David Zaslav continues to overall the Warner Brothers side of Warner Brothers Discovery, and when the small TV network franchise has less issues that the multimedia juggernaut something is horribly wrong. The latest victim appears to be Cartoon Network Studios, the animation studio tied to Cartoon Network. At least if you listen to the internet. According to Variety 82 existing staff members at Warner Brothers’ Television division were let go and the 43 already open positions eliminated or at least won’t be filled. This plus a bunch of animated shows disappearing from HBO Max (some of which doesn’t make sense to me but I’m not in the offices of Warner Brothers Discovery or Cartoon Network) has somehow led to “CARTOON NETWORK IS GOING TO DIE IN FLAMES OHMAYGHAD ANIMATION IS DEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD!” or something to that effect. The internet was already declaring the death of Cartoon Network, not just the studio. Folks, if it survived CN Live and “let’s make them all short comedies like on YouTube because we don’t understand what a budget is” now is not the time to panic.
Yes, there have been cutbacks, but there have been cutbacks all over the new company. The Batgirl movie was apparently so bad that it was canceled before it saw the light of day. Someone tried to tell me that the movie’s test screening wasn’t any worse than Shazam, which actually makes me less interested in seeing either movie or The Violent Emancipation Of Black Adam. Even the supposed merger of Cartoon Network Studios and Warner Brother’s regular animation department isn’t happening, and they’ll be running as separate brands. So what is the future of former home of the greatest cartoon stars, as the promos used to say? Let’s speculate, because that’s all we can do and least I know I’m not an oracle. Continue reading
