I'm no longer offended by products being marketed specifically to the Boomers,

March 10, 2000 9:42 AM

I'm no longer offended by products being marketed specifically to the Boomers, but the majority of the cartoons being run on Cartoon Network's new channel "Boomerang" totally antedate even the more generous boomer demographic. Hong Kong Phooey? Inch High Private Eye? Those both ran during *my* last seasons of Saturday Morning Cartoondom, and I hung on longer than most of my peers.
Whither art thou, Channel X?
posted by CrazyUncleJoe (9 comments total)

That's why they have Toonami, to balance that. Some of the cartoons there are old too, but not *that* old.
posted by Cavatica at 9:53 AM on March 10, 2000

Hey! Hong Kong Phooey isn't that old.

and yes I'll have another slice of that denial cake....
posted by dangerman at 10:05 AM on March 10, 2000

Don't you mean to say that POST-DATE the Boomer demographic? "Captain Kangaroo" AND "The Mickey Mouse Club" debuted the Monday after my birth (leaving me destined to a life defined by the TV), and my prime kid-vid years were dominated by Bullwinkle, Yogi Bear and the creepy Clutch Cargo; I was officially too old for that stuff by the time Scooby Doo came along - yet, I'm considered a LATE boomer. There's even a new designation going around for the transition between the Boomers and the X-ers called "Generation Jones" where I apparently fall (I'll dig up the link later). So, apprently the "Boomerang" demographic is really anyone who actually enjoyed the mostly-Hanna-Barbera cartoons (owned by Turner/Warner/AOL) that aired before Nickelodeon started showing them it COULD be done better (Current favorite animated guilty pleasure: Angry Beavers: Yay, Norbert!)
posted by wendell at 10:36 AM on March 10, 2000

Be careful what you ask for. You just might get it.
posted by plinth at 10:58 AM on March 10, 2000

Whoop - sed /ante/post

I know the "why" behind their decision - it's the name that stings. Sure Top Cat probably straddles the line and Penelope Pitstop was the Heroine for us early Xers - but Josie and The Pussycats? That's the X, baby!

I know that the site doesn't mention Josie and the Pussycats, but my post was initiated because of a blurb on the news about the NEW JOSIE AND THE PUSSYCATS Series being prepared for Boomerang. I had seen the music video they are playing on Cartoon Network (the punk sequence is funny - but the Kiss-esque finale kicks ass!), but I didn't know until this morning that they were planning a new series. It'll probably suck like the NEW JONNY QUEST, but good or bad, the Pussycats are ours.

Joe - feeling Generationally Militant this morning


posted by CrazyUncleJoe at 11:48 AM on March 10, 2000

ah I can still hear the Josie and the Pussycats theme song

what about Josie and the Pussycats in Outerspace...oh yeah...now were talkin Gen-X
posted by dangerman at 1:57 PM on March 10, 2000

Hey, don't forget about Transformers. :D
posted by hobbes at 1:33 PM on March 11, 2000

I must be some sort of anomaly.

My favorite cartoons are those by Chuck Jones, most of which were made before I was born, and "Dexter's Laboratory", a truly brilliant series which was ended much too soon which only got made in the last few years. (Genndy Tartakovsky is a genius; truly deserving of the mantle of "This generation's Chuck Jones". Why are they wasting him on dreck like "Powerpuff Girls"? You can still see some flashes of brilliance showing through, but he's handcuffed by a stupid premise.)
posted by Steven Den Beste at 2:49 PM on March 11, 2000

Anyone notice that Cartoon Network's ads are better than the rest of their programming (for the most part)? I love their take on political ads. "He demands to be shot, now. He demands not to be shot at all". Daffy Duck of course, payed for by the Porky Pig campaign. Everyday lately I can't stop humming "Brak for president. Brak for president. Brak for president. . .".

Steven, with respect, PPG is a MUCH better cartoon than Dexter's (which seems to steal too many plot lines from movies and TV series for my taste).
posted by spacecoyote at 6:24 PM on March 15, 2000