Friday, December 18, 2015

The Nub Of It

Loren Bourchard of Bob's Burgers explains how cartoons got be be hot commodities.

... Why does a genre once meant for children and relegated to Saturday mornings now hold their parents’ attention between 8 and 11 p..m., as well as on-demand? “Bob’s Burgers” creator Loren Bouchard credits it mostly to what he calls “an accident of the medium.” ...

[The real answer?] ... ‘Because you can have different voices coming out of different faces,” he explained. “You have this incredible flexibility where you can have an adult play a kid, you can have a man play a woman,'" ...

“It is easier to get people to agree to do voiceovers.” ...

[There is a] high-level of re-watchability and overseas sale-ability ... [and] ... a successful animated show will sell a bunch of t-shirts — and these to a demographic that actually has purchasing power. Optimistically, action figures and video games aren’t out of the question either. ...

The above is certainly true, but strip away the b.s. side issues and the reason there are more animated shows than ever?

... [A]nimated comedies ... are cheaper to produce than live-action sitcoms — especially