Happy 30th Anniversary to Kids WB!

[TheGreatToon]

CW 4 Kids was supposed to start in the fall of 2008, it was moved up to hand over in May 2008, so it had a weird mesh going on during that summer.

The mesh was very weird indeed, to the point where I'm not sure if it was Warner or 4Kids who was controlling the block over the summer.

 

[PicardMan]

Really Kids' WB is such a huge topic that I'm not surprised we had a few omissions. Histeria, Mucha Lucha, and Ozzy and Drix were something between "the hits" and "obscure oddities." Histeria got some attention from its MeTV Toons run. Mucha Lucha got some attention from its Miguzi reruns. Kids' WB also had reruns of classic Scooby-Doo with pop up video style facts to explain the dated references 21st century kids wouldn't understand.

In my personal experience, Kids' WB was my absolute favorite Saturday morning block until Sonic X and TMNT came to Fox and I switched allegiances. I came back with much excited when The Batman came out and was massively disappointed on that date of September 11, 2004. I remember watching The Batman on Toonami and had the fallacy of thinking that Legion of Super Heroes surely would also show up on Toonami in the future. I was dead wrong as Cartoon Network never reran it. Me TV Toons keeps dangling the 00s Kids' WB shows like a carrot, but it feels like they will never come.

 

[Peter Paltridge]

Things we didn't cover in the articles (but we could have):

The Year Toonami took over Kids WB (Fall 2001/Spring 2002): It just didn't work, but hey, DBZ and Sailor Moon briefly joined Kids WB.

I think DeMarco has gone on record saying he had nothing to do with it and didn't like it. It was nothing more than a reskin of regular Kids WB because the Toonami brand was trendy. I don't know if they couldn't GET more than a week or two of DBZ or Sailor Moon, or if they didn't like the ratings, but the former feels more likely to me...perhaps contractural obligations to keep running their normal shows, or the deal with CN kept them from running elsewhere for long.

Also, Kids WB didn't know what to do with DBZ when they had it, running the episodes out of order and making them impossible to follow.

Captain Planet on KidsWB in the late 90s is kind of wild to me. Feels like it would have already been a relic by that point.

I can tell you why it was there: to fill E/I requirements before Histeria was ready. If an act of Congress hadn't happened we probably would not have ever gotten Captain Planet on Kids WB.

 

[PicardMan]

Kids' WB Toonami was weird in that non action shows like Detention, Scooby-Doo and Generation O aired on it. It did seem like in 2001 Kids' WB was mostly known as an action and that Kids' WB Toonami could work in theory, but not really in practice. I know that the Toonzai reruns of Dragonball Z Kai had to be heavier edited than the cable run on Nicktoons. If Kids' WB kept up with DBZ, we'd probably see more silly edits to appease the FCC. Except for toy/card/video game based anime, anime has mostly worked better on cable because of all the violence. At the very least, Kids' WB Toonami gave me curiosity about the Cartoon Network block, which I eventually became obsessed with once I got cable in 2003.

 

[RandomMe]

I also have the feeling that the CN shows aired out of order too. KND didn't air from season 1 in its brief showing.

 

[TheGreatToon]

Just out of curiosity, why was CW4Kids moved up to start in May 2008?

 

[Stumpos]

Notice also how CN gradually aired less and less shows from Kids WB as it went on. Here's shows from Kids WB that aired on CN too (and not just for one day events like Pinky and the Brain either), not counting ones that were premiering on CN first.

