Smarty Pants: Cartoon Network Shows from the 2000s Are Better Than You Remember!

Cartoon Network Shows from the 2000s Are Better Than You Remember! is an upcoming YouTube video from Australian YouTube reviewer Smarty Pants (@SmartyPantsYT) discussing how Cartoon Network shows from the 2000s are better than most people remember.

Transcript
(As the 1992 Cartoon Network logo fits the screen)

Smarty Pants: Hey there, and welcome back to my first ever Cartoon Network video.

(And some video footage comes afterwards)

And today, I wanna discuss something that I've been getting a lot of requests to do. Remember a while ago when I did my video discussing how Disney animated films of the 2000s are better than most people remember? Those who saw that video wanted me to do the same thing with Cartoon Network shows from that era. And honestly, I can't blame them. I wanna address something right away, I'm a 2000s kid, as I'm sure you all know. And yes, I loved Cartoon Network as a kid. In fact, I loved all three kids networks growing up. Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, and Disney Channel. But out of all the main big kid three, I watched Cartoon Network the most. Who didn't?

Cartoon Network had the best shows during the 1990s and 2010s. In the 2010s, they had Adventure Time, Regular Show, Gumball, Steven Universe, and more. The 1990s, their first decade, was considered their best for good reason. The Moxy Show does not count as an original series. Not that it was bad, it just felt more like a less educational version of ToonHeads. Space Ghost Coast to Coast, their real first original show, left a huge impact on the network, that it even spawned the age of Adult Swim. Afterwards, we get stuff like the What A Cartoon! Show, and most of the original Cartoon Cartoons were spawned from that show. Dexter's Laboratory, Johnny Bravo, Cow and Chicken, Powerpuff Girls, Courage the Cowardly Dog, and even the underrated Mike, Lu & Og. Ed, Edd n Eddy was another great show, and it too still holds up today.

But in between, I wanna talk about a decade of Cartoon Network that many people consider as their worst decade ever. The 2000s. Beginning with the AOL Time Warner merger in the early 2000s, followed by Hanna-Barbera shutting down as an animation studio after Bill Hanna's death, Jamie Kellner wanting to take down WCW programming due to his belief on wrestling being too low class, Betty Cohen stepping down as Cartoon Network CEO in favor of Jim Samples, many of the original Cartoon Cartoons ending, newer cartoons hitting the airwaves that most people didn't care about back then, and usually still don't today, the rebranding (including the new logo), importing shows from another country (usually from Canada), rejecting potential concepts like Kitty Bobo and Party Wagon, and the biggest culprit of them all, live-action. The latter being what ruined the purpose of the channel's name. All of this factor as to how people view the 2000s as the worst decade in the history of Cartoon Network, even today. And honestly, while I do understand the criticisms, I strongly disagree. I mean, don't get me wrong, all their live-action shows are shit!, except for maybe Big Bag, that one gets a pass. Out of Jimmy's Head is a horrible show, and it's not very hard to see why people hate that show. But we Australians got lucky we never had CN Real here. And yet, even after Adventure Time and Regular Show came out in 2010, Cartoon Network still continued to air live-action shows all the way until 2014, when Stuart Snyder, who served as Jim Samples' replacement in 2007 as CN CEO, had left the building. Other than that, there weren't that many live-action shows on Cartoon Network here.

But with all that said, even I feel as if a large chunk of Cartoon Network shows from the 2000s, with the exception of their live-action shows, rightfully deserve better, and ARE better than you remember. And as someone who watches Adult Swim today, I really like Superjail! Yes, I said it. Don't at me. Though I do agree as to how Chris Savino's take on Dexter's Laboratory and the Powerpuff Girls sucked by comparison, but that's for another video. And yes, I actually liked the first three seasons of Johnny Test. I know people hate Superjail! and Johnny Test, but I actually enjoy them! Come at me! The 2000s were a fun time for cartoons, even with live-action being slightly more popular post-9/11. It saw the rise of Pixar, Blue Sky, and DreamWorks as animation studios, Nickelodeon was still doing fresh with shows like Invader ZiM and SpongeBob SquarePants, and Cartoon Network was still doing their Cartoon Network things; providing variety! I'm not gonna bother listening to MrEnter's words, or those other people who hate the 2000s for Cartoon Network. I want to let out my own taste, especially after watching WazpRanger's positive reviews on Cartoon Network shows of the 2000s. And now, it's my turn.

