why dont they make cartoons of primetime TV shows anymore?

wamdue · September 17 2009, 12:23 AM

this genre seems to be something that has fallen by the way-side, the last two I remeber being Sabrina TAS, Star Gate Infinity, & Doctor Who: The Infinite Quest?

what happened to them, and which ones should they produce now?

24: TAS could be fun, along with Desperate School Girls, CSI: High School obviously no reason the animated world should not have a branch of CSI.NCIS: Babies would just be really cute.

Smallville: Clark Kent the Toddler Years, might be amusing.

nx1701g · September 17 2009, 12:52 AM

I don't seem to remember that any of those shows had very high ratings when compared to the more standard Saturday morning fare.

wamdue · September 17 2009, 12:58 AM

I forgot to mention the aborted Buffy: TAS

but low ratings would answer my question, and I dont recall people like the animated Star Gate.

Mr. Adventure · September 17 2009, 01:21 AM

I lament that Buffy animated series all the time...

Some recent shows that might work:
Knight Rider
Warehouse 13

And somehow I can imagine old school goofy cartoons based on Oprah (like the old Mr. T show or something), Big Bang Theory, or Two and a Half Men (tone down Charlie's antics a bit...).

I don't know why they don't make 'em anymore but looking back on most of those old shows it's probably for the best! One thing is cartoons are really limited in venue these days to the specialty channels for the most part, when I was younger they were all over the place especially on Saturday morning and after school so there was more opportunity for different things.

Kirkman1987 · September 17 2009, 01:25 AM

24 would be so toned down like all those old cartoons based off R-rated films.

Jack Bauer would have an animal sidekick or animal. hell, just make all the characters animals and call him Jack Bowwow or something.

Seriously though, 24 could be a awesome cartoon. imagine a Batman TAS style applied to 24.

Christopher · September 17 2009, 01:40 AM

There is a new animated Doctor Who miniseries being produced. Dreamland will feature the voices of David Tennant, Georgia Moffett, Lisa Bowerman, and David Warner.

As for animated shows based on primetime US shows, I think those aren't made anymore because no major network produces its own Saturday morning programming anymore. ABC just airs Disney shows and FOX and the CW get their material from an outside contractor, 4Kids Entertainment. So there's no cross-promotional incentive of the sort that would've driven ABC to commission animated versions of ABC shows, for instance. Cartoon Network or Nicktoons wouldn't have much incentive to purchase an animated version of a FOX or NBC show (although I think Nicktoons and CBS are owned by the same corporation now, so that's a possible combination -- but CBS mostly does crime dramas that don't have a lot of cartoon potential).

Also, with home video so common these days, maybe animated spinoffs don't have the appeal of being a way to see "more" of a favorite show. You want to see more, you just pop in your DVDs.

Temis the Vorta · September 17 2009, 03:50 AM

If a show needs more episodes, just make more live action episodes. I don't see the point of cartoon knockoffs. The only good cartoons I can think of originated as cartoons.

Christopher · September 17 2009, 04:13 AM

Often, the point was to revive a show that was no longer in production (like Star Trek or Gilligan's Island). Often it was to take characters from a show that was popular with both kids and adults and spin them off into something more specifically targeted at children (like the cartoons based on Happy Days and The Dukes of Hazzard -- though the latter was a live-action cartoon anyway). Sometimes it was to give the storytellers more freedom than they had in live action, as with Star Trek.

Also, animation could be cheaper than new live-action. Voice work doesn't pay as much, the actors rarely get residuals, and if you're too cheap to spring for the original cast, you can just replace them with other voices. Plus animated Saturday morning network series of the '70s and '80s tended to have seasons about half as long as live-action primetime shows did.

acappellasaurus · September 17 2009, 07:27 AM

So, shows today that could work in some way...hmmm...Heroes? The Big Bang Theory? Leverage? Could be some weird little toons in there somewhere.

Shows that would definately not work? Antiques Roadshow...True Blood...Weeds...The Biggest Loser...

wamdue · September 17 2009, 09:46 AM

The Big Bang Theory could work as an animated show, put the guys in more sci-fi esque situations

melancholymecha · September 17 2009, 06:06 PM

Heroes would probably work better as an animted series. Its already pretty cartoonish.

Aragorn · September 17 2009, 06:07 PM

Kirkman1987 wrote:

24 would be so toned down like all those old cartoons based off R-rated films.

Jack Bauer would have an animal sidekick or animal. hell, just make all the characters animals and call him Jack Bowwow or something.

Seriously though, 24 could be a awesome cartoon. imagine a Batman TAS style applied to 24.

Considering how extreme the premise change has been for some cartoons based on TV shows (the Happy Days gang with a time machine?), 24 would be about Jack Bauer being a school teacher and every episode they'd have 24 minutes to solve a mystery or do something good for the planet. But we wouldn't have Jack torturing the custodian: "There was a box of crayons on my desk and it's not there anymore! What did you do with them? I don't want to hurt you will but I will if I have to! Damnit, just answer me!"

Nerys Myk · September 18 2009, 03:58 AM

Do we really need another Laverne and Shirley Join the Army?