Cartoon Cartoons

Cartoon Cartoons is a collective name used by Cartoon Network for their original animated television series from July 14, 1997, to June 14, 2004, and produced primarily by Hanna-Barbera and later Cartoon Network Studios. The first Cartoon Cartoon, Dexter's Laboratory, premiered in 1996, a year before the moniker's introduction. Further original series followed: Johnny Bravo, Cow and Chicken, I Am Weasel, The Powerpuff Girls, Ed, Edd n Eddy, Mike, Lu & Og, Courage the Cowardly Dog, Sheep in the Big City, Time Squad, Grim & Evil, Whatever Happened to... Robot Jones?, Codename: Kids Next Door, The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, and Evil Con Carne.
Originally, Cartoon Network mainly focused its programming on reruns of older animated series which it had acquired through its parent company's film library, but soon began to introduce more original programming. The Cartoon Cartoons originated with Fred Seibert's animation anthology series What a Cartoon! (1995), 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, 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 which is still yet to be released as of April 1, 2025.
Cartoon Cartoons first appeared as shorts on animation showcase series What a Cartoon! in 1995, under the name of World Premiere Toons. The series was produced by Hanna-Barbera and Cartoon Network Studios under the direction of Fred Seibert. Seibert had been a guiding force for Nickelodeon (having overseen the creation of Nicktoons shortly prior to his departure) prior to joining Hanna-Barbera and would establish Frederator Studios years later.
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. 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. Two more series based on shorts debuted in 1997: Johnny Bravo and Cow and Chicken. I Am Weasel, which aired as segments on Cow and Chicken, was spun off into its own series in 1999. These were followed by The Powerpuff Girls in late 1998 and Ed, Edd n Eddy in early 1999. Mike, Lu & Og and Courage the Cowardly Dog premiered in November 1999, creating a lineup of critically acclaimed shows. 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. 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.
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 on June 14, 2004. In November 2004, the block Cartoon Cartoons: The Top 5 was renamed to simply The Top 5. Cartoon Network 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.
In Asia and Latin America, the moniker continued to be used until 2007 with series like Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi, Camp Lazlo, and My Gym Partner's a Monkey.
On April 15, 2021, Cartoon Network announced a new iteration of the Cartoon Cartoons shorts program. On November 24, 2021, the first new Cartoon Cartoons shorts were announced. 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).
On June 7, 2022, more Cartoon Cartoons were announced. The next seven shorts include The All-Nimal by Nick Edwards (of Apple & 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!).
On March 21, 2024, GiAnna Ligammari (of Niko and the Sword of Light and Inside Job) announced a Cartoon Cartoons short ISCREAM created by her. Four days after, the short was announced as being completed. The shorts were showcased in a screening on April 25, 2024. The short The All-Nimal was shown at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival on June 11, 2024.
In June 1999, Cartoon Network began promoting its Cartoon Cartoons lineup with an advertising campaign to draw in viewership for its new Friday-night block Cartoon Cartoon Fridays, which was targeted toward viewers aged 6 to 11. Marketing included brand partnerships with General Mills, Hasbro, and Pepperidge Farm as well as an on-air sweepstakes and an 11-market live touring event. Advertisements appeared on television, radio, online, in movie theaters, at Six Flags theme parks, and billboards among other media with the tagline "You with us?".
In mid-2000, Cartoon Network promoted its original programming by launching the Cartoon Cartoon Friday Tour 2000, a live event that ran for 10 weeks across 13 cities. Active during weekdays in the lead-up to its Friday-night block, the tour cost a reported $25 million and reached a collective audience 16.2 million. It was sponsored by Coca-Cola's Hi-C and was created in partnership with Adelphia, AT&T, Cablevision, Charter Broadcasting, Comcast, Cox Cable, MediaOne, and Time Warner Cable. Launched as part of a three-part Cartoon Network marketing campaign occurring at different parts of the year, Cartoon Cartoon Friday Tour 2000 ended on September 1, 2000.
In March 2000, Cartoon Network ran an advertisement on other networks, including rival channel Nickelodeon, featuring different Cartoon Cartoons characters persuading viewers to switch channels and watch Cartoon Cartoon Fridays. The advertisement is set against an orange backdrop, Nickelodeon's signature color. Time Warner City Cable withdrew the commercial from local broadcast stations in New York due to its perceived inappropriateness for children.
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. It initially aired from 7:30 PM to 11:00 PM (Eastern Time) on Friday nights. The block was expanded from three and a half hours to four hours with the November 1999 premieres of Mike, Lu & Og and Courage the Cowardly Dog.
On June 9, 2000, Cartoon Cartoon Fridays launched with a new lineup and quickly garnered increased ratings for the channel. The block's format featured a different character from a Cartoon Cartoon series hosting each week, 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.
The block Cartoon Planet was revived on Cartoon Network from 2012 to 2014, airing in a format similar to The Cartoon Cartoon Show. It featured Cartoon Cartoons such as Dexter's Laboratory, Johnny Bravo, Cow and Chicken, I Am Weasel, The Powerpuff Girls, Courage the Cowardly Dog, Ed, Edd n Eddy, Codename: Kids Next Door, The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, and other original Cartoon Network Studios series such as Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, Camp Lazlo, and Chowder.
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.
Cartoon Cartoons was also reintroduced as a YouTube channel featuring content from older Cartoon Network shows since August 2024, it took place of the former YouTube channel for the now defunct Boomerang streaming service, that was shut down on September 30.