It’s really good to hear that the Thundercats are doing good on toonami right now. Haven’t been around much thanks to work. But it gives some hope to a 2nd season. But I would have to agree with balgus on this. A straight to DVD movie trilogy to finish the story off would be the best plan at this moment.
ThunderCats got 1,005,000 last Saturday. 15,000 less than before, but that’s a very small drop, and the Saturday before seemed to get higher ratings than usual anyway. With Naruto Uncut playing right before it, ThunderCats may be sticking much closer to the 1 million mark for its duration. I doubt its time slot will be changing any time soon. It’s certainly come a long way since it hovered around 600,000 at 2:30.
As long as it stays around this level, I will be happy. As far as the ratings go, I suspect them to rise this week due to the “mid-season finale” and the fact that a lot of people are out of school or off work.
Ratings are finally out, and TCats got 993,000 this time. A drop of 12,000, but still really close to 1 mil. I wouldn’t say the ratings are in decline just yet, especially considering the huge jump to 1,020,000 after its change to an earlier time. I’d say it’s staying pretty consistent. Its numbers certainly haven’t fluctuated nearly as much as the other Toonami series over the past few weeks.
Best plan in YOUR MIND, but you don’t know anything how it is 2 produce, get all the actors together, money, effort, commercials and a ton of other things.
In other words, it might sound as a “good and easy way to finish things of” but it’s not more simple than making the show other than it’s “smaller” and not as much work but still THE SAME kind of work they did before. I really hate when many here jump around like this saying it would “be best” to do this and that, WISHES are fine but going all out saying you know whats best? Come on…
Chill out. While all that might be true when it comes to pre-production, a direct to DVD movie is still more likely to happen, at least as far as getting this particular iteration animated again. The other alternative would be a series of comics, which by comparison would be way cheaper to produce. No one’s saying that doing direct to video is really easy, but compared to a theatrically released movie or a TV series it is still easier due to how much less content needs to be produced. Most of these DTV movies are only about an hour and fifteen minutes, which is about three episodes of a regular series.
While all productions cost time and money, it’s not something WB Animation doesn’t already do all the time, and any way you view it a DTV is still going to take a lot less time and work than a whole series. They already have artists and writers and actors hired or under contract to do this work, and even when they don’t, it should be fairly easy for a company like Warner Bors. to get them. Far less backgrounds and character designs for the artists, far less writing to do for the writers, and far less lines for the voice actors to record all because it is so much shorter than a regular series.
What DTVs do better than most TV series is the animation quality, which is usually a good bit higher, but again, because of the short length it’s still going to be way cheaper to produce one DTV than an entire series. And all that aside, A DTV means not having to pitch it to a network who will pay for the production cost, which can be a major roadblock. Producers of a DTV don’t need to worry about the kind of ratings it will get or attracting a target demographic, it’s all about the DVD sales. Most of these DTVs are usually targeted at a niche audience like comic book fans anyway, they don’t have to try and attract a big audience like most TV series do. So while DTVs may share a lot of the same hurdles as a TV series when it comes to pre-production, there is a lot less actual production involved and a lack of some of the complications involved in post production.
So yes, I would say the direct to video option is, comparatively speaking, much cheaper and simpler than a full blown series. If WB wants to please the niche ThunderCats fans who want to see the series finished instead of trying their hand at another season which may or may not succeed in attracting a lot of viewers and dealing with the hassle of ratings and network politics, DTV is a good way to go. Besides all that, a DTV would allow the content to be more mature than it could be on air.
I never got angry or anything in between so why you even wrote “chill out” i dont understand 
And all this is true which is also what i meant. It’s just that people speak of it “being the best option” usually cause they think it’s the best option for THEM not for the ones creating. Again it sounds simple to make a Direct to video project and please the fans but it is no walk in the park. You still gotta wait for the japanese people to make the animation and so fourth which means..
No it’s not the best option, the best option IF they wanted us to get an ending is to give us the scripts (if i remember right they had scripts for two seasons), give us a short comic or in any other easy to tell way of giving us the ending.
There is a big difference in WHAT YOU WANT, WHAT YOU THINK IS BEST and WHAT THEY FEEL and CAN DO. (note i use caps sometimes instead of → " or any other stuff, it’s not cause i’m mad or something.)
Ratings are out rather quickly this time. ThunderCats fell to 951,000. I’m disappointed, but I hope things do pick up again once “Native Son” airs. Being within the 900,000 range is still more than what most other shows previously in that time slot got, so it’s still technically good. I don’t think any of us were ever expecting it to break a million, much less twice in row.
I will admit, the end result of the love triangle probably has something to do with the more significant drop this time. I don’t think it’s enough of a reason to stop watching, but that’s just how some people think. As long as ratings stay within 900,000 for the rest of the run, I’ll be satisfied.
900,000 is pretty good for anything that late. Considering the show started with about 700,000 (I think) that’s actually really good!
Someone on the Toonami Faithful forums mentioned that TC breaking a million a couple of weeks was mostly because of the initial hype; it being on earlier meant even more people new to it were watching it, and it’s audience may be leveling off now.
Here’s hoping this will bring a second season too Toonami. :: crosses fingers ::
Haven’t been posting here in a while, but just wanted to add my two cents.
