Cartoon Network

Cartoon Network (commonly abbreviated as CN) is a cable television network created by Turner Broadcasting which primarily shows animated programming. The original American channel began broadcasting on October 1, 1992 with the Bugs Bunny short "Rhapsody Rabbit" being its first-ever aired program. Cartoon Network's originally served as an 24-hour outlet for classic animation properties from the Turner Broadcasting libraries. Cartoon Network has launched many other shows including Dexter's Laboratory, Johnny Bravo, Cow and Chicken, The Powerpuff Girls, Ed, Edd n Eddy, Courage the Cowardly Dog, The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy and Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, among others.
Cartoon Network is mainly youth-oriented and shares channel space with a late-night young adult-oriented channel skein called Adult Swim. In recent years, Cartoon Network began airing more live-action programming, including movies and series. Out of Jimmy's Head, Cartoon Network's first original live-action series, debuts in September 2007. R.L. Stine's Goosebumps debuts on October 1, 2007.

History

Late 1980s-1993
By the end of the 1980s, Ted Turner's cable-TV conglomerate had acquired the MGM film library (which included the older catalog of pre-1948 color Warner Bros. cartoons), and its cable channel Turner Network Television had gained an audience with its film library. In 1990, it purchased animation studio Hanna-Barbera Productions and acquired its large library as well as most of the Ruby-Spears library. Cartoon Network was created as an outlet for Turner's considerable library of animation, and the initial programming on the channel consisted exclusively of reruns of classic Warner Bros. (like Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies), MGM (like Tom and Jerry and Droopy Dog), and Hanna-Barbera cartoons (like The Jetsons and The Flintstones), with many Hanna-Barbera TV cartoons like Wally Gator used as time fillers. Most of the short cartoons were aired in half-hour or hour-long packages, usually separated by character or studio — Down With Droopy D aired old Droopy Dog shorts, The Tom and Jerry Show presented the classic cat-and-mouse team, and Bugs and Daffy Tonight provided classic Looney Tunes shorts. Classic animation currently doesn't air on Cartoon Network.

Hanna-Barbera started production on The What-A-Cartoon! Show (also known as World-Premiere Toons And "What-A-Cartoon"), a series of creator-driven short cartoons that premiered on Cartoon Network in 1995. It was the network's third original series (the second was Space Ghost: Coast to Coast and the first was The Moxy Show). The project was spearheaded by several Cartoon Network executives, plus Ren and Stimpy creator John Kricfalusi (who was an advisor to the network at the time) and Fred Seibert (who was formerly one of the driving forces behind the Nicktoons, and would go on to produce the similar animation anthology series Oh, Yeah! Cartoons).

Enter: Time-Warner
In 1996, Time Warner, the entertainment conglomerate purchased Turner Broadcasting, and with it, Cartoon Network, who gained access to the complete Warner Bros. cartoon library, which includes WB cartoons from the 1950s to the 1980s as well as recent cartoons like Road Rovers, Animaniacs, Freakazoid, and Batman: The Animated Series.
Time Warner changed the direction of Hanna-Barbera Productions (the production studio now known as Cartoon Network Studios), and focused the studio exclusively on creating new material for the Network (which were baptized Cartoon Cartoons). These productions include: Dexter's Laboratory (1996), Johnny Bravo (1997), Cow and Chicken (1997), and The Powerpuff Girls (1998) (all of which were shorts, previously launched on What a Cartoon with the creative work of Hanna-Barbera art director Jesse Stagg), and more recently Codename: Kids Next Door (2003), Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends (2004), and Camp Lazlo (2005). To free up air time for said new shows, the listed classics were retired.
The older Hanna-Barbera cartoons, as well as the entire Warner Bros. Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies library, and all non-Tom and Jerry cartoons made by MGM such as those made by Tex Avery, have been largely moved to the nostalgia-themed Boomerang sister network.
On June 14, 2004, Cartoon Network relaunched itself with a new logo and slogan, “This is Cartoon Network.” The bumps now featured 2D cartoon characters from their shows interacting in a CGI city composed of sets from their shows. Nearly all of Cartoon Network's classic cartoon programming has been replaced by new programming, except for Tom and Jerry, a longtime staple of the Turner networks. Within a few months, the network took off more shows from the 1990s (Dexter's Laboratory, The Powerpuff Girls, etc.) and put them on a 30 minute block called The Cartoon Cartoon Show. Some shows like Mike, Lu, and Og and Sheep in the Big City were taken off the network completely.

