Cartoons without overall story are safer from cancellation.

It's just a theory I have. Shows like Spongebob, Simpsons, Regular Show, and some others seem like they can keep going on forever while shows like Young Justice, Avengers EMH, Legend of Korra, Green Lantern, and other seem like they were in constant danger of getting canceled (with most actually being cancelled), despite fan support being great for them.

My theory for why there's this difference is because of the differences in shows. You turn on the T.V. and watch any episode of Regular Show or Johnny Test, I'll be them just having another misadventure. You turn on the T.V. and watch any episode of Green Lantern or Young Justice, you might be lost or unsure of what's happening because things and events from previous episodes are affecting the events of that episode.

The difference between the shows is in one, anything can happen in any episode and it tends to be contained to just that episode, while in the other there is an ongoing story and unless you started with episode 1, you won't follow it quite as well.

So the theory is that shows with an overall story are more likely to be cancelled than shows without an overall story because the shows without an overall story don't need build-up. You can watch any episode and judge whether or not you like it because most of the episodes in the series will be about the same quality, as they'd all be self-contained stories that are good or bad based on that episode. The episodes of the shows with an overall story build on top of each other, one after the other, so not all the episodes are the same quality. Some exist just to move the story along or to reveal some new detail that was not before known, changing perceptions of past episodes and making you wonder how it will effect future episodes.

Now of course the quality of a show depends on the show itself, so you can't say shows with overall plot are better than shows without it or vice-versa. But looking at this from a network viewpoint, the opinions of the shows without overall story would tend to be pretty consistent. "Did they like the episode, yes/no?" "What do they think of the show overall, yes/no?". While the opinions of the shows with overall story would tend to fluctuate, given that not every episode is as important as the other.

So which show are the networks more likely to cancel: the show where the general opinion episode to episode is "Yes, I like it." or the show where the network is unsure how people feel about it because episode to episode opinions differ?

It's quantity of the quality vs. quality of the quantity.

Please comment to share your opinion about this theory.

This makes somewhat sense.

But shows like Family Guy, Simpsons, Futurama, Teen Titans, and Danny Phantom were canceled.

The thing with Adventure Time and Regular Show, its the fact it gets storylines and character development, the storyline its going foward.

Also it has an incredibly diverse cast that lets you explore more.

Not only that but their emotions and what is happening even when it over the top, its based on real problems and real emotions.

Take the fact you dont need to see every episode and you get an amazing hit.

Young Justice was asking people for too much.

Sad but true.

~MiB

It's has more to do with Toy sells, and Demographics.

Aye :(

All these shows ran their courses though. Also FG and Simpsons are still ongoing.

To be fair, Regular Show kind of splits itself down the middle.

While at first glance, a lot of what happens is unrelated between episodes, however most of their misadventures do tend to have some connections and have always happened.

• Mordecai's love life is a constant factor.
• Several times, they've referenced things they've done in past episodes, like the family of baby ducks or even that time travel thing.

Adventure Time has a similar style of storytelling, just with overall more fluff than Regular Show, than story, but there's some story their. You don't need to watch every episode, but some are connected. A similar premise is taken with Steven Universe, and to a somewhat lesser extent Ninjago (though it generally has a constant story with almost no filler, so it possibly fits more with shows like Avatar, and the like.)

I actually think shows like this, that break up their story a lot with fluff and filler episodes, have a better chance of success because it gives the more mature audience a reason to come back to see how characters develop, but it also draws in the casual crowd that want to just sit down to something without missing a beat.

Didn't Teen Titans and Danny Phantom simply run their course, with series finales and everything?

Really, Teen Titans didn't need that final Terra-centric episode, because the ending against the Brotherhood of Evil was a pretty epic ending itself. Plus, wasn't it supposed to end with the defeat of Trigon anyway?

Danny Phantom, also, I thought had it's finale in the ending where Danny obtained his Ice Powers? (Or it happened not long after that.)

