Nick 2012s scheduling

[Tarris Vaal]

A question for those with more experience / knowledge on the matter...

Has the treatment of Nicks iteration of TMNT been particularly badly handled for purposes of its scheduling - or is this fairly normal for most long running shows?


I cant help but think a lot of the problem with TMNT has been down to a loss of interest and ratings - and thereby marketable profits caused by the hap hazard release schedule.

If the release was regular enough that we got a new episode every 2 weeks until a seasons conclusion I think interest would have been better maintained. The ratings would thereby be higher and revenue from ads would be better, as a result the need for over excessive marketing to satisfy new toys would be less pressured; that in turn would lower pressure on the writing team to push characters and concepts that dont work so well within the planned storyline thus allowing the story arcs to be better written and more consistent.


But having such long gaps every few episodes in this kind of 'burst' approach, just frustrates me - and I cant be the only one to think so. The show gets into its stride, only to suddenly stop and wait for all the hype to die away before releasing the next round.

I swear, more than any other factor with this show - what has killed it is the mishandled scheduling.

So I ask then - is this something unique to TMNT? Or does Nick do this to other series as well?

[Powder]

I don't watch cable for much more than the turtles, but I've heard that a lot of cartoons have this problem, for whatever reason.

[Wildcat]

I don't think it affects the ratings or popularity since it has lasted since 2012 but I 1,000% agree that the on/off system is pure garbage.

Just show the episodes weekly until the end of a season! I mean whats the big deal? It's about to end. There's only 4 episodes left right? Why take another hiatus?

I seriously want Nick to answer why they use this format.

Cartoon Network does this too with Steven Universe. I think some other shows do it too.

[Dust]

Gravity Falls had two 22 episode seasons spread across 4 years, at least the Nick series isn't that bad.

[neatoman]

Originally Posted by Dust

Gravity Falls had two 22 episode seasons spread across 4 years, at least the Nick series isn't that bad.

5.5 episodes a year... I'm guessing there was some internal fighting between the creators and the producers that caused this? It was a Disney show that featured a joke about someone dying a horrible death over a mini-golf game after all.

[Wildcat]

Oh ya Gravity Falls was the other I was trying to remember.

There's very few things that really bother me about TV and well movies but this is one of them.

I just don't understand the logic behind dragging shows out like this. There's no legitimate reason for it. Just run them like any other show.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Originally Posted by Wildcat

I seriously want Nick to answer why they use this format.

Most series have similair formats.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPnQY891jw4

Also during the 2010's, traditional radio and TV are dying faster and faster faster for every year passing. Netflix series are on their way.

[CyberCubed]

Cartoon Network did the same with Young Justice...and it ultimately led to its cancellation.

[IndigoErth]

I have to admit that while I still love the show these hiatuses have made my excitement for it wane over time. Long hiatuses may suck, but I find it harder to get excited to get back into it when it returns when we know that just after a few they're going to rip it out of our hands again.

It's like reading just a few chapters in a book and then the library wants it back for a few/several months before you're allowed to borrow it again. Who wouldn't forget and/or move on?

At least back in the 80s and 90s this problem didn't seem so bad because a series usually at least owned its time slot. Back when the original cartoon was on after school every day, even if there was no new one it at least had a repeat. I know Nick as been re-airing the newest ones these past weeks, which is great, but its a shame that hasn't always been the case or, like the old days, on every day after school instead of this stupid early Sunday nonsense.

Granted I know the Nicktoons channel shows it a lot more, but plenty of people don't get that channel so then to them, what, the show barely exists at all? It's just kind of insulting that the Turtles just barely get to be on THE Nick channel, when there are other certain yellow spongy things they saturate it with, even, most insultingly, with its own repeats during the Turtles time block if TMNT don't have a new one.

I don't get it, esp as Nick even now still claims TMNT to be one of their big important properties and is looking to do another series. Important, and yet shove them aside to whore out the sponge.

I'd assume only temporary ownership of a time slot these days could be down to an overabundance of shows compared to 25 years ago, were it not for the sponge hogging so much of it. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind Spongebob and do watch it sometimes, but geeze... move the hell over and give others some space to exist.

[Shark_Blade]

When is Usagi Yojimbo even gonna air..? >.>

[CyberCubed]

Man, we're nearly in June and only 4 episodes of Season 5 have aired. We're nearly halfway through the year and all we've gotten was 4 new episodes.

Who on earth thought this was a good idea? Even more baffling is we know this is the final season and they have a new show ready to debut in 2018, so wouldn't it make more sense to air the remaining episodes sooner rather than later? There's still 16 new episodes of Season 5 left...it's absolutely bizarre.

[Tarris Vaal]

I completely agree - I don't understand what the point is to draw out the finale season and kill any hype for the last few episodes by incurring such long gaps between episodes.

ESPECIALLY now that they have shifted format to multi episode mini arcs that will inevitably feature cliffhangers.



