why was young justice cancelled and why isn't teen titans go! cancelled yet?

[Silberescher]

On the surface, Young Justice seems like a darker show, but I'm not so sure. It did have plenty of dramatic weight to it (which make it feel more joyless than tense, until I got involved in the plot and character), but Teen Titans Go has a sharp bite to it--it's dark is a more subversive sort of way.

The Young Justice team delved into some morally-ambiguous territory, certainly--tactical brain damage, criminal activities to infiltrate enemy organizations, the emotional pain that comes with faking a death--but TTG's cast is mostly incompetent sociopaths, and it's played for laughs. Half the episodes involve serious moral, legal, or ethical transgressions (breaking a thief out of jail to go to the carnival, Starfire's pathological lying) and in the other half, the team dies ignominiously (Super Robin, in which Robin's dies joyless, and alone because the rest of the team wanted to win a bet).

But, yeah, Young Justice was a dramatic show with story arcs, lots of characters, pretty high production values, and a toy line that bombed. TTG is an episodic 15-minute super-deformed gag series. It's easy to see why it survives while Beware the Batman circles the drain.

 

[Silver Patriot]

Young Justice also had the problem of attracting an unconventional demographic, much like the Disney Tron cartoon, Animaniacs, and others, they attracted a demographic they couldn't easily market to, and with superhero shows this becomes doubly problematic. With Superhero shows, most of the merchandise targeted at older audiences is handled directly by Marvel or DC, making the benefit to CN completely separate, why should CN continue to pay for a show that they aren't seeing the profit from, they get deals on the Young Justice stuff that sells, but the more generic Marvel and DC stuff gets them nothing. This pretty much happens to any show that's aimed at kids, attracts adult fans, but fails to pull in its target demographic. If MLP wasn't also wildly popular with the 3-10 year old girl target market, it probably would never have made it past its second or third season either, despite its internet popularity (although there are a lot of other factors at play here, its the best example I could think of off the top of my head).

But The Hub is owned by Hasbro, so that example doesn't really fit.

Don't get me wrong I am not disagreeing with you, but I wanted to point that out.

 

[EternallyBored]

Young Justice also had the problem of attracting an unconventional demographic, much like the Disney Tron cartoon, Animaniacs, and others, they attracted a demographic they couldn't easily market to, and with superhero shows this becomes doubly problematic. With Superhero shows, most of the merchandise targeted at older audiences is handled directly by Marvel or DC, making the benefit to CN completely separate, why should CN continue to pay for a show that they aren't seeing the profit from, they get deals on the Young Justice stuff that sells, but the more generic Marvel and DC stuff gets them nothing. This pretty much happens to any show that's aimed at kids, attracts adult fans, but fails to pull in its target demographic. If MLP wasn't also wildly popular with the 3-10 year old girl target market, it probably would never have made it past its second or third season either, despite its internet popularity (although there are a lot of other factors at play here, its the best example I could think of off the top of my head).

But The Hub is owned by Hasbro, so that example doesn't really fit.

Don't get me wrong I am not disagreeing with you, but I wanted to point that out.

You're right, that's why I said there were other factors at work, it's not really the best example just the only one I could readily think of, I suppose the Batman animated series from the 90's would probably work better.

Still, without the target demographic liking the show, I doubt MLP would have made it past its third season in its current incarnation. It would likely be in syndication for a few years, and if the HUB was still around they would reboot it as Gen5 to sell a new line of toys. Even the popular current Transformers didn't make it past season 3, the show went into syndication, and they rebooted it to sell a line of redesigned Transformers toys. Hasbro owning the HUB does allow them to more directly profit from toy sales though, so they are more likely to take a hit on a show with mediocre popularity as long as its moving toys. MLP itself also likely had the advantage of being very limited before its popularity hit, so unlike the extremely expansive and established DC universe, Hasbro had the advantage of tackling the popularity on its own terms, rather than the terms of a parent company or intellectual property owner.

