The typical action cartoon franchise production formula

[snake]

I wish more action shows had more then 52 episodes.

[kolaida]

Do the ratings really matter as much as they did when Rugrats (early and most of the 90s) was on TV? Back then, not very many people could really stream it online. When I was watching Nick a few weeks ago, it had an ad telling people not to wait for the new turtles episode, to go online and watch it then. Even in the early 00s, SpongeBob probably wasn't something people really streamed online.

I've seen quite a bit of merchandise at some of the elementary schools I've been at. And there seems to be tons of merch at Hot Topic and FYE. And I've seen some really dorky commercials on Nick for Turtle costumes.

I wish Nick's player would tell us how many people viewed it when they air it early.

I hope the show lasts at least the five seasons Ciro was hoping for.

[IndigoErth]

Am I the only one that feels as if this thing is still kind of new? (And seems so strange to me to read talk of when it might end.) I think it's mostly due to the fact that we were still just recently in season 2. Though it went on for so long I now find myself surprised sometimes that some episodes happened in season 2, not 1. lol

[kolaida]

Originally Posted by IndigoErth

Am I the only one that feels as if this thing is still kind of new? (And seems so strange to me to read talk of when it might end.) I think it's mostly due to the fact that we were still just recently in season 2. Though it went on for so long I now find myself surprised sometimes that some episodes happened in season 2, not 1. lol

No, I feel that way, too. August 2012 doesn't seem that long ago. And, yeah, I get the seasons mixed up.

[Warhorse]

Originally Posted by ssjup81

I thought one of the main problems with this series is that it's not promoted well and that it doesn't seem to have a consistent time slot and that online viewings doesn't count towards ratings.

A combination of this. Not to mention, nielsen ratings are finally starting to be question by most of the networks. It's just a matter of time before all networks start to look at venues outside of the nielsen ratings system. Fox and NBC have already done that. It's very possible Nick is not putting much stock into nielsen either, since they do have other methods, like the online streaming, the buying of episodes on amazon shortly after they aired, and the toy sales.

With that aside. With so much talk of how this series has turned into the Donnie and Leo show, and that everyone likes to say Ciro and company are doing that because Raph and Mike are the popular/heavy weight favorites of the show, is it possible this approach they are using to try and beef up Donnie's and Leo's popularity, in turn, is having a reverse affect on the show itself with the viewers? I've actually come across TMNT fans who have said something like this, so it makes me wonder.

[Refractive Reflections]

Originally Posted by IndigoErth

Is that collectively though? Because Spongebob seems to be literally on almost all the time. With it on so much, I question how often it may simply be the channel a tv is set on in the background simply because it's Nick/a cartoon channel while not necessarily being paid that much attention to.

I gave the 2.5-3.0 million per episode as a rough range during that 2013 time period on my part after looking through the individual episodes and their ratings.

The article gives the stats of the Top 50 most watched episodes on Nickelodeon throughout the entire 2013 year with their specific dates and times (from Season 1's "I, Monster"/"Rat Trap" to Season 2's "Slash and Destroy"). During Nick TMNT's better ratings, one would think that at least 5 TMNT episodes would have been on the list considering how immensely popular we were led to believe the Nick TMNT series was, but it isn't on that list. It's not much of an incentive for Nick to continue making new TMNT shows and episodes, if reruns of Spongebob pulls in more of an audience.

The reason I state "reruns" of Spongebob is because only 11 new episodes of Spongebob aired in 2013, but yet Spongebob is taking up 43 of the 50 spots within the Top 50 list. The merchandising and toyline might be the life preserver that's keeping the series on, and I'm sure it is successful, but I have my suspicions as to how successful it is though.

[ssjup81]

Spongebob takes up 43 out of 50 slots? That's insane!

I wonder how Rugrats did back in the day. The show wasn't all that popular when it started and went into a hiatus. It was rerun a lot...seemingly. I didn't care though, because I liked the show so much. As a matter of fact, when Nickelodeon announced the station would start showing Nicktoons that fall, the only one I was the most interested in was Rugrats. I was sitting on the couch for the premiere as I'd anticipated it all summer! Good memories. lol

Anywho, Rugrats became popular in reruns.

See, most of these stations now (Nickelodeon, Disney Channel) had more variety back then. I highly, and seriously doubt, no popular show at that time would've taken up 43 slots out of 50 for rankings.

[neatoman]

How the hell can a single show take up 86% of a channel's content? What kind of bizarre policies do they have?

[Warhorse]

Originally Posted by neatoman

How the hell can a single show take up 86% of a channel's content? What kind of bizarre policies do they have?

