10 year anniversary: The End of Kids WB

[wonderfly]

Today marks the 10th Anniversary of the end of the "Kids WB" block.

"Kids WB" aired from September 9th, 1995 until May 17th, 2008. It originally aired on The WB channel, which eventually merged with UPN to become "The CW" in September 2006, but they kept the name "Kids WB" for the Saturday morning cartoon block until May 2008 (though with the loss of Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh in September 2006, the Kids WB block was very different that last couple of years).

This leads some people to say "Kids WB" ended in September 2006 (but you've got other elitists that say it ended back in 1999, when Kids WB started airing Pokemon, or back in 2001 when it started airing Yu-Gi-Oh). I personally think the premiere of "Johnny Test" in September, 2005 was the start of the decline, but I digress...

Starting the following week, "Kids WB" would go by the name "The CW 4 Kids" (eventually switching names to become "Toonzai"). Much of the Kids WB line-up would be replaced with new shows, but there were some holdovers (for instance, "The Spectacular Spider-Man" started airing on Kids WB just a few weeks prior in 2008, but it carried on with airing on the new "CW 4 Kids" line-up).

Here is the final bumpers that aired that day, March 17th, 2008:


This marked the final time the "Kids WB" water tower icon (aka the Animaniacs water tower) was used in promos.

Post your thoughts and reflections on the end of an era, 10 years ago today!

 

[superkeegan9100]

Can't believe it's been 10 years since this glorious block was replaced with cheap 4Kids leftovers from the Fox network. In its launch, Kids' WB was nothing but Warner Bros. Cartoons, plus an acquired series based on the hit video game Earthworm Jim (which predated Pokemon's debut on the network by four years).
But seeing the video above this post is painful to watch, especially since that was how they decided to go out.

 

[wonderfly]

Here's another early promo for the block, from 1996 (this promo ran on several Warner Bros. VHS releases at the time):



I got to researching, and "Kids WB" actually lasted longer on the air than "Fox Kids". Barely.

"Fox Kids" started airing in September of 1990 and ran until September of 2002 (12 years aka 12 seasons. I count a season as going from September of one year till May of the next year).

"Kids WB" started in September of 1995 and ran till May of 2008 (That's 13 seasons, and just 3 or 4 months shy of a full 13 years).

Related Discussion: "It's been 15 years since Fox Kids went defunct."

 

[Light Lucario]

It is strange to think it has been so many years since Kids' WB ended. While I was more upset over the loss of the afternoon block than their Saturday morning one, it was still sad. I have a lot of nostalgic fondness for Kids' WB. I loved to watch many of their original and third party shows back in the day.

I think I watched the last weekend where they had the Kids' WB name, but I'm not entirely sure. After they stopped airing Pokemon and didn't air Yu-Gi-Oh! GX after they finished airing DM, I stopped watching the block. In retrospect, I should have at least watched The Batman and especially Spectacular Spider Man, but losing two of my favorite shows definitely left me pretty upset. Still, the block had a lot of good years with some solid shows throughout those years. I'm surprised it only barely lasted longer than Fox Kids, but I probably thought that they started around the same time instead of Kids' WB starting five years later.

 

[LinusFan303]

Wow time has gone by . I didn't watch their last program ,but did tune in for the last 5 minutes expecting a farewell message like when the WB did but it was more just what is seen above then my CW station went to Sabrina The Animated Series per normal.

I was sad about the Weekday block going away more too , but they introduced some great shows over their time though like Freakazoid! , Detention, Histeria!. I kind of think with out Fox Kids there wouldn't have been a Kids WB kind of like with out FOX there probably wouldn't have been a WB (or UPN).

Was sad that it ended. You could kind of tell the block was kind of waning before they announced that it was ending. They didn't add as many new series the line up as they did the year before (and all the new shows they did pick up were imports) and they started winding down a lot of the other stuff.

 

[jaylop97]

Kids WB was pretty cool, I had a good time watching Johnny Test (Season 1), Xiaolin Showdown, The Batman, Yugioh, Pokemon, and so forward. I don't have much of a good memory of anything earlier than 2003, but for the most part these shows were some of my favorites of the block, and other than that I always enjoyed the bumpers and other content during commercials as well. Too bad the block wasn't doing to swell in the mid 2000s but I still think I enjoyed it well.

 

[wiley207]

I remember how the death of Kids' WB was really hard on Warner Bros. Animation. It really cut back on the number of shows they were producing, since they ended up having to end several of them. I think I recall hearing they were planning a third season of "Shaggy and Scooby-Doo Get a Clue" (blech) that would've been somewhat different from the first two seasons (given the way the second season wrapped up), but shutting down Kids' WB led to the show being canceled. And now Warner Bros. is acting like that show never happened, and Cartoon Network and Boomerang outright REFUSE to rerun it in North America, same with its' sister show "Loonatics Unleashed."