Let's start with Sheep in the Big City; the first Cartoon Network original series of the new millenium. Spawned from the Cartoon Cartoons show, which is what the What A Cartoon! show now became, the show was created by Mo Willems. He previously made the Off-Beats shorts for Nickelodeon's KaBlam! series. Both of his creations were produced by Curious Pictures, an animation studio run by Steve Oakes. Curious Pictures also did the work on Codename: Kids Next Door, also for Cartoon Network. Being another Cartoon Network show inspired by Jay Ward cartoons, this show follows the adventures of a self-named Sheep, who leaves the farm to wander off into the big city, while trying to avoid being used as a battery for General Specific's sheep-powered ray gun to destroy the world. It was a fresh start for Cartoon Network. Driven with story arcs in an episodic format, and having some of the most insane humor you would get. Comical slapstick gags, fourth wall breaks, pop culture parodies, commercial spoofs, amazing voice acting, especially from Kevin Seal, and each episode ending with the Ranting Swede. Some of my favorite rants of his included ones involving meatballs and supermarkets. And it was such a great show.

Despite all of this, it's sad to know that Cartoon Network pulled the plug after two seasons and 26 episodes. 27 if you count the pilot. The show finished its run by 2002. And to make matters even worse, this show would later on receive hate as one of those cartoons of the 2000s that aged poorly by the general public. I felt super upset at that opinion, because it felt like one of those modern day successors to Rocky and Bullwinkle, even paying the most amount of tribute to Rocky and Bullwinkle. People viewed it as repetitive in terms of writing, and even viewed it as poorly animated by today's standards. People just sadly don't find the show's humor funny anymore. I guess this may be why most people tuned into Nickelodeon more. Other than that, I still love it, and I wish Cartoon Network brought more attention to this.

Following the merger between AOL and Time Warner, Cartoon Network would go into a different direction according to a lot of people. As stated previously, William Hanna died of esophageal cancer in 2001, leading to Hanna-Barbera as an animation studio to shut its doors, and be folded into Warner Bros. Animation. Maurice Noble, a colleague of Chuck Jones, died a few months later, also in 2001, due to natural causes. Cartoon Network Studios would become its own separate entity from Hanna-Barbera, and took control of Cartoon Network's original programming ever since. And by the summer of 2001, Cartoon Network released their next show, Time Squad.

Time Squad was Cartoon Network's first original series to solely be produced by Cartoon Network Studios outside of Hanna-Barbera. It also was the last Cartoon Network show to premiere when Betty Cohen was in charge, but not the last show she greenlit for the network. Created by David Wasson, who then did the Cuphead Show for Netflix, the show is a more demented version of Peabody's Improbable History from Rocky and Bullwinkle; as it follows the adventures of an orphan boy named Otto Osworth, who gets raised by a gay couple, as confirmed by the show's creator (yes, really), named Buck Tuddrussel and Larry 3000, who take him to the future, and help the Time Squad fix time to save their future. Preventing historical figures from doing things they shouldn't be doing, like having Billy the kid act like a baby, or Eli Whitney building flesh eating robots, or Leonardo DaVinci become a beatnik, the Boston Tea Party literally being a tea party, Betsy Ross being a hippie, Abraham Lincoln being dishonest, or even Edgar Allen Poe coming up with cheerful and happy stories, and so much more. Combined with the sharpest of cartoony writing and educational values, this made me become a history buff like Otto himself!

And I too believe it aged wonderfully. It has an awesome voice cast of Rob Paulsen, Pamela Adlon, and Mark Hamill, Michael Tavera did great with the music score, as he also did the work on shows like Yin Yang Yo! and ¡Mucha Lucha!, the humor is just crazy and hilarious, and the writing is very sharp! And yet, it only survived for 2 seasons of 26 episodes, making this another one of Cartoon Network's most obscure shows! It ended its run 2003. And it's just sad to see this one go to. Despite its short life, it too is an awesome show! And I think it deserves better. Following then, Betty Cohen left as Cartoon Network CEO due to creative differences with Jamie Kellner, who ran Turner until 2003. And that's just a sad move, because she played a big part in Cartoon Network's history. And by August 2001, Jim Samples took over as the new CEO of Cartoon Network. And that's when people started to lose interest in Cartoon Network. And fans believe that because of him, plenty of great shows were ending in favor of newer shows that most people don't care about. Admittedly, he can make bad decisions. And yes, he may even be partially responsible for Cartoon Network airing live-action.

