't see it happening.

Did Batman: The Animated Series ever have a proper series finale or was it just cancelled? Wasn't the staff of the show given a lot of creative freedoms with it?

Batman TAS never really needed a finale. It just sort of merged into the Superman/Batman Show, then into Batman Beyond, and then the two Justice League series.

They all shared a continuity and bled into each other, as well as the spinoffs for Static Shock and another one that's name eludes me.

The ultimate finale for the DC Animated Universe is the Justice League Unlimited episode "Epilogue", which dealt with Terry McGinniss finally coming to terms with Bruce Wayne being his biological father, and continuing on the tradition of Batman after Wayne dies. At the time, the studio didn't know if Justice League Unlimited would be picked up for a second season, so they wanted some closure.

Season two of Unlimited ended with the Justice League defeating Darkseid's alien invasion (which is pretty much the Avengers final battle in cartoon form), but it didn't really hold up as well.

None of the shows really needed an ending. They were the adventures of the DC superheros, not one long storyline. Procedural, not sequential.

I must have missed that episode when it aired. It sounds like that one fits better.

 

[Vausch]

My childhood friend Dexter's Laboratory. It was supposed to end after Ego Trip, but NOPE! And to add further insult, the character models got worse.

OMG You're fucking right I remember this. I don't understand why the heck networks do this. IMO the latest Ben Ten is gross, I miss the original ones.

Swat Kats.

Ted Turner: "So what if this is the highest rated show on my network? It's got explosions! That'll teach kids to blow each other up in jet planes! Cancel it!"

Hope this isn't true, this is like one of the most retarded things ever.

It is true. I'm paraphrasing, but yes. Turner thought that the show was too violent and it would lead to kids blowing each other up in planes. All while ignoring the fact that his lovechild Captain Planet had Hitler, dismemberment, AIDS, gang violence with REAL weapons. Hypocrite.

 

[Soviet Heavy]

I must have missed that episode when it aired. It sounds like that one fits better.

There's a good chance of that. Justice League got absolutely screwed during its final season. It couldn't hold down a steady timeslot on Kids WB, and Cartoon Network didn't get the season finale until about a year after it originally aired.

 

[Twilight_guy]

I'm going to go with Reboot. Mostly because it started out censored as hell (can't show your character breaking through a pane of glass, the hell?) and then when the censors went away the show went balls to the wall immediately.

 

[synobal]

Okay I'm gonna be different here and put forward a cartoon that managed to not get ruined by executive meddling. Batman Beyond, the executives wanted Terry's little brother to become robin, for terry to have a minibatcave in his house and a whole bunch of other really stupid ideas and the shows creators managed to avoid all that terrible stuff that was pushed at them.

Totally awesome and much respect.

 

[BishopofAges]

I'd hate to say it, but the thing I most get depressed about is when a good show starts losing its edge to things like lazy writing, disney-esque endings, and when all the fun is replaced stuff like morals just ham-handedly jammed in so the audience can learn something. It really doesn't take a character stopping the action/story and saying something like "You know what? I learned something today." Honestly South Park made a bunch of fun at this sort of ending with Kyle/Stan saying something like that for some time, then I think they noticed that no one got the joke anymore.

Good writing does not need explanation, good writing and great writing explains itself through the audience's experience.

So yeah corporate shenanigans like that really screws my pooch, pees in my cheerios, and otherwise dulls my experience.

Also, why in the mother of all Fs did they cut Samurai Jack? Didn't the thing win awards and whatnot, and BOOM gone like it was never there...

 

[Auron]

Haven't watched the Avengers show, might be a good idea at least before it was screwed. So Young Justice is going to be replaced by kiddie Titans and another Batman that no matter how much it tries will not measure up to Bruce Timm's work in the original run and Justice League/The new adventures? Marvelous. -_-

 

[JemothSkarii]

Gargoyles, Symbionic titan (Giant robot show cancelled due to lack of toy line?), MLP FiM (Let Lauren do what she wants!), Tron Uprising, pretty much all of the saturday morning tv show blocks, and many, many more.

Lauren created a fantastic universe for mlp but I'm not really sure how essential she was for the show beyond creating the universe, she only wrote three episodes and they weren't really that great of episodes, she wrote the pilot two parter, which I liked and the ticket master which I thought was kinda weak.