If I'm not mistaken, Nick is owned by the same company that owns MTV, a channel that once played music videos. Now, all it plays is stupid reality shows. It should change it's name from MTV to RTV.

In reality though, some exec at Nick probably came up with the idea for Spongebob, and is making sure it's front and center on the network, that way he has something to keep stroking his ego with.

[kolaida]

Originally Posted by Warhorse

If I'm not mistaken, Nick is owned by the same company that owns MTV, a channel that once played music videos. Now, all it plays is stupid reality shows. It should change it's name from MTV to RTV.

In reality though, some exec at Nick probably came up with the idea for Spongebob, and is making sure it's front and center on the network, that way he has something to keep stroking his ego with.

I don't know, I can't figure out why SpongeBob is so massively huge even now with reruns. It is the show that knocked Rugrats off its throne. The show second to SpongeBob is, apparently, The Fairly Oddparents ( they are still making this show, too?).

I just don't get it. I thought these shows would have gone the way of Rocko's Modern Life, CatDog, Hey Arnold!, etc by now. Without SpongeBob, Turtles was 10 in 2013 (after Fairly Odddparents). And I don't know of this should be in the ratings thread or here, seems like they are starting to overlap.

I just don't understand how SpongeBob is still so big.

[IndigoErth]

Originally Posted by kolaida

I just don't understand how SpongeBob is still so big.

Yeah, it's odd. I don't dislike the show, it's certainly better than all that newer junk they have now and advertise for like crazy, but the reruns have been getting old for a long time and odd it stays so on top with new ones so rarely happening. Though it's Nick's golden child I guess. Still.

Heck, I was seeing what Nick.com had in the way of fun Halloween-related games and the majority are Spongbob themed. Maybe most came out in previous years... but still. (There's ONE Turtles one, I'd like another, that isn't just a top down view of tiny pixeled characters.)

[Jephael]

After Disney pulled the plug on The Spectacular Spider-Man, I wouldn't be too surprised if it happened to this show.

[Donnieangelo]

Originally Posted by kolaida

I don't know, I can't figure out why SpongeBob is so massively huge even now with reruns. It is the show that knocked Rugrats off its throne. The show second to SpongeBob is, apparently, The Fairly Oddparents ( they are still making this show, too?).

I just don't get it. I thought these shows would have gone the way of Rocko's Modern Life, CatDog, Hey Arnold!, etc by now. Without SpongeBob, Turtles was 10 in 2013 (after Fairly Odddparents). And I don't know of this should be in the ratings thread or here, seems like they are starting to overlap.

I just don't understand how SpongeBob is still so big.

And apparently at the Kid's Choice Awards, they make it seem like he got lot's of votes but actually... they sort of.... rigged it. That doesn't seem fair. It makes it feel like this awards show is now a joke.

DARN YOU, SPONGEBOB!

[Warhorse]

Originally Posted by Donnieangelo

And apparently at the Kid's Choice Awards, they make it seem like he got lot's of votes but actually... they sort of.... rigged it. That doesn't seem fair. It makes it feel like this awards show is now a joke.

DARN YOU, SPONGEBOB!

I'm telling you! Some CEO exectutive at Nick invented the thing, and they are going to make damn sure that his invention is number one at the site, just so he can use it for his own ego. He probably will use it to further explain why he should be the head of Nick, because he created the number one character/franchise there. In fact, when TMNT first came on, it looked like TMNT would be the ones to finally dethrone Spongebob, and look what happened. Their times slots started to change. When you do that, you lose viewers. More than likely, whoever is in charge of that is the one who invented/green lit Spongebob to begin with. With Nick owning all of the TMNT programming, I don't see why they don't show all three cartoons, just so they can get more publicity for the franchise. When people go to Comic Con, how big is the TMNT booth compared to the other Nick booths?

[Luckyday]

Originally Posted by Warhorse

I'm telling you! Some CEO exectutive at Nick invented the thing, and they are going to make damn sure that his invention is number one at the site, just so he can use it for his own ego. He probably will use it to further explain why he should be the head of Nick, because he created the number one character/franchise there. In fact, when TMNT first came on, it looked like TMNT would be the ones to finally dethrone Spongebob, and look what happened. Their times slots started to change. When you do that, you lose viewers. More than likely, whoever is in charge of that is the one who invented/green lit Spongebob to begin with. With Nick owning all of the TMNT programming, I don't see why they don't show all three cartoons, just so they can get more publicity for the franchise. When people go to Comic Con, how big is the TMNT booth compared to the other Nick booths?

