Inside HBO Max’s Cartoon Chaos: “We Were Given No Heads Up”

Last week, animation fans were shocked when 37 titles were pulled from the streaming service’s library. But the chaos inside HBO Max‘s parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery, didn’t start on August 17. Decider’s reporting confirms that it can be traced back to at least a month earlier.

“The show had already been pulled in a few international territories a month before,” Stephen Neary, creator of The Fungies, one of the many shows that was recently pulled from the streamer, told Decider. “That was pretty quiet, and I didn’t really know why.”  In the back of his mind, Neary knew there was a possibility his show could disappear from its streaming home for good. It wasn’t long before that worst case scenario came true.

“We were given no heads up on, really, any of these choices,” Neary continued. “And I don’t fault anybody at Cartoon Network for that. I know it’s the result of this giant corporate merger that’s going on. I was just surprised.”

[Editor’s Note: Cartoon Network and HBO Max share the same corporate parent in Warner Bros. Discovery.]

This is the unbelievable reality many series creators are living through during a move that has disproportionately targeted animation and children’s entertainment. The mass removal happened in the wake of Discovery’s acquisition of WarnerMedia, and of the 37 titles that were removed from the streaming service, 20 of them were HBO Max originals. For years now, streaming originals have come with a certain kind of security. Creators may not know how many people are watching their shows, but if their show is an original from one of these services, it’s been assumed that those shows would always have a home on streaming. Now, even that glimmer of security has disappeared as series creators have watched years of passion and labor — some of which took place during a global pandemic — disappear overnight. It’s difficult to make sense of the cuts. Some of the removed shows, like Uncle Grandpa and Mighty Magiswords, ended years ago. Others, like Summer Camp Island and Victor & Valentino, were set to release more episodes before their unceremonious removal (additional episodes of both will air at a later date on Cartoon Network).

“Warner assured my agents that these were not going to be used for the tax write-off that we saw with Batgirl and Scoob and stuff like that,” Owen Dennis, creator of Infinity Train, told Decider. “The issue of that tax write-off is you cannot make any money off of them. They disappear forever, and no one can see them, and they can never be distributed, and you can never make any money from them whatsoever. So I don’t know what that means… We’ll see if they change their mind or something or if there’s some other legal loophole that we’re all not aware of.”

This mass removal has also exposed problems with HBO Max that were previously unknown to the general public. During a Twitch stream on August 22, Tig N’ Seek showrunner Myke Chillian revealed that his series was originally supposed to premiere on Cartoon Network for a younger audience. It was only when WarnerMedia decided that the series should be an HBO Max original that he was told “you can age it up now.” Drastic creative changes are challenging for any show. That challenge is tenfold when it comes to animation, a medium that has to work months if not years in advance.

Neary’s show was also switched to HBO Max after originally getting greenlit for Cartoon Network, a move that, in his mind, made targeting the show to the right audience that much more difficult. “[The Fungies] wasn’t really part of an overarching story at all. It did aim at a younger demographic. I think when we made the shift to HBO Max, a lot of that got lost,” Neary said. “A lot of the shows that do well on streaming are shows that have overarching stories, so it was always in kind of a tough spot from the beginning.”

Then came the issue of advertising. According to Tig N’ Seek‘s showrunner, Cartoon Network wasn’t interested in advertising a show that wasn’t theirs, and HBO Max didn’t know how to advertise to kids. “So us and Fungies and a couple of other things, we kind of fell between the cracks,” Chillian said in yesterday’s Twitch stream. “Meanwhile, everyone was assuring us that HBO Max was the right route.”

Reactions to this unprecedented move have been mixed. Jennifer Skelly, the co-creator of Little Ellen — a cartoon about young Ellen DeGeneres — called the removal of her show “devastating.” Not only have the first two seasons of her show been removed, but there are 20 episodes of Little Ellen that will go unreleased, many of which include first time writing and directing credits from those who worked on it. In her first tweet about the removal, Summer Camp Island’s creator Julia Pott criticized WB Discovery for having “no respect for artists.” Levon Jihanian, the art director for Tig N’ Seek, pointed to his own kids, tweeting “I made this for them.”

In the wake of these removals, HBO Max also canceled several of its upcoming animated movies and left others in limbo. Casualties have included Victor Courtwright’s Driftwood. Meanwhile, movies like Merry Little Batman, The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie, Bye Bye Bunny: A Looney Tunes Musical, and Did I Do That to the Holidays: A Steve Urkel Story, and the highly anticipated series Batman: Caped Crusader are currently without a clear home.

“It’s a real shame,” Dennis said. “They took down Sesame Street... [Editor’s Note: HBO Max removed nearly 200 episodes of Sesame Street, not the entire series] Of all the shows to take down, Sesame Street and Elmo? You want to take down a children’s show that’s been around, not just since parents’ of kids now but grandparents’ of kids now have been watching? That’s what you want to get rid of? C’mon.”

When Decider asked for comment about these removals and whether or not more can be expected, HBO Max pointed to a comment the company had previously given about the cancelation of the Gordita Chronicles. “Live-action kids and family programming will not be part of our programming focus in the immediate future,” the statement read. It’s also worth noting that the 37 titles that were removed did not exclusively include animation and children’s programming.

In the wake of this confusion, Neary seems to be focusing on the positives. “I’m really glad that I got to make [The Fungies], and I’m grateful to Cartoon Network Studios and HBO for paying for it. The Fungies was always a quiet, warm, weird, Saturday morning cartoon show, the kind of show I grew up watching on PBS that can really wash over you. I think it was hard for that kind of show to have a footing on a huge streamer. But anything that fans can do right now to support original ideas is really appreciated.”

As for Dennis, Infinity Train‘s removal came with a wave of support from fans. The creator even outlined the best (and worst) ways fans can support these shows in a blog post. That same post also explains why Warner Bros. Discovery wants to avoid paying creators residuals. “I feel very supported by the animation community in general. So it hasn’t been so bad. It’s been kind of nice, actually,” Dennis said.

As rough as this experience has been, it hasn’t tarnished Dennis’ belief in the future of animation. He predicts we’ll be seeing more adult and young adult-oriented projects in the coming years, both on streaming services and in theaters. As for whether or not Warner Bros. Discovery will be part of this future remains to be seen.

“I think what we have right now is some people that might not be totally in touch with what the future is for animation. They’re just sort of like ‘Well animation is the stuff you see on Saturday mornings, right? Whatever, it’s garbage.’ And then just throwing it away because that’s clearly how they feel about it,” Dennis said. “If they don’t feel that way, then they can feel free to make a statement at some point, but they haven’t. So they’re clearly OK with all the rumors and all the speculation that everyone has been throwing out there.”