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Post by astropoug on May 15, 2022 9:40:49 GMT 10
I consider 1994 the quintessential year of the 90s, and one of the reasons for that is Fox Kids being in its prime.
The network launched in 1990, and was not super popular yet or well-established. Bobby's World was the only noteworthy show when Fox Kids launched, the rest were mostly 80s holdovers like Muppet Babies. In 1991, things began to shift, with the Warner Bros cartoons coming to the network, which at this time, consisted of Tiny Toon Adventures. Then, in 1992, Batman: The Animated Series and X-Men came out, and this is when the network REALLY started to become popular, in fact, it became the #1 Saturday morning block that year. In 1993, two huge shows premiered, Power Rangers, and Animaniacs, both iconic shows of the 90s. By 1994, both shows were phenomenons among the youth. Couple this with the aforementioned Batman: The Animated Series, X-Men, and a new Spider-Man cartoon, which was also very successful. But in 1995, Kids WB launched, and stole the Warner Bros programming from the network. So no more Batman or Animaniacs, both among the network's best and most iconic shows. At least they still had Power Rangers going strong, which The WB continued to exploit, and it basically became to Fox Kids what SpongeBob was to Nickelodeon. But even then, it wouldn't last forever. By 1996, Power Rangers and Fox Kids was beginning to decline in popularity, with Kids WB, Nickelodeon, and Cartoon Network starting to catch up. In 1997, Disney's new One Saturday Morning block beat it in ratings, and Power Rangers was irrelevant. By 1998, Fox was focusing on an entire TV network called Fox Family (which was not successful, but that's a topic for another thread). It was clear Fox Kids was dead by that point.
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Post by John Titor on May 15, 2022 11:07:19 GMT 10
I consider 1994 the quintessential year of the 90s, and one of the reasons for that is Fox Kids being in its prime. The network launched in 1990, and was not super popular yet or well-established. Bobby's World was the only noteworthy show when Fox Kids launched, the rest were mostly 80s holdovers like Muppet Babies. In 1991, things began to shift, with the Warner Bros cartoons coming to the network, which at this time, consisted of Tiny Toon Adventures. Then, in 1992, Batman: The Animated Series and X-Men came out, and this is when the network REALLY started to become popular, in fact, it became the #1 Saturday morning block that year. In 1993, two huge shows premiered, Power Rangers, and Animaniacs, both iconic shows of the 90s. By 1994, both shows were phenomenons among the youth. Couple this with the aforementioned Batman: The Animated Series, X-Men, and a new Spider-Man cartoon, which was also very successful. But in 1995, Kids WB launched, and stole the Warner Bros programming from the network. So no more Batman or Animaniacs, both among the network's best and most iconic shows. At least they still had Power Rangers going strong, which The WB continued to exploit, and it basically became to Fox Kids what SpongeBob was to Nickelodeon. But even then, it wouldn't last forever. By 1996, Power Rangers and Fox Kids was beginning to decline in popularity, with Kids WB, Nickelodeon, and Cartoon Network starting to catch up. In 1997, Disney's new One Saturday Morning block beat it in ratings, and Power Rangers was irrelevant. By 1998, Fox was focusing on an entire TV network called Fox Family (which was not successful, but that's a topic for another thread). It was clear Fox Kids was dead by that point. This episode aired in 1994 i s the highest rated Fox Kids nielsen airing in history and the highest Power Ranger nielsen rating in history def a water cooler moment for my generation back then
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Post by astropoug on May 15, 2022 12:49:59 GMT 10
It's still perplexing to me that Fox Kids doesn't get talked about the same way Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, The Disney Afternoon, or even Kids WB when discussing 90s kid culture, even though it was the most popular Saturday morning block from 1992 to 1996.
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Post by John Titor on May 15, 2022 14:44:12 GMT 10
It's still perplexing to me that Fox Kids doesn't get talked about the same way Nickelodeon, Cartoon Network, The Disney Afternoon, or even Kids WB when discussing 90s kid culture, even though it was the most popular Saturday morning block from 1992 to 1996. This is primarily the reason why, it ruined the legacy of the block, Power Rangers was the flagship of this block and it went down with it lol, it was so bad the Shuki Levy and Haim Saban decided to move focus away from Fox Kids and move to Fox Family. But they did try to promote Digimon against Pokemon in 1999-2000, Digimon was a hit for Fox Kids but not enough. Even when Power Rangers Lost Galaxy got huge ratings in the first few episodes it eventually started sinking.
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Post by astropoug on May 16, 2022 5:56:47 GMT 10
Power Rangers was definitely the most iconic show on the network, but the network's animated programming definitely deserves mention, given its place in the 90s.
