Farewell, Cartoon Network: Merger with Warner Bros. Animation Could Be Its End

 

Beloved animation studio Cartoon Network will be merged with Warner Bros. Animation, as part of a restructuring plan. A considerable number of employees were laid off, leaving the future of CN uncertain.

 

125 positions at Cartoon Network Studios are left empty. 82 of the staff across scripted, unscripted and animation divisions were sacked, 43 of the vacant positions will remain unfilled. Warner Bros. assured that CNS won’t be gone, but the major restructuring would just mean large creative differences and approaches, with CN possibly taking more of a back seat and less freedom with creating shows.

 

 

WBA, CNS, and Hanna-Barbera Studios will remain separated, but production and animation divisions will be brought together. Fingers are pointed at David Zaslav, current CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery, for his quest in cutting off $3 billion from the businesses. A sizable part of HBO MAX’s workforce is also laid off, alongside the cancellation of a Batgirl movie.There was some outrage to the deletion of cartoons from HBO’s streaming service, and their creators weren’t notified of it either. Funnily enough, one episode of the unpopular CN original show Uncle Grandpa survived the entire purge.

 

 

As much as WB’s words go, we can’t help but notice the obvious flaws and signs that Cartoon Network will no longer be what it was, going from experience. The firing of the staff essentially means that talents that helped make the shows; graphic designers, animators, directors, and possibly voice actors are gone, which in turn could cause creative differences. Projects will be finished in ways that won’t be as authentic as the original creators would have it. Mergers would mean new management, which could view shows in different light. Cancellations are bound to greenlit and ongoing shows, and a reduction of new original shows should be expected.

 

 

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p dir=”ltr” style=”line-height: 1.38;margin-top: 0pt;margin-bottom: 0pt”>Cartoon Network Studios made countless great, memorable shows and IPs. Examples include Megas XLR, Adventure Time, The Powerpuff Girls, Transformers Animated, and much more. Even if they were past their golden age, some newer shows deliver great potential and promise, like Infinity Train, which was ultimately canceled after four seasons. Though CN isn’t new to the practice, putting an end to fan-favorite show ‘OK K.O.! Let’s Be Heroes’ after only one season. CN has reassured that nothing will change from its Twitter, but some are still skeptical. Only time can tell whether or not this move has cost the fans anything.