If you grew up during the late 90s, you remember the checkerboard. You remember the bumpers. But most of all, you remember that weird, repetitive branding: Cartoon Cartoon Network. It wasn't just a stutter in the marketing department. It was a golden age. Honestly, it was a gamble that changed how television works for kids and adults alike.
Back then, the channel was mostly a museum for Hanna-Barbera reruns. It was "old" media. Then came the World Premiere Toons project—later rebranded as the What a Cartoon! show—and suddenly, the network was a laboratory. It was messy. It was loud. It was often incredibly bizarre.
The Weird Logic of Cartoon Cartoon Network Originals
What most people get wrong about that era is thinking it was a planned masterstroke. It wasn't. Fred Seibert, the guy who basically reinvented MTV and Nickelodeon, brought a "throw everything at the wall" philosophy to Cartoon Network. The "Cartoon Cartoon" label was essentially a seal of quality for their first wave of original series.
Think about Dexter’s Laboratory. Genndy Tartakovsky was a student when he came up with the boy genius. The pilot was just one of many shorts. But it clicked. It had this thick-lined, UPA-inspired art style that looked nothing like the soft, airbrushed look of Disney or the frantic grit of Ren & Stimpy.
It felt new.
Then came The Powerpuff Girls. Craig McCracken originally called them "The Whoopass Girls" in a college film, but the network (understandably) swapped the name. What remained was the DNA of the "Cartoon Cartoon" era: high-concept, creator-driven animation that didn't talk down to the audience. These shows didn't just fill time slots. They built a brand. By the time Johnny Bravo and Cow and Chicken joined the lineup, the phrase "Cartoon Cartoon Network" was synonymous with a specific kind of creator-led rebellion against the boring stuff on other channels.
Why the Pilot System Was a Genius Move
We don't see this much anymore. Most networks now rely on focus groups or established IP. But the "Cartoon Cartoon Fridays" era was built on the back of the Big Pick.
💡 You might also like: Kiss My Eyes and Lay Me to Sleep: The Dark Folklore of a Viral Lullaby
This was essentially a democratic experiment in animation. The network would air a bunch of pilots—weird one-offs like The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy or Whatever Happened to... Robot Jones?—and let the viewers vote. You'd call a 1-800 number or go to a very primitive 56k-modem-friendly website to pick your favorite.
Billy & Mandy actually won its spot this way, beating out Sneezeman and Kiwi and Strit.
It’s kinda wild to think about now. A multi-million dollar production slate decided by kids sitting in their living rooms in pajamas. This decentralization of power meant that the "Cartoon Cartoon" era had a variety that felt authentic. You could have the surrealist nightmare fuel of Courage the Cowardly Dog followed immediately by the jazz-infused, retro-cool of Sheep in the Big City.
The Animation Renaissance Nobody Talks About
People talk about the "Disney Renaissance" of the 90s all the time. But the Cartoon Cartoon Network era was arguably more influential for the modern industry.
Look at the credits of those early shows. You’ll see names like Seth MacFarlane (Family Guy), Butch Hartman (Fairly OddParents), and Rob Renzetti (My Life as a Teenage Robot). They were all working together in the same building—the old Hanna-Barbera studios on Cahuenga Boulevard.
It was a pressure cooker of talent.
📖 Related: Kate Moss Family Guy: What Most People Get Wrong About That Cutaway
- The Visual Language: They brought back squash-and-stretch. They experimented with backgrounds that looked like modern art.
- The Writing: It was the first time "kids' shows" were consistently funny for parents too. Not through "adult jokes" necessarily, but through timing and character-driven absurdity.
- The Legacy: Without the success of these shorts, we likely wouldn't have the "CalArts" style or the boom of creator-driven shows like Adventure Time or Regular Show later on.
The "Cartoon Cartoon" branding eventually faded out around 2003 or 2004, replaced by the "City" era where all the characters lived together in a 3D-rendered metropolis. It was cool, sure. But the raw energy of that early branding—that repetitive, rhythmic "Cartoon Cartoon"—marked the moment cable TV stopped being a graveyard for old theatrical shorts and started being the most creative place on earth.
What Really Happened to the Brand?
Marketing changed. It's basically that simple. As the network matured, they didn't need a special label to tell you a show was an original. Everything was an original.
By the mid-2000s, the "Cartoon Cartoon Fridays" block morphed into "Fried Dynamite" and eventually "Har Har Tharsdays." The industry moved toward "360-degree branding" where the show was the star, not the network's internal label. But for those who were there, that specific "Cartoon Cartoon" intro music—the one with the upbeat, marching-band energy—still triggers a specific kind of nostalgia that modern, sleek branding just can't touch.
There's also the reality of corporate shifts. When Turner merged with Time Warner, and later when the Hanna-Barbera name was fully retired in favor of Cartoon Network Studios, the "indie" vibe of the original pilots started to feel like a relic. The suits wanted franchises, not experiments.
How to Relive the Era (Actionable Steps)
If you're looking to dive back into this specific era of animation history, you don't have to rely on grainy YouTube uploads.
First, check out the Checkered Past block on Adult Swim. They've been airing original "Cartoon Cartoons" like Dexter’s Lab and Ed, Edd n Eddy specifically for the generation that grew up with them. It’s a targeted nostalgia play, but it works because the animation holds up. Unlike some CGI shows from the early 2000s that look like potato salad now, the hand-drawn (or digital ink and paint) look of the late 90s is timeless.
👉 See also: Blink-182 Mark Hoppus: What Most People Get Wrong About His 2026 Comeback
Second, look for the What a Cartoon! archives on Max (formerly HBO Max). Not all the shorts made it to full series, but watching the pilots for things that didn't get picked up is a masterclass in animation history. You can see the rougher, weirder versions of your favorite characters before they were polished for a 52-episode order.
Finally, if you’re a creator, study the "storyboard-driven" model of these shows. Most Cartoon Cartoons didn't start with a traditional script. They started with artists drawing gags. That’s why they feel so visual and kinetic compared to the dialogue-heavy shows of today. If you want to capture that energy in your own work, start with the image, not the line of text.
The "Cartoon Cartoon" era wasn't just a time period. It was a philosophy that trusted creators over committees. That's why we're still talking about it thirty years later.
Key Takeaways for Animation Enthusiasts:
- Prioritize Creator Vision: The best "Cartoon Cartoons" succeeded because the network stayed out of the way of people like Tartakovsky and McCracken.
- Value the Pilot: Small-scale experiments (shorts) are a better indicator of success than massive, untested budgets.
- Timeless Aesthetics: Hand-drawn styles with strong silhouettes (like Johnny Bravo) age better than early-adoption 3D technology.
- Nostalgia as a Tool: Use modern blocks like "Checkered Past" to see which tropes from the 90s still resonate with today's humor.
By understanding the "Cartoon Cartoon" framework, you see that the best content isn't produced—it's cultivated in an environment that allows for failure and weirdness.