Powerhouse

The Powerhouse era (also known as Reface 1997) of Cartoon Network refers to its third branding period, beginning in March 2, 1998 and lasting until June 13, 2004, replacing the Checkerboard and Starburst eras respectively. 
==Description from studio==
==History==
By the end of 1997, Cartoon Network would establish itself as a major player in the animation industry, not only as a cable network hosting repeats of older cartoons that were in Turner's library, but also become a powerhouse in original programming, with several pilots from the What a Cartoon! project already being greenlit into full series, including Dexter's Laboratory, Johnny Bravo and Cow and Chicken.
The Powerhouse era would begin on March 2, 1998, coinciding with the network premiere of Batman: The Animated Series and the launch of the network's feed for the Pacific time zone, allowing for programming to be advertised at the same times for the east and west coasts.
On July 27, 1998, the network has launched its online website separate from AOL, hosting games, animation documents and other content related to the network's programming. As the site continued to evolve over the years, the network would start to tie its on-air and off-network experiences together, mainly through sweepstakes and related contests, but also through efforts like JBVO, the first all-request cartoon show hosted by Johnny Bravo and codes for Cartoon Orbit that would air through the Cartoon Cartoon Fridays block.
The Boomerang programming block would be launched as a digital cable channel launching on April 1, 2000, carrying much of the network's legacy programming with it. 2000 would also see the network becoming the exclusive home to the Looney Tunes shorts following the expiration of Nickelodeon and ABC's contracts to air the series in 1999 and 2000 respectively. Around the same time, Kids' WB would remove The Big Cartoonie Show from its schedule.
On January 11, 2001, Time Warner merged with online service provider America Online (AOL) for $183 billion. Amongst the executive changes created by the merger, The WB's Jamie Kellner would replace Ted Turner as the head of Turner Broadcasting System. On June 18, 2001, Betty Cohen would step down from the network due to creative differences imposed by Kellner. Notably, this followed after a controversial decision to pull eleven Bugs Bunny cartoons featuring excessive stereotyping from that year's June Bugs marathon. Jim Samples from Turner's Latin America department was named her replacement on August 22, 2001. 
With the advent of Turner Broadcasting System operating The WB, the network formed a stronger synergy with the Kids' WB block. Over several weeks in fall 2001, Cartoon Network would air a block highlighting shows from Kids' WB's schedule, with shows such as Pokémon, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Jackie Chan Adventures and X-Men: Evolution eventually getting full network runs in 2002 and 2003 respectively. On Kids' WB's end, their weekday afternoon block was rebranded into a version of Toonami, primarily airing action series that were already airing on the Kids' WB block with occasional airings of Dragon Ball Z and Sailor Moon from the Cartoon Network block. Kids' WB would also air limited runs of Cartoon Network programming such as Samurai Jack and The Powerpuff Girls for promotional reasons.
Expanding upon the success of programming like Space Ghost Coast to Coast, Williams Street would launch the Adult Swim programming block on September 2, 2001, aimed at Cartoon Network's older audience. Adult Swim soon became instrumental for helping to revive series that were once cancelled by their original networks, including Home Movies, Futurama and Family Guy while also creating new original programming such as Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law and Sealab 2021.
===Programming===
During the Powerhouse era, Cartoon Network's programming featured a mix of classic programming that was established by the network during the Checkerboard era, new acquired programming primarily from the Warner Bros. Animation library amongst other distributors, and original programming under the Cartoon Cartoons banner. With the launch of Boomerang as a network, much of the ancillary programming, notably from the Hanna-Barbera library, would move to the new network, freeing up slots for Cartoon Network to air more contemporary programming. By the era's end in 2004, the only classic programming left outside of what was on the Boomerang block were reruns of Tom and Jerry, Captain Planet and the Planeteers and various incarnations of Scooby-Doo.
Many of the series compiling classic shorts continued to air during the Powerhouse era including The Bugs & Daffy Show, Acme Hour, Late Night Black & White, ToonHeads, O Canada and The Tex Avery Show. As the era went on, new anthology series would complement them such as The Bob Clampett Show, The Chuck Jones Show and The Popeye Show.
The introduction of the Powerhouse era also saw more recent programming from the Warner Bros. Animation library airing on the network, including premieres of Batman: The Animated Series, Animaniacs, Superman: The Animated Series and Tiny Toon Adventures on the network, with most of these also simultaneously airing on the Kids' WB block. Near the end of the era, several shows from Warner Bros. Animation would have new episodes air on the network first such as Justice League and Teen Titans.
Following the successes of Dexter's Laboratory, Johnny Bravo and Cow and Chicken, Cartoon Network continued to premiere original programming under the Cartoon Cartoons umbrella, with notable new series debuting during the era such as The Powerpuff Girls, Ed, Edd n Eddy, Courage the Cowardly Dog, Grim & Evil, and Codename: Kids Next Door. With the Cartoon Cartoons brand rapidly growing, the network started to take advantage of this by creating a marquee Friday night block known as Cartoon Cartoon Fridays, which became the home for premieres of Cartoon Network's original series. New pilots would continue to air into the Powerhouse era, initially airing under the What a Cartoon! name despite not being part of the project, before being renamed into The Cartoon Cartoon Show in summer 2000, although unlike What a Cartoon! where the series were decided by the network, viewers got to vote for which one to become a series in an event known as The Big Pick.
Toonami continued to find its identity during the Powerhouse era, and it was this time that it was credited to help popularize the anime boom in America, with stalwarts like Sailor Moon, Dragon Ball Z and the Mobile Suit Gundam franchise premiering on the block, moving over from broadcast syndication. On July 12, 1999, Toonami would have its first significant rebrand, replacing Space Ghost's Moltar with T.O.M. as the host of the block. Two more iterations of T.O.M. would take place during this era. Toonami would also expand from its weekday afternoon domain to other dayparts, including the Midnight Run, Rising Sun, and Super Saturdays.
