>>114181259The problem is conceptualizing this as merely a trend. It isn't. It's reflective of television's death as a whole, and networks' desperate attempts to harvest viewership in the era of streaming. Stagnation is a better word for it. We're in massive transitional phase for TV between being the zeitgeist and going the way of the radio. This shift is hurting animation the most because in the past, cartoons actually had an incentive to be watchable in order to avoid cancellation. Now they're made with the intent of scavenging the few remaining viewers that haven't transitioned to streaming already. This means risks are minimized as much as possible, as unlike live-action shows, cartoons are prohibitively expensive. and they aren't economically viable anymore. Thus, we end up with things like PPG 2016 that try to ride on nostalgia or controversy to stir up attention (and viewership) while having bottom of the barrel production values. This is also why CalArts style is a thing and why everything is looking so homogeneous.
Unfortunately, CN is pretty much a walking zombie of a network nowadays and I wouldn't be shocked if they shut down within the next five years. It's always had subpar ratings compared to Disney and Nick and the decline of ratings across the board is seriously suffocating them. You can tell just by the technical quality of their programming: Nick and Disney still have a few shows with good or even great animation (even if Nick cancels them after two seasons). CN? It's a fucking wasteland if this thread isn't sufficient testimony to that.
tl;dr CN is in a terminal downhill slide and I don't think the new management will help them recover a malaise that's inflicting TV as a whole (for good)