Cartoon Network Today
In the summer of 2006, Cartoon Network's slogan was changed to a simplistic “Cartoon Network - Yes!,” as spoken by Fred Fredburger, a character on The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy. Before then, the network's original slogan, "the best place for cartoons", had remained the network's slogan for nearly five years. The network also used bumps featuring the cast of Camp Lazlo as stick puppets and characters in front of a red background.
The new campaign featured three different styles of bumps. The first style is "Lunchbox of Doom", featuring an assortment of show clips inside a CGI goth-looking lunchbox, a reference to an episode of the Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy. The second is "VS.", comparing two cartoon characters. The last style is a reprise of the CGI City look, using flat, dark colors.
As of 2007, Cartoon Network does not have a slogan, but they retained the image campaign that began in 2006, although a slightly refreshed version of the theme is currently in use.[2] In Fall 2007, the channel will begin broadcasting in High Definition. [1]

Programming blocks

Cartoon Cartoons
Main article: Cartoon Cartoons
Cartoon Cartoons, a series of comedic animated shorts produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions guided by Fred Seibert, who founded the Nickelodeon-based Frederator Studios years later. Originally known as "World Premiere Toons," the shorts were essentially series pilots — the idea was to measure audience response and turn the most popular shorts into series. Only a small handful of the shorts ever made series, however. The first short to air was "The Powerpuff Girls Meat Fuzzy Lumpkins," but it would be three years before the girls got their own series. This show also aired the cartoon "Larry and Steve", which was the prototype of the hit show Family Guy. The first series to spin off from What-a-Cartoon! was Dexter's Laboratory in 1996. A year later, Johnny Bravo and Cow and Chicken joined Dexter on the Cartoon Network lineup. The Powerpuff Girls became a Cartoon Cartoons series in the fall of 1998. Ed, Edd, n Eddy came later as the first Cartoon Cartoons series not to be introduced in a What-A-Cartoon! short. Boomerang comes back September, 1, 2007
More shows premiered bearing the Cartoon Cartoons moniker, airing throughout the network's schedule and prominently on Cartoon Cartoon Fridays, which became the marquee night for premieres of new episodes and new shows. For three years during Summer, Cartoon Network actually let fans pick which of that year's crop of Cartoon Cartoon shorts made series, by staging a vote where fans could choose from among the three most popular entries. The first short to be voted into a series was The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy (originally known as Grim & Evil) in 2000, and a year later Codename: Kids Next Door was voted in 2001. Both have gone on to become two of Cartoon Network's longest-running series. Megas XLR was voted in the year later and ran its own series as well (Though is not considered a Cartoon Cartoon because it did not air on the Fridays block), along with Whatever Happened To Robot Jones in 2002, which didn't receive popular vote but became a series sometime later. Both of which, however, were short-lived.
As of September the name is primarily used for The Cartoon Cartoon Show, an hour-long program featuring episodes of older Cartoon Cartoons that are no longer shown regularly on the network.

Fridays
Cartoon Cartoon Fridays, was launched on May 7, 1999 and last aired on May 2, 2003. Cartoon Cartoon Fridays was the Friday night version of "Cartoon Cartoons". This program block on Cartoon Network that showcased the channel's original animated series, with new episode premieres usually taking place in this block. The block was "hosted" by cartoon characters that were part of Cartoon Cartoons shows. The block aired between 7 p.m.-5 a.m., with the shows and segments repeating at least twice.
Cartoon Cartoon Fridays was replaced by Summer Fridays in 2003. When the Summer ended,Summer Fridays was replaced by Fridays in late 2003. Fridays was hosted by live-action hosts. Intially, the host were Tommy Snider and Nzinga Blake. Nzinga was later replaced by Tara Sands. Fridays, unlike it's predecessor, also featured puppets, celeberities, and kid audience that contributed often by informing the viewers the name of the shows that were playing or coming up next.
On February 23, 2007, Cartoon Network aired the last Fridays. A month-long "Movie Madness" filled out the airtime, and Friday Night Premiere Thunder, then Friday Night Premiere Lazer took over the programming slot.
A new block, Fried Dynamite, premiered on August 31, 2007.