 

[superkeegan9100]

They probably regret making those two shows, hence why they never re-ran on Cartoon Network and Boomerang US.

 

[Light Lucario]

I don't know if they regret making Shaggy and Scooby Doo Get a Clue. I haven't heard much about that series compared to most of the other Scooby Doo series, but I don't think it is as infamous as Loonatics Unleashed. That show was just a desperate attempt to make the Looney Tune characters cool and hip for the kids.

 

[D-nice is the man.]

Well, I don't think I remembered the last time I saw Kids' WB, considering it was mostly watching 4KidsTV or I ABC Kids on Saturday Mornings at the time. I was perplexed that 4Kids would run two saturday morning blocks, not knowing the outgoing one on Fox would eventually end. Personally, I just wished I had the intellect to record some of the commercials because I did have a VHS recorder when I was younger, but oh well that's all in the past now, and that's okay.

 

[PF9]

Kids WB went downhill once it lost its 4Kids properties (I think had 4Kids not lost the Pokemon license that show would have stayed on, and perhaps 4Kids would still be up and running, losing the Pokemon license really hurt the company long-term, and as you may know ticked off a lot of the fans of the existing dub because of the VA replacement, which many fans of Veronica Taylor's portrayal of Ash are still miserable to this day because Ash keeps losing leagues which keeps his story going, and Sarah Natochenny keeps dubbing his voice - no doubt that Ash winning a league would end his story, and many fans of Taylor's Ash were among the unhappy campers when he lost at Kalos).

 

[Light Lucario]

Kids WB went downhill once it lost its 4Kids properties (I think had 4Kids not lost the Pokemon license that show would have stayed on, and perhaps 4Kids would still be up and running, losing the Pokemon license really hurt the company long-term, and as you may know ticked off a lot of the fans of the existing dub because of the VA replacement, which many fans of Veronica Taylor's portrayal of Ash are still miserable to this day because Ash keeps losing leagues which keeps his story going, and Sarah Natochenny keeps dubbing his voice - no doubt that Ash winning a league would end his story, and many fans of Taylor's Ash were among the unhappy campers when he lost at Kalos).

I think it started to go downhill a bit before it lost its 4Kids properties. There weren't too many original shows during the block's last couple of years that I think were particularly noteworthy. Losing Pokemon definitely didn't help Kids' WB and I think that the block only lasted a couple of years after Pokemon moved to Cartoon Network too. I don't think Kids' WB would have lasted significantly longer if they had kept Pokemon on their lineup. There were a lot of factors against a traditional Saturday morning block by the mid 2000's, but they might have been able to keep it going for another year or so.

As for 4Kids, losing Pokemon definitely did some significant damage to the company, but I sincerely doubt that they would be still be around today if they still had the property. For starters, TPCI wanted to avoid another third party company being involved with the franchise. That's why they took over control for the card game, as well as the anime. They certainly wouldn't have had the property by the time TV Tokyo was suing them for the Yu-Gi-Oh! license. Losing Pokemon was a heavy blow to the company, but I don't think it was the nail in the coffin. The main things that really damaged 4Kids beyond repair financially were the economy crashing hitting small companies like them the most and putting all of their eggs in one basket when it came to Chaotic.

Now I stopped being angry at the TPCI cast for replacing the 4Kids cast ages ago. I don't like how it happened and I still like the original cast, but they weren't responsible for what happened. They were just hired to do their jobs. I can understand preferring one voice over the other, but being miserable about the voice change after a decade is pretty ridiculous. Ash winning one League wouldn't have made him into a Pokemon Master or mean the end of his story. It's been over twenty years and Ash is still the main character. He isn't going to leave regardless of how well he does in a League tournament.

 

[ZZenigundam]

I was never really a fan of Kids WB or Saturday morning cartoon viewing. I remember they played the New Batman/Superman Adventures, but I wasn't really into Batman until CN, and those KWB episodes were like the very last season I believe. And Pokemon, well never really got into that either. I would really only watch Spider-Man and X-Men on Fox Kids, but I almost never spent an entire Saturday morning watching the whole block of Fox Kids or KWB because those were really the only two things I liked from those blocks.

I know Kids WB was immensely popular in its heyday though. Now kids can't even watch fresh Saturday morning cartoons if they want to just kick back and turn on the tube because all cartoons on cable channels on Saturday mornings are just reruns.

 

[wonderfly]

I stopped watching in late 2001. Around the time Yu-Gi-Oh premiered. I had moved on to watching Cartoon Network full-time in 2001, so that became my primary interest. It didn't help that in 2001, The "Kids WB" weekday afternoon block became Toonami. (from Summer 2001 to Summer 2002) It's almost like they wanted kids to leave The WB network and just watch Cartoon Network instead. In retrospect, THAT might have been the start of the decline. To toss aside "Kids WB" branding/bumpers for Toonami branding/bumpers, I think it backfired.

