Can a non-comedy primetime adult cartoon ever again?

[askinggirrl]

I think SOAPnet would want stuff that could run forever, and usually the dramatic "real world" animes (I'm thinking something like Gravitation, maybe) tend to be on the self-contained side. The stuff that does run forever is usually either episodic or kids' action stuff that I doubt would appeal to a soap channel's audience.

[deangelashante]

Detective Conan would have been pretty fun to watch on Fox Kids. Considering Yu Yu Hakusho could air with a TV-Y7 on Toonami with strong references to death, I don't think there'd be much a problem with that, and the blood could easily have been cleaned up.

I didn't even know Fox acquired Detective Conan, though.

[Joon Young]

Considering that American soaps tend to be the only ones that last forever (most other countries' similar fare have a finite ending at some point), that desire is a little unrealistic.
They could always have acquired a number of anime titles (particular shojo ones that would appeal to women) to fill their schedule. I'm not sure what their planning to do now that almost all of the American soaps are being cancelled and replaced with talk shows and the like.

[Valo[rie]]

What i dont get is why more companies dont try (serious) animation. In some ways its cheaper than live-action. For example, lets say you want the characters in your show to go to Africa. For the live-action show they have to first get permission from the leader of the area of Africa theyre shooting in, and negotiate to make sure the plot doesnt make them "look bad", not to mention the travel costs and other expenses. If an animated show wants to go to Africa, the only problem is finding a reason for the characters to go there.

[Yousaf]

It could, but too many adults still view animation as a comedy format mostly and wouldn't take it seriously. My dad used to watch BTAS, STAS and the like religiously and my mom could never get why.

[Paperclips & Pillows :D]

Yes, but not right now. These things take time, but the time is not here yet for non-comedies. However, we may see something this decade. It took years for adult animated comedies to make it to mainstream. It will take just as long for drama and action cartoons.

[kristina Z]

Simple, because even if it were cheaper it does not matter if they don't make enough profits. Its all about profit and net gain. They may spend more money on a live action series, but they know they have faith that the profits they will make on the series will more than make up for it... the same is not believed about serious animated series. With the current status of serious animation, companies do not think their is a large enough audience to make a strong profit off of it; they might save some money, but they will not make enough a profit; in otherwords even if they spend more money on a live action series they make more money in the end.

As far as companies are concerned, a serious live action series may appeal to a very wide audience. An animated comedy series would also appeal to a wide audience. But serious animation, in the west, has not really proven itself to have a strong enough audience to make it a worthwhile risk for companies to make such a series.

Hell i might imagine that one thing companies might look at when thinking about the prospect of series animation is Adult Swim's saturdays. One of the only sources of serious animation on a western network...They look at those ratings and imagine that their own series may get similar ratings; ofcrouse localizing animation is bound to be cheaper and that producing a series yourself. So even if adult swim can make a profit with those ratings it does not mean an original series can see a decent profit.


I think getting more serious adult animation starts with getting more serious teen animation. lots of kids watch cartoons, but too many stop when they become teens. Gotta get more teens to except that animation is not just for kids and that their are serious series that should appeal to them aswell. Only then will they grow up into adults that can take animation seriously in large enough numbers to convince companies that it would be profitable to make a serious animation series for adults

[whatevs]

I thought FX's Archer filled the bill for an adult dramatic cartoon in prime time. If you're thinking of something on a broadcast network, well, fuhgeddaboutit. As noted, Invasion America was a miniseries on WB that didn't live up to the hype in terms of ratings.

When Batman aired on Fox on a Sunday night, it was just a sneak preview, IIRC. Fox also did the same thing with Spider-Man a couple of years later, airing it on a Sunday to call attention to the SatAM block.

Now, if someone were to revive, say, Jonny Quest, as it was originally constituted, then maybe you get somewhere.