You see, the 90s was known as the animation renaissance after the 70s and 80s were filled with limited animation and toy-driven cartoons. When most people think of the animation renaissance of the early-mid 90s, they generally think of Nickelodeon and the Disney Afternoon. Whilst it's true that shows like Ren and Stimpy, Rugrats, and Rocko's Modern Life on the former, and DuckTales, Darkwing Duck, and Gargoyles on the latter were instrumental in helping to shape the animation renaissance, Fox Kids was also incredibly important to the animation renaissance. Notable shows on Fox Kids that really pushed the boundaries of animation at this time include Tiny Toons Adventures, Batman: The Animated Series, X-Men, and Animaniacs. Of course, FOX itself played a huge role with The Simpsons. When Batman and Animaniacs left Fox Kids in favor of Kids WB, that's when the network started to go downhill, but there were of course still good shows on the network. But it was never as groundbreaking as it was back then. The fact the network went from shows like Batman: TAS and Animaniacs to a Pokemon-esque show (Digimon) to represent the network shows perfectly how the network went downhill.
Of course, late-period Fox Kids is nowhere near as bad as what replaced it, a name that haunts anime fans to this day: 4Kids TV.
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Post by John Titor on May 16, 2022 6:55:57 GMT 10
Power Rangers was definitely the most iconic show on the network, but the network's animated programming definitely deserves mention, given its place in the 90s. You see, the 90s was known as the animation renaissance after the 70s and 80s were filled with limited animation and toy-driven cartoons. When most people think of the animation renaissance of the early-mid 90s, they generally think of Nickelodeon and the Disney Afternoon. Whilst it's true that shows like Ren and Stimpy, Rugrats, and Rocko's Modern Life on the former, and DuckTales, Darkwing Duck, and Gargoyles on the latter were instrumental in helping to shape the animation renaissance, Fox Kids was also incredibly important to the animation renaissance. Notable shows on Fox Kids that really pushed the boundaries of animation at this time include Tiny Toons Adventures, Batman: The Animated Series, X-Men, and Animaniacs. Of course, FOX itself played a huge role with The Simpsons. When Batman and Animaniacs left Fox Kids in favor of Kids WB, that's when the network started to go downhill, but there were of course still good shows on the network. But it was never as groundbreaking as it was back then. The fact the network went from shows like Batman: TAS and Animaniacs to a Pokemon-esque show (Digimon) to represent the network shows perfectly how the network went downhill. Of course, late-period Fox Kids is nowhere near as bad as what replaced it, a name that haunts anime fans to this day: 4Kids TV. Oh Batman yes, Fox Kids took a huge hit when they lost this show to The WB network in 96. Spider-Man and X-men was actually pivotal in general at gaining interest back in Marvel Ip. I am haunted to this day when Fox Kids logo shattered into pieces and turned into Fox BOX aka 4Kids in Fall 2002. Fox kids had a ton of competition in the late 90s, just look @ Haim Saban's office back then LMAO stalking all the other networks 
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Post by astropoug on May 16, 2022 7:03:14 GMT 10
Power Rangers was definitely the most iconic show on the network, but the network's animated programming definitely deserves mention, given its place in the 90s. You see, the 90s was known as the animation renaissance after the 70s and 80s were filled with limited animation and toy-driven cartoons. When most people think of the animation renaissance of the early-mid 90s, they generally think of Nickelodeon and the Disney Afternoon. Whilst it's true that shows like Ren and Stimpy, Rugrats, and Rocko's Modern Life on the former, and DuckTales, Darkwing Duck, and Gargoyles on the latter were instrumental in helping to shape the animation renaissance, Fox Kids was also incredibly important to the animation renaissance. Notable shows on Fox Kids that really pushed the boundaries of animation at this time include Tiny Toons Adventures, Batman: The Animated Series, X-Men, and Animaniacs. Of course, FOX itself played a huge role with The Simpsons. When Batman and Animaniacs left Fox Kids in favor of Kids WB, that's when the network started to go downhill, but there were of course still good shows on the network. But it was never as groundbreaking as it was back then. The fact the network went from shows like Batman: TAS and Animaniacs to a Pokemon-esque show (Digimon) to represent the network shows perfectly how the network went downhill. Of course, late-period Fox Kids is nowhere near as bad as what replaced it, a name that haunts anime fans to this day: 4Kids TV. Oh Batman yes, Fox Kids took a huge hit when they lost this show to The WB network in 96. Spider-Man and X-men was actually pivotal in general at gaining interest back in Marvel Ip. I am haunted to this day when Fox Kids logo shattered into pieces and turned into Fox BOX aka 4Kids in Fall 2002. Fox kids had a ton of competition in the late 90s, just look @ Haim Saban's office back then LMAO stalking all the other networks You can tell this image was taken in the Y2K era (1999-2000) because of the Pokemon anime in the background. Yeah, Kids WB was what really screwed over Fox Kids in my opinion. When both Batman and Animaniacs, IMO the best shows on the network, left for Kids WB, it really caused many to switch to them. And they never really recovered from that. It didn't help that other networks like Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network were starting to introduce more groundbreaking shows like Hey Arnold and Dexter's Laboratory, the latter being Cartoon Network's first Cartoon Cartoon. Fox Kids could only go so far by milking Power Rangers. Once that show began to decline in 1996-1997, it was all over for them.