Given the recent news that WB is partnering up with Netflix to allow some of their shows to be available through them, such as Green Lantern, Robot Chicken and Adventure Time, I can’t help but wonder if perhaps this might ultimately lead to a way to continue the new TCats there?
Netflix has been increasingly looking to develop their own exclusive programming. They started last year with the show Lillyhammer, and this year they’ll be starting with some other new shows. Considering that new episodes of Arrested Development are also going to be seen there, I can’t help but wonder if WB is maybe contemplating some sort of similar deal with them? It would be a great way to both continue the show and attract new subscribers!
I’m already subscribing so i would be happy, though it probably wont show up as fast in europe as in the US.
What good cartoons can you watch on netflix nowadays?
Well, bad news. Since most of Toonami’s viewers are college students, the ratings took a big hit when they all went back to school. ThunderCats dropped to 688,000, and the rest of the block didn’t fare much better. Bleach just barely broke a million.
I suppose the high ratings we were getting previously were because it was winter and a lot of viewers were enjoying their break. Now that they’re busy with work and classes again, less of them are going to be staying up late, or they’re streaming Toonami and not using any Nielsen boxes.
Still, 688,000 isn’t terrible. We’ll just have to keep watching and hope it goes back up eventually. We still have almost half the season left after all.
Looking at when Thundercats re-runs started airing in October, college was already in full swing and it got fair ratings even through the Fall semester finals of November and December.
Most college’s started back the first and second weeks of January. Not everyone, but the vast majority of the college crowd have already been back to school.
Then there is the day and time Thundercats airs - 1 AM on a Saturday/Sunday. The only type of class I can come up with that meets on a Sunday is Sunday School.
Also seems odd that so many went out and found work that occupies their weekend AM here in the last couple of weeks.
If it aired Sunday/Monday at 1 AM I’d fully support your claim that school is a main reason but taking into consideration the October school schedule, the current school schedule, the airing timeslot, and the weekly jobs reports, I just don’t see anything that corroborate’s college and work being the reasons for the ratings drop.
Looking at the current ratings as well as the past ratings, seems the series is following the course it set during it’s initial run - ratings doing well and climbing up until episodes 12/13ish then a decline.
You can be as negative as you want, but the WHOLE block declined in viewers. You can’t tell me that it’s realistic for one show to be the reason the whole block got lower ratings, especially if it isn’t even the first one airing.
Not being negative at all, just pointing out that when one objectively looks at the evidence, school/work doesn’t hold water as a legitimate reason for the decline in ratings.
You need to remember is that most college students who live in dorms don’t have TV in their rooms. If there is a TV, it’s probably just one shared by the dorm. Not everyone wants to watch Toonami, and I imagine some of the residents may not appreciate others staying up late and potentially keeping them awake. Even if they wanted to and could stay up, most will no longer have the means to do so, at least not legally or in any way that can be counted.
The fact remains that this wasn’t the result of a steady decline, this was a significant drop that happened within one week. Toonami and Adult Swim’s main demographic have always typically been college aged students. Whether or not they have any work or classes on Sundays is really kind of a moot point if they don’t have any legal, measurable means of watching cable. That’s why during the winter months when school is out the block as a whole tended to get higher ratings.
Thundercats did okay when it premiered on Toonami, when most college students did have classes. It went up when they were getting out of college, and now that they’re back in college it’s gone back down closer to what it was when it premiered. It may not be the only factor in the decline, but considering Toonami’s demographic, the timing, and just how much of a drop there was across the entire block, school starting again is probably the most likely factor in this sudden change.
Are they also taking into account that some people are recording the block on their DVR’s to watch when they want to? 
Actually, dorm rooms do have TV’s. It’s what students hook their PS3’s. XBox 360’s, dvd/blu-ray players and such to so they can wind down after a day of studying and classes. When you get old enough to attend college and if your grades are good enough to get into one, you’ll see this for yourself.
RA’s aren’t noise police. They don’t bang on doors at 1:15 AM yelling for folks to turn off the lights and go to sleep. It’s a college, not a youth detention center.
Hate to tell you but you are wrong about TV’s in dorms and you are wrong about RA’s.
Five weeks in a row ratings drop and you claim that isn’t a decline. You yourself have posted numerous remarks about the ratings decline. As I recall, you even posted that the pairing choice of episode 13 might have been a contributing factor to the decrease in ratings.
I can re-post your own comments if you have forgotten them.
Actually, looking at the ratings shows you are wrong yet again. Seems you are making that into a habit.
Looking at the ratings, they were the same when students were getting out of classes as they were when students were in class. As a matter of fact, some of the best rating scores came in right at the time Finals were underway. The hike in ratings really came during the times of Hanukkah and Christmas. After that, the ratings started sliding back down.
The fact remains that to you, the most likely factor this week for the sudden change that has been taking place for over a month now is school starting back and as usual, you will insist at length that your opinion is correct even though it isn’t.
The thing is though, the facts of evidence don’t support your insisted opinion. The fact remains they directly counter your insisted opinion yet again.
Credit to you for giving it the old college try even though you came up short yet again. 
Merged Post:
First off, excellent question!
DVR’s, Hoppers, Tivo’s and such don’t register with Neilsen Ratings. Mostly because they can be recording a show while other shows are being watched. They don’t provide accurate figures as to who is watching a show and when they are watching it.
Neilsen goes by who is watching a show when it is airing and how long they stay tuned into the show before flipping the channel.