How TV Shaped Us Part 2: The Checkerboard Era

Hey! Welcome to Part Two of "television I grew up with that shaped me into the writer and person I am today" series. If you missed Part One, where I babbled on about the early days of Nickelodeon, just CLICK HERE to get caught up.

(And once again, I'm only doing a cursory reflection of these shows. I'm assuming you've heard of or watched most of these. If you haven't, I highly recommend checking out ALL of these fantastic series for yourself.)

But now it's time to move on to the channel that I eventually had my TV pretty much permanently turned to. The one that dedicated itself to playing animated escapades 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The one that truly inspired me to want to pursue art as an actual career:  Cartoon Network.

Good old "CN" was truly a wonder to behold when it first got launched. In the era before streaming or cable packages having hundreds of channels to choose from, there were only a select few places kids could go to watch their favorite cartoons. And all of these networks only played these blocks of programming in the morning or early afternoon. But once evening rolled around, the news, soap operas, crime dramas, and everything else only your parents would be interested in came on, and you wandered off to entertain yourself somewhere else. Almost as if the networks were saying, "Alright kids, we humored you for a few hours, now leave us alone so the grown-ups can have a turn."

But then "CN", in their trademark black-and-white logo, came onto the scene and proudly proclaimed, "Hey kids, are you tired of cartoons not being on when its most convenient for you? Don't worry; we got your back." So you can imagine how much our young minds were blown upon being gifted a channel that we could have all to ourselves, with animated programming that NEVER stopped. Granted, there was a LOT of air time to fill, so much of the early days of the channel was filled with already pre-existing shows from the Warner Brothers' vault. This meant that a whole new generation was introduced to classic Looney Toons, Tom and Jerry, the works of Tex Avery, the many, MANY 'Hanna-Barbara' series, Popeye the Sailor, and so much more. Many of these animated shorts were featured on the "ToonHeads" programming block, which even went the extra mile to include all kinds of archival photos and fun facts about the making of these short films and the creators behind them. It's the first time I can remember learning about how cartoons were made and gaining a new appreciation for all the artists who brought these iconic characters to life.

On a similar track, there was also the "Cartoon Theater" portion of the weekends, where us kids could settle down with an animated movie, or at least one that was mostly animated (this was how I got introduced to underrated gems like "The Pagemaster", and does anyone else remember the time they played the first Tobey McGuire "Spider-Man" flick? Yeah, the pre-MCU/Disney era was a different time for superhero fans). This was also how I got introduced to the works of legendary animator, Don Bluth, through films such as "We're Back: A Dinosaur Story" and the "Land Before Time" saga.

And of course, if you tuned in to Cartoon Network in any capacity, then you DEFINITELY were racing home after school to catch the "Toonami" block of shows. (Yeah, remember when it used to be on in the afternoons before they switched over to airing late at night?) Say what you will about the early days of English dubbing and the massive edits certain companies did, but never the less, this was how I and so many others were first introduced to some of Japan's most iconic anime series ever, from "Dragonball Z" to the "Gundam" franchise, to "Sailor Moon"; showing us American kids that there was culturally so much more out there to offer beyond the borders of the country we lived in. They even went the extra mile of giving this programming block its own special hosts, the robotic TOM and his sentient computer friend SARA, and gave them their own storylines that would play out during the commercial breaks. The network didn't HAVE to do that, but they DID, and it's that little bit of extra effort that made tuning in all the more special and exciting.

But of course, a network can't survive on just pre-existing shows alone. Eventually, you need to produce your own original content. And thus, slowly but surely, we were introduced to the likes of "Dexter's Laboratory", "Johnny Bravo", "Time Squad" (a very criminally underrated show, by the way), "Codename: Kids Next Door", and many, MANY more! Best of all, any new episodes premiered every Friday night starting at 7PM on the evening "Cartoon Cartoon Fridays" block, where, in-between the shows, we'd also be treated to fun trivia questions, music videos, and all kinds of other fun shenanigans courtesy of the various characters who rotated turns on hosting the show for the evening.  I fondly remember the days of coming home, eating dinner, then trying to get all my homework done in time so I could properly kick off the weekend with all of my favorite cartoon shows.....

.....and we're gonna' talk about at least a few of them right now!

First up is one of the network's longest running shows, "Ed, Edd, n' Eddy". I think I can best describe this series as "what if Charlie Brown and a Looney Toons cartoon had a baby?" After watching a plethora of series about kids growing up and their adventures in navigating school drama and the like, it came as a huge refresher to get a show that not only wasn't out to teach any sort of moral lesson, but set the timeline during the kids' summer vacation, so we never saw any teachers or parental figures. (Eventually, the show WOULD send the gang back to school, but uh....we don't speak of those later seasons...) Adding to this uniqueness was its art and animation style, with ever-moving, wiggly outlines on all the characters that I've rarely seen utilized in any other medium. After years of living in a neighborhood with hardly any other kids around and no one to play with, I always wished I could've lived in the Eds' cul-de-sac and been roped into their wacky adventures.

