Powerhouse

The Powerhouse era was the third era of Cartoon Network. It began on March 2, 1998, transitioning out of the Checkerboard and Starburst eras, and ended during the early morning hours of June 14, 2004. It was succeeded by the CN City era. The last program to air under the Powerhouse era on June 14, 2004 was Captain Planet. "Screwy, Ain't It" was the slogan for the era until 2001, along with the secondary slogan "You With Us" (to promote Cartoon Cartoon Fridays) in the following year, and until 2003. 
The Powerhouse era was used by Cartoon Network Europe from 1999 to 2002, Latin America also used this look from April 30, 1998 to December 31, 2004, in Asia and Australia, this era lasted from 1998 and August 22, 1999 until September 30, 2005, and in Japan, this era aired from 1999 to December 31, 2005.
==Bumpers==
The era was named after the Raymond Scott composition "Powerhouse", which was the musical theme for most bumpers and graphical elements of this period. However, on January 15, 2003, the Powerhouse music was removed from the bumpers and replaced with a series of generic fanfares and library themes (except for the Robot Jones and Kids Next Door bumpers, the turkey "Coming Up Next" bumper and on the later weekends, when the Powerhouse music was used for Coming Up Next bumpers), due to the fact Turner Broadcasting lost the rights to Raymond Scott's iconic theme. Also, the "You're Watching" bumper and the yellow, green, and dark blue/black backgrounds for the bumpers were also removed in 2003 (with the strange exceptions of the "Coming Up Next" bumpers until May 2003), leaving only the blue and purple backgrounds still in use until 2004.
right|300px|Powerhouse Era Bumpers
The colors used for the Powerhouse branding referred to different time periods. Yellow was used for weekday mornings, green was used for weekday afternoons, blue was used for weekday evenings as well as all day long on the weekends, while dark blue/black was used for midnights and late night periods. Purple was used for action cartoons, orange was used for Halloween, brown was used for Thanksgiving, and white/light blue was used for Christmas. Red was originally the color used for midnights and late night periods until around August, September and October 1998, when the color was replaced with black/dark blue due to older TV sets not withstanding the color red way too much.
When the Powerhouse era was slightly updated in 2003, not only was the original music removed from the "We'll Be Right Back" and "Back to the Show" bumpers, but the yellow, green, and dark blue/black backgrounds of those bumpers and the "You're Watching" bumper were also removed, leaving the blue and purple backgrounds seen during those bumpers seen from 2003 to 2004. However the yellow and green backgrounds were not removed entirely from the network, as the "Coming Up Next" bumpers often contained the green and yellow backgrounds until May 2003. These continued to be mixed with the blue and purple "We'll Be Right Back" and "Back to the Show" bumpers until June 2004.
In the "We'll Be Right Back" and "Back to the Show" bumpers for many shows in evening time, primetime in weekdays and weekends, the era's announcers Clark, Hartman, Shearer and Sanders (with the exception of David and Means) were replaced as announcers by CN characters. The characters who had voiceovers were: Yakko, Dot, Bugs, Daffy, Yosemite Sam, Beetlejuice (note: he also voiced one of the Wrecking Ball bumpers), Buster Bunny, Scooby, Shaggy, various monsters from A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, Dexter, Dexter’s computer helper, Dee Dee, Mandark, Johnny Bravo, Cow, Chicken, I.M. Weasel, I.R. Baboon, the Red Guy, the narrator of the Powerpuff Girls (he also voiced 3 coming up next bumpers), Ed, Edd, Eddy, Mike, Lu, Courage, Eustace, Muriel, and the news announcer from Sheep in the Big City. The bumpers with the characters as the announcers were used until 2003 when the Powerhouse bumpers were overhauled and Doug Preis took over as announcer around 2002.
The Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries, Codename: Kids Next Door, and Whatever Happened to... Robot Jones? were the last three shows to receive new Powerhouse bumpers in 2002. When Grim & Evil split and separated into The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy and Evil Con Carne on June 8, 2003, the two series did not have their very own Powerhouse bumpers. They, Star Wars: Clone Wars, and Megas XLR, were the only original Cartoon Network series to not have their very own Powerhouse bumpers that aired during the commercials. Instead, most shows would have their own show-styled bumpers not similar to the Powerhouse-styled ones such as Duck Dodgers and Teen Titans.
After Adult Swim signed off at 5:00am on June 14, 2004, Time Squad and Captain Planet were the final two shows to air under the Powerhouse era. At 6:00am, the City era debuted and The Powerpuff Girls was the first show to air under the City era. Also, when the Midnight Run aired or after Adult Swim signed off during that time, the dark blue/black "Coming Up Next" bumpers were also used.