• 1995: Animaniacs (1998-2001), The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries (2002-04, 2015), Freakazoid (1997-2003)
• 1996: Superman the Animated Series (2000-03), Road Rovers (1998-2000), Waynehead (1998-2000)
• 1997: Tiny Toon Adventures (1999-2001), Batman the Animated Series (1998-2003), The New Batman Adventures (2000-03)
• 1999: Batman Beyond (2001-03), Pokemon (2002-17), Max Steel (2001-03)
• 2000: Cardcaptors (2001), Jackie Chan Adventures (2003-05), Static Shock (2004-06), X-Men Evolution (2003-04)
• 2001: Rescue Heroes (2004), Yu-Gi-Oh (2002-05)
• 2002: Mucha Lucha (2004-05, 2007-09), What's New Scooby Doo (2003-14, 2016, 2023-present), Ozzy & Drix (2004-06)
• 2003: Xiaolin Showdown (2006-07), Astro Boy 2003 (2004)
• 2004: The Batman (2005-06)
• 2005: Johnny Test (2008-14)
• 2006: Tom & Jerry Tales (2011-17, 2024-25)
• 2007: Skunk Fu (2008-09)

And if taking in account the CW4Kids thing later:

• 2008: Chaotic (2009-10), Yu-Gi-Oh 5Ds (2009-10)

Seemed they were consistent on putting some Kids WB shows up to 2003 on Cartoon Network, then trickled down to one from each year from 2004 until the end of Kids WB. And only getting two shows from the CW4Kids retool and nothing from Vortexx.

 

[PicardMan]

I'm still wondering why Cartoon Network never aired the "good seasons" of The Batman and never aired Legion of Super Heroes at all. Superhero cartoons seemed like a big draw for Cartoon Network back in the 00s. The Batman got a significant second life on streaming, while Legion of Super Heroes has been wallowing in digital store and Blu Ray obscurity without ever getting reruns or streaming. I hear it's on par with the rest of the 00s superhero cartoons, but I literally slept on it assuming it was coming to Cartoon Network eventually like all the DC cartoons before it. MeTV Toons keeps teasing that they'll rerun the 2000s Kids' WB shows, but they never do.

 

[RandomMe]

Kids WB shows that aired in Portugal:

WBA:
Animaniacs (RTP 1, reruns on RTP 2 in 2006)
The Sylvester & Tweety Mysteries (RTP 1 2002, repeated on Panda Biggs/Biggs around 2013)
Pinky and the Brain (RTP 1, reruns on RTP 2 in 2011-2012)
Superman: The Animated Series (RTP 1)
Histeria (RTP 2)
Batman Beyond (RTP 2?)
Static Shock (TVI)
The Zeta Project (TVI)
Baby Looney Tunes (RTP 2 first season, Canal Panda second season)
Mucha Lucha (CN Africa 2013)
What's New, Scooby-Doo? (it only came to us on Panda Biggs around 2012)
The Batman (RTP 2)
Loonatics Unleashed (RTP 2)
Johnny Test (Panda Biggs 2011, already when Cookie Jar handled the rights. The series later moved to CN Portugal upon launch in 2013)
Tom and Jerry Tales (RTP 2)

4Kids Entertainment:
Pokémon (SIC)
Cubix (Canal Panda 2012)
Yu-Gi-Oh! (SIC)

CN:
Samurai Jack (RTP 2, up to season 3)
The Powerpuff Girls (TVI, all six seasons)

WBA reruns from other networks on Kids WB in the USA:
Tiny Toon Adventures (Canal 1 (as RTP used to be known) mid-90s, never repeated here)
Teen Titans (RTP 2 and (Panda) Biggs, up to season 4)

Acquired programming:
Earthworm Jim (TVI)
The Legend of Calamity Jane (RTP 2)
Men in Black: The Series (TVI)
Invasion America (SIC?)
Max Steel (TVI)
Cardcaptors (RTP 1/2 and Canal Panda/Biggs, out versions came adapted from Japanese prints)
Jackie Chan Adventures (TVI)
X-Men: Evolution (SIC?)
Rescue Heroes (Canal Panda)
Dragon Ball Z (SIC, of course, our version was adapted from the French one)
Sailor Moon (SIC later TVI and Canal Panda)
The Mummy: The Animated Series (TVI?)
MegaMan NT Warrior (Canal Panda)
Astro Boy 2003 (TVI)
Transformers Cybertron (Canal Panda?)
Spider Riders (Panda Biggs)
Monster Allergy (RTP 2)
Will and Dewitt (RTP 2)
Magi-Nation (Panda Biggs)
Skunk Fu! (CN EMEA then Panda Biggs dubbed)
The Spectacular Spider-Man (TVI and Nick Iberia)
World of Quest (SIC/SIC K?)

