animation Nickelodeon scraps Phoebe and Her Unicorn cartoon.

[CastletonSnob 3,023]

A couple of years back, Nickelodeon was working on a cartoon based on the comic strip "Phoebe And Her Unicorn", but that got scrapped, because Nickelodeon doesn't think cartoons with female protagonists can sell.

 

[North Star 4,450]

the real reason is because Marigold didn't show up because she saw her reflection

also that utterly sucks  friggin over-cautious sexist execs

[ZiggWheelsManning 7,289]

Very surprising this comic strip is in my local retail newspaper every week  

[Megas 27,047]

The saddest thing is that out of touch executive are still saying this in 2022, after the success of shows like FiM, Powerpuff Girls, Kim Possible, etc.

Then again I can't say I'm surprised by the same network that screwed over MLAATR and Korra

[Splashee 28,537]

Never heard about this show/comic

[Ganondorf8 11,118]

Maybe some other network might be willing to give this one a chance.

[EpicEnergy 22,063]

I don't support or oppose Nickelodeon as they are just another company in my eyes, but how can we be sure that Nickelodeon scrapping that cartoon because of its female protagonist is legitimate? I mean, the only information we have about this is from a Twitter account, and they are known to be unreliable.

Regardless of Nickelodeon's intentions, I'm disappointed that this cartoon was scrapped. It could have been a good cartoon.

[Sparklefan1234 161,593]

Aww! I think Phoebe and her Unicorn is a cute comic strip. 

[Misty Shadow 7,059]

Discounting my obligatory "take everything you hear with a grain of salt"/"don't attribute malice to what can be explained by incompetence" reminder, it is a shame that Nickelodeon is still so incredibly unwilling to give original content a chance, unsurprised as I am. They've always been this way, I've known since the day I saw them screw over C.H. Greenblatt the way they did that this is how they're always going to be. As long as it's just too easy to milk their cash cow, sponge off of Spongebob as much as possible while giving Hillenburg's grave the finger, they're not going to change. 

[RDDash 18,845]

shocking reason for cancelation

[Megas 27,047]

2 hours ago, EpicEnergy said:

I mean, the only information we have about this is from a Twitter account, and they are known to be unreliable.

News came from the show's creator herself. It was posted on her Facebook

[EpicEnergy 22,063]

44 minutes ago, Megas said:

News came from the show's creator herself. It was posted on her Facebook

While that can be a more reliable source than Twitter, we still don't know for certain the legitimacy of the claim that Nickelodeon scrapped the show because it had a female protagonist. I'm not necessarily questioning the show's creator's integrity, as she could have misunderstood/misinterpreted something, but allegations such as these as very common in modern society and are also commonly false.

[Misty Shadow 7,059]

1 hour ago, EpicEnergy said:

While that can be a more reliable source than Twitter, we still don't know for certain the legitimacy of the claim that Nickelodeon scrapped the show because it had a female protagonist. I'm not necessarily questioning the show's creator's integrity, as she could have misunderstood/misinterpreted something, but allegations such as these as very common in modern society and are also commonly false.

This. Nickelodeon is the kind of network that will showcase a drag queen. It's still possible that they would look at trends and turn down a show like this because of their lack of confidence in it appealing to boys, but there's no proof of that beyond what the creator's saying. Even if that was actually a reason they had to scrap the show, there's no proof that was the only reason.  

[Steve Piranha 28,741]

5 hours ago, EpicEnergy said:

I don't support or oppose Nickelodeon as they are just another company in my eyes, but how can we be sure that Nickelodeon scrapping that cartoon because of its female protagonist is legitimate? I mean, the only information we have about this is from a Twitter account, and they are known to be unreliable.

Regardless of Nickelodeon's intentions, I'm disappointed that this cartoon was scrapped. It could have been a good cartoon.

And a show like ICarly also gives me the impression that reason is BS 

[CastletonSnob 3,023]

I've heard some people suggesting that the show got scrapped because of the author's previous work, which was inappropriate, but I don't buy that. The guy who created The Loud House previously made a comic about a cat boy lusting over his mother, and the guy who created Invader Zim previously made a comic titled Johnny the Homicidal Maniac.

[Megas 27,047]

4 hours ago, Steve Piranha said:

And a show like ICarly also gives me the impression that reason is BS 

The complaint has always been aimed almost exclusively towards animation. You can't compare it with a live-action tween-com, a genre that's heavily aimed for female audiences

Edited December 31, 2022 by Megas

[Steve Piranha 28,741]

40 minutes ago, Megas said:

The complaint has always been aimed almost exclusively towards animation. You can't compare it with a live-action tween-com, a genre that's heavily aimed for female audiences

Weren’t The Tomberrys and As Told by Ginger successful animated shows with a female lead each ? Nick aired Winx Club too, last I’ve checked

[Megas 27,047]

40 minutes ago, Steve Piranha said:

Weren’t The Tomberrys and As Told by Ginger successful animated shows with a female lead each ? Nick aired Winx Club too, last I’ve checked