Mine is Angel Beats. Originally the show was supposed to be 24 episodes but for some reason it got hacked down to only like 12 so there was so much left unexplored in it.

It still had a decent ending...

Spoiler

Utterly Heartbreaking QwQ

...But a good ending, but yes, more would have been lovely.

OT: Pandora Hearts, 25 episodes, finished on a cliffhanger (as the Director left in to try and get a second season) and it's been three years. There's a glimmer of hope, sure...but dammit I want my conclusion! So many loose ends >.<.

 

[Cheesus Crust]

It is true. I'm paraphrasing, but yes. Turner thought that the show was too violent and it would lead to kids blowing each other up in planes. All while ignoring the fact that his lovechild Captain Planet had Hitler, dismemberment, AIDS, gang violence with REAL weapons. Hypocrite.

Captain Planet btw was the first cartoon that ever featured drug addiction. Looking back it is a bit I dunno sketchy? The person who became a drug addict was Linka (the blond Eastern European chick who keeps getting hit on by NYer Weeler) and her cousin both of home sound really Russian.

 

[Cheesus Crust]

Ooooh. This thread gets me right in the gut.

People seem to be listing ones I already agree with, but here's my list anyway:

Spectacular Spider-Man,

The only marvel cartoon I ever really loved. The episode where all the big bosses fight each other with opera in the background was brilliant. In fact the reason why I liked YJ so much is because the man, Greg, was the man behind Spectacular Spider-man. So it really didn't hit me that hard since I have YJ to fallback on. But now that YJ is going then I guess there's nothing left except Korra.

 

[Cheesus Crust]

Haven't watched the Avengers show, might be a good idea at least before it was screwed. So Young Justice is going to be replaced by kiddie Titans and another Batman that no matter how much it tries will not measure up to Bruce Timm's work in the original run and Justice League/The new adventures? Marvelous. -_-

This is why I'm getting sick and tired of Batman cartoons. I love Batman don't get me wrong. Maybe if they create a Batman in the same vein as YJ with Greg at the helm, then that is something I can get myself into.

 

[Cheesus Crust]

Cartoon Network has a bad habit of cancelling its best shows, (most recently being Sym-Bionic Titan and Young Justice) with the weak excuse of them not being good at selling toys (though the toylines were either non-existant or the ones they made were shitty).

I'd be hella pissed if the reason their cancelling YJ is because of toys. I'd probably understand ratings but really?! Toys?! What a waste.

 

[Easton Dark]

Also, why in the mother of all Fs did they cut Samurai Jack? Didn't the thing win awards and whatnot, and BOOM gone like it was never there...

That seems to happen with a lot of Cartoon Network shows.

Maybe they hate Tartakovsky after Dexter's Lab.

 

[Goro]

Harvey Birdman, attorney at law.
First series was really subversive and funny, second series just lost all subtlety. Third series just not funny.
And I really miss samurai pizza cats.

 

[Gizmo1990]

Thank You! Someone else who was disapointed with Legend of Korra. Everyone else seems to think it is perfect but I fould most of the characters irritating and only 2 (Tensin and Toph's kid) good. none of the new ones even aproch the level of awesome that The Last Airbender did. Also, I may just be me but the fight scenes seem to be smaller and look slower. most of the characters are ment to be master benders but they seem to get their arse kicked every 5 mins and never seem to pull off the kinds of moves the original guys could.

While I disagree with most of what you said I can see where you're coming from. They did get their arses kicked every now and then but that's part of the character development. It would suck ass if they had just won every single confrontation. Besides the losses were meant to showcase how fast korra grew as a character. None of the chiblockers tricks worked twice on korra.

But as the person you're quoting and I both agreed, lets wait beyond the first season. The first season felt too fast that's why I think it put a lot of people off. They had to squeeze in so much into the story with such a limited amount of time.

I think Korra is great but far from perfect. I don't hate so much as I dislike Bolin all he ever does is try to be funny and since a lot of characters are funny in their own right he seems to add little to no value to the show. I do like chief beifong though.