 

[Light Lucario]

I really enjoyed Kids' WB back in the day. I'm not sure when I started watching it exactly. I think it was either 1997 or 1998, but I could be mistaken. I remember watching shows like Animaniacs, Pinky and the Brain, Freakazoid and Road Rovers, but I have clearer memories of watching reruns on Cartoon Network with their individual bumpers, so it's hard to pinpoint if I started watching Kids' WB sooner or later from when those shows aired on the block. I definitely remember watching The New Batman/Superman Adventures in their afternoon block while eating peanut butter sandwiches when I came home from school.

There were so many great shows on the block. I really enjoyed The New Batman/Superman Adventures. Batman Beyond was amazing and I really wish that they would bring the concept back in a new series. I forgot how much I enjoyed X-Men Evolution. I vaguely remember watching X-Men on Fox Kids, but I think I was able to click more with X-Men Evolution since I watched most, if not all, of the series. Static Shock is so good. It had fun characters, good action and still dealt with heavy topics. It did get crossover heavy, but most of the superhero crossovers are great, so that worked out. The celebrity crossovers do make the show feel dated, along with the slang of the time, but I think that adds a bit of a charm in a way. Because of Static Shock establishing that various celebrities exist in the DCAU, you can imagine that the Backstreet Boys are having a concert while the Justice League is dealing with some huge world or galaxy threat. That is hilarious. I know that Static Shock wasn't intended to be part of the DCAU from the start, but it's still funny to think of those kind of pop culture connections. I wish that Static could get another series.

Jackie Chan Adventures was another favorite and I recently rewatched it on Tubi. I don't know how well it worked via the binge watching format. It kind of makes the lack of character development for most of the cast more noticeable, but you come into the show for fun kung fun fighting action and comedy, which still works. Xioalin Showdown was also pretty fun from what I remember.

Of course, Pokemon is a huge part of my nostalgic fondness for Kids' WB. Interestingly enough, I actually didn't like Pokemon at first. People made fun of me for not liking it during its peak of popularity. That in turn with being turned off by its huge popularity initially made me less interested in the anime and the games. But then I watched Pikachu's Goodbye and I've been a fan ever since. I think that they were close to airing the Indigo League matches at the time, so I remember watching reruns on their weekday afternoon block to catch up. Watching reruns on weekdays and new episodes every Saturday was so great. It was stressful whenever I missed a new episode, so I don't miss that element of the pre-streaming days. I don't think the anime's weakning popularity among the mainstream had anything to do with 9/11 or necessarily its quality. Popularity naturally tends to cool down after awhile and the initial hype lasting about two years sounds pretty typical. It wasn't unusual to hear people saying that they grew out of the anime, espeicially near the end of the original series. But I've also heard plenty of fans who stopped with one series only to come back later. I'd also argue that the Pokemon anime was more experimental than people tend to give it credit for, even with its formulaic approach, but that's another topic. How much the anime has fallen out of pop culture mainstream is also pretty debatable given the online reactions to Ash's victories in the past couple of series, although I highly doubt that Horizons will achive any similiar kind of reactions for its developments.

Yu-Gi-Oh! is another huge part of my nostalgic fondness for Kids' WB. Funnily enough, I also intitially wasn't into the series. I wrote it off as a Pokemon knockoff because it involved kids with monsters. It's pretty wild to ever think that when aside from involving monsters, the two franchises are drastically different with nothing else in common. DM was still an adaptation of the original manga at the end of the day. It wasn't even a toyetic franchise until GX. The first episode I watched was actually on Cartoon Network since they used to air Kids' WB shows from time to time. It was the one episode version of the Weevil duel. I remember thinking it was pretty good, realized that it wasn't like Pokemon, but still wasn't into the show. I checked out a few episodes while flipping between it and Digimon Tamers, but that changed with the Blue Eyes Ultimate Duel. With that match, especially the ending, I was hooked. Much like with Pokemon, I used the weekday afternoon block to catch up on reruns. The back to back hours of Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh! when I came home from school were just wonderful.