In 1999, Cartoon Network introduced interstitials under the Groovies and Shorties labels. These segments featured characters from both original programming and the classic Turner animation library, reimagined by guest artists and animators in styles distinct from the original shows. These were later used to promote original compilation albums inspired by Cartoon Cartoon shows.
==On-air identity==
As the name would suggest, most bumpers would utilize versions of Raymond Scott's "Powerhouse" as the music. The checkerboard motif established by the previous era still continued to be used for transitions in bumpers. Most show-specific bumpers would see the network's characters in various situations (e.g. George Jetson getting penalized for reckless driving in a first-person POV or Dexter in his battle mech fighting against a giant squid) with the Powerhouse leitmotif usually being remixed in the show's style. Generic bumpers would invoke the Cartoon Network logo being interacted with in some form, eventually transitioning into "We'll Be Right Back" or "Back to the Show" messages. Elements of the era's bumpers would be colored depending on the time of day, with yellow being used for mornings, green for afternoons, blue for primetime and weekends, black for late night programming, and purple for action programming. The "Up Next" bumpers would feature the word "Next" in various situations (e.g. being launched by a slingshot or getting hit by a wrecking ball) before revealing the program that is next. Sponsor tags would involve elements of the logo interacting with each other.
The Cartoon Cartoon bumpers would also be updated for the new branding, consisting of a pulsating blue background with yellow and red ribbons forming up the "Cartoon" part of the logo while the "Cartoons" part would be dropped in time to the theme with a character associated with what Cartoon Cartoon was on popping out of the logo and saying the name of the brand. The closing bumper was also modified to simply be the Cartoon Network logo zooming out on the already established blue background. Cartoon Cartoon Fridays would remix these bumpers into its own identity with a faster pace.
Station identifications for the network at the time started to become show specific, usually these are original skits set in each show's universe involving the network's logo in some form. These IDs were usually created by the animation studios behind the shows themselves. Later on, a series of IDs aired that superimposed the Cartoon Network logo on scenes from various shows that were airing on the network at the time.
Most early promos during the era continued with the format introduced during the Starburst era, although with updated backgrounds and text to match the current era, but by the end of the decade, the network had created more unique promos with their own identities separate from the main Powerhouse look.
==Transition==
Under Jim Samples, Cartoon Network began to target the 6-11 demographic, while programming for older audiences became relegated to the Adult Swim block. This audience shift also made the network more competitive with the likes of Nickelodeon and the Disney Channel. 2002 saw the first stages of this shift with the premieres of Hamtaro and Baby Looney Tunes, eventually by early 2003, they would be slotted in an unnamed weekday morning block with Pecola and Sitting Ducks to compete with established preschool blocks on other kids channels. Other notable acquisitions at the time included Totally Spies! and Teen Titans. 
On January 15, 2003, the Powerhouse era had a significant revamp, replacing the iconic Powerhouse music with cues from their respective series. The use of colors to indicate dayparts was also removed, partially thanks to the expansion of Adult Swim to weeknights, with all hours primarily using the colors for primetime and weekends. Show-specific bumpers were also cut down to one "We'll Be Right Back" and "Back to the Show" bumper each. Since then, most new shows, original or acquisition, would either use their own bumpers independent from the era's presentation or stick to the era's generic bumpers. From April 1st of last year, they also removed the "You're Watching" bumpers at the same time.
In May 2003, most of the remaining legacy programming would be replaced by newer acquisitions, and in the late night slots, reruns of Cartoon Cartoons, with Saturday late nights being dedicated to repeats and new episodes of classic anthology series. The late night schedule would see a further blow in October 2003 when Adult Swim started airing a second run of the block repeating episodes that aired earlier in the night. Around this time, the network would also start to phase out the Looney Tunes shorts, removing them from weekdays entirely by the end of 2003 and relegated themselves to Saturday mornings by the end of the Powerhouse era. Part of this would be attributed to the box office failure of Looney Tunes: Back in Action.
During this time, the Cartoon Cartoons brand would also be phased out for the network's original series, with the Cartoon Cartoon Fridays block being replaced by a revamped Fridays block hosted by Tommy Snider and Nzinga Blake. By the time of its replacement, Cartoon Cartoon Fridays was already airing non-Cartoon Cartoon programming in regular slots, notably new episodes of What's New, Scooby-Doo? shortly after they premiered on the Kids' WB block. The final two Cartoon Cartoons to be introduced under the brand name were The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy and Evil Con Carne, both spun off from Grim & Evil. The Cartoon Cartoon Show would also disappear from the schedule after the demise of Cartoon Cartoon Fridays, only airing for special occasions until its final airing in October 2003. The Cartoon Cartoon bumpers introducing and closing each show would still be used until the end of the Powerhouse era itself on June 13, 2004, while The Top 5 would still have the Cartoon Cartoons branding until October 2004.
April 2004 saw another seismic shift in programming, this time moving the long-running Toonami block to Saturday nights while its former home would be replaced by Miguzi, which was aimed at a younger audience and more specifically focused on action cartoons compared to the anime that Toonami was airing. The move of Toonami also coincided with the return of Adult Swim's action block, expanding Adult Swim to six days a week and replacing what was left of the network's legacy programming outside of the Boomerang block.
The Powerhouse era bumpers, station IDs and the Checkerboard logo would all air for the final time on June 13, 2004, eventually being replaced by the CN City era the following day. The old Checkerboard logo is still currently used for merchandise of Cartoon Network shows.
Category:Eras