Can Cartoon Network as We Know It Survive Layoffs at Its Parent Company?
It's now part of Warner Bros Discovery.
(SPOT.ph) Cartoon Network Studios, which gifted kids of the last 30 years with contemporary classics like Dexter's Laboratory, The Powerpuff Girls, and We Bare Bears will now be part of the larger animation arm of its parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery, putting into question the future of the beloved channel as fans know it, trade publications reported.
The marriage between Warner Media and Discovery, completed earlier this year, will result in a "streamlined structure in which the development and main production teams will now work across both Warner Bros. Animation and Cartoon Network Studios", Vulture quoted a company memo.
"Streamline" in corporate-speak means people can get reassigned, or worse, get the boot. It can also mean changes in reporting lines. Warner TV Group chairman Channing Dungey was quoted in a memo as saying that 82 people will be laid off while 43 vacancies will not be filled. That's equivalent to 26% of that arm's workforce.
What's happening at Cartoon Network?
The merger between Warner Media and Discovery brings together the HBO ecosystem, Discovery Networks, Food Network, CNN, DC Films, TNT and Cartoon Network. The resulting entity, Warner Bros Discovery, now has more muscle to compete against its media and streaming rivals such as Netflix, Disney+ and Amazon Prime.
The Verge reports that the restructuring under the hood could leave Cartoon Network as a "shadow" of its former self. Earlier in October, the network halved orders for Craig of the Creek and its spinoff, Jessica's Big Little World, according to the report.
Aside from its own films, Cartoon Network is also the home of pre-internet classics such as Bugs Bunny and the Looney Tunes squad and Hannah Barbera cartoons like The Flintstones.
It's homegrown animators, however, stood out for testing the boundaries of weirdness for a channel marketed towards children and kids at heart. Remember Cow and Chicken, the poultry and bovine bro-sis tandem who had human parents that were never shown from the waist up? Their tormentor was a red, gender-bending devil.