If Invader Zim was such a huge success back in the 2000s and one of Nick's biggest shows during that decade, why did it not even reach the minimum amount for syndication (52 episodes)? Same goes for Teenage Robot, which was less popular than Zim, but still a show that many loved and /co/ has a boner for Jenny, yet Teenage Robot never reached the minimum amount either
I don't know if Zim was actually that popular viewership-wise. It ended up doing ok in the merchandising department a couple years later with the "teh penguin of doom o_o" crowd, but they were hardly representative of the general population and also a slightly older demographic than Nickelodeon would have been shooting for, for ratings. It wouldn't surprise me if the animation budget, particularly for some of the CG action sequences, wasn't worth the return for the network and/or if Jhonen was difficult to work with.
ZIM wasn't a huge success. It was a massive failure due to its budget (1 mil per ep). And it was that high because they kept going over their initial budgets. If it had even half the budget per ep, they might've stuck around for three seasons. The show only gained a cult classic much later and Nick was able to capitalize on that with DVD sales, partially because they loaded the DVDs with actual goodies that cult fans would want like animatics for every episode + full crew commentary + deleted scenes.
>>152128473The commentary is really cringe, though, because Richard Horvitz can't shut up for more than five seconds and the other crew members are obviously annoyed.
>>152128532But once in awhile, you'd get revelations on errors like these like these that you never noticed before.
>>152128418Jhonen? Difficult to work with? Say it ain't so...
It was proto-calarts, the patient zero perhaps
>>152128216It wasn't a success, the merchandising didn't boom until after the show was cancelled, and Jhonen and the crew were notoriously hostile and annoying to the other crews and higher-ups
>>152128532The commentary is great, in the very first episode they complain about people making OC Invaders.
>>152129949Wrong, you crayon muching faggot
>>152128597Lol what a weird way of fixing a mistake
>>152132114Reminds me of that Powerpuff Girls(?) bit where the crowd listening to a bad comedian "takes off", which the animators interpreted as them literally flying away like a rocket.
>>152128216Zim was never going to get enough episodes for syndication. It was greenlighted by a rogue executive who defied his coworkers via going after the older Cartoon Network/Adult Swim demo when everyone else at Nick were dead set on only making shit for toddlers and pre-teens. They ousted the exec for going rogue and killed Invader Zim using 911 to squash it when the terrorist attacks magical gave them the excuse to void the deal
>>152129949i wouldn't say proto-calarts johnen used to be the kind of edgy bastard who would be heavily disliked by hot-topic chicks. instead, i think it would be more of an influence.
i forgot to add the comma
>>152128216>a huge success back in the 2000s and one of Nick's biggest shows during that decadeIt wasn't. The key word is "during", Zim was popular years after thanks to hop topic using it as a key pillar of their merch.
>>152132261It was dexter, but yeah that's a classic.
>>152128216Hot topic merch was more popular than the actual show was
>>152132998Yeah hot topic made both nightmare before christmas and Zim way more popular than they were years after Nightmare came out in theaters and Zim got canceled. The massivw influence of hot topic on tween and teen culture in the early 2000s and 2010s cannot be overstated.
