Slashdot Mirror
Nick Cancelling Invader Zim
orn writes "Lots of my slashdotting friends turned me on to Invader Zim not so long ago. Well, aintitcool.com is reporting that the show is being cancelled." Now that really sucks. Zim was absolute genius in terms of art, use of CG, and just flat out hilarious writing. I'll miss this one a lot.
It also seems that Nick is cancelling other shows as well, such as Spongebob Squarepants and Hey Arnold. At that site you can petition for the show not to be canceled. There are 1797 Signatures right now. Help out now!
The http://slashdot.org/aintitcool.com link in the article is wrong. Use this instead.
--Metrollica
disclaimer: I work at nickelodeon, but not in programming.
disclaimer2: Zim is my favorite animated show.
I can't say much for our programming department, I don't even really know who they are being as I don't work with them, but I sure would love to give them a swift kick in the ass.
Firstly Zim premiered and showe Friday nights at 9:30.. no wonder the ratings weren't that high, they barely gave it a chance in that slot. Reruns during the week were scarse and oddly timeslotted as well.
Secondly, its too good for Nick. Its quite simple, as Ren and Stimpy was too good. Its offbeat, its different, its interesting.. that means its scary to network executives who would rather contract another cookie-cutter piece of crap show from Klasky Csupo than take a risk on something exciting such as Zim.
Thirdly, they did very little in the way of promotion. I can't tell you how many people tell me that they've never heard of Zim, despite either watching Nick themselves, or having children that do. What do you do with the bastard child? Ignore it and hope he goes away.. good job.
Fourthly, Zim appeals to a very odd demographic which makes it hard to target. Its too dark for kids, its too weird for older parents, its almost right for the teenage crowd, but they're usually doing something else friday nights. It REALLY appeals to most 18-27 year old I've talked to, which unfortunately is not Nick's market. We've become the MTV of the pre-teeners, since MTV is now filled with teenagers.
Fifthly.. wait is that a word? Ok nevermind, I've gone on too long. I'm just quite upset at the news and I hang onto hope that someone here will get their head straight and give Zim another chance, its one of the most original, refreshing, and fun cartoons to come out of any network in a long time. No more rugrats, no more Arnold, Spongebob can stay, but he must OBEY THE FIST.
-ride the pig, -nA
^nA! Creatures in my Head
Most die-hard Zim fans probably know this, but if you're a fan of a show but not familiar with Jhonen Vasque's other work, you owe it to yourself to get ahold of a copy of Squee and Johnny the Homicidal Maniac. The first is the more accessable and Zim-like; the second is Jhonen's quintisential work, but it is much darker and more philosophical. All his work is available from Slave Labor Graphics. (Avoid Fillerbunny and especially the Bad Art Collection; these are for die-hard fans only.)
More info:
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Apparently, Invader ZIM won an Emmy for animation work. (Specifically, Kyle Menke got the Emmy for his storyboarding work.) Too bad it's being cancelled--it really is a quality show.
For those of you to lazy to write a real letter try this:http://www.nick.com/blab/write_nick/index.jht ml. It is a web-based comment submission form from nick.com. If possible, however, write with real paper, neatly typed and signed. (Primary tablet and crayon would also be good, but make sure, if you do sign it "love" instead of sincerly hehe)
Little Brother, watching the watchers
Ah, the first person in the thread who seems to have bothered to read the damn link. I salute you.
There is no suggestion at all that the series will be cancelled in this report. To me, this only means that the show will be produced at a slower pace and that we'll probably get 6 good-to-great episodes instead of 16 so-so to good ones.
I think a smaller handful of high-quaity shows is going to do more for the franchise at this point, when its still seeking an audience, than churning 'em out at the usual TV series pace for its (relatively) tiny pack of current followers.
Why the panicky headline and report, though? It's not like Nick is a Big Network that must order 26 eps a season or shut a franchise down. Of course, we shouldn't forget the experience of John K... but ther is at yet no reason to see that pattern here.
I survived the Dick Cheney Presidency 7 to 9 AM 7-21-07
Don't forget Duckman.
...wearing a skin-tight topless leather jumpsuit, with cutaway buttocks and transparent crotch panel.
First of all I have seen a small number of Zim episodes and was not impressed. While it does have it's moments (I enjoy GIR), most of the material in it was loud-obnoxious-gross-out stuff, kinda like Ren and Stimpy in their bad episodes. I just don't know how people call this inspired. Again, I could be missing something. Please enlighten me.
Secondly, all the posts about Zim being the best cartoon in years must not realize that Adult Swim exits and in particular the hour from 11-12p.m EST that they show "Williams Street" productions.
I highly recommend checkin it out Sunday and Thursday nights on the Cartoon Network. That's not to mention that they play Cowboy Bepop for you anime fans.
just my opinion, ignore it or mod it down at will
impto
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