[Music] out of all the network kids blocks that spawned during the mid to late 90s there were few that defined a generation more than Kids WB and without good reason from its Inception in 1995 it housed a lot of shows one couldn't get from the other big networks and over the next several years it would morph into the biggest must-see Saturday morning block of the early to mid-2000s however in early 1999 the block really picked up momentum when they acquired the rights to a little-known show from
syndication that show was Pokemon and it changed everything both the show and the block went on to enjoy an incredible amount of success and popularity but then in 2006 after seven successful Seasons Pokemon was canceled From the Block so what exactly happened that led up to this decision I mean after all the success the anime brought to the block why would they just cancel it like that well we're going to find out I'm the media nutso and it's high time we take a look back at Pokemon's time on
Kids WB [Music] if you guys enjoy the video then be sure to leave a like and a comment down below and if you want to be alerted to new uploads be sure to hit that notification Bell also if you want to help support my work head to my patreon and make a pledge for just three dollars a month you'll have early access to my newest videos and other cool perks and now on with the video [Music] thank you the anime first made its Premiere in Japan on TV Tokyo on April 1st 1997 and was immediately a no pu
n intended monster hit so naturally plans were made to bring the series over to the United States the opted to get a then relatively small unknown company for kids Productions to dub and localize the series although Pokemon would go on to carve itself a home on Kids WB what few remember is that the anime first got started in first run syndication now for those unaware of how it worked basically instead of varying on one network the show was licensed out to and aired on various independent televi
sion stations across the U.S in this case it aired on various WB Fox and UPN stations and depending on where you lived it would come on at different times usually either early in the morning or during the afternoon Pokemon we did weekday mornings at 6 30 on Fox 43 but even with the varying time slots plus being backed by an aggressive marketing campaign when the Avenger officially set up on September 8 1998 it proved to be quite an engaging one as it quickly became a massive hit a rare feat for
any anime airing in America at the time it would one in syndication for the first 40 episodes but would then stop on October 30th with the episode March of the executor Squad the reason was because at the time Kids WB had won the bid to acquire the rights to the show and Was preparing to bring it over to their blog however before they could they had to wait for the station's licenses with the show to expire but for the time being they continued to rerun the show when Pokemon eventually made its
debut on Kids WB four months later on February 13 1999 to say it was a big hit would be a huge understatement free it's spreading Squirtle Squirtle we got two this is the 20th case of Pokemon fever this week it's Unstoppable it was gigantic in its first week on the Block it pulled in a 3.9 rating and 15 share by September of that year it was averaging 1.6 million viewers and at one point it attracted 3.1 million making it the largest audience in kids wb's history did so well it helped make kids
WB the top rated kids block and the must-watch one and along with Dragon Ball Z and Sailor Moon how to push anime into the mainstream of course their success would not go unnoticed Fox kids responded by acquiring other anime that were similar to Pokemon there was of course Digimon which did become a big success for that block and there was also monster Ranchers but the time detective and metabots which all yielded mixed results the anime would also get parodied on several notable shows which rea
lly should tell you just how big it made it anywho getting back on track the anime was so big it held the number one spot on Saturday morning for 54 straight weeks but this wouldn't last forever as I previously mentioned in my one Saturday morning video in May of 2000 Pokemon was unseated from the number one spot by Disney's The weekenders this was such a big deal that TV Guide dubbed the weekenders the show that killed Pokemon however this victory was short-lived and the anime shortly reclaimed
the top spot the anime's popularity also led to Warner Brothers releasing the first three Pokemon movies to theaters which weren't exactly critical Darlings but did well with fans though to diminishing returns [Music] now as much as Pokemon brought a lot of success to Kids WB it was also a double-edged sword what exactly do I mean you may ask well Pokemon success came at the expense of Warner Brothers other shows see for the kids WB Executives Pokemon set a specific precedent for them more low-
cost shows that they're turning gangbuster ratings all of a sudden many of their own shows were getting the short end of the stick like Batman Beyond was promised a third season early on but didn't end up materializing attic shark got the boot after season three despite bringing in consistently good ratings and the Xena project and the nightmare room were given the boot after two and one season respectively that being said though this isn't to say every show got treated like this nor did any goo
d come out of it it did bring us car captors Yu-Gi-Oh which became another massive hit for the block Astro Boy and Mega Man NT Warrior plus Warner Brothers animation did get more big hits of their own on the Block including Challenge Showdown mucha Lucha what's New Scooby-Doo and Teen Titans so yeah Pokemon's popularity brought a lot of good and bad to the block but the same can be said for any Big Show on any block or network and it's not hard to see why they did it anywho 2001 was a year of bi
g changes for the show at this point in time the original poke Mania phenomenon came to an end just to be clear the show and the franchise as a home wasn't suddenly dying it's just it was no longer the hot commodity people were talking about sales and profits were down across the board and there were other big shows and movies like Yu-Gi-Oh as I already mentioned Star Wars and SpongeBob that began to take much of their shares both in ratings and merchandise sales so suffice to say Pokemon was st
arting to be seen as a passing fad for many however not being the hot item anymore doesn't mean the show was suddenly not popular anymore in fact from 2001 to 2005 it continued to perform well ranking at the top of the Saturday morning range for a good while and maintaining a royal fan base from there on out also even if over time the ratings thinned out and weren't as big as they were back in 1999 and 2000 it would still consistently break in the top 10 broadcasts but every once in a blue moon