 

[Specter Von Baren]

I don't hate Teen Titans Go (the cartoons, I really have to read the comics), and I liked Young Justice, but I hate how frigging depressing it all is (Seriously, what the hell writers?!).

Other than that, it looks like people would rather watch random comedies than actual stories nowadays... damned lowest common denominator...

It's not so much comedy, it's that kids tend to be a lot more unreliable when it comes to following shows with a consistent storyline. This happens for multiple reasons, partially it's that most kids just don't have the attention span to follow a story that's as straight up serial as Young Justice. Even the more dramatic superhero shows that wildly succeeded tended to be mostly one off episodes with a few two parters to advance the story framework, stuff like Justice League and the Batman animated series could be watched in almost any order with a few exceptions, and you never really risked losing the plot. If a kid starts watching an episode and has no idea what's going on, they are more likely to just stop watching, rather than adults or teenagers who are more likely to hunt down the episodes they missed, this leads into the second point.

Part of the reason this is, isn't just because kids are ADD, they are also at the whim of their parents and schedules they don't decide on. Timeslots have become less important as things like recording and digital downloads make catching all our favorite shows a snap, but timeslots can still make or break kid's shows. This is because kids don't have the kind of time flexibility or access to technology that adults do, so they stand a much higher risk of missing episodes of shows they want to watch. For a series like Young Justice, even missing a few episodes can kill a child's interest in the show, because they can no longer easily know what's going on.

Ooooohhhh yes. This indeed. Let me tell you guys sometime about what it was like to be a fan of the Ghostwriter series as a kid. The short version is, not easy.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

Young Justice's toys didn't sell well, while Teen Titans Go! comics still sell. Also, going by the animation quality, the latter is significantly cheaper to produce.

That sounds about right and, sad as that is it's probably 100% on the nose. What confuses me however is how Uncle Grandpa is still going on...

 

[DudeistBelieve]

One show's too depressing while the other's so uplifting...

One show takes itself too seriously while the other never takes itself seriously...

One show's not "funny" while the other show is "funny"...

When it comes to animated shows on a children's network, comedy ALWAYS beats drama in the animated department... and if the show's random, yet animated, then that counts as a "comedy"...

Yes, Young Justice could have been the next great DC show, with stories/themes that could rival both the animated Batman series and the Justice League animated series... But, the audience has spoken... and they want either random and/or comedy... and Teen Titans GO! fits the bill perfectly... I mean, the feedback to the new teen titans shorts were more positive than the feedback of Young Justice... (The numbers don't lie... "What numbers?" These numbers... I know what the audience wants... I'm the CEO of Cartoon Network... LOL)

It sucks that Young Justice was so close to reaching its "full potential" (with "Season 2", while still being better than "Season 1", had a weird approach to it's overall setup and sometimes questionable execution that originated from the later portions of "Season 1"), but only the more popular of shows can last the longest... and seeing how Teen Titans GO! is more popular than Young Justice, it's not going to be going anywhere for quite some time... (even if the show's production origins are questionable, at best... "Oh, so you're making a parody-like version of Teen Titans, using the characters from the original Teen Titans show, and... you have not seen one single episode from said series while making this show? Okay?")

I am going to question how good it was.

Season 1 was pretty cool serious teen titans stuff. Justice League right

Then Season 2 happens and it's all Alien Conspiracy shit. Am I watching Superheroes or am I watching Ben10?

 

[m0ng00se]

young justice was fucking terrible after s1

every episode there was this wide shot of the entirety of the grown up JL like "whoa look at all these heroes this is what they wanna be part of someday"

there were so many of those shots it was just cheap and cheesy and nowhere near as good as the original teen titans run that almost completely ignored the larger DC universe and was somehow perfectly fine for it

i liked wally, though, and their treatment of Captain Marvel was genuinely funny

 

[FPLOON]

As to my feelings on the subject... Eh... I was never big into young justice. As a marvel man, DC heroes just don't do it for me, besides, like I said, comparatively speaking Young Justice got an okay run. Compared to how Thundercats 2011, Generator Rex, and Sym Bionic titan got the shaft.

