Boomerang (2015-present)
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| Boomerang (2015-present) | ||||||||||
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 It's never coming back to us.
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Boomerang is an American cable television network. It was launched in April 1, 2000, after the success of the Cartoon Network block of the same name. The channel was targeted on airing classic cartoons from the Warner Bros. and Hanna-Barbera library. Even though the channel was praised during its heyday, the channel rebranded on January 19, 2015 in attempt to follow the flagship of Cartoon Network, to critical backlash from critics and fans alike. The network decay for Boomerang continues today for the following reasons.
Why It's Never Coming Back to You Anymore
- The main problem with modern Boomerang is that it dropped all of its Hanna-Barbera and classic cartoon efforts in favor of airing modern Cartoon Network shows, completely going against Boomerang's original goal and slogan of classic shows "all coming back to you".
- What's worse is that Boomerang actively avoided network decay of other networks during 2000-2014, only to then follow suit in hopes of bringing back viewers due to declining ratings. However, instead of increasing ratings, the rebrand only sped up the decline in ratings.
- Commercials were almost non-existent (although promos aired on Boomerang during the early 2010s) before the rebrand. Going ad-supported when the channel originally wasn’t makes no sense.
- Most of its original programming ranges from being terrible to mediocre at best, such as Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz, and the 2017 reboot of Wacky Races.
- Speaking of which, even though the channel changed its goal to air Cartoon Network shows that ended in the past, they still aired modern Cartoon Network shows such as Teen Titans Go!, Clarence, My Knight and Me, Johnny Test, Uncle Grandpa, and the 2016 reboots of The Powerpuff Girls and Ben 10. Most of the aforementioned shows are also terrible on their own as well.
- Any of the remaining classic cartoons on the channel were pushed into graveyard slots, thus completely killing their exposure.
- It has become a dumping ground for shows with low ratings on Cartoon Network for those shows to finish their run before cancellation, similarly to NickToons.
- The network is too dependent on reruns. They don't care about anything besides Looney Tunes, Tom and Jerry, Scooby-Doo and their reboots and spin-offs. While this may seem like variety, it's nothing but these shows on repeat.
- Nearly every previous programming block on Boomerang except for Boomerang Theater has been removed.
- The choice of movies on Boomerang Theater is now extremely limited, mostly being Scooby-Doo or Tom and Jerry movies.
- However, there is false advertising on the current promos for Boomerang Theater as a result - there is footage of Teen Titans: Trouble in Tokyo and Operation: Z.E.R.O. in the promos, yet they have never aired on Boomerang Theater.
- All of the old bumpers were removed and replaced with bland and generic bumpers, which also all play on loop and have not changed since 2015.
- While the old bumpers were considered just as repetitive, it would be better to simply update the older bumpers to keep the content fresh.
- Even though it still airs the classic Tom and Jerry and Looney Tunes shorts, the short rotation has been significantly reduced from consisting of over 100 shorts to just 25 shorts. This means that the rotation will loop after only 3 days, which can get on your last nerve if you're expecting variety. To make matters worse, most of these shorts in the rotation barely ever change, meaning that one short can still be in the rotation for years. One notable example is that the 1960 Pepé le Pew Looney Tunes short "Who Scent You?" has been in the rotation since 2017 and still continues to air on loop as of 2021.
- Additionally, Popeye the Sailor was originally removed from the classic cartoon rotation until 2023.
- They usually only air the post-Hanna-Barbera era Tom and Jerry shorts, particularly the ones from the Gene Deitch era and the Tom and Jerry Comedy Show.
- The Looney Tunes shorts that air on its block are narrowed down even more, as they mainly air post-1948 shorts (especially the 1959-1964 red rings era shorts), with pre-1948 and post-1964 shorts having little to no exposure.
- Most of the time, they end up throwing in the late 1964-1969 shorts as well.
- Sometimes, they only air shorts that are geared toward one character. For example, they'll only air the shorts that Marvin the Martian appeared in sometimes.
- Even when restored versions of the shorts that Boomerang airs are available, they do not ever use these restored versions. As a result, with the release of HBO Max (which streams all of the Looney Tunes, Tom and Jerry shorts that were restored at the time, including several new shorts restored exclusively for HBO Max) and MeTV's Toon with Me and Saturday Morning Cartoons blocks, as well as the MeTV Toons channel (which is basically a combination of Boomerang's format of airing classic cartoons and HBO Max's restorations, including several new restored shorts that were not even shown on HBO Max), the Boomerang blocks and even the streaming service quickly became irrelevant and are completely inferior to HBO Max, MeTV, hell, even Discovery Family.
- The channel still airs in SD format instead of HD format on most providers.
- Overall, this network is just a watered down clone of Cartoon Network nowadays.
- Even though the channel airs The Looney Tunes Show and Tom & Jerry Tales, it was unnecessary because the main Cartoon Network still airs these two shows as of 2024.
- The Thai version was rebranded on March 15, 2024 by changing the logo from the 2004 logo to the 2015 logo.
- And finally, since the launch of the MeTV Toons channel, Boomerang eventually became redundant, and we don't know what will happen to the channel.
Redeeming Qualities
- The channel was much better before its rebranding in 2015.
- It has some good original shows, such as the 2014 version of The Tom and Jerry Show, and Scooby-Doo and Guess Who?.
- The 2015 branding package is amazing and fun to look at, though not as good as the previous package.
- Its streaming service was much better than the channel itself nowadays, especially considering that they have some classic Hanna-Barbera, MGM, and WB cartoons that haven't aired on the network in years.
- In fact it was pretty much better than MAX since the latter was removing titles from their service since 2022.
- The Thanksgiving marathon in 2020 brought back some classic cartoons that haven’t been on the network since 2014. But sadly, it was only temporary.
- It has been improving since June 2023 as they've been bringing back certain classic cartoons again like Yogi Bear, Jabberjaw, Top Cat, Popeye, and Wally Gator, alongside saturday morning cartoons such as A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, but that's not saying much.
Trivia
- The channel was closed in December 1, 2021 in Latin America and replaced by Cartoon Network's preschool block Cartoonito.
- In other countries, the channel long swayed away from it's original point, no longer airing the programs of it's american counterpart, instead relying on original programming such as Grizzy & The Lemmings and Mr. Bean: The Animated Series. The international counterparts of Boomerang even got a unique rebrand in 2018.
- Some feeds also have their own original programs, for example Boomerang France had seasons 5 and 6 of Oggy and the Cockroaches, and The Boss Baby: Back in Business.
- This is the reason why Tooncast was created in Latin America. Tooncast itself ended up having original shows such as Zuzubaland but it kept airing old CN and Hanna-Barbera shows.
- In some areas, Boomerang was replaced by Cartoonito but kept some of the programs from Boomerang.
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