==Programming==
With the transition from both the Checkerboard and Starburst eras to the Powerhouse era, the network slowly began to feature their original series more prominently. This eventually led to the classic animation programming block, Boomerang, being split off into its own network in April 2000, taking most of the classic Hanna-Barbera series with it. A total of 14 original series were produced during this era.
During this era several notable programming blocks were introduced including: Cartoon Network's Cartoon Theatre, a movie block that aired on CN from July 1998 to 2007; Cartoon Cartoon Fridays, a weekly programming block through which the network premiered new episodes of its original series; and Adult Swim, a late-night block aimed at a more mature audience that would become it's own channel and take over the entire night schedule in 2005 (despite still sharing channel space with Cartoon Network).
When the Friday-themed program blocks were not airing at any time of the week, The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy and Evil Con Carne episodes that first aired on Grim & Evil were the only episodes seen during the Powerhouse era's normal weekly and weekend programming.
===CN Original Series===
*Space Ghost Coast to Coast​ (entered hiatus on December 17, 1999, restarted on May 7, 2001 and ended July 22, 2001, moved to Adult Swim on September 2, 2001)
*Dexter's Laboratory​ (originally ended on December 10, 1999, restarted on November 16, 2001 and ended November 20, 2003)
*Johnny Bravo
*Cow and Chicken​ (ended August 13, 1999)
*I Am Weasel (ended March 2, 2000)
*The Powerpuff Girls (premiered November 18, 1998)
*Ed, Edd n Eddy (premiered January 4, 1999)
*Mike, Lu & Og (premiered November 12, 1999 and ended May 27, 2001)
*Courage the Cowardly Dog (premiered November 12, 1999 and ended November 22, 2002)
*Sheep in the Big City (premiered November 17, 2000 and ended April 7, 2002)
*Time Squad (premiered June 8, 2001 and ended November 26, 2003)
*Samurai Jack (premiered August 10, 2001)
*Grim & Evil (premiered August 24, 2001 and ended October 18, 2002)
*Whatever Happened to... Robot Jones? (premiered July 19, 2002 and ended November 14, 2003)
*Codename: Kids Next Door (premiered December 6, 2002)
*The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy (premiered June 13, 2003)
*Evil Con Carne (premiered July 11, 2003)
*Star Wars: Clone Wars (premiered November 7, 2003)
*Megas XLR (premiered May 1, 2004)
===Acquired series (not counting Toonami programming)===
*2 Stupid Dogs
*The 13 Ghosts of Scooby-Doo
*The Addams Family (1973)
*The Addams Family (1992)
*The Adventures of Don Coyote and Sancho Panda
*The Adventures of Gulliver
*Alvin and the Chipmunks
*The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan
*Animaniacs
*Arabian Knights
*The Atom Ant/Secret Squirrel Show
*Augie Doggie and Doggie Daddy
*Baby Looney Tunes
*The Banana Splits Adventure Hour
*Barney Bear
*Batman: The Animated Series
*Beetlejuice
*Betty Boop
*Big Bag
*Birdman and the Galaxy Trio
*The Bob Clampett Show
*Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kids
*Captain Caveman and the Teen Angels
*Captain Planet and the Planeteers
*Capitol Critters
*Casper and the Angels
*Cattanooga Cats
*Cave Kids: Pebbles & Bamm Bamm
*CB Bears
*The Centurions
*The Chuck Jones Show
*Chuck Norris: Karate Kommandos
*Clue Club
*Code Lyoko
*The Completely Mental Misadventures of Ed Grimley
*Cyborg 009 (aired on 200?)
*Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines
*Dennis the Menace
*Devlin
*Dingbat
*Dragon Ball Z (aired on April 2003)
*Droopy
*Duck Dodgers
*Dudley Do-Right
*Duel Masters (aired on 2004)
*Dynomutt, Dog Wonder
*Fangface
*Fantastic Four
*Fantastic Max
*Fish Police
*The Flintstones
*The Flintstone Kids
*The Flintstone Comedy Show
*Freakazoid!
*The Funky Phantom
*Galaxy Goof-Ups
*The Gary Coleman Show
*G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero (aired on June 2002, moved to Toonami in November 4, 2002)
*Goober and the Ghost Chasers
*Godzilla
*The Great Grape Ape Show
*Gumby (ended in 2001)
*Gundam Wing (aired on May 2000 and ended in January 1, 2002)
*Hamtaro (aired on October 2002)
*Harlem Globetrotters
*Heathcliff
*Help!... It's the Hair Bear Bunch!
*The Herculoids
*The Hillbilly Bears
*Hokey Wolf
*Hong Kong Phooey
*The Huckleberry Hound Show
*Frankenstein Jr. and The Impossibles
*Jabberjaw
*James Bond Jr.