What's funny about Generator Rex was, despite it's pending shaft, it was still able to conclude on it's own terms... Granted, those last several episode were shown on the way early weekday time (thanks, DVR), but at least it can say it concluded... Thundercats, based on how it was going, could have done just one more season before finishing off on a more conclusive note... However, Sym-Bionic, I still feel, got the worse of the three shafted shows you mentioned...

I am going to question how good it was.

Season 1 was pretty cool serious teen titans stuff. Justice League right

Then Season 2 happens and it's all Alien Conspiracy shit. Am I watching Superheroes or am I watching Ben10?

I still feel like the reason why Season 2 went the route it did was BECAUSE they only had that extra season to work on the show before CN wanted to fully cancel it... So, they ended up working through their "ace in the hole" with the "missing hours"/time-skip/alien conspiracy to try to wrap it up in their own terms, at least... If there wasn't that pending cancellation over the show's head, I'm sure Season 2 would have had a more similar focus as the beginning episodes of Season 1, only with a new overall arc and possibly no major time-skips... I will say that Season 1 had the better route of overall storytelling, by having these concealed-like episodes that did interlocked into an overall story arc like with Teen Titans and Justice League...

The new Ben 10 is the shit, and I am surprise how good it is. One of the best action cartoon and yeah I find that to be better than Young Justice cartoons. Also, Young justice can be summed as the villians always one upped the good guys. It became kind of predictable and even in the end, it was still yeah the bad guy manage to still get a win.

1. An action show where, despite having story arcs, each episodes feels both contained and funny enough to keep anyone tuning in entertained throughout... Yeah, Ben10 knows how to keep itself going without the fear of cancellation...
2. I don't think Young Justice's predictability was "completely" intentional, in that regard... It tried to do something different and it ended up with execs wanting it cancelled because of not getting the right response to it... If Young Justice tried to do the "Breaking Bad for kids" approach in terms of overall tone (and not so much execution, unless it's in the comedic department... Even Breaking Bad knew when to relieve the serious tension with a few positive laughs on the side...) then it probably would have gotten better feedback than it did...

 

[Kenbo Slice]

But seriously, because even though tons of people loved Young Justice, all that matters is "TOY SALES TOY SALES TOY SALES." Also because Cartoon Network doesn't want to appeal to anyone older than the age of twelve.

It's a CARTOON network. Of course they want to appeal to those 12 and under above anybody else. That's the whole point. The age of four to twelve is their primary market during the day. Even Toonami was part of this market because all those shows were Y-7.

And you're forgetting Adult Swim. A show to appeal to teenagers falls in that middle ground between kid shows and adult programs.

I have two of those Young Justice toys, even though I've never seen the show. I got that cool Aqua Lad action figure and The Sportsmaster.

Cartoons are not only for children. Yeah they have adult swim, which consists of nothing but comedy. There is nothing wrong with a dramatic cartoon series that appeals to an older crowd.

 

[PunkRex]

Teen Titans GO! is still going because it's good, as a comedy that's alot closer to the previous version than many of the original shows fans give it credit for, not to mention it can be aired out of order and created on the cheap.

Don't get me wrong, it is kind of depressing that yet another action orientated show with depth got shunted to the side lines but why this is Teen Titans GO! fault is beyond me.


Tara Strong is singing about balls /)^3^(\

As for Young Justice, I only saw a hand full of eps but it seemed promising, a shame it got the boot.

 

[FPLOON]

When it comes to animated shows on a children's network, comedy ALWAYS beats drama in the animated department... and if the show's random, yet animated, then that counts as a "comedy"...

Damn you children in USA!!! Here in Mexico we can enjoy the relative seriousness of Teen Titans, Justice League or Dragon Ball, while at the same time we laugh our asses off at SpongeBob... Teen Titans got repeated a lot of times in the saturday mornings among with JL and we all loved it...

Well, at least there's Adventure Time, where it dares to be both random, funny, AND serious... sometimes at the same time... (It's a very ambivalent show, overall...)