they would score some big victories good example 2005 saw the premiere broadcast of Destiny Deoxys which went on to the liver but Best ratings Kids WB had seen since 2003 showing that Pokemon still had plenty of power and strength of soldier on [Music] well we've now reached the point you've all been waiting for the moment we answer the big question why did Kids WB cancel Pokemon from the block well it wasn't just one factor but several to understand what exactly happened we have to talk about t
he events that led up to the decision namely the dots recasting and the blocks move to another Network by late 2005 despite the show continuing to do well in the ratings the popularity was no longer translating into big money granted profits have been under the crime for some time but still so in October of 2005 four kids decided to sell their three percent stake of the franchise to Nintendo creatures Inc and Game Freak for 960 thousand dollars which was no big loss on their end as they had alre
ady made 140 million dollars off of the franchise then two months later on December 31st four kids and Pokemon USA announced they were not going to renew their license agreement and that beginning in 2006 Pokemon USA would handle the licensing through their in-house group but four kids would continue to receive commissions on the payments made under their agreement obvious and shrinking increments over the next few years following afterwards Pokemon USA started looking for a different company th
at could produce the dub at a lower cost four kids put out their bid for the job probably only doing so out of obligation and was ultimately outbid by Todd Productions Taj had previously worked with four kids on producing the dub in the past beware four kids recorded the show before they switched over to their in-house studio for the remainder of their run so once advanced battle was almost finished it was learned that Pokemon USA was moving production of the English dub in-house going forward a
nd as part of an effort to lower production costs they would hire a completely new voice cast to do the characters who were selected based on who did the best imitation of each of the characters distinct voices although some cast members did jump over like James Cathcart Casey Rogers and Lisa Audits and they brought back Roger Parson as the narrator to give the cast a trial run Pokemon USA commissioned an hour-long special that also served to commemorate the franchise's 10th anniversary The Mast
ermind of Mirage Pokemon which only took them three weeks to dub the whole special needless to say when the news broke that the change was happening and when the special aired on April 29 2006 many fans absolutely hated it mainly for the cast performances although there were a few that gave the special a fair chance the fan backlash was so big many started a fan movement called save our voice actors in an attempt to reinstate the original cast which really didn't end up happening but just becaus
e they continue pouring with the change doesn't mean they didn't listen to the feedback in fact two big changes did come out of it the original actor to take over as Ash Casey Rogers who was also doing Max was switched to then newcomer Sarah Donald Cheney and they later went back and redubbed the whole special and released it on DVD as a part of the two-disc release of Lucario and the Mystery of Mew now before we continue we should address one question that's lingered ever since the recast happe
ned why didn't Pokemon USA just simply bring the original cast on board well the official reason given is in addition to lowering costs it was because they were contractually tied with four kids and thus weren't allowed on any Productions outside of the company while there is some truth to it that wasn't exactly the case According to some of the voice actors their contracts didn't have any sort of non-compete exclusivity causes or any other unimpeachable terms therefore they could have just easi
ly brought them on board no problem so why didn't they well there is another reason now full disclosure what I'm about to say next is purely an educated guess based around all of the information that I presented so if I turn out to be wrong I sincerely apologize in advance anyways Pokemon USA made this decision not just to save our money but also on time what do I mean specifically you see when they assumed production they had one long-term plan for the dove going forward not have it lag too far
behind the original Japanese earrings so they wanted to get going on the next season as soon as possible Ergo if they had decided to bring the original cast on board they would have had to negotiate new deals with them which they just wouldn't have had the proper amount of time to do that and have production going full swing at once thus for them it was simpler and easier to just switch to a different cast there were no personal vendettas or grudges against the original voice actors it was just
to both raise the dumps profitability and ensure its longevity in the United States all right back on to the main story on kids wb's end they were about to go through their own round of changes around the same time in January the weekday block had been canceled in favor of more adult programming and not long after it was announced that both the WB and UPN networks amid struggling ratings and profitability would be merged into one network the CW and that kids WB was elected to continue on as its
official Saturday morning block this coupled with steadily declining ratings and A Renewed focus on bringing in more shows from Warner Brothers animation were more than enough for the executives to end the show's run with the final new episode fittingly enough pasta La Vista airing on July 8 2006 though it continued to play in reruns until it officially left the block on September 16th fortunately though the show already found a new home on Cartoon Network as they have been airing it in reruns
for a few years and would start airing the new season Battle Frontier two months later on September 8th where we're going to Premiere the newer seasons for the next decade before the rights were picked up by Disney XD and then later Netflix where it continues playing new episodes to this day as for Kids WB the block soldiered on for two more seasons giving it the unique distinction of outliving the network it was originally made for but it wasn't the same after Pokemon left and would officially
come to an end on May 17 2008 however their impact left a lasting impression with those that first laid eyes on it that fateful day in 1999. thank you to close things out Pokemon's time on Kids WB was a very special and significant one sure its success came at the expense of some of their other shows but overall it brought a lot of massive popularity to both the show and the blog helped give anime some significant mainstream attention and made Kids WB into a fun and popular Saturday morning hots
pot for several years even long after its final broadcast many people today still remember all the fun times they have watching the anime during its days on the Block I hope you guys had a great time watching and that it gave you a great insight into the anime's importance in kids wb's history thank you [Music] [Applause] [Music] yourself thank you
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