Cartoon Network is going live-action, and it’s taking Paul Dini with it.
The Gotham City Sirens and Streets of Gotham writer has also been working on a live-action series called Tower Prep, which Variety announced today has been ordered by Cartoon Network. (Perhaps no coincidence — Cartoon Network is owned by DC Comics’ parent company, Time/Warner.) This series, along with Unnatural History, will be the first live-action series — but after the high ratings the live-action Ben 10 movie made, it makes sense for the company to get lightning to strike twice.
Tower Prep is about a rebellious teen who wakes up one day trapped in a mysterious, inescapable prep school. By teaming up with his fellow students/inmates, this series looks like a long term caper.
What will this mean for his comics writing, however? I know that there was a brief skip in his Batman titles, with Scott Lobdell and Chris Yost filling in for Sirens #3 and Streets #5. That said, (A) I don’t know how many episodes other than the pilot that Dini will be writing, and (B) Dini has proven through his work on Countdown and Detective Comics that he is built for speed. More info to come when we get it!
November 6th, 2009 at 12:35 pm
Cartoon has had several live-action shows at this point (not including Adult Swim). I haven’t watched them, but I know they exist. Either Variety just plain has it wrong, or they phrased things poorly. It may be the first scripted live-action show, or the first live-action show written by Dini. But it is definitely not CN’s first live-action show.
November 6th, 2009 at 12:50 pm
Cartoon Network needs a new name, a la “Syfy,” to reflect this new direction. May I suggest “Krt00n #rk.” It’s how the kids would say it with their text messaging and myspacebook gadgets. CN Marketing department, please make the check out to “cash.”
November 6th, 2009 at 1:27 pm
Since it is written into the ad (which I’m fairly sure Variety didn’t come up with), I think it is safe to say that Cartoon Network might be stretching out the statement to require the “Paul Dini” part to be true.
November 6th, 2009 at 2:54 pm
I loves me some Dini (I was sorry that he left Lost), but “Cartoon” Network has gotten so lame…
I’m not reading any Batman right now (that would require Bruce coming back and Morrison going far, far away from Batman and the in-continuity DCU), but I am wondering when more Madame Mirage will, if ever, be happening. I seem to recall The top cow at Top Cow (Mr. Sablik) telling me on this very blog that there would be more MM in the near future.
November 6th, 2009 at 6:33 pm
Dini is THE MAN! Everything he writes is AWSOME! Take BTAS episodes “JOKER’S FAVOR” & “JOKER’S MILLIONS”.
November 10th, 2009 at 11:15 am
FACT: While this may be “the first LIVE-ACTION series for the Cartoon Network written by Paul Dini,” this is not “the first LIVE-ACTION series for the Cartoon Network.” This is not even the first scripted live-action series for Toon.
FACT: Every live-action project that aired on Cartoon Network that has been remotely successful has been based on animated projects. Ben 10: Race Against Time and the upcoming Ben 10: Alien Swarm were based on Man of Action’s Ben 10 franchise. Scooby-Doo: The Mystery Begins was based on Hanna-Barbera’s Scooby-Doo franchise.
FACT: Every recent live-action series flopped, including Zixx (Cartoon Network’s first live-action acquisition), Out of Jimmy’s Head, the CN Sports shows (SlamBall, Re: Evolution of Sports, and that skate show all faltered) and ALL the CN Real shows (The Othersiders, Survive This, Brain Rush, and Bobb’e Says probably won’t be back, while Dude, What Would Happen and Destroy Build Destroy drag down the ratings).
FACT: Live-action programming contributed heavily to Toon’s ratings collapse over the last six months. You want to know why JLU, Foster’s, Ed, Edd, and Eddy, Johnny Bravo, and Looney Tunes are back on the Cartoon Network lineup? Because live-action shows bombed badly on the channel. Case in point: On October 30, Cartoon Network premiered (and heavily promoted) an hour-long edition of The Othersiders in primetime. It had about 670,000 viewers in the key K6-11 demographic. A few hours earlier, an unadvertised rebroadcast of Scary Godmother 2: Jimmy’s Revenge had 1,060,000 viewers in the same K6-11 demos. The Scary Godmother specials did very, very well for Cartoon Network this Halloween season. Goosebumps and Othersiders, eh, not so much.
While I’ll wish Mr. Dini luck on this project, I’d wish he’d work on something a lot more animated.
December 31st, 2009 at 6:54 am
Ryan Pinkston is so funny, I can’t wait to see him in a dramtic role. He did an episode of Bones this year and he was awesome in that dramatic role. I think the show will be a huge success for CN. Anyone know when the show will air?