There was a time where you can have a serious show targeted to children... But now, if it doesn't have that sense of comedy (or "comedy") that could keep a young child happy for 10 to 20 minutes (excluding commercials), then it's targeting the "wrong" audience, and thus will ultimately get cancelled and replaced with a show that can fit that bill better...

The new Ben 10 is the shit, and I am surprise how good it is. One of the best action cartoon and yeah I find that to be better than Young Justice cartoons. Also, Young justice can be summed as the villians always one upped the good guys. It became kind of predictable and even in the end, it was still yeah the bad guy manage to still get a win.

1. An action show where, despite having story arcs, each episodes feels both contained and funny enough to keep anyone tuning in entertained throughout... Yeah, Ben10 knows how to keep itself going without the fear of cancellation...
2. I don't think Young Justice's predictability was "completely" intentional, in that regard... It tried to do something different and it ended up with execs wanting it cancelled because of not getting the right response to it... If Young Justice tried to do the "Breaking Bad for kids" approach in terms of overall tone (and not so much execution, unless it's in the comedic department... Even Breaking Bad knew when to relieve the serious tension with a few positive laughs on the side...) then it probably would have gotten better feedback than it did...

Young Justice was in second for DC weakest show for CN. Green Lantern did story arcs better, manage to introduce part of the Green Lantern mythos rather well, and still told a long term story arc while in the end manage to feel complete. Of course no one cared because it was CG, and it was Green Lantern and the memory of the masses is that shitty Green Lantern movie. But yeah Green Lantern did better what Young Justice was suppose to better.

1. "Second"? What came first on that list? "Green Lantern"?? Or "Beware The Batman"?
2. Green Lantern also had more episodes that felt not only contained within just that single episode, but were also easier to take in and follow overall... Young Justice actually needed you to focus more on its overall plot than with Green Lantern, which given what the execs wanted both shows to target made Green Lantern the better show even more than Young Justice... (Also, I feel like the first season of Green Lantern was the more better version of what the final season of Teen Titans was trying to do... you know, before Teen Titan's "final episode"...)
3. We can at least agree that both shows went off on their own terms when they finally did got cancelled... (Not that many shows can say that, by the way...)

 

[hermes]

How many seasons does TTG has? Considering Samurai Jack had 4 seasons and Young Justice had 2, I believe its too early to say whether this show ended earlier or overstated its welcome.

I don't even think its because of the comedy vs drama discussion, but its likely that merchandising for that show wasn't selling as great. Also, it appears that the production costs of Young Justice was a lot more than Teen Titans Go.

Finally, I find it funny how a lot of people complain that TTG was a bastardization of the source material, when its obvious their only contact with it was the previous cartoons. To put it mildly, other that a few episodes each season, the Teen Titans show had nothing of the tone of the comics. It was like comparing Superfriends to Justice League Unlimited.

 

[FPLOON]

We can at least agree that both shows went off on their own terms when they finally did got cancelled... (Not that many shows can say that, by the way...)

Young Justice ended with a plan Darkside invasion. Beat badguys, oh it's Darkside, to bad the show was cancelled.

Honestly, I COMPLETELY forgot about Darkseid's "less than a minute" cameo at the very end of the final episode of Young Justice... I believe the reason why I did forget (until you reminded me) was because of how both "out-of-place" and "in-place" that final scene is, given the pending cancellation... (It's like Season 1's ending with the "missing hours" bit... only more "out of nowhere", I guess...) The more I think about that particular scene, the more it makes it seem like it's leading to some "big" Young Justice movie... (or video game, but not the video game that came out quite recently unfortunately...) It also reminds me that I barely remember how Green Lantern ended in it's final season as well...

Now I wish the DC Nation block was at a MUCH better TV time-slot... Shows like Young Justice, Green Lantern, and even Beware the Batman seem to work better if shown at, like, the afternoon or the evening... (and I still remember the earlier episodes of Young Justice premiering on Friday nights, I think...) Or maybe I just wanted the block to be at a time that worked for me instead of what was suppose to work for a younger demographic...