Miguzi
Miguzi was a cartoon block that premiered on April 19, 2004. This block was themed around Erin, a girl who finds refuge within the confines of a strange spaceship that is trapped underwater and inhabited by aquatic creatures. Not surprisingly, this lighter-toned action block was from Williams Street, the producers of late-night programming block Adult Swim and Toonami, a block of programming which Miguzi replaced in the weekday-afternoon timeslot. Miguzi changed its shows often.
Miguzi aired action shows from different countries like Ben 10 and Teen Titans from America, Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh GX from Japan, and Totally Spies and Code Lyoko from France.
As of June 2007, Miguzi is no longer on the Cartoon Network lineup and will be replaced by Master Control, an interactive block announced by the network during their 2007-08 Upfronts in February [3] [4], premiering in fall 2007.

Toonami
Main article: Toonami
Toonami (a portmanteau of cartoon and tsunami) was initially a block of action-oriented programming on Cartoon Network in the US and UK, and Spain among other countries. The American version premiered on March 17, 1997 as a weekday afternoon block. The regular afternoon block, including Rising Sun (a Saturday morning version of the block, revived as a late-night action block of Batman and Superman), Super Saturdays a Saturday afternoon block with a few premieres), and Midnight Run which was originally a late-night action block on Saturday nights in 1999 before becoming an hour-long weeknight action block on March 6, 2000 that aired the uncut version of Mobile Suit Gundam Wing which was replaced by Outlaw Star in 2001 and repeats of other shows from the afternoon block before being replaced by Adult Swim in 2003).
Previous blocks with the Toonami branding included Toonami Midnight Run (which premiered on July 10, 1999 and was initially a five-hour weekend-only block airing at midnight before stripping to weeknights at midnight starting in March 2000 until January 2003), Toonami Rising Sun (which aired from April 2000 on Saturday mornings until September 2003, when it got rebranded as an overnight block featuring Batman: The Animated Series and Superman: The Animated Series), and Toonami Super Saturdays (which aired from 2002 until March 2003).
Currently, the United States version of Toonami airs on Saturdays from 7 to 11 p.m. (E/P). Some shows in this program include Naruto, Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo, One Piece and Yu-Gi-Oh! GX.
The Toonami brand was subsequently used in the United Kingdom as the title of a Cartoon Network-operated UK spinoff channel in its own right in September 2003, a little under a year after the network launched as CNX. In 2006, the network relaunched as a general entertainment network with little emphasis on action-animation before shutting down in Spring 2007.
For the rest of the territories that have Cartoon Network, Toonami remains a block with many of the same shows seen in the United States as well as regional exclusives like Battle B-Daman, Power Rangers (In the Philippines), Todd McFarlane's Spawn, Machine Robo Rescue, Granzasers, X-Men: Evolution, Shadow Raiders, Beyblade, and others.

Prime Time
Prime Time was a programming block that ran from late 1998-2002. Prime Time would showcase Hanna Barbera Cartoons & Cartoons from the Present, such as Scooby-Doo, Ed, Edd n Eddy, Dexter's Laboratory, Courage the Cowardly Dog, The Flintstones, Tom & Jerry, Cow & Chicken, and occasionally Dragon Ball Z and Looney Tunes, and The Powerpuff Girls.

