Total Drama Island (CA)

One of the many good things coming from Canada is the animated program Total Drama Island, a great success both here in my country and as far as I gather, all over the world. Tdi takes an unusual premise of doing an animated teenage reality show which manages to be entertaining to both younger and older audiences. Like in actual reality shows, each week the contestants have to participate in various insane tasks, earn marshmallows and remain on the island without getting voted off. Each teen stands for a common a steretype from the dumb blond to the goth girl and the party kid. There are even some more whacked out stereotypes like a home-schooled sexist genius and a jock who sucks at every imaginable sport but has cool tracksuits. The show constantly plays with the expectations and the rules of reality TV, ending up with something that's far more entertaining than the real thing.

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On the back of the DVD box of this collection, there’s a little warning label that says “Saturday Morning Cartoons - The 1960s is Intended for the Adult Collector and is Not Suitable for Children.” I have no idea why, given that there’s nothing on this set that would be inappropriate to children (except maybe for the fact that Quick Draw McGraw gets shot in the face a dozen times, but even that is stretching it).
It’s true, though, that this compilation set is better aimed at the nostalgic adult, who wants to revisit but not commit to these cartoons. I realized this as I was watching it. The two-disc set, containing 33 episodes from 12 different shows made by Hanna-Barbera and Warner Bros, appears to have been put together randomly. A sampler, you might say. It combines the popular shows everybody knows (Flintstones, Jetsons, Space Ghost) with the more obscure ones,
Arya Ponto

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Cartoon Network is growing up... or trying to. And in the process, they're getting away from the things that make them, well, a cartoon network.
That's the theme that seems to be running through their upfront presentation for the 2009-2010 season. Highlights include entering into the reality TV genre, creating a new sports-centric programming block, and introducing 19 new programs, pilots, and movies, including six that are live-action (umm...) as well as 164 episodes of returning series.  In doing so, Cartoon Network stepped out on its evolutionary path to become what it described as a "dominant youth culture brand," that not only understands boys, including boys 6-11, but girls and older kids too, while creating "un-sanitized" "TV for kids, not kids TV". 
Luckily, no one seems to talking about renaming it "CyFy". Yet.
Highlights:
Star Wars: The Clone Wars will return with new episodes in fall 2009; also returning are Batman: The Brave
Glenn Hauman

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