An article on Kid Screen states than in July Cartoon
Network's Toonami block will grow an hour, and will run from 4:00 to
7:00. "We find that it resonates with our audience. They request it
all the time," says Dea Perez, VP of programming. "A couple of the producers
here came up with the idea to do a block that would appeal to video
game players-the nine- to 14-year-olds. We do get a broader range than
that but we try to concentrate on [the tweens]." Of CN's recent acquisitions,
Perez cites Gundam Wing, an anime show from Bandai airing during Toonami,
as an example of the kind of program that Cartoon is on the look out
for, though she also contends that Toei's Dragon Ball Z-yet another
Toonami show-is one of the net's best acquired programs. CN also picked
up the rights to Tenchi Muyo!, which will debut in the 4:30 p.m. slot
on the block. All details for the extended July block have not yet been
finalized, but Toonami will include new episodes of Sailor Moon. Cartoon
will also be introducing a new co-production on the block this fall,
only its second since it did Big Bag with Children's Television Workshop
in 1996. This time, Cartoon has paired with Hasbro for 26 half-hour
episodes of Centipede, an action-adventure show based on the video game.
While Perez won't reveal Cartoon's budget for acquisitions, she does
say that it's generally divided into thirds. "One-third is Cartoon Theater,
our movie block; one-third is Toonami; and the other third is made up
of the Warner Bros. series and features that we end up acquiring." The
article can be read
here.
