History of Cartoon Network (Part 1)

Hello again fellow cartoon lovers. I am sure for many of you, Cartoon Network has at least at one time been a very special channel to you. If you are a 1990's child like me, then it was probably also your introduction to the classic theatrical cartoon shorts of the 1930's, 40's and 50's, as well as the Hanna-Barbera TV shows of the 1950's and 60's. As these hold a special place in my heart so of course does Cartoon Network, even if I am fully willing to admit it is not the great channel it used to be (Though I do like Steven Universe a lot). So let's share our memories of watching this channel, as we discuss the history behind it.

Carton Network began on October 1st 1992, started by Turner Entertainment. The day the channel premiered it was hosted by your good friend and mine Droopy. The first cartoon shown was The Great Piggy Bank Robbery with Daffy Duck. The channel did not start off with original programing, instead it relied on what Turner Entertainment owned. Luckily they owned a lot. They had bought Hanna-Barbera in 1991, giving them access to the whole Hanna-Barbera library. They also had access to all the classic MGM cartoons, the pre-1948 Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies cartoons, and all the classic Fleischer Brothers and Famous studios Popeye cartoons. I don't know about you but that sounds like animated paradise to me. This meant they had about 8,500 hours of cartoons that they owned the rights to. This was the first time a TV channel had 24 hours a day dedicated to cartoons. There was a show on another Turner owned channel, TNT, called Cartoon Network on TNT which showed more of these cartoons they owned, because they owned so many. By January 1993, Cartoon Network was already the most viewed channel on TV.

Some of the classic cartoon shorts were packaged in various half-hour or hour long themed blocks. Two of the best of these were Late Night in Black and White (Something that sadly the network would probably never air today), which showed various classic black and white cartoons from the 1930's (and from various studios). Another was Toonheads. Toonheads would pick a different theme each episode, and in between each cartoon a narrator (Usually either Leslie Fram or Don Kennedy). This show would include both theatrical and TV cartoons.

In May of 1933, the studio had audiences vote for the best cartoon mom so they could dedicate Mother's day to her. As a joke included in this poll was Race Bannon from Johnny Quest (because he was one bad mother). Race actually won and on Mother's Day of 1993, Cartoon Network showed a Johnny Quest marathon. On June 13 1993, Cartoon Network aired the first of it's June Bugs marathons (24 hours of Bugs Bunny cartoons) something I miss very much. The first new character created for Cartoon Network was named Moxy. This was a computer animated dog, who introduced various classic cartoons on The Moxy Show. This character was voiced by Bobcat Goldthwait and the show was produced by Hanna-Barbera (that studio's first series made specifically for Cartoon Network), and first shown on November 26 1993. Due to the computer animation The Moxy Show was the first live cartoon show (you can't have a hand drawn live cartoon, because it is a strain on the animators wrist).  

There is more Cartoon Network  history to come so don't touch that dial.

-Michael J. Ruhland


Resources Used
http://cartoonresearch.com/index.php/cartoon-network-timeline-first-three-years/
imdb.com