For People who are interested, its not stopping with "Saved by the Bell" on adult swim and live action movies:
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Originally Posted by TV Week
Cartoon Network has an innovative solution for boosting its sagging ratings. Producing better cartoons? Nope. Producing non-cartoons. The network announced last week it has begun taking pitches for live-action programming and hired Ramsey Naito as VP of long-form development.
Only problem: Networks that significantly alter their programming or format run the risk of angering cable operators for deviating from their agreed-upon programming mission. "This is going to be a problem," said cable distribution consultant Cathy Rasenberger. "To add live action to a network that's defined by cartoons may be impossible to do given the content restrictions in their agreements. Allowing this is totally up to the operators. It just sounds like a major deviation."
But cable operators were split on whether such changes could cause a conflict. "We always closely watch what programmers do, especially if they make changes that take them away from how they sold us the service," said David Grabert, spokesman for Cox. "This is the first we've heard of these plans, but if we feel like they're going too far, we'll let them know."
A spokesperson for another multiple system operator said Cartoon shouldn't worry.
"Their contract with us doesn't stipulate against live action," the spokesperson said. "As long as the change doesn't alter the spirit of the channel, they're fine."
The Mostly Cartoon Network did not return a call for comment by press time.
-James Hibberd
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Wow, I remember the days when they wern't so hungry for ratings aired lots of cartoons all day that appealed to all differnet kinds of audiences. Now its only "Kids" for normal CN and "Adults" for adult swim, and now THIS... its cartoon network!