Damn, that was quick! That's right, a flop Batman cartoon. I know, WTF, right? He's the goddam Batman (wink, wink to those who get it), and Batman cartoons are immune to floppage! That's why there are so damn many of them!


But yeah, CN has pulled Beware the Batman off the air (after airing it for only 11 episodes) and promises that it will return in the new year. To pour more salt on the wound, the very first issue of the comic book tie-in for the show was just released last week, and the episode that would have aired on Saturday was written by comics legend and co-creator of Swamp Thing and Wolverine, Len Wein

Hmm . . . where have I heard that before? Basically, when CN announces its 2014 fall line-up, don’t expect to see Beware the Batman on the roster. The remaining 15 of the 26 episodes that CN ordered will air quietly with little to no promo, and that will be that.


For those of you not in the know, Beware the Batman was this gritty, dark, CGI incarnation of Batman that took its cues from "The Dark Knight" comic book series. Bruce is still a relative newbie in the crime fighting game and the show emphasized his skills as a detective more so than this godlike figure that could run with the Justice League. His sidekick was a grown, bad ass Asian woman (Katanna) and Alfred seemed like he was based on Jason Statham from the Transporter (guns and all). From what I've seen, it’s not an awesome show, but it’s not terrible either, and it’s actually kind of ambitious because there’s no Robin and it doesn’t feature any mainstream, Batman villains (Joker, Penguin, Riddler, etc.)

So, who’s to blame? Well, I have some theories, should you want to read them . . .

Deja Vu

Well let’s start with DC/WB for making yet another Batman cartoon. Did we really need another Batman cartoon so soon after Batman: The Brave and the Bold, which ran for three years, had 65 episodes, and hasn’t even been off the air for two full years? There are a lot of reasons why Batman: TBATB worked, one of which had to do with the fact that it had been at least 5 years, since a Batman Show was in production. Yes, there was Justice League and Justice League Unlimited, but Batman wasn’t the title character of those shows. Those shows had ensemble casts.

Humor trumps Violence

WTF is wrong with little kids these days? When I was coming up, we lived for violent cartoons! There’s been some kind of shift. For whatever reason, these kids are here for comedy more than they are for action, and it’s not because the comedic cartoons are better written or are of better quality. Ok, I’ve seen enough episodes of Adventure Time and Regular Show to know that’s not the case. This emphasis on comedy is why the Teen Titans reboot (Teen Titans Go!) is a spoofy, watered down, chibi-fied mess, rather than a genuine action reboot of the original. But damn if that show don’t get ratings.

Is it the parents? Is that they don’t want their little ones watching the violent ish. Is that it? Is that why these action shows are getting owned by comedies?

Floptoon Network Strikes Again

Teen Titans Go! isn’t a ratings leader simply because it’s a comedy with an established brand. It airs on Tuesday night at primetime. For all intents and purposes, with a few exceptions, Saturday morning is largely dead. Weeknights at primetime (7-10) are the battlegrounds for cartoon ratings supremacy, and those slots are when Cartoon Network airs new episodes of its biggest shows. Teen Titans Go! kicks ass because of its weeknight time slot. Those weeknight shows get all the advertising spots and CN’s history of hiatuses and time slot changes for DC Nation shows do it no favors in terms of building followings. Beware the Batman aired on Saturday morning, didn't get a third of TTG’s promo and aired after a rerun of TTG in the so called DC Nation block of cartoons. So what exactly is the point of green lighting shows that are not going to be nurtured or promoted? How shocking can it actually be that shows with primetime time slots, lots of advertising, and no abrupt cancellations/hiatuses, do better than shows that have crappy time slots, next to no promo, and constant, unexplained, random ass hiatuses that happen right before a new episode is scheduled to air? It can’t be surprising when those shows up and fail.

Why can’t DC find another network to air their shows, since CN treats their properties so ishtily? TTG! is the only one that hasn't gotten the Floptoon shade treatment, and that’s probably because TTG fits in with the other comedy shows. Bascially there is no DC Nation block anymore. It's the TTG! rerun hour, since TTG! is the only DC cartoon left on CN. Why does Time Warner allow Cartoon Network to sabotage DC Nation properties when Time Warner owns both CN and DCN? How is that not ass backwards?

Pressed People Like Me :

When CN cancelled Young Justice, I basically applied a scorched earth attitude to the channel and haven’t watched the network since the YJ series finale aired back in March. I’ve only actually seen two episodes of Beware, and I watched those online. Out of the blue, I googled Beware the Batman, on a whim, on Saturday afternoon and found out about the show being pulled, and when I visited some of the blog sites to get the tea about the possible Beware cancellation, what do you think most of comments were about? Like, every other comment on IGN was about Young Justice, i09 was talking about it too. So what does that tell me? That a lot of us that probably would have been here for Beware the Batman weren’t, because we’re still stuck on YJ and how CN did the show and the fans dirty. A show like TTG is not going to suffer because it will automatically appeal to children, regardless of whether or not the show is any good, but a show like BtB, that’s darker, edgier, slow going . . . is more of a show for the grown and sexy. I think BtB may have been the only pure, action cartoon left on CN that wasn't a screwball comedy or rife with wackiness.

Based on recent history, BtB will likely return in 2014 to air those remaining episodes that CN ordered. This truly marks a new low for CN. Just when you thought it couldn’t get any worse over there, they allowed a fuqing Batman cartoon to flop.

Anyway. . . I'm gonna pay respects to another fallen soldier and say goodbye, even if it is premature. Katanna, Bruce, Alfred, Magpie . . . I'm a pour some out for you.

Karma! The station will forever flop sence canceling young justice. How could they cancel their best show? Smh

Cartoon Network treats their serious cartoons like pure crap. They deserve to flop at this point after they cancelled so many of them. Watch this be the downfall of Cartoon Network. The more they rely on comedies the harder it is to go forward when cartoon comedies eventually get old and they'll have to clean house once again. They got lucky with Regular Show and Adventure Time since they're actually animated and written well. Hope Nickelodeon snatches their wig.

Yeah, Nickelodeon might take forever and a day to air new episodes of a popular animated series, but they stick to their word and the show airs when they say it will air. YJ and Beware were yanked off CN, right before a new episode was scheduled to air. I remember with YJ/ GL: TAS, CN actually did throw some promo their way and was hyping the fall season after the summer hiatus. Two episodes into the fall season, and the show gets pulled. Ratings weren't YJ's problem. Toy sales were, but it's not like CN actually advertised the merch, and there were other things that they could've been selling besides toys, like t-shirts, lunchboxes, and ish. They issued one official shirt at Hot Topic and it sold out real quick, and the shirt wasn't even a kid's shirt.

Beware just doesn't have the ratings, and there is no merch, but then CN didn't exactly give it a fighting chance. That show would have had better ratings, if new episodes of Teen Titans Go were airing on Saturday, instead of on Tuesday night. There are other, more interesting things for kids to watch on Nick and Disney XD than reruns of TTG! They could be watching the Marvel block on D-XD. They still air new episodes on Saturday morning.

That's what you get for cancelling YJ and GL - CN definately deserves to flop
I hope TTG will flop too soon, coz it's an ABOMINATION, totally ruining the titans as DC characters