Lurker > RySenkari

#93: Cartoon Network Recasts The Powerpuff Girls

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...hey, is that Mara from Progressive?

In 2016, Cartoon Network rebooted their classic superhero animated series The Powerpuff Girls, hoping to bring the show to a brand new generation of fans. The announcement of the reboot was met with mixed emotions, but fans were cautiously optimistic, hoping the show would retain its unique blend of action and humor. Controversially, however, it was soon announced that the original cast (Catherine Cavadini as Blossom, Tara Strong as Bubbles, and EG Daily as Buttercup) would not be returning to reprise their roles. Almost immediately, the news sent fans into an uproar. All three original cast members were ready, willing, and able to reprise their roles, but instead, the parts went to Amanda Leighton (Blossom), Kristen Li (Bubbles), and Natalie Palamides (Buttercup) instead, with producers citing that they wanted to "infuse new energy" into the series. To be fair, the three new actresses performed their roles quite well (indeed, there were moments I preferred Palamides' performance to Daily's), and Leighton and Palamides remain busy voice actors to this day, so obviously the new three were talented enough to play the parts... but it begs the question why the original actresses were replaced in the first place, as all the "new energy" their replacements brought wasn't enough to save the show from critical scorn and eventual cancellation. Speculation arose about the new cast being hired to save money... and to be quite honest, whatever the reason was, replacing three beloved cast members is pretty inexcusable. Fans were already unsure about the new series, the replacement of the original cast just served to drive many of them away from the show, and there just weren't enough new viewers to bridge the gap. Like The Real Adventures Of Jonny Quest did by alienating critics, alienating a key group of people that your show needs for its success (in this case, old school fans) is not the way for a reboot to go, and the new Powerpuff Girls got off to a bad start it couldn't afford.

#94: Disney's Brand Spanking New Doug

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/5/1/8/AAAG8cAAEniW.jpg
I can see that it's brand new, but I don't see any spanking going on!

In 1996, Disney picked up the rights to air Doug, one of the original three Nicktoons alongside Rugrats and Ren And Stimpy. The show had done well in its three year run on Nickelodeon, but had been somewhat overshadowed by the other two, and Disney acquired the rights to Doug hoping to turn things around by making it an anchor of its new One Saturday Morning block. The show would pick up where the original left off, with Doug and friends now in middle school, with a few changes along the way: Roger, who was once a poor kid living in a trailer park, was now rich. Connie had lost weight, the Honker Burger was now a fancy restaurant... initially, despite the changes to the show, creator Jim Jinkins was happy to be working again, and had fun working on early episodes despite the changes. However, as time went on, Disney's Doug seemed to lack much of the quirky charm of the original. Characters' personalities bled into one another, and the show took on elements of a generic teen comedy rather than the unique coming of age story it had been on Nickelodeon. Billy West, who had done an excellent job as Doug and Roger in the Nickelodeon show, was let go for budgetary concerns, and the other voice actors no longer recorded together, eliminating the chemistry they had originally. Even Jim Jinkins began to burn out, clashing with other executives on creative matters. Despite all these changes, Disney's Doug was enough of a success to get four seasons and a movie, though that can also possibly be attributed to being part of the successful One Saturday Morning block, taking advantage of its fellow shows' ratings. It's easy to wonder why Disney even acquired Doug if they were planning on eliminating much of the things that made the show so beloved on Nickelodeon. Perhaps in their effort to make the show truly seem "brand spanking new", they wanted to differentiate their Doug from the old Doug. Still, it's not like Disney didn't air quirky teen cartoons at the time: Pepper Ann was far more interesting and unique, and its legacy endured much longer than that of Disney's Doug, a show many people forget existed at all. Few shows have been treated so well (seven seasons and a movie) and yet still seem like they got screwed: Doug had to endure being overshadowed by Ren and Stimpy, then by Rugrats after Ren and Stimpy flamed out. It got a chance on ABC, but despite being a staple of its premiere Saturday morning block, never really got to be the show it had once been on Nickelodeon. Disney's Brand Spanking New Doug is a frustrating exercise in "why?": Why would a network pay millions to acquire a show, then suck the life out of what had made it so great in the first place? It's not as if they were trying to keep it out of the competition's hands, since it hadn't done much for Nickelodeon either. Despite all the attention and money lavished on it, it ended up being one big spankin' waste of time.