@scouterv: If Teen Titans had simply "run its course" I don't think they would've made Teen Titans Go.

You're probably right about Danny Phantom, though. It ended with Phantom Planet.

Well, considering how it's changed a lot of what happened in the original Teen Titans series, (such as Jynx being a member of The Hive Five when she left the team to be with Kid Flash, Red X still being Robin, the Titans acting like they've never met Mas y Menos before, and a host of other things,) I'd wager they just realize that the Teen Titans are a popular enough group, they can simply do a quasi-reboot/parody and still make money off of it by appealing to a new generation.

The original Teen Titans ran it's course, with a series finale and all. Teen Titans Go is arguably a different fish all-together.

Basically one of the reasons I haven't watched Cartoon Network, Disney Channel, or Nick in about 5-6 years. Whenever there was a show I liked, I would just watch it online just so I don't have to ever see these channels. *shrug*

It's because kids don't have the attention span to care about long arcs. These shows are made for them.

Nah, avatar the last airbender, yu-gi-oh.

Here is my theory and this is sadder. Unless if the thing floods there pockets with money, they will cancel anything no matter how loved it is if it doesn't fit the overall "feel" they're going for. Teen Titans go hasn't and probably won't be canceled because it fits the "feel" CN wants. Thundercats, Young Justice, Green Lantern etc. have all gone against the wanted "feel". Some shows however are so popular they could never get canceled because it profits them greatly but this generally only happens for like English dubs of animes like in the case of Attack on Titan or the like.

So yeah uh, the reason I mentioned is kinda more depressing.

@bluelantern1995: How'd I forget to mention Thundercats?

I don't know. You also forgot Tron Uprising. I will never forgive CN for Thundercats. All they wanted was ONE MORE SEASON. Canceled. Gah! I'm getting angry again(I do this everytime I talk about Thundercats). And with Tron Uprising? I will never forgive Disney from Tron Uprising. They bumped it to so many different time slot it couldn't survive why? Because they could. Gah! I'm getting mad again(I do this everytime I talk about Tron Uprising). But the most unforgivable thing about Disney's betrayal is they haven't released Tron Uprising. At least CN has released Thundercats will Disney do Tron Uprising? No. Those b*stards, I'll never forgive them!

Adventure Time and Gravity Falls are the best shows on tv.

What really makes or breaks most of these shows were the cost to produce them....... Teen Titans Go! runs on a fraction what it cost to make an episode of Young Justice. Not all animation cost the same.......

Status quo is god.

Like everyone else stated, I think the reason why many cartoons that have story lines get cancelled so soon is because it does make it difficult for some viewers to jump into the series because then they would have to worry about what happened in the last episode in order to understand what is going on in the current episodes and that can be frustrating for any causal viewer who just wants to watch the show without having to watch all the previous episodes to understand what is really going on. As much as I enjoy watching cartoons that have story lines (Young Justice and Avatar the Last Airbender), those shows would struggle the most with finding an audience that has enough patience to sit through all of the episodes to understand what is happening in the story, rather than a show like The Simpsons or Family Guy that can easily find an audience that could sit through at least half of their episodes, because then the viewers wouldn't have to worry about watching previous episodes to understand the stories going on in that particular episode.

I've heard this as well, although the plot idea makes sense too.

Everyone talks a lot about Gravity Falls. I've seen a bit of it, but it doesn't seem all that great.

Then again, I'd say the same about Adventure Time when half the seasons started revolving around getting Finn a girlfriend, rather than actual Adventuring.

One piece

Naruto

Bleach

DBz

Say hi!

Sad but true.

Generally true, but that didn't save The Cleveland Show or Futurama. You also gotta take in the cost to produce the show, the company that airs it and all the other little things that go into making the cartoon/show possible.

Eh, the plot idea falls squarely in the whole "demographic" part.

Young Justice, Avengers EMH, Legend of Korra, Green Lantern, and other seem like they were in constant danger of getting canceled (with most actually being cancelled), despite fan support being great for them.

