Cartoon Network gambles on live action

Cartoon Network’s audience has been declining for years. From January to August, the network averaged 370,000 viewers ages 9 to 14 in prime time — a drop of 30% from four years earlier, according to Nielsen Media Research. The new shows haven’t reversed the slide. In July, the network had the fewest viewers in that target age range since May 2000 and its least-watched month overall since June 1998.

There is internal tension as well, with many veteran animators either quitting or being handed their walking papers. There are even whispers inside the channel’s Burbank animation studios that the network might drop “Cartoon” from its name.

“It’s a little sad. . . . Cartoon Network had something really unique,” said Craig McCracken, creator of “The Powerpuff Girls” and “Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends,” two of the network’s most popular shows. McCracken recently left the network after working there 17 years because he no longer has any shows in the works there.

Simply being unique isn’t cutting it anymore for the brass at Cartoon Network. Launched in 1992 on the back of the Hanna-Barbera library, Cartoon Network has struggled to stand out against rivals Nickelodeon, Disney Channel and Disney’s new XD network. With its quirky and somewhat subversive animated shows, including “The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy” and the slapstick “Ed, Edd n Eddy,” Cartoon Network has also been a tough sell to parents and even kids.   LA Times

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