Azula
Makoto
Xemnas
Lucas

#95: Sid The Science Kid Looks For His Friends

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Did you hear the one about the most annoying kids you've ever met?

Sid The Science Kid was an educational show created by the Jim Henson Company with a hybrid of computer animation and motion capture puppetry. The innovative animation technique gave the show and its characters a bit of a strange look, but the show itself did well enough in its goals to teach science concepts to young children, and it's also worth noting that the show had a great deal of diversity and made a commendable effort to educate kids on different cultures and ethnicities alongside the science lessons. That's all well and good, but in order to get to the lessons, you had to sit through what has to be one of the most annoying 90 second sequences in television history, in which Sid goes down to the playground and looks for his friends, who introduce themselves with loud noises, terrible dancing, air guitar, and... yeah. This sequence played near the beginning of almost every episode of the show, and as a way to set the tone for everything that came after, it falls very, very flat. It's a shame, because the show itself is decent, despite some of the weird animation. It managed a successful run on PBS Kids, so it's not like the incredibly annoying character introduction sequence hurt the show, but I definitely feel for parents who had to sit through this every time the episode came on. At least we got some hilarious Youtube comments out of it... before Youtube's new rules came along and deleted all the comments on videos for kids. Now you can't even enjoy this intro sequence ironically.

#96: The Chloe Bourgeois Saga

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"That's some nice character development you've got there. It'd be a shame if something were to happen to it."

Chloe Bourgeois is the school bully on the television show Miraculous Ladybug, and in season one, she lived up to that role quite well. Her selfishness and cruelty led to nearly a dozen of the show's villain transformations, and despite showing a few signs of deeper character traits, she mostly spent the first season as a bully and a baddie... but that didn't stop a good portion of the fandom from rooting for her to change her ways. Why not? Everyone loves a good redemption story, and soon, those fans got their wish when Chloe was revealed as the upcoming holder of the Bee Miraculous, set to join Ladybug and Cat Noir in their fight against villainy. The crowd erupted at this revelation, moreso even than when Alya was revealed as a future Miraculous holder, and soon, the fandom anticipated when she'd make the change. Sure enough, she acquired a Miraculous in season two, and despite some bumps along the road, joined the team fully in the finale... but during season three, this character development was entirely reversed, and Chloe not only lost her powers, but helped Hawkmoth acquire all the Miraculouses. If the story had ended there, this moment wouldn't be on this list. Thomas Astruc's decision to call an audible on Chloe's redemption arc did come off as a bit petty, and you could argue that it made her season two episodes pointless, but ultimately the move didn't hurt the show and Miraculous Ladybug is as popular as ever. And Chloe's fans had every right to be upset... but they took things to a whole different level. Chloe fans absolutely tore into Astruc after season three, insulting and even threatening him on Twitter, accusing him of all sorts of problematic things, and basically just being the most obnoxious fans imaginable. The storm of rage over Chloe's aborted redemption arc continues to this day, and the worst thing about it is that ultimately, regardless of how abrupt and petty Astruc's decision to reverse Chloe's redemption arc was, the fans' behavior afterward ultimately proved him right, and made Chloe fans pariahs in the Miraculous Ladybug fandom. Any chance there might've been of a reversal of the reversal was pretty much squandered through the actions of this group of fans, and what it comes down to in the end is a somewhat dumb decision to abort a popular redemption arc being overwhelmed by some of the most ridiculous fan behavior in recent memory. The whole thing vastly increased the toxicity of the Miraculous Ladybug fandom, and those Chloe fans who remain upset with the decision but who handled things in a more reasonable fashion (reading/writing fanfiction, voicing concerns respectfully), have had to pretty much go silent to avoid being lumped in with the crazy ones.