I don't think Stephen Hillenburg controls Nick.

[Coola Yagami]

Yeah... I seriously doubt tmnt would dethrone the sponge. That's just crazy. The most they can do is hope to be number 2 or even number 3 as far as Korra is concerned.

[Donnieangelo]

Originally Posted by Warhorse

I'm telling you! Some CEO exectutive at Nick invented the thing, and they are going to make damn sure that his invention is number one at the site, just so he can use it for his own ego. He probably will use it to further explain why he should be the head of Nick, because he created the number one character/franchise there. In fact, when TMNT first came on, it looked like TMNT would be the ones to finally dethrone Spongebob, and look what happened. Their times slots started to change. When you do that, you lose viewers. More than likely, whoever is in charge of that is the one who invented/green lit Spongebob to begin with. With Nick owning all of the TMNT programming, I don't see why they don't show all three cartoons, just so they can get more publicity for the franchise. When people go to Comic Con, how big is the TMNT booth compared to the other Nick booths?

I was just looking at past winners of the KCA and the TMNT won three awards for the first cartoon. I can't believe no one even noticed!

[Warhorse]

I was looking at the ratings for each episode on wikipedia, it might just be me, but it seems that the episodes with Karai in them tend to do stronger in the ratins. In season one, the show was averaging 3.5 million viewers, when all of a sudden they started to drop to 2.6 beginning with episode 13. They wouldn't see it climb back up to 3 million until Karai's Vendetta. Now, in season 2, when Karai got mutated and has been barely seen since, the show has slipped into the 1.3 million views. Like it or not, but Karai looks to have been a huge favorite with the viewing audience, and now that she's been taken out, why should they watch? They need to bring back Karai, in order to save the series. I really believe that now.

[pannoni1]

If it weren't for the 1990 Movie's success, CBS would have not picked up the show after its original 65 episodes, and the OT would have gone the way of Gobots and Biker Mice from Mars in terms of lasting popularity with only a small niche following today. Much of the 4kids era was supported off of Playmates and the fact that the budget for that series/network wasn't as high as Nick's, and that only died due to executive meddling and Fast Forward/BTTS. I still find TMNT popular; just yesterday at a restaurant I saw a boy with an orange Nick-era shirt. That said, Nick is taking a big risk with this season and naturally this will shy away the "fast food" people who prefer the same old characters, Shredder, Krang, Karai, Leatherhead, the Foot, and this was part of the reason why the movie did well commercially relative to the reviews that were given. This "reboot" formula also works with Power Rangers and Pokemon, giving new freshness yet allowing storylines to last for a limited time and often reduces filler and increases the action. I wouldn't mind TMNT going the way of Transformers, especially since the Teenage in the title implies that the show can only last several years before its out of sync. Many comic books nowadays start over with #1 as well, and IDW was TMNT's ode to this trend started by Superman.

[Refractive Reflections]

Originally Posted by Warhorse

I was looking at the ratings for each episode on wikipedia, it might just be me, but it seems that the episodes with Karai in them tend to do stronger in the ratins. In season one, the show was averaging 3.5 million viewers, when all of a sudden they started to drop to 2.6 beginning with episode 13. They wouldn't see it climb back up to 3 million until Karai's Vendetta. Now, in season 2, when Karai got mutated and has been barely seen since, the show has slipped into the 1.3 million views. Like it or not, but Karai looks to have been a huge favorite with the viewing audience, and now that she's been taken out, why should they watch? They need to bring back Karai, in order to save the series. I really believe that now.

It's not just Karai, but a lot of the Splinter-Shredder feud weighs on her character. So I think there comes with it the expectation of seeing the Shredder-Splinter feud progress somewhere (and with the series in progressing somewhere) unlike most of the mutant of the week episodes.

Originally Posted by pannoni1

If it weren't for the 1990 Movie's success, CBS would have not picked up the show after its original 65 episodes, and the OT would have gone the way of Gobots and Biker Mice from Mars in terms of lasting popularity with only a small niche following today. Much of the 4kids era was supported off of Playmates and the fact that the budget for that series/network wasn't as high as Nick's, and that only died due to executive meddling and Fast Forward/BTTS.

I seriously doubt that, the OT was one (if not number one) of the most watched cartoons in 1989 (before the movie), with mind-blowing merchandise sales (i.e. video game, arcade, clothes, toy line, etc.) It still would have been too lucrative for CBS to pass up if the 1990 movie failed, and the cartoon's popularity would have certainly been much bigger than Gobots or Biker Mice from Mars.