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Post by John Titor on May 16, 2022 7:11:47 GMT 10
Oh Batman yes, Fox Kids took a huge hit when they lost this show to The WB network in 96. Spider-Man and X-men was actually pivotal in general at gaining interest back in Marvel Ip. I am haunted to this day when Fox Kids logo shattered into pieces and turned into Fox BOX aka 4Kids in Fall 2002. Fox kids had a ton of competition in the late 90s, just look @ Haim Saban's office back then LMAO stalking all the other networks You can tell this image was taken in the Y2K era (1999-2000) because of the Pokemon anime in the background. Yeah, Kids WB was what really screwed over Fox Kids in my opinion. When both Batman and Animaniacs, IMO the best shows on the network, left for Kids WB, it really caused many to switch to them. And they never really recovered from that. It didn't help that other networks like Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network were starting to introduce more groundbreaking shows like Hey Arnold and Dexter's Laboratory, the latter being Cartoon Network's first Cartoon Cartoon. Fox Kids could only go so far by milking Power Rangers. Once that show began to decline in 1996-1997, it was all over for them. Haim is thinking in this pic " how can The WB beat us 85 weeks in a row ? How can this happen ? " Kids WB vs Fox Kids was a flat out war during this time, I remember when WB put Pokemon at 10:30 and then randomly Fox Kids puts Digimon at 10:30  When WB put Batman/Superman Adventures at 8:30 Fox Kids put Spider-Man at 8:30 LMAO
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Post by astropoug on May 16, 2022 7:34:26 GMT 10
You can tell this image was taken in the Y2K era (1999-2000) because of the Pokemon anime in the background. Yeah, Kids WB was what really screwed over Fox Kids in my opinion. When both Batman and Animaniacs, IMO the best shows on the network, left for Kids WB, it really caused many to switch to them. And they never really recovered from that. It didn't help that other networks like Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network were starting to introduce more groundbreaking shows like Hey Arnold and Dexter's Laboratory, the latter being Cartoon Network's first Cartoon Cartoon. Fox Kids could only go so far by milking Power Rangers. Once that show began to decline in 1996-1997, it was all over for them. Haim is thinking in this pic " how can The WB beat us 85 weeks in a row ? How can this happen ? " Kids WB vs Fox Kids was a flat out war during this time, I remember when WB put Pokemon at 10:30 and then randomly Fox Kids puts Digimon at 10:30  When WB put Batman/Superman Adventures at 8:30 Fox Kids put Spider-Man at 8:30 LMAO Both networks were busy fighting with each other during the Y2K era, when both were oblivious to the rise of Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network. The decline of Pokemania and the Mon genre in general by 2001-2002 really screwed over both blocks. By 2002, Fox Kids shut down, and was replaced with that shitty dubbing company which shall not be named. Whilst Kids WB did have Yu-Gi-Oh going for it, that was really it. Not only were Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network HUGE during this time, but so was Disney Channel, who really established their identity by 2002 (their iconic logo debuted that year), and had very successful shows like Lizzie McGuire, Kim Possible, and The Proud Family. By the mid-2000s, Kids WB had declined HARD, and they were desperate. In 2005, they went as far as to debut a shitty SPONGEBOB RIPOFF called Coconut Fred's Fruit Salad Island.