#97: Real Adventures Of Jonny Quest Producers Claim Jessie Won't Be A Damsel In Distress, She Ends Up A Damsel In Distress On Very First Episode

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Pictured: A strong female character

When Cartoon Network revived Jonny Quest to be one of the flagship programs on its relatively new (at the time) channel, Turner pulled out all the stops to make The Real Adventures Of Jonny Quest one of the biggest action cartoons of the decade. Millions of dollars were spent on production and promotion, and by all accounts, this would be a damn good looking cartoon. At the same time, Jessie Bannon, daughter of Race Bannon and new companion of Jonny and Hadji, was also being heavily touted as the first major female character in the franchise's history. She'd be tough, she'd be smart, and producers swore up and down in early promotion for the show that she'd be independent, wouldn't need Jonny Quest to save her, and wouldn't end up being a damsel in distress, at least not to the degree that similar characters in other shows were. And actually... they were mostly telling the truth. Jessie did end up being a well developed and mature character, another foil to Jonny in ways that Hadji wasn't, with traits of her dad but also her own unique characteristics to set her apart from the rest of the team. It took a while for her to gain an identity, but she really did emerge as one of the stronger new elements of the show and perhaps the most memorable aspect of The Real Adventures, save for maybe the CGI Questworld (which didn't look great but was okay for mid 90s TV budget CGI). Except... a lot of critics never got the chance to see how good a character Jessie was, because they gave up on her after the show's premiere episode, "The Darkest Fathoms", had her and Dr. Quest captured by pirates and needing to be rescued by Jonny. Sure, Jonny also got captured, but he got to escape on his own, while Jessie had to wait to be saved. Remember, this was the first episode, the character producers touted as independent and not just some damsel, and Jonny had to save her. "The Darkest Fathoms" was actually a pretty good episode, gritty and creepy and a great way to introduce the new show's darker tone, but just the fact that they did the one thing they said they wouldn't do, and it really did give numerous critics a bad first impression of Jessie, and you can see why this ended up on the list. What could they have done instead? Maybe push the episode back a week, air "Escape To Questworld" as the premiere, show off some of that flashy CGI and give Jessie more of a chance to be on equal footing with Jonny. Or, if you really want "The Darkest Fathoms" as your premiere and you anticipate Jessie looking weak, maybe have her and Jonny get captured together and help each other escape? Good way to establish their chemistry early on. But, no... Jessie is a damsel in the premiere, the episode critics will base their opinion of the show on. Real Adventures Of Jonny Quest ultimately did well, though it ended up canceled after two seasons without getting a real finale, and I can't help but wonder if perhaps it could've done just well enough to get season three had it not been for that self-inflicted own goal that put off critics on both the show and Jessie before the premiere even got a chance to air.

#98: Whenever The Contestant Couldn't Put The Shrine Of The Silver Monkey Together

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"Everybody knows how to put the monkey on!"

Legends Of The Hidden Temple is one of the best game shows Nickelodeon ever aired. Combining intense physical challenges with fun historical knowledge, it sees six teams of kids gradually whittled down to one as they compete in various games to earn their chance to run through the Hidden Temple in pursuit of an ancient treasure that will earn them a prize (usually a trip to Space Camp or something). The Temple was full of tests, tricks, and puzzles, and none more famous than the iconic Shrine of the Silver Monkey, in which the contestant must put together a three piece monkey statue to advance to the next room. That's it, just a three piece puzzle. My niece does way more than three piece puzzles, and she's half as old as most of the contestants on this show. ...so why do so many of them have so much trouble solving the damn thing? Don't give me that whole "pressure" and "bright lights" thing, that excuse might fly when someone misses an actuator on the Aggro Crag, but not in the Hidden Temple. Lots of contestants have solved it and solved it quickly, so it's especially egregious when someone fucks it up, and yet there are entire compilations of kids doing just that. Every possible way to fail at the Silver Monkey puzzle, some kid has done. They've messed up the base, or gotten the middle piece turned around, or, in some extremely stupid cases, they've tried to jam the head on the wrong way. So many great temple runs have been ruined by Silver Monkey shame, and even the Legends Of The Hidden Temple movie and the Loud House crossover have poked fun at it. The Shrine of the Silver Monkey has gone down in infamy as the most iconic part of Legends Of The Hidden Temple, and it's both frustrating and hilarious to this day to watch reruns of some poor kid totally stumped by the damn thing.

#99: Mr. Rogers (Inadvertently) Flips Off A Crowd Full Of Children

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"I got your Thumbkin right here, buddy!"