Out of all of their other anime, I only remember Cardcaptors clearly and even that is only a couple of episodes and scenes. I remember that they skipped a lot of episodes, so it was harder to follow along with. As a quick side note, I finally did watch the original Cardcaptor Sakura series a few months ago. It was good and I'm sure much better than the Cardcaptors dub, but the pacing was really slow, even for an episodic series. I think it would have clicked more with me if I was closer to the target demographic age range, but it was still enjoyable and I can see why it's considered an iconic magical girl series.

In my opinion, losing the afternoon block was the beginning of the end for Kids' WB. I was honestly way more upset over losing that block than the Saturday morning block. Coming back home to reruns of Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh! and other series was often the highlight of the day for me, so it felt like a big loss and I remember being so surprised by the news too. I guess I should have seen it coming when Fox Kids took off their afternoon block much earlier, but I was caught off guard by it. It did lead me to buy Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh! on DVD though. I have most of the different Pokemon series on DVD, but not as much as of the various Yu-Gi-Oh! series. Given 4Kids' financial and legal problems, it took them ages to release DVDs and by the time KCM started releasing more series on DVD, I had a long become a sub only watcher. While I prefer the Japanese version, I still hold a soft spot for the DM dub since it is how I got into the franchise in the first place.

Unsurprisingly, I did drop the block once Pokemon moved to Cartoon Network and Yu-Gi-Oh! DM aired its finale. A part of me kind of wishes that I had kept up with the block. The Batman was pretty good and I kind of hope that it lands back on Netflix at some point so that I can finally watch the last couple of seasons. I've heard good things about Legion of Super Heroes. Specutalar Spider-Man is amazing. I didn't watch it until it was already cancelled, but it's easily one of the best superhero cartoons out there. Even getting those few seconds of new Spectular Spider-Man content in Across the Spider Verse made me way happier than I thought it would. But at the same time, the block had been pretty lacking among its original series for awhile. Just reading over some of the other series in the last article reminded me why I dropped the block. There just wasn't much left that appealed to me. Of course, I was also well outside of the target demographic, but that had been the case for years and their original series weren't just asl interesting or fun as they were before.

Even if they had been able to keep Pokemon on the lineup and had GX instead ot airing on Cartoon Network, I doubt that the block would have lasted much longer. One or two shows can't keep a block going, there were fewer noteworthy original series and you could tell that the block was on life support by 2005/2006. Saturday morning blocks were already becoming more irrelvant with more people having access to cable. The fact that other companies like 4Kids and Saban were able to keep their own blocks going until 2014 is pretty strange. Streaming wasn't really much of a thing in the late 2000s, but it was definitly starting to gain more traction by the mid 2010s, so a weekly block for kids was really outdated by that point.

For all of its ups and downs, Kids' WB still had a solid run. I found my two favorite franchises thanks to the block, they had a lot of great original shows and the bumpers/promos gave it a lot of charm too. I'm sure that the voice actors had fun doing some of those bumpers. It was a great block that deserves to be remembered fondly.

 

[harry580]

I have to wonder, what would kids wb be like if Warner bros had expanded kids wb as a tv network like fox did with fox kids

 

[PicardMan]

I have to wonder, what would kids wb be like if Warner bros had expanded kids wb as a tv network like fox did with fox kids

Doesn't that describe Cartoon Network, which shares the same parent company? I think they did a little big better than Fox Family (understatement).

 

[RandomMe]

Doesn't that describe Cartoon Network, which shares the same parent company? I think they did a little big better than Fox Family (understatement).

This would cause a few changes to Cartoon Network. They wouldn't have gotten the rights to Pokémon until much later. Teen Titans could have moved to the channel, meaning that Cartoon Network would likely become the secondary outlet.