The producer of Animaniacs and Freakazoid, Tom Ruegger, participated in an AMA on Reddit the other day. When asked about what he thought brought Kids WB down, he answered Pokemon, saying that it gave Warner Bros. a cheap option to reel in big numbers, and thus caused a decline in original WB cartoons, leading to Kids WB demise.

I never expected Tom to think so badly about Pokemon.

i think if it hadn't been for the anime, the franchise itself wouldn't have had the success that it did in the states.

What is this Kids WB of which you speak. Young whipper-snappers and your dedicated Kids Networks. In my day, you watched Network TV and had to wait until the kids shows came on... and we liked it!

Back in my teenage days, I was a regular on the Warner Brothers Club forum, which would later become part of the vast Toonzone network of forums. Practically all of us were fans of Warner's Silver Age, and practically all of us blamed "Pokemon" for the downfall of the Silver Age, although quite a few also put blame on "Pinky, Elmyra And The Brain" as well. I was never a Pokemon fan, and I wish that the Silver Age could've continued. Thankfully, "The 7D" on Disney XD has many of the talents who made the Silver Age so memorable as part of the writing staff.

Vaporman87 wrote :

What is this Kids WB of which you speak.

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It was WAY after your time, Gramps. 

i always thought the same thing i mean after pokemon there were hundreds of pokemon clones that took up not just wb but also fox kids  it was like the american idol of cartoon shows

comic_book_fan wrote :

i always thought the same thing i mean after pokemon there were hundreds of pokemon clones that took up not just wb but also fox kids  it was like the american idol of cartoon shows -end quote

I agree with you on Fox Kids. Once the Pokemon craze hit, Fox Kids sold out to 4Kids and it became the Fox Box, showing nothing but Japanese adaptions.

I agree with Pokemon's influence on Fox Kids, but let's look at Kid's WB. I blame it on a lack of good original programming. Look at their slate starting in the year 2000, they are all terrible. 

echidna64 wrote :

I agree with Pokemon's influence on Fox Kids, but let's look at Kid's WB. I blame it on a lack of good original programming. Look at their slate starting in the year 2000, they are all terrible. 

-end quote

I thought 2000 and 2001 were still good. You still had the Superman and Batman animated series airing, you had some of the better late 90's cartoons like MIB and Batman Beyond, as well as Looney Tunes and Animaniacs. Kind of like what you see in the Pokemon The First Movie VHS Opening that was from around the year 2000.

Rick Ace Rhodes wrote :

comic_book_fan wrote :


i always thought the same thing i mean after pokemon there were hundreds of pokemon clones that took up not just wb but also fox kids  it was like the american idol of cartoon shows -end quote

I agree with you on Fox Kids. Once the Pokemon craze hit, Fox Kids sold out to 4Kids and it became the Fox Box, showing nothing but Japanese adaptions. -end quote

And then, there was that Vortexx programming block, which showed Yu-Gi-Oh, Sonic X and stuff, Although, there was a Justice League cartoon, which wasn't an anime show.