Mr. Rogers is, quite obviously, the last person you'd expect to be flipping the bird, but if you've been on the internet for even a short while, you've no doubt seen pictures or .gifs of him doing it, wondering "did he really do that or is that just Photoshop?" Well, I'm here to tell you, he really did it! ...okay, not really. Early in his career, Mr. Rogers was singing the classic nursery rhyme "Where Is Thumbkin?" to a group of kids, and as part of the song, you're supposed to put up a finger to represent each character in the song, with the middle finger representing the "Tall Man". As Mr. Rogers got to that part of the song, he does seem to give a knowing smile and almost laugh, so yes, even though he didn't raise his middle finger with ill intent, he knew EXACTLY what that gesture could be interpreted as. Of course, everybody trusted Mr. Rogers enough to give him the benefit of the doubt, and none of the kids seemed offended, so the gesture was treated as it should've been, as an innocent part of an innocent song. No harm, no foul. Still, we got some absolutely hilarious memes out of it, and 50 years later, anyone who wants to do so can go online and see Mr. Rogers flipping the bird, totally divorced from its context like just about everything else online is these days.

Thanks so much for the positive response to this idea, hopefully I can make a list that lives up to it!

And now, get ready for tales of the most short-sighted meddling executives, showrunners who went totally off the rails, critics with the worst takes you'll ever see, and fans who ruined it for everybody. Without any further ado, let the countdown begin!

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#100: The Owl House Gets Canceled For "Not Fitting The Disney Brand"

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Remember, somewhere at Disney there's a guy who's solely responsible for us not getting to see Eda in a swimsuit.

The Owl House proved to be a surprise hit when it launched on The Disney Channel in early 2020, just before COVID-19 took over the world. With its mix of horror and comedy, its fun, quirky characters, and its bold exploration of LGBTQ+ themes, it earned millions of fans all over the world, and seemed destined to become an all-time Disney Channel animation classic. It got renewed for a second season a few months later, but when it came time to re-up for season three, fans noticed that this third and final season would consist of three hour long specials... and that was it. No 20 episode final season like so many other shows had gotten, it would essentially get just six episodes worth of time to tell its final stories and no more. When Dana Terrace was asked why, she said that an executive at the company didn't think the show "fit the Disney brand", and was largely responsible for the shortened third season. Of course, fans didn't buy this excuse, and why should they? This came at a time when, thanks to the launch of Disney+ and the acquisition of 20th Century Fox, the "Disney brand" had expanded more than ever... surely there was a place for The Owl House somewhere amongst Star Wars and Family Guy, right? Well, the truth was a bit more complicated: budget cuts related to the loss of Disney park revenue during the pandemic meant that Disney had to make some tough cuts, and a full third season for The Owl House was one of those things that had to go. With the outpouring of social media and fan support, Disney had plenty of chances to reverse course and give Dana and the crew a fourth season where they could tell some of the stories that fell by the wayside during a shortened season three, but alas, it wasn't to be. It did get a proper finale, albeit a rushed one, so the tragedy of so many shows that didn't even get the luxury of a conclusion wasn't repeated here. Still, one wonders what might've been, and The Owl House's third season getting truncated seems like a real missed opportunity, a case of an executive with a grudge and Disney not knowing what it had. Owl House fans missed out on a lot of fun adventures, and they really didn't have to.

Ammy
Ricky
Dexter
Frank

Yep, another top 100 project which hopefully I'll be able to finish. This time, it's a (mostly) objective ranking of what I think are the 100 dumbest events in the history of American children's television.

This project is inspired by a book I learned about on TVTropes:

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Literature/WhatWereTheyThinkingThe100DumbestEventsInTelevisionHistory

The idea for my list came when I was thinking about what moments in the last 20 years (since the book was published) would make the list if the book was updated for 2023, and it evolved into my own ideas for a list based exclusively on children's television, which has had its own share of dumb events over the years.

I'll hopefully be starting this list later this week, maybe as soon as tomorrow! I still have a few more spots to fill, so while I do a bit more research, feel free to discuss what moments you think might make the list. I'll lay down a few ground rules I tried to mostly follow:

-As mentioned before, this will be an American-centric list, as I'm too lazy to research all the dumb children's television events from around the world. Therefore, potential top-10 worthy moments like the Pokemon seizure incident, Jimmy Savile getting away with everything he got away with, and the Xuza Park fire won't be on this list. However, shows that originated overseas but air on American television are fair game, as long as the dumb event had something to do with the show's American airing (therefore, a bad foreign show coming to America could make the list, but a controversy caused by a foreign show exclusively in that show's country of origin would not make the list).