But just because the show was out to be sheer, goofy fun doesn't mean I didn't take away any lessons from it later in life. Looking back on it, this series taught me how your story doesn't always have to have magical or sci-fi elements; normal kids getting into mischief and shenanigans can be just as funny and entertaining. It also showed me how to create distinctive characters through style and movement, and how three different people can approach the same problem in three different ways. The show's creator, Danny Antonucci, often sites the "Hop the Fence" example:

Put a fence with a gate in front of the Eds and task them with getting past it.

--Eddy will "cheat the system" and vault over the fence, taking the fastest route

--Edd will go through the proper way and use the gate, making sure to close it on his way out

--Ed will just smash through it and brute force his way through

It's care and attention to details like that that made the show so enjoyable to watch, even if us kids weren't consciously aware of it at the time. Finally, the series also taught how to always look for opportunities everywhere....just, you know.....have some morals and don't actually scam people like Eddy does (seriously Double D, why a nice boy like you hangs out with this kid, I have no clue....)

(If you're interested in what my favorite episodes from this show are, CLICK HERE.)

Next up is another one of the network's older original shows, "Courage the Cowardly Dog". Other than Nickelodeon's "Are You Afraid of the Dark", and the massive popularity of the "Goosebumps" books throughout the 90s (and trust me, that'll get its own blog entry someday), this was one of my earliest introductions to horror and avant-garde art and other abstract concepts; stuff that really could only exist together in a series like this. And yet, rather than pushing me away, the oddness of it only pulled me in more, and I constantly tuned in to see the creepy adventures of this nervous little dog and his efforts to protect his elderly owners from every monster you could think of.....and some so-called monsters turned out to actually be the victims. This show always struck a balance of knowing when to pile on the scares, and when to pull on the heartstrings. ("Remembrance of Courage's Past" and "Last of the Star Makers" continues to be a gut punch no matter how many times I watch them.) From a writing standpoint, this show taught me to never be afraid if you think your story is getting "too weird" (trust me, you'll never beat this show's level of weirdness). And of course, it also taught the most obvious lesson---what the true definition of courage is, and how to face down scary people and situations.

(If you want to know what my favorite episodes are, CLICK HERE.)

Next is, objectively, the best show of all the ones I'm talking about, and is easily one of the greatest animated series ever made: Samurai Jack. After being so used to watching cartoons that were wacky and loud and relatively simple and dialogue-heavy, my young mind was blown when this series' pilot movie premiered, and proceeded to take all those typical conventions and throw them out the window. From a really unique art style that got rid of the black outlines around characters, to having little-to-no dialogue, to giving us well-choreographed fight sequences that pushed the boundaries of what the censors would allow, every episode in Jack's quest to return to the past felt like you were watching mini-movies. They cleverly got around the censors by having Jack fight robots and monsters instead of slicing up humans, while still treating its audience with respect. Us kids were just expected to be smart enough to figure out what was going on, and mature enough to handle dark subject matter. ("The Tale of X9" and "The Birth of Evil" are the top tier highlights of the whole show.) Along with "Batman: The Animated Series", this was one of my earliest memories of being shown that animation didn't always have to be for kids, and truly was (and IS) an art form unto itself. And as far as writing goes, it taught the age-old lesson of, "show, don't tell."

(If you wanna' learn more about the show and my favorite episodes, CLICK HERE!)

Finally, last but not least, we have not only my favorite superheroes of all time, but my favorite cartoon of all time: "The Powerpuff Girls". I don't think you need me to tell you just how big of a cultural impact this trio had when it came to promoting "girl power" and taking the airwaves by storm back in the late 90s and early 2000s. It was just such a unique and funny premise of having these tiny little girls being able to take down giant monsters, proving that you could love traditionally feminine things AND kick evil's butt at the same time. It was a great parody and loving homage to every superhero trope you could think of. Much like the Eds, this show also gave us a trio with clearly distinct personalities and different ways of solving the same problems. From Blossom's bookish nature, to Bubbles' childish wonder, to Buttercup's "punch first, ask questions later" attitude. Even the soundtrack changed slightly to reflect which girl was on screen, to the point that we're still talking about it 25 years later. (Dang, I feel old.) When the DVD for the movie came out, it's also the first time I remember digging into the special features and watching all the behind the scenes "making of" vignettes, and listening to the director's commentary tracks and taking a serious interest into how a cartoon show was actually made, and wanting to do that myself someday. Basically, if it wasn't for this show, I may not be where I am now.

(And of course, I had to talk about my favorite episodes. No surprise here, it's the first 'Top 10' video I ever made, and continues to be my most viewed one. If you're curious, CLICK HERE.)

That about wraps it up for the network that pretty much changed my life. (And of course, if you got any memories to share, leave a comment!) Come back for the third and final part where we talk about the network that eluded me for the longest time, but was no less impactful when my cable package finally picked it up: the one led by the world-famous mouse.

Stuff I got done this week:

--Began creating stained glass-inspired paintings for the upcoming "Monster Bash" convention in October. (See the "upcoming events" tab for more details)

--continued drawing the next "Jamie Jupiter" episode

--continued writing the next "Rini Boe" installment

Do you want to see behind-the-scenes photos and commentary on all these projects? All of this is available in my totally free newsletter! The next one comes out August 26th!