Adult Swim
Adult Swim is Cartoon Network's Adult Sister Network, which premiered on September 2, 2001 in the USA.
Originally a Sunday-only block that also reran on Thursdays, Adult Swim airs Saturday nights at 11 p.m. (E/P), Monday through Thursday nights at 11 PM. (E/P) and Sunday nights at 10 PM (E/P) with an encore airing at 2 a.m. and then ending with an hour of older shows on every night but Sunday. The block, programmed by Williams Street, the same group that created Toonami and Miguzi, plays American animated comedy series and shorts geared towards audiences 14 and older and a wide variety of anime series and OVAs intended for audiences 18 and older.
The name comes from the name for hours designated at public swimming pools where only adults can swim in the pool. On March 28, 2005, the programming block was spun-off as a separate entity from Cartoon Network for Nielsen Ratings purposes. On March 27, 2006, Adult Swim started airing a half-hour early at 10:30 p.m. on Monday through Thursday (E/P)but due to the Friday block added on July 6, 2007 on July 2, 2007 they dropped the extra 30 minutes bringing it back to air at 11pm E/P Mondays-Saturdays.

Preschool programming
The first preschool programming block on Cartoon Network in the United States was Small World, afterwords Big Bag premiered on June 2, 1996. Big Bag featured animated shorts from around the world and live action Muppet scenes. Big Bag ended in September 1998.
The second block, Tickle U premiered on August 22, 2005. Pipoca, Henderson, and Place hosted the block. Tickle U stopped in September 2006. Its official site is now a redirect to the Harry and His Bucket Full of Dinosaurs page on the channel's official site.
Currently, Cartoon Network broadcasts preschool programs on weekday mornings, although there is no preschool specific block. It is unknown whether a fourth block is coming to Cartoon Network or not.

Saturday Video Entertainment System
The Saturday Video Entertainment System was a Toonami-like block of action animation airing Saturday nights from March 17, 2003 to April 10, 2004. SVES was packaged like a video game, with a Samus Aran-like character in bumps reminiscent of older arcade/SNES game design. This block was also designed by Williams Street.

Films
Cartoon Theatre
Cartoon Network's Cartoon Theatre in full (or Movie Madness, as it's now called), is Cartoon Network's film series, featuring animated theatrical films, animated television films, and films made for Cartoon Network. It originally ran once a week on Saturday nights, the feature film of each week would be regularly advertised on the network making it an anticipated special movie event. The block used a classical western style with a theatrical quality of feel in its bumpers, involving a realistic-looking old-time ticket machine and a freely drifting movie ticket on top of a wood desk accompanied by the voice of Don LaFontaine, the footage being used before and after commercial breaks and in commercials advertising the block itself. The amount of time Cartoon Theatre ran varied, and based solely on the amount of time the feature film ran, and would perhaps disagree with Cartoon Network's hour-by-hour schedule. To even out the block's time-frame, a sub-block titled Toon Extra, a block based on newspaper delivery, aired after Cartoon Theatre films showing one or more cartoons helping to add less than an extra hour of content to span out the perhaps uneven time slot, when the block was still called Cartoon Theatre. If Toon Extra didn't completely fill the time slot a few extra commercials may be aired, plus the occasional black-out for lesser amounts of unadded seconds.
Since 2004, live-action films, regardless if they are cartoon-related (though most are), became part of Cartoon Network's library of movies.

Cartoon Network Original Movies
Thirteen made-for-TV movies have aired on Cartoon Network. These films are, in effect, movie-length special episodes of Cartoon Network series Dexter's Laboratory, The Powerpuff Girls, Camp Lazlo, Codename: Kids Next Door, The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, My Gym Partner's a Monkey, Teen Titans, Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, Ed, Edd n Eddy, and Ben 10. Also among the original movies is Cartoon Network's first original live-action movie, Re-Animated. With the second live-action movie,Ben 10: Race Against Time coming November 21, 2007. There are thirteen released and five waiting to be released. There are two movies that are a pilot to a Original Series and two marking an end to a Series. The pilot movies are: House of Bloo's and Home and the cancellation movies are: Wrath of the Spider Queen and Operation: I.N.T.E.R.V.I.E.W.S..