*The Jetsons
*Jonny Quest (ended in May 4, 2003)
*Josie and the Pussycats
*Josie and the Pussycats in Outer Space
*Justice League (aired on November 17, 2001, moved to Toonami in 2003)
*Knights of the Zodiac (aired on June 2003 and ended in August 2003)
*The Kwicky Koala Show
*Lippy the Lion & Hardy Har Har
*Loopy De Loop
*Looney Tunes
*The Looney Tunes Show
*The Magilla Gorilla Show
*Marmaduke
*Max Steel (aired on 2001 and ended in 2002)
*Merrie Melodies
*Mobile Suit Gundam
*Moby Dick and Mighty Mightor
*¡Mucha Lucha!​	
*The Mumbly Cartoon Show
*The New Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
*The New Scooby-Doo Movies
*The New Scooby and Scrappy Doo Show / The New Scooby-Doo Mysteries
*The New Shmoo
*The New Yogi Bear Show
*O Canada
*Pac-Man
*Paw Paws
*The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show
*Pecola
*The Perils of Penelope Pitstop
*The Peter Potamus Show
*The Pink Panther Show
*The Pirates of Dark Water
*Pixie and Dixie and Mr. Jinks
*Popeye the Sailor
*The Popeye Show (premiered on November 19, 2001, ended in July 20, 2003)
*Pound Puppies
*A Pup Named Scooby-Doo
*The Quick Draw McGraw Show
*The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest (aired on 1999 and ended in 2003)​
*Richie Rich
*Ricochet Rabbit & Droop-a-Long
*Road Rovers
*The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show
*The Roman Holidays
*Ruff and Reddy
*Sailor Moon (aired on 2002)
*Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!
*The Scooby-Doo Show
*Scooby-Doo and Scrappy-Doo
*Scooby's Laff-A-Lympics
*Screwy Squirrel
*Sealab 2020
*Shazzan
*Shirt Tales
*SilverHawks
*Sitting Ducks
*Sky Commanders
*Small World
*The Smurfs
*Snagglepuss
*Snooper and Blabber
*The Snorks
*Space Ghost
*Space Kiddetes
*Speed Buggy
*Speed Racer
*Super Chicken
*Super Friends (aired in 1999 and ended in 2003)
*The Super Globetrotters
*SWAT Kats: The Radical Squadron
*The Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries (
*Taz-Mania
*Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
*Teen Titans (aired on 2003 and moved to Toonami in June 2004)
*The Tex Avery Show
*Thundarr the Barbarian
*Thundercats (aired from 2000 to 2003 on mornings and afternoons on non-Toonami slots)
*Tiny Toon Adventures
*Tom and Jerry
*Tom & Jerry Kids
*Top Cat
*ToonHeads
*Totally Spies!
*Touche Turtle and Dum Dum
*Transformers: Armada (aired on January 2003 and ended in March 14, 2003, restarted in September 1, 2003, ended in January 2, 2004)
*Transformers: Energon (aired on April 10, 2004)
*Underdog (ended in June 1999)
*Valley of the Dinosaurs
*Wacky Races
*Wait Till Your Father Gets Home
*Wally Gator
*Waynehead
*What's New, Scooby-Doo?
*Where's Huddles?
*X-Men: Evolution
*Yakky Doodle
*The Yogi Bear Show
*Yogi's Gang
*Yogi's Space Race
*Yogi's Treasure Hunt
*Young Robin Hood
*Young Samson
== Unused logo pitches ==
John W. Golden's (a former motion designer at Primal Screen, who developed the "Powerhouse" branding package) design reel features two variations of the Cartoon Network logo appear on gradient backgrounds, resembling the visual style of the Powerhouse brandinghttps://www.productionhub.com/video/58151/john-w-golden-design-motion-graphics-reel. It is possible that these logo variations were part of a proposal to rebrand the channel's logo in conjunction with the Powerhouse package. However, this potential rebranding was not implemented, and Cartoon Network continued to use its established checkerboard logo during this period.
File:Cn ph unused 1.PNG|The word “CARTOON” is written in bold, black-and-white block letters, each letter appearing to tilt slightly in different directions, creating a playful, wavy effect.
File:Cn ph unused 2.PNG|The word “CARTOON” is in the same bold, black-and-white block letters, but this time, the letters are arranged more symmetrically and straight. Below "CARTOON," there is a small, black rectangle with the word “NETWORK” in white, also in a bold font.
== See also==
*CN City
*Yes!
*Summer 2007
*Powerhouse bumpers
==References==
Category:Cartoon Network Eras
Category:Bumpers
Category:Eras