....I maybe still tuned in to Kids WB a bit in early 2002. I remember watching the end of Yu-Gi-Oh's first season in the Spring of 2002 (when I came to realize it was the next "big thing" after Pokemon). And I remember watching some episodes of "The Mummy" animated series. But yeah, I found I'd rather be watching Toonami Midnight Run and Adult Swim late at night, rather then getting up on Saturday mornings for Kids WB.

I briefly tuned back in to Kids WB (every once in a while) around Summer 2004. I discovered "Yu-Gi-Oh" was still going strong, but now they had shows like "Xiaolin Showdown", "Ozzy and Drix" and "What's New Scooby Doo?". I remember catching the series finale to "X-Men: Evolution". That was awesome, admittedly. That may have been 2003 though...Yeah, I was partially interested in finding how out all of the action shows from the acclaimed 2000 season resolved their storylines, but I never did catch the endings to "Max Steel" and "Jackie Chan Adventures" (and I was only semi interested in "Static Shock"). But I did catch the ending to X-Men: Evolution.

But I never jumped on board with getting interested in "The Batman" or "Beyblade"....or any of the other early 00 shows...

 

[RDG]

I stopped watching in late 2001. Around the time Yu-Gi-Oh premiered. I had moved on to watching Cartoon Network full-time in 2001, so that became my primary interest. It didn't help that in 2001, The "Kids WB" weekday afternoon block became Toonami. (from Summer 2001 to Summer 2002) It's almost like they wanted kids to leave The WB network and just watch Cartoon Network instead. In retrospect, THAT might have been the start of the decline. To toss aside "Kids WB" branding/bumpers for Toonami branding/bumpers, I think it backfired.

....I maybe still tuned in to Kids WB a bit in early 2002. I remember watching the end of Yu-Gi-Oh's first season in the Spring of 2002 (when I came to realize it was the next "big thing" after Pokemon). And I remember watching some episodes of "The Mummy" animated series. But yeah, I found I'd rather be watching Toonami Midnight Run and Adult Swim late at night, rather then getting up on Saturday mornings for Kids WB.

I briefly tuned back in to Kids WB (every once in a while) around Summer 2004. I discovered "Yu-Gi-Oh" was still going strong, but now they had shows like "Xiaolin Showdown", "Ozzy and Drix" and "What's New Scooby Doo?". I remember catching the series finale to "X-Men: Evolution". That was awesome, admittedly. That may have been 2003 though...Yeah, I was partially interested in finding how out all of the action shows from the acclaimed 2000 season resolved their storylines, but I never did catch the endings to "Max Steel" and "Jackie Chan Adventures" (and I was only semi interested in "Static Shock"). But I did catch the ending to X-Men: Evolution.

But I never jumped on board with getting interested in "The Batman" or "Beyblade"....or any of the other early 00 shows...

Yu-Gi-Oh! S1 actually ended in November 2002, S2 premiered the same month. Also, Beyblade never aired on Kids' WB!.

 

[mimitchi33]

I never watched this block, but my brother watched Pokemon on there. I do remember looking up old bumpers of the block as a kid, mainly for Animaniacs.

 

[superkeegan9100]

I was first exposed to Kids' WB in 2007. It was a week before Will and Dewitt, Magi-Nation, Skunk Fu and Eon Kid premiered. Not long after, my Dad introduced me to the 90's Kids' WB with his Animaniacs and Pinky and the Brain tapes. I genuinely prefer that Kids' WB over the 2000's one.

 

[ZZenigundam]

Right... What were some of the shows on the original Kids WB weekday block again? Recall Pinky and the Brain, Animaniacs for sure, Batman/Superman, uhh something else.

 

[superkeegan9100]

Right... What were some of the shows on the original Kids WB weekday block again? Recall Pinky and the Brain, Animaniacs for sure, Batman/Superman, uhh something else.

The first two shows on the Kids' WB weekday lineup were That's Warner Bros. (which was a collection of Looney Tunes shorts) and Animaniacs.

 

[wonderfly]

Yu-Gi-Oh! S1 actually ended in November 2002, S2 premiered the same month. Also, Beyblade never aired on Kids' WB!

Okay yes. It was in 2002. Just forgot when in 2002. Also, I have memories of Beyblade (and how much I hated it). Beyblade is listed as a show that aired on Kids WB. *shrug*

I was first exposed to Kids' WB in 2007. It was a week before Will and Dewitt, Magi-Nation, Skunk Fu and Eon Kid premiered. Not long after, my Dad introduced me to the 90's Kids' WB with his Animaniacs and Pinky and the Brain tapes. I genuinely prefer that Kids' WB over the 2000's one.

Does your father still have the VHS recordings from that era?