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Cartoon Network Dropping Gundam and Bebop?
Lhadatt was among several who noted unannounced changes in Cartoon Networks' anime lineup. It's easy to speculate that Mobile Suit Gundam and Cowboy Bebop were dropped because of Tuesday's terrorist attacks since each show has a fair amount of violence, but nobody really knows. You can see the evidence on Cartoon Network's Listings. Tonight, episode 5 of Bebop was scheduled to air: one of the best episodes, too.
It's news because the creator of this web site is a big anime fan, and he felt like posting a story about it. Also because it shows a possible (regrettable) reaction to this tragedy, that may end up spreading to other forms of media, either through the pressure of the public or government regulation.
It's a bit of a dilemma, you see. On the one hand, every time we make some change to our daily routine because of this despicable terrorist act--dropping episodes, delaying the premiere of shows, editing the World Trade Center out of the Spiderman movie altogether--we are in some small sense handing the terrorists a victory, acknowledging that they've affected us exactly the way they wanted. On the other hand, people should have a right to watch TV to try to forget the tragedy for a while and destress from the whole thing without being reminded of it by what's on the set.
Hopefully the pre-emptions and delays will be only temporary, for just a month or two until such time as people are a little less sensitive. The Buffy episode that was delayed over Columbine was eventually aired, after all. The networks did pay money for these shows, and they'll want to use them sooner or later.
Editor Emeritus and Senior Writer, TeleRead.org
I would disagree. Every time some horrible event as Tuesday's attacks happens, the bookburners try to use it as ammunition to pass their agenda. It's at the point where media companies have started to act preempttively, bowing to their sick pressure before they even place it. Yes, in this particular case it's anime that suffers (why? I very much doubt the terrorists even knew what anime was, and if they did they would certainly not watch it). But it doesn't matter what the specific victim is; what matters is that censorship is taking place.
As an example of previous CN dealings, the short-lived but excellent show Freakazoid had 4 episodes with reverences (both satire and just off the cuff) to Princess Di. When she died in the car accident, those 4 episodes were completely pulled from the schedule understandable; however, they did not return to the schedule for at least 6 months. I understand being sensitive for something recent in the current events, but that seems excessively overkill.
What bothers me more than much else right now is that Hollywood, all aspects of it, seem to be taking steps above and beyond what ought to be done for the short-term sensitivitly. Anything involving the WTC, even if made years ago, seems to be getting some sort of post-censoring. We cannot deny that the WTC ever existed and shows were made about it, and to do so is only giving the terrorists more of a victory.
"Pinky, you've left the lens cap of your mind on again." - P&TB
"I can see my house from here!" - ST:
Blaming everything on the terrorist attack of Tuesday does nothing but increase the already-insane media-induced frenzy among the people. Please stop reciprocating it.
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Stand up and make yourself heard. If you are upset about this then you should use the feedback link and let dragonball z network er, I mean cartoon network know exactly how you feel. The only reason I ever tune into that network is to watch mobile suite gundam and cowboy bebop. Cowboy Bebop is brilliant! I've only seen three episoeds to date but each one was amazing. Just my luck, as soon as I start to like something the network drops it. I with I had bland tastes so I could be part of the majority and not have to deal with this stuff.
The only way dragonball z network will make a change for the better is if everyone uses the feedback link so we can send the message loud and clear that we are pissed off. Adult swim is great but after a bonehead programming move like this I won't be at all surprised to see them drop space ghost next.
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The year is Universal Century 0079. The One Year War between the Earth Federation and the Prinicipality of Zeon has deadlocked. Unbeknown to Zeon, the Federation has been working on building its own ultimate weapon: Gundam. The new prototype is to be shipped to Earth from its home on the space colony Side 7. But a surprise attack puts the mobile suit into the hands of a teenager who just might save the world.
Cartoon network drops anime at the drop of a hat regardless of world events. I can't even remember all of the different series that they have put out there only to drop 2-3 months later.
I suppose that they have to pay a royalty for each episode they air and if the ratings aren't high enough they may not get enough ad revenue to at least break even.
CN is a AOLTW network and I work for AOLTW (not at CN, but close).
AOLTW missed their projected earnings by a long shot and have been laying off and cutting costs like crazy all year. I don't blame CN for sticking to what is safe and making a profit for now till the next earning report comes out. The more money they save, the less layoffs happen.
To make matters worse, sponsors have actually dropped from the CNN agencies so there product doesn't get unconsciously associated with it. ("this updated death count brought to you by Acme, the leader in so and so") So Cnn loses money, aoltw tells the other networks to play it safe with sponsor revenue.
This is all an educated guess mind you, based on what I have heard from different sources.
The funny thing is that all of these TV shows & movies aren't being pulled to show sensitivity to the victims or the viewers, but for two more primary reasons: 1. Americans don't want to see the ways in which we portray the kind of violence that occurred last Tuesday in our cultural expressions all the time, so the media is white-washing itself. You would think there'd be no better time to put out a Swartzenneger movie about a firefighter who avenges the killing of his family by terrorists, but no... (This is because)... 2. History has shown that Americans want the blandest sh!t possible after major tragedies. For instance, after Kennedy was assassinated, TV turned heavily toward shows like Gilligan's Island & The Munsters. Ironically, before Kennedy's assassination there were many movies that foreshadowed it, like "Suddenly" (1954), where Frank Sinatra is intent on assassinating the president.
I used to watch Space Ghost & then Insomniac on Sunday nights, but Comedy Central fûcked up & they were both on at the same time. So I stayed with Cartoon Network & watched Cowboy BeBop, which was really cool. That was just last week, too. At least I saw it before they pulled it, now at least I can go rent it--and go to bed earlier. Subtitles are probably better than dubbing, anyway, as it was kind of disturbing to see anime that was so thoroughly white (after Akira & Ghost in the Shell). Was Battletech that white?