-It involves children's television only, so general audience shows, even if their audience is mostly children, won't count. Therefore, the Flintstones Winston commercial or anything having to do with shows like Full House or Boy Meets World wouldn't make the list. I bend this rule a couple times for certain reasons, however.

-It involves TELEVISION, so events like Janet Waldo being recast for the Jetsons movie or the Jem live action movie producers using clips of the cartoon's fandom to promote their crappy movie also don't count.

So... those are the guidelines for the list! Hopefully at least a few people here enjoy reading it once I start posting it.

Toph
Liz
Roxas
V

Hiro

Camacho
Frank
Davy
Jimmy

Midna
Jade
Mama
Balthier
Hiro

Fran
Xemnas
Lucas
Goro
Hiro

Azula
Ofelia
Donna
Mieu

Hiro
Dexter
Vesper
Lelouch

Mai
Jack
Mikey
Ricky
Ty

Ty
Doc
V
Kiryu

Toph
Demyx
Tia
Liz

The Most Interesting Man in the World (Dos Equis beer commercials)

LightningStrikes posted...

I will say, I think basically all the effects of Reagans presidency would have happened without Reagan himself. The hard neoliberal shift of the 80s was on its way regardless - of course Thatcher predates Reagan by a year, but even the left wing governments of continental Europe were pushed into adopting lighter versions of these policies that decade. Given that its America of course Reagan went much harder into it than anybody and also let AIDS run rampant while destabilising the Middle East. However I think there always would have been a Reagan. I dont think there always would have been a Bush or a Trump.

My galaxy brain pick is Nixon over JFK in 1960 - back then IIRC Nixon was pro-civil rights, if he wins no Goldwater and the southern strategy that has effectively plagued the world for decades. Also he likely gets assassinated before he can do so many crimes. The US probably ends up with two functionally identical parties with different factions across the spectrum. Not great but better than the current situation.

I don't think so, Carter winning in 1980 at the very least butterflies away the PATCO firings, which is one of the things that absolutely broke organized labor in this country. You also have to consider if John Hinckley had still gone through with his assassination attempt, if he'd shot Carter and Carter had lived, Carter might've been able to cash in the groundswell of sympathy to get us something like universal health care.

In 1984, it'd be Mondale vs. either George H.W. Bush or Bob Dole, right? Neither of them would've been as bad as Reagan, especially not Pappy Bush, and I could see us getting Mondale in 1984 if Carter's second term goes better than his first.

No.

I picked 2000, but if I could magically get Carter re-elected in 1980 I'd do that.

Gary Smith (Bully)
Christopher Henderson (24)
Nerissa (W.I.T.C.H.)

Azula (Avatar the Last Airbender)
Toph (Avatar the Last Airbender)
Midna (The Legend Of Zelda: Twilight Princess)
Balthier (Final Fantasy XII)
Penelo (Final Fantasy XII)
Lightning McQueen (Cars)
Doc Hudson (Cars)
Davy Jones (Pirates Of The Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest)
Neville Flynn (Snakes On A Plane)
President Dwayne Elizondo Mountain Dew Herbert Camacho (Idiocracy)

My niece is visiting this weekend, so I won't be able to play much. I was playing when she walked into the room, I warned her that the game might be too scary and violent for her to watch but she didn't seem to care. When some deer wandered in front of my Necromancer she yelled at me not to kill the deer, after I told her I can't hurt the deer, I walked past a dead deer and said "I didn't do that".

24 is still my favorite TV show of all time. I know there's some awful stuff in it, but I don't care, it's fiction and it's riveting as fuck.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6TiB5rRq2Q

I'd vote for the DS remake if a lot of the important augments required to make the endgame not a complete nightmare weren't missable, but since they are and you pretty much need to follow a walkthrough to get them, I voted for the Pixel Remaster.

Sucks that it got delayed, though I suppose this gives me more time to play Tears of the Kingdom, since I was planning to start my Scarlet playthrough once Home launched (I've already completed Violet, and I usually wait to do the other until Home compatibility goes live).

Link to the Past and Super Metroid are too low.

Simple and Clean
This Is Halloween

Belle
Reflection
A Whole New World
Gaston
How Far Ill Go