Beginning with its inception into cable broadcasting on October 1, 1992, Cartoon Network had focused its programming on reruns of older animated series which it had acquired through its parent company's film library. The Cartoon Cartoons label originated with Fred Seibert's animation anthology series What a Cartoon!, an animation showcase series featuring pilots of original cartoon ideas submitted by independent animators. Dexter's Laboratory was the first such pilot to be greenlit by the network for a full series in 1996. After other pilots were successfully produced into their own series, including Cow and Chicken, Johnny Bravo, and The Powerpuff Girls, the collective Cartoon Cartoons were featured on the network's Friday night programming block, Cartoon Cartoon Fridays from 1999 to 2003. Not all CN original series created around this time were officially recognized as Cartoon Cartoons; Samurai Jack and The Cramp Twins for example, did not bear the moniker.
The moniker was retired by the network in 2004, and its last surviving series, Ed, Edd n Eddy, ended in 2009 after a ten-year run. Since their heyday, reruns of the Cartoon Cartoons continued to air on The Cartoon Cartoon Show (2005–2008) and Cartoon Planet (2012–2014). In 2021, the name was resurrected by the network for a new shorts program.
Through What a Cartoon!, Cartoon Network was able to assess the potential of certain shorts to serve as pilots for spin-off series and signed contracts with their creators to create ongoing series.[2]Dexter's Laboratory was the most popular short series according to a vote held in 1995, and became a full series in 1996. Dexter was retroactively labeled the first Cartoon Cartoon in 1997; however, the network's previous original shows, The Moxy Show and Space Ghost Coast to Coast, were not retroactively given the label.
The Cartoon Cartoon brand was first introduced in July 1997 for the network's Cartoon Cartoon Weekend block. Three more series based on shorts debuted in 1997: Johnny Bravo, Cow and Chicken, and I Am Weasel (the latter two as segments of the same show; I Am Weasel was later spun off into a separate show). These were followed by The Powerpuff Girls in 1998 and Ed, Edd n Eddy in 1999,[2][1] and Mike, Lu & Og and Courage the Cowardly Dog in 1999, creating a lineup of critically acclaimed shows.[3] From 1999 to 2003, the Cartoon Cartoon Fridays block was the network's marquee night for premieres of new episodes and series.
In 2001, the network received Time Squad and Grim & Evil. Also in 2001, the show Samurai Jack premiered, but was not officially branded as a Cartoon Cartoon despite airing during the various programming blocks. In 2002, Codename: Kids Next Door became a full series after being chosen in the previous year's Big Pick Weekend. In 2003, Grim & Evil was split into The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy and Evil Con Carne; they were the last original series to officially carry the Cartoon Cartoon branding before it was discontinued.
The Cartoon Cartoons were intended to appeal to a wider audience than the average Saturday-morning cartoon. Linda Simensky, vice president of original animation, reminded adults and teenage girls that the cartoons could appeal to them as well. Kevin Sandler's article on them claimed that these cartoons were both less "bawdy" than their counterparts at Comedy Central and less "socially responsible" than their counterparts at Nickelodeon. Sandler pointed to the whimsical rebelliousness, high rate of exaggeration and self-consciousness of the overall output which each individual series managed.[4]
In October 2003, the live-action Fridays premiered on the network as a replacement for Cartoon Cartoon Fridays. The Cartoon Cartoons bumpers (that appeared before and after episodes of its original series) were dropped after the network's CN City rebrand in June 2004. In August 2004, the block Cartoon Cartoons: The Top 5 was renamed to simply The Top 5. CN still kept the Cartoon Cartoons name around in various forms applying to their older series (such as for The Cartoon Cartoon Show from 2005 to 2008), but since newer shows such as Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, Camp Lazlo, and Ben 10 were stylistically different from previous shows, the moniker was not applied to them.
However, internationally in places like Asia and Latin America, the moniker continued on until 2007 with shows like Foster's Home, Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi, Camp Lazlo, and My Gym Partner's a Monkey.
Revival
On April 15, 2021, Cartoon Network announced a new iteration of the Cartoon Cartoons shorts program.[5][6] On November 24, 2021, the first new Cartoon Cartoons shorts were announced.[7] The first nine shorts include Accordions Geoffery & Mary Melodica by Louie Zong (of The Ghost and Molly McGee and We Bare Bears), Dang! It's Dracula by Levon Jihanian (of Tig n' Seek), Hungy Ghost by Jesse Moynihan (of Adventure Time), Fruit Stand at the End of the World by Rachel Liu, Off the Menu by Shavonne Cherry (of Ren & Stimpy and The Looney Tunes Show), Harmony in Despair by Andrew Dickman (of Looney Tunes Cartoons), Unravel by Alexis Sugden, Mouthwash Madness by Lisa Vandenberg (of Animaniacs), and Scaredy Cat by JJ Villard (of King Star King).[8] On June 7, 2022, More Cartoon Cartoons were announced.[9] The next seven shorts include The All-Nimal by Nick Edwards (of Apple and Onion and The Fungies), Buttons' Gamezone by Fernando Puig (of The Cuphead Show, Middlemost Post and Tig n' Seek), Tib Tub, We Need You by Sean Godsey and Mike Rosenthal, I Love You Jocelyn by Tracey Laguerre (Art and Animation Director for brands like Google, Dreamworks, Buzzfeed and more) , Pig in a Wig by Sam Marin (of Regular Show), The Good Boy Report (based on the webcomic of the same name) by Kasey Williams (of Niko and the Sword of Light and Harley Quinn) and Maude Macher and Dom Duck by Kali Fontecchio (of The Looney Tunes Show and Jellystone!).
Programming blocks
More shows premiered bearing the Cartoon Cartoons brand, airing throughout the network's schedule and prominently on Cartoon Cartoon Fridays, which became the marquee night for premieres of new episodes and shows beginning June 11, 1999. On June 9, 2000, the Cartoon Cartoon Fridays block began to be hosted each week by a different character from a Cartoon Cartoon series, with the first host being Eustace from Courage the Cowardly Dog. The June 9 broadcast also began the first week of The Big Pick, a showcase of cartoon pilots that could become full series based on the results of an online viewer poll. A similar event, The Big Pick II, aired the following year. On October 3, 2003, following a months-long switch to Summer Fridays and Fridays, the block was rebooted under a hybrid live-action format as Fridays, hosted by Tommy Snider and Nzinga Blake, the latter of whom was later replaced by Tara Sands. It aired shows outside the Cartoon Cartoon moniker, such as Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi, The Life and Times of Juniper Lee, Camp Lazlo, My Gym Partner's a Monkey, Squirrel Boy, and Class of 3000. The last airing of Fridays was on February 23, 2007.
Cartoon Cartoons: The Top 5 (simply retitled The Top 5 in 2004), an hour-long program featuring a countdown of the week's five "best" Cartoon Cartoon episodes from the network's lineup, ran from 2002 to 2008. From 2005 to 2008, the Cartoon Cartoons label was primarily used for The Cartoon Cartoon Show, a half-hour program featuring episodes of older Cartoon Cartoons that were no longer shown regularly on the network.
(+) Indicates that the show originally aired as part of Grim & Evil, and that the 2003-2004 episodes were not produced for the standalone show.
In other media
DC Comics ran an anthology comic based on the Cartoon Cartoons; the series ran from March 2001 to October 2004 for a total of 33 issues.
In the OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes episode "Crossover Nexus", the Cartoon Cartoon logo is shown in the bottom of a wall inside the Cartoon Network headquarters; the Cartoon Cartoon jingle theme song is played when Ben Tennyson (Ben 10) shape-shifts into different Cartoon Network characters.