I see your point and yes they had to keep getting ther arse handed to them, I see why it had to happen for the plot but I think it was done badly. Korra is ment to already be a master of 3 elements, Tensin is an airbending master and beifong is a master metalbender and likly a master earthbender. When the other characters were considered to reach master level they never lost that many fights and when they did their opponents were also master benders. The show told us that they were at the same level as the old characters but then had them fail. I could not help but think when watching the fights that Aang could have handeled it or Toph or Zuko or any of the other charcters from TLA.

I will try the next series but only to see what Aang's other kid is like. I know it was shorter and rushed but the fact is I just do not like the new characters as much. Mostly Mako. Hate that guy.

 

[Auron]

snip

Yeah I really liked Young Justice, a bit overly dramatic at times, thought that's in tune with Titans I suppose, still awesome overall. What's Bruce Timm doing nowadays anyway? Weisman would probably put together a nice show but not sure about that, the Joker voice actor in Young Justice was also completely terrible, it was Bren Spiner I think, he's awesome but not the Joker.

 

[likalaruku]

Asking the creator of Johnny the Homicidal Maniac to make a show for children = Brilliant. Unfortunately Nickelodeon immediately regretted it. I'f I'm not mistaken, reviews with Jhonen Vasquez have Nickelodeon moving the show to all different time slots, not letting him kill off minor characters, refusal to sell the rights to MTV at his own request, refusal for another season & ultimate cancellation.

On my own I noticed Nickelodeon had newer episodes rarely airing while the earlier ones were overplayed. When I got my hands on the DVDs, there must have been 6 episodes I'd never seen on TV before.
----------------------------------------------
Other executive meddling I've read about:

*Execs wanted Robin in EVERY episode of Batman TAS. If they had their way, Batman would have been HIS sidekick.

*All the shit Adventure Time gets past the radar gets diced out by censors in Australia & the Philippines. Fortunately they can just watch the uncensored episodes online.

*The first season of ReBoot. Nuff said there. But you can tell the meddling went lax in season 2 & blind & deaf in season 3.

*Hasbro making MLPFiM heavily edit Derpy's big moment, then basically phasing her out of the season. It's also their fault Twilight is a pegacorn because they wanted to sell an even girlier looking toy of her.

*SatAM Sonic & Gargoyles getting cancelled despite their popularity.

*Gargoyles 2ed season was dumbed down to appeal to younger viewers because the execs didn't like the older demographic. It was actually bad enough that after the anger of the initial shock of the cancellation subsided in the hearts f fans, they looked at it again & realized that they didn't like where the show was going at this point. It was moved to comic books.

*SatAM Sonic also got moved to comics & while it started looking more like AoStH with SatAm characters, it ended up slowly surpassing the show in maturity to the point where SatAM looked childish. Then SEGA forces Archie to shoehorn in their godawful Sonic Adventure characters, despite it being an alternate universe.

 

[V da Mighty Taco]

MLP:FiM after S1. Don't get me wrong - I still really do enjoy all 3 seasons so far and am among the few who think that S3 was overall better than S2, but something changed in the show a long time ago that started with Lesson Zero (a good episode that set a bad trend for the series). I don't know if executive meddling caused it however, but it hasn't been quite the same in a long time. The show just doesn't feel as lighthearted as it used to.

I think what you are alluding to is the fact that Lauren Faust stepped down from Executive Produce to Consulting after season one.

Honestly, I think that's a big part to it but that there's more to it than that. Most of the second season went for a darker, more flanderized route with the characters. While some episodes like Sisterhooves Social and Friend in Deed stuck fairly true to the characters and lightheartedness; most episodes were more along the lines of Lesson Zero, Mare-Do-Well, and Hurricane Fluttershy with the heavily exaggerated or backwards characterization and a notably more bitter tone. I can't say for certain just how much Faust's departure played a part in this or what else lead to the decline, but the show has indeed gone downhill since the very first non-Faust episode aired (Lesson Zero) and I do feel that Faust's departure wasn't the only reason that this happened. Once again, I liked Lesson Zero, but it was a horrible episode to model the entire show after.

 

[Snotnarok]

Sonic SatAM, it was a pretty good show with some nice story going on, sure it was a bit cheesy with the dialog and what not but it was a pretty solid show. Then it ends on season 1 while Sonic Underground goes on for more than 2 seasons, and nothing was good about that show.