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Post by John Titor on May 16, 2022 7:58:22 GMT 10
Haim is thinking in this pic " how can The WB beat us 85 weeks in a row ? How can this happen ? " Kids WB vs Fox Kids was a flat out war during this time, I remember when WB put Pokemon at 10:30 and then randomly Fox Kids puts Digimon at 10:30 When WB put Batman/Superman Adventures at 8:30 Fox Kids put Spider-Man at 8:30 LMAO Both networks were busy fighting with each other during the Y2K era, when both were oblivious to the rise of Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network. The decline of Pokemania and the Mon genre in general by 2001-2002 really screwed over both blocks. By 2002, Fox Kids shut down, and was replaced with that shitty dubbing company which shall not be named. Whilst Kids WB did have Yu-Gi-Oh going for it, that was really it. Not only were Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network HUGE during this time, but so was Disney Channel, who really established their identity by 2002 (their iconic logo debuted that year), and had very successful shows like Lizzie McGuire, Kim Possible, and The Proud Family. By the mid-2000s, Kids WB had declined HARD, and they were desperate. In 2005, they went as far as to debut a shitty SPONGEBOB RIPOFF called Coconut Fred's Fruit Salad Island. yupp, while WB and FOX were busy trying to cut each others heads off they were obvious to Nick and CN lurking in the shadows ready to take their place. Nick was popular in the 90s but nowhere near the level of pop culture lexicon as Fox Kids was in the early to mid 90s. Pokemania started dying down around Gold/silver coming out and you could feel it. People had enough of Pokemon, it dominated so much stuff in media and it was time for a break. I just looked up the Coconut thing and had no clue it aired LOL Horrible
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Post by astropoug on May 16, 2022 8:06:22 GMT 10
Both networks were busy fighting with each other during the Y2K era, when both were oblivious to the rise of Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network. The decline of Pokemania and the Mon genre in general by 2001-2002 really screwed over both blocks. By 2002, Fox Kids shut down, and was replaced with that shitty dubbing company which shall not be named. Whilst Kids WB did have Yu-Gi-Oh going for it, that was really it. Not only were Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network HUGE during this time, but so was Disney Channel, who really established their identity by 2002 (their iconic logo debuted that year), and had very successful shows like Lizzie McGuire, Kim Possible, and The Proud Family. By the mid-2000s, Kids WB had declined HARD, and they were desperate. In 2005, they went as far as to debut a shitty SPONGEBOB RIPOFF called Coconut Fred's Fruit Salad Island. yupp, while WB and FOX were busy trying to cut each others heads off they were obvious to Nick and CN lurking in the shadows ready to take their place. Nick was popular in the 90s but nowhere near the level of pop culture lexicon as Fox Kids was in the early to mid 90s. Pokemania started dying down around Gold/silver coming out and you could feel it. People had enough of Pokemon, it dominated so much stuff in media and it was time for a break. I just looked up the Coconut thing and had no clue it aired LOL Horrible I'm sorry you now have to know about Coconut Fred, but it's a perfect example of how much Kids WB was struggling in the mid-2000s. By 2001, Kids WB and Fox Kids had lost relevance, whilst Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network were exploding in popularity, whilst Disney Channel was starting to establish itself. 2001/2002 was definitely a turning point for kid culture. By 2002, the 2000s really came onto their own in that regard, especially with Disney Channel's new logo, Fox Kids shutting down, and SpongeBob being everywhere. 6th gen consoles being dominant now certainly helped.
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Post by John Titor on May 16, 2022 8:34:48 GMT 10
yupp, while WB and FOX were busy trying to cut each others heads off they were obvious to Nick and CN lurking in the shadows ready to take their place. Nick was popular in the 90s but nowhere near the level of pop culture lexicon as Fox Kids was in the early to mid 90s. Pokemania started dying down around Gold/silver coming out and you could feel it. People had enough of Pokemon, it dominated so much stuff in media and it was time for a break. I just looked up the Coconut thing and had no clue it aired LOL Horrible I'm sorry you now have to know about Coconut Fred, but it's a perfect example of how much Kids WB was struggling in the mid-2000s. By 2001, Kids WB and Fox Kids had lost relevance, whilst Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network were exploding in popularity, whilst Disney Channel was starting to establish itself. 2001/2002 was definitely a turning point for kid culture. By 2002, the 2000s really came onto their own in that regard, especially with Disney Channel's new logo, Fox Kids shutting down, and SpongeBob being everywhere. 6th gen consoles being dominant now certainly helped. I was def sad to see Fox Kids go but they had fallen off so hard it was hard to be sad lol Luckily 2 years later JETIX ( the reincarnation of Fox Kids related IP) would air on abc family. They even used Davis from Digimon as the voice to hook people in, as well as Power Rangers Dino Thunder having Tommy return.
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Post by astropoug on May 16, 2022 8:36:46 GMT 10
I'm sorry you now have to know about Coconut Fred, but it's a perfect example of how much Kids WB was struggling in the mid-2000s. By 2001, Kids WB and Fox Kids had lost relevance, whilst Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network were exploding in popularity, whilst Disney Channel was starting to establish itself. 2001/2002 was definitely a turning point for kid culture. By 2002, the 2000s really came onto their own in that regard, especially with Disney Channel's new logo, Fox Kids shutting down, and SpongeBob being everywhere. 6th gen consoles being dominant now certainly helped. I was def sad to see Fox Kids go but they had fallen off so hard it was hard to be sad lol Luckily 2 years later JETIX ( the reincarnation of Fox Kids related IP) would air on abc family. They even used Davis from Digimon as the voice to hook people in, as well as Power Rangers Dino Thunder having Tommy return. What was sadder than Fox Kids dying was that it was replaced with 4Kids.
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