Young Justice was cancelled for several reasons including: They couldn't meet deadlines leading to large gaps of time between episodes and scheduling was horrible, it was pretty expensive animation and the demographic didn't fit. EMH got cancelled because they wanted to keep the show in line with the movies, I don't think LoK was ever in danger of being cancelled though apparently development was hell, Green Lantern was a tie in to a movie that failed.

Fox is a crazy network, when was Simpsons cancelled?, Futurama had an erratic schedule (again, Fox is crazy) and it still went on for 4 seasons, Teen Titans had a plot (Slade, Hive, Terra, Trigon, etc) and so did Danny Phantom (Vlad, Valerie, and things that happen in previous episodes do come back to relevance)

@scouterv: I agree with you about AT. Have you seen the latest episodes though?

I think anime doesn't get cancelled as often because all the network has to do is dub over it (and censor whatever they think Americans can't handle). The American networks that show these shows didn't make it themselves so that I think saves them a lot more money.

Its a combination of that, toy sales, and views

Self contained stories are always best, with a little mystery thrown in to keep things interesting for those who find themselves invested in certain characters. I think that's what makes Adventure Time so amazing. Great characters, great story line, great art and pristo presto, you got a hit.

Unless they come up with a good way to recap before each episode, cartoons that rely on a deep story that is explored and advanced with every episode will be a thing of the past. It's too much investment for viewers. The aim is to get people wanting to not miss a show is because they look forward to the entertainment, not because they need to see it to not get lost.

My thoughts, as worthless as they are.

Not really. I stopped really watching most Finn and Jake centered episodes around the time of the Breezy episode.

shows where you can watch from any episode rather than start to finish remain longest

@jayc1324:

Yugioh doesnt much story.

I recently watched the GL series and noticed that as well

@vitalius: Kind of. It has a beginning, middle and end and each episode affects one another. Not as much as Avatar the last airbender, but still.

The Simpsons has never been cancelled, Futurama was cancelled once and brought back, and Family Guy got cancelled twice.

BB

Pretty much that. as I say that though, the networks airing Naruto(and I'm sure the others as well) have "canceled" them as in not wanting to air them. All it did was shift what network it aired on.

@scouterv: You should start up again. Or just skip to the episode Evergreen. An amazing arc is surfacing. Lol

Pretty much yeah, not only that but Western animation as a whole seems to really want nothing to do with action or diverse programming at all really, and are now just basically producing Spongebob-eque shows. I honestly find Cartoon Network as a garbage network aside from Toonami which is the only redeeming program on the entire channel, and technically that's on Adult Swim, so yeah CN is garbage. I can't even watch Boomerang anymore because they're having those trashy shows like Grojband and Half-naked animals inflitrate the lineup instead of showing classic shows like they're supposed to, and yes seeing reruns of old shows is a slight problem but honestly CN has an extensive library of shows, some of which haven't been seen of tv in years, like Space Ghost, the OG Thundercats, Thundaar the Barbarian and such. I never really cared about Disney but I won't lie when I say I miss the Toon Disney/Jetix days. As for Nick they are the worst of all. Nick has about 5 different networks yet they choose to forcefeed Spongebob down peoples throats for no real reason, I used to love Nicktoons a few years ago when they were showing things like My life as a Teenage robot, Martian Mystery and a few others but now they show maybe a few eps of Avatar, a few of Penguins of M, and then spam it witn FOP. I saw great things for The Hub network when they started showing some classics like Batman:TAS, combined with the awesomeness of Transformers Prime, i hailed it as the second coming of the golden age but alas the Hub started dying slowly when they started showing that family oriented crap and now it's become Discovery Family. My biggest question is why hasn't DC simply created it's own network or even a mini channel instead of going through CN who treats their action shows like crap and cancel them for not having toy lines when kids these days barely play with toys in the first place. /end rant

Teen Titans (and Danny Phantom, to a certain extent) did have an ongoing plot-line. It just wasn't all consuming.