Clueless Execs confined to Turner? Nope. They've just practiced.

From: chance <chance_at_unix.infoserve.net>
Date: Fri, 17 May 1996 08:21:35 -0700

>The amazing thing, for those of you that haven't worked in the corp-world
>yet, is that the various levels of Tedco are probably run as well or better
>than the average med-to-large corporation! Don't believe me? Just wait till
>you've got jobs (heh, heh, heh!), then tell me about it. ^~^ Don't get me
>wrong here. I like to complain as much as the next kat.

Dumb decisions, deceit, misrepresentation of 'supporting' data - yeah, all of
that sounds like fodder for corporate America - but I've seldom seem so
much of it encapsulated in so small an area of real-estate. Not everyone over
there is a cretin. A few I've talked to from time-to-time are well-grounded
in reality and some have been honest to a fault. They don't hold the PIN
number to Ted's bank account though, and couldn't refuel the Turbokat
even if they wanted to. When I'm shouting atop my Turner-bashing haywagon,
I'm seldom ranting at more than maybe five or six people tops...and even
then, I don't suppose that every decision they've ever made is idiotic. Some
make mistakes as a side-effect of their job, with others, the mistakes *define*
their jobs. Turner appears to have had more than their fair share of the latter.

See, on the one hand, Turnerco advertised to the world in "Animation Magazine"
that SwatKats" Clawed its Way to the Top!" (Anniemag, Nov. 1994 - "poster1.jpg"),
and quoted some Neilsen figures (the industry rating system, for those that don't
know) in addition to promising "new episodes" and listing some licensed goods that
would soon be available. Then, on the other hand (and around the same month, I think)
Turner Entertainment cancels the program and blames "poor ratings" and "not moving
enough merchandise". Hmm. Didn't that ad just proclaim great ratings before the
whole world? And how can one "move merchandise" that the ad clearly states hasn't
been created yet?

So, let's say that the ratings were depressed in certain markets - particularly those
large Western CONUS cities with them amazing 0530 timeslots - and Turner
decided to can the series using the ratings info as reasoning. Why then do we still
have "Captain Planet and the Planeteers"? Guess. Anyway, ratings interpretation,
cancel/pursue decisions, green-lighting new concepts - all that stuff is derivative of
Hollywood studio/network politics. Nothing else. "Captain Planet" has a powerful
ally, "SwatKats" does not. All the fans have many voices to Ted's bombastic one - but
that "one" has the bucks, and therefore the power. "Captain Planet" and whatever
project Turner decides should be successful *will* be successful, and there'll always
be some ratings somewhere that will appear to back that up irrespective of the truth.

I personally despise hypocrisy, and the main problem with Hollywood entities
like Turner.org is that while there's no shortage of accountants, there's no
accountability. I'm one of those folks that still takes offence at dishonourable
behaviour and often react like Don Quixote, but if everybody accepts behaviour
like Turnerco's at the time Kats was canned, then it soon becomes the norm.

I may have to learn to live with it, but I don't have to like it. (Which is why I
won't work for a big corporation again. Too much like prostitution).

 Just don't expect
>too much of them- planaria are maybe a bit higher on the evolutionary scale.

Heh. "Each individual rises to the level of his own incompetence and remains
there until retirement". Without going into details, I think the patron saint of
animation execs like F.S. and Gary Krisel must be Eddie Selzer (it's obscure, sorry).
Yeah, I can picture it now - a thousand candles or so around a shrine to Selzer -
and a centerpiece featuring him that looks suspiciously like a bowling trophy.

>Besides, now that G.O. (among others) have... well, lets say we would have
>treated them better.... Who would do the voice of U. Feral in any revival,
>for instance? The guy that does SG Coast to Coast & Cartoon Planet? The guy
>that did Papa Smurf? What are our choices here, of those that might not come
>back? Who would YOU pick?

You know, I never thought of that. G.O. did lay down his tracks already for the
unfinished three katseps, but what after that? I don't think he'd be in any great hurry
to work for Ted again after the "Space Ghost" mess, but who knows? Gordon
and Adler would probably reprise their roles in a second, and much of the supporting
cast doesn't appear to be overemployed at the moment, but what do you do with
a voice like Owens? He's been imitated up the wazoo by many other voice artists, but
though you can imitate the resonance well enough, the delivery is all Gary. I think
I especially adore the way he enunciates "crud", and thank Kats at every turn for
reintroducing that particular word to the popular vernacular! (Saved my ass more
than a few times in polite company when I've been tempted to use something
more Saxon).

I think Charlie Adler could efficiently double for Feral, or maybe Rob Paulsen,
but no matter how talented the replacement is, there'll always be something
missing. By all accounts, Owens is a great guy all 'round.

(I'll try steer away from execu-rants in future, katgang - I'm sure it's of limited interest).


_____________________________________________________
"Dedicated to the indomitable spirit of the sled dogs that relayed
 antitoxin six hundred miles over rough ice, across treacherous waters,
 through Arctic blizzards from Nenana to the relief of stricken Nome in
 the winter of 1925. Endurance, Fidelity, Intelligence." -- "Balto"
_____________________________________________________

Received on Fri May 17 1996 - 13:38:57 PDT