Nick damn near destroyed the Winx Club franchise with their hand on it. And with Wild Thornberrys and Ginger they had a proven studio behind them with Rugrats(which was their biggest show) and Ahhh Real Monsters, I can guarantee they would not have happened had those not existed, and in Thornberry's case they were able to sell Thornberrys on characters like Nigel, Darwin and Donnie instead of Eliza(heck, Nigel's the one with a big Celebrity voice and he got in that Nick fighting game over Eliza despite her being the main). Ginger meanwhile got screwed over when Nick decided to change it's timeslot despite having good ratings at the beginning, and the final season release was a mess and they never even aired the final episodes, they went straight to DVD

[Steve Piranha 28,741]

14 minutes ago, Megas said:

Nick damn near destroyed the Winx Club franchise with their hand on it. And with Wild Thornberrys and Ginger they had a proven studio behind them with Rugrats(which was their biggest show) and Ahhh Real Monsters, I can guarantee they would not have happened had those not existed, and in Thornberry's case they were able to sell Thornberrys on characters like Nigel, Darwin and Donnie instead of Eliza(heck, Nigel's the one with a big Celebrity voice and he got in that Nick fighting game over Eliza despite her being the main). Ginger meanwhile got screwed over when Nick decided to change it's timeslot despite having good ratings at the beginning, and the final season release was a mess and they never even aired the final episodes, they went straight to DVD

What about Korra?

[Megas 27,047]

12 minutes ago, Steve Piranha said:

What about Korra?

You mean the show that infamously had a messy production schedule because Nick sabotaged the show on multiple occasions?

- Nick was hesitant because, surprise surprise, the show had a female protagonist, and didn't get more seasons until S1 proved to be successful
- Once they got S2 wrapped up the show got approved for S3 and 4, ultimately making them unable to plan a proper story
- Because of the abrupt poor scheduling they received from this they couldn't get the Studio Mir to do the animation for Season 2 which is why it looked so off
- Once S3 was ready the proceeded to give the show a death slot
- Season 3 was abruptly taken off the air and Season 4 didn't even air and both were instead put on the Nick website, which at the time was notoriously shoddy
- They cut the show's budget out of nowhere and gave the crew an ultimatum of either a clipshow or layoffs, which they obviously chose the clipshow

[Tao 6,706]

I've been reading that comic on and off for a few years and always loved the light heart theme and the simple joys it carries.  I think it would have made a great cartoon for ppl of all ages.   The thing is sadly a LOT of animation studios and projects have been getting gutted it seems this year alone on many sides of the lines. 

With HBO MAX and Discovery Pluses merging this year alone,  Cartoon Network took a huge hit in the loss of a lot of shows and many creators saw their works shoved under the bed,  never even to be run at all, and lost their rights to much of their work.    Disney, a company made from cartoons at the start in the last two years seems to have given their cartoons and animation the middle finger more and more.  Pixer has seen this with many of their movies going right to streaming or not too few advertisements for the ones that do hit the silver screen as we saw in Lost Worlds.

Netflex for a time seemed to have been going in a good way with their cartoons and bringing in new blood and ideas to the table the last few years.  Even more when they seemed to jump more on the anime train and started to hit the streaming markets by lending a good branch when it came to anime and etc with the huge growth we saw in the overseas expansion of the anime market in foreign hunger for it. 

Sadly there is a huge market for cartoons and adults to watch and also kids but it seems the streaming and USA markets seem to think all we want is cop dramas, murders, and sister wedding wifes for us to watch....   

So does the shock of what could have been a super good show about a girl and her unicorn on day-to-day life getting scrapped shock me?  No, sadly it does not, given how the cartoon market has been alone this year.  Hopefully, 2023 might give us some new blood and ideas where we need it!   

[Steve Piranha 28,741]

1 hour ago, Megas said:

You mean the show that infamously had a messy production schedule because Nick sabotaged the show on multiple occasions?

- Nick was hesitant because, surprise surprise, the show had a female protagonist, and didn't get more seasons until S1 proved to be successful
- Once they got S2 wrapped up the show got approved for S3 and 4, ultimately making them unable to plan a proper story
- Because of the abrupt poor scheduling they received from this they couldn't get the Studio Mir to do the animation for Season 2 which is why it looked so off
- Once S3 was ready the proceeded to give the show a death slot
- Season 3 was abruptly taken off the air and Season 4 didn't even air and both were instead put on the Nick website, which at the time was notoriously shoddy
- They cut the show's budget out of nowhere and gave the crew an ultimatum of either a clipshow or layoffs, which they obviously chose the clipshow

I don’t know, I’m still not convinced that’s the reason, if we consider the lack of evidence, and sexual content in a kids show not too long ago

[Megas 27,047]

33 minutes ago, Steve Piranha said:

I don’t know, I’m still not convinced that’s the reason, if we consider the lack of evidence, and sexual content in a kids show not too long ago

Please define sexual content

[Steve Piranha 28,741]

3 hours ago, Megas said:

Please define sexual content

A definition everyone knows, and is self explanatory 

[Megas 27,047]

20 minutes ago, Steve Piranha said:

A definition everyone knows, and is self explanatory 

Then tell me what it means. You should have no problem telling me what you mean