That's why I was wondering if this was something that had been done before by Nick to other series. Its sad and somehow telling that this was done to Young Justice - it almost a stealth means to kill a series.
Steven Universe seems so extreme an example I'd almost be tempted to discount it simply because I can't fathom any reason for it to be only due to scheduling quirks. Some kind of dispute behind the scenes seems likely, but who is to know for sure?

Thanks for the thoughts anyway guys.


I guess that leads to the next question -
Given that the hiatus' started around the PD film releases (to the best of my knowledge they delayed episodes for Season 3 to accommodate the film and scuppered their halloween timing as a result), do you think that the subsequent fallout from that hiatus + the relatively modest takings from the PD films resulted in a desire to see the show 'finished' off by the studio so they could begin work on a restart? Hence a 'soft cancellation' tactic of these hiatus' to kill enthusiasm among the fan base and thereby ratings (thus giving justification to restart the show).

Season 3 was already due for release, if not started already by then (I'm sure someone will correct me there), and its likely season 4 was already mid production at that point. So season 5 may have been a concession to allow the shows crew to finish it off with some closure.
I dunno, the more I write this the more it comes across like a gentle conspiracy theory to kill off the 2012 series, but do you guys think something along those lines might have been the case?
If not, what do you think might have been the reason for the constant delays?

[Metalwolf]

Originally Posted by Tarris Vaal

I completely agree - I don't understand what the point is to draw out the finale season and kill any hype for the last few episodes by incurring such long gaps between episodes.

ESPECIALLY now that they have shifted format to multi episode mini arcs that will inevitably feature cliffhangers.



That's why I was wondering if this was something that had been done before by Nick to other series. Its sad and somehow telling that this was done to Young Justice - it almost a stealth means to kill a series.

Originally Posted by Tarris Vaal

I dunno, the more I write this the more it comes across like a gentle conspiracy theory to kill off the 2012 series, but do you guys think something along those lines might have been the case?
If not, what do you think might have been the reason for the constant delays?

You might have inadvertently answered your own question, plus it might be that they value the Sponge as their main moneymaker and thus probably aren't as concerned about TMNT. (Even though Spongebob is pretty much a zombie franchise like the Simpsons, they had to bring back the original creator for input and help because it was running itself into the ground. Which is sad, because the creator had originally only intended for SB to run for 3 seasons and end at the movie. Imagine having your creation run into the ground so hard, it's now a shadow of it's former self.)

Which brings me to a couple questions of my own: If Nick isn't as concerned with the welfare of shows that aren't the Sponge, what makes it likely that it will be as concerned with this new show coming up in 2018? What would even stop it from doing the same things to this show that they did to TMNT12? It's why I'm been thinking for some time now that Nick ultimately isn't going to be beneficial to the TMNT franchise in the long run, and that they are better off just selling it to Cartoon Network or Marvel or whatever, because at least those people don't seem to have such an unhealthy fixation on a singular other franchise to the extent of 'inadvertantly' killing off any that might come close to supplanting it. Plus CN will also sometimes bring back an old beloved show if it was popular (Samurai Jack) and let it get the grown up treatment, moving it onto Adult Swim. I don't see TMNT getting that kind of treatment with Nick, they will just keep it baby-fied and 'for children' even though there are a lot of fans that are grown up now.

[CyberCubed]

^ The mere fact that Nick greenlit a new show immediately after this one ended shows they're still very interested in TMNT as a brand and IP. They could have let the TMNT franchise rest for a few years after the Nick cartoon ended, and that's what I thought was going to happen, but we're getting a brand new series immediately after this one ends.

And yes, there will likely be rerun breaks and hiatus for the new show too, but that's just how they work.

[IndigoErth]

On the upside, there may be double the TMNT on Nick once the new on starts. Maybe not necessarily in extra airings, but at least in that the current series will surely continue play in repeats for a long time. (If mostly on Nicktoons.)

I imagine the new one will follow a similar path as this one. Some good focus on it for a while until Nick grows bored of it and then, like this one, stop bothering to even have commercials for the most part.

[TheBlueTurtle1]

The airing of this show has been abysmal, just as you start getting back in to it, and the story lines, you get a MASSIVE hiatus, and then when you start watching again, you forgot half the stuff that has happened, and don't even care anymore. It's only marathon watching the DVDs that has made me appreciate how good the show is.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Originally Posted by IndigoErth

It's like reading just a few chapters in a book and then the library wants it back for a few/several months before you're allowed to borrow it again. Who wouldn't forget and/or move on?

TV has one more similair thing. Advertisement interrupting the programmes! I hate them only because it's boring (unlike many people hating it for political reasons, or because businesspersons make money on it).

As a child, at least, there were some interesting commercials for videogames and other great stuff. But now it's almost only boring commercials for boring products.

[DestronMirage22]

The Amazing World of Gumball has the same scheduling issues. We haven't had a new episode in a long time.

[Original TMNT Cartoon Fan]

Check out what South Park did between 1998 and 2012.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o..._20_.282016.29

Spreading out seasons throughout the calendar year.

[snake]

Yeah, this isn't an isolated thing. For some reason this seems to ONLY happen to cartoons. The only cartoon I've seen air consistently (and like an actual TV show) is Star Wars Rebels.