Despite all of that, he's not entirely at fault. Because he actually understands the actual purpose of Cartoon Network. He knows it's only intended to air cartoons. Plus, he DOES respect Betty Cohen to this day. He may not have been the best CEO of the network, but he DOES care about Cartoon Network's viewers. Plus, he wasn't even the first person to bring live-action to CN. THat even happened earlier in the 1990s when Betty Cohen was still in charge. THat said, his reasoning for live-action on Cartoon Network does seem like a fair reason. Granted, that doesn't mean live-action should be on Cartoon Network at all, but most people who grew up watching Cartoon Network were going through the phase where they believe they'd be too old to watch cartoons, even though you're never too old for cartoons at all. And while his auspices at CN weren't perfect, he did help fund Adult Swim in 2001; airing cartoons for adults like Robot Chicken and Aqua Teen Hunger Force, and even giving attention to shows like Home Movies, Family Guy, Futurama, the Oblongs, and Mission Hill. He'll never top Betty Cohen as the CEO of Cartoon Network, but he does respect her! He's been with Cartoon Network since the early 1990s! And a lot of people say he's responsible for the dark age of Cartoon Network since his entrance in 2001; especially by the mid-2000s with all the rebranding. Fans claim Cartoon Network had the worse rebranding out of all the kids networks in the 2000s, alongside Disney Channel. And honestly, those people are wrong. Just because a company rebrands, especially once a show ends, doesn't mean they're declining in quality.

Betty Cohen has greenlit a few more shows for Cartoon Network before she left. A good example of this was the first show to premiere when Jim Samples was in charge, Samurai Jack. It was made by Genndy Tartakovsky, creator of Dexter's Laboratory. Although, we'll save Chris Savino's run of that show for another video. But right now, I wanna talk about Samurai Jack; the only other Cartoon Network original show that ever got a revival run with new episodes on Adult Swim, besides Space Ghost Coast to Coast. A serious action cartoon about an ancient warrior trapped in the future, and wanting to find a way to return home, and defeat Aku to prevent his evil from becoming law! There's no doubt that this is one of the most visually artistic shows ever! And the writing is top notch! I really love how it stands out by mostly having no dialogue, but reliant on the atmosphere! The art is fucking beautiful, man! It being one Cartoon Network show to not be a part of the Cartoon Cartoons! It was like before Disney gave us Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go!, and like that show, this one also combines the elements of sci-fi, action, fantasy, humor, storytelling, and even horror. Even I was upset at how this show finished its first run in 2004, but even happier that Cartoon Network continued to acknowledge it, and air reruns of it since the mid-2000s! That was when Cartoon Network released multiple DVDs for this show, and I couldn't have been happier!

And when it got revived in 2017 on Adult Swim, I was even more blessed! It had a great ending. Yes, I said it! I'll talk more about why in another video. Samples was even responsible for Family Guy and Futurama being successful on Adult Swim; although I do like the new Futurama episodes, the new Family Guy episodes lost that charm. Back on topic, I wanna discuss Grim and Evil. Maxwell Atoms will never top John R. Dilworth in terms of crazy and dark cartoons on Cartoon Network, but I love anything by Maxwell Atoms. It's a little more like Aaahh!!! Real Monsters than Ren and Stimpy for Cartoon Network. Although, I had more fun with that show, AND this, than I did Ren and Stimpy today! The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy is a cartoon about two kids who befriend the grim reaper, while Evil Con Carne is about a dead man who wants to continue ruling the world. Already, we're off to a good start! Because both shows, while Billy and Mandy lasted longer, and Evil Con Carne had a shorter run, aged even better than they did back then! They were so good back when they came out, and while yeah, they may have some problems, especially with Billy and Mandy for the gross-out, they still hold up better than expected! I know that Fred Fredburger is annoying, but C. H. Greenblatt played a large part in making both shows brilliant! There were plans for an Underfist spin-off series, but it was rejected in favor of CN Real, which sucked. Maxwell Atoms even expressed interest in returning to Billy and Mandy, but then they fired him for his show being too immature, which is stupid. But I assume they learned their lesson, who knows?

There's no doubt that shows from Warner Bros. Animation on Cartoon Network are just as memorable, with shows like Justice League, Teen Titans 2003, and Duck Dodgers! But I don't think I'll talk about them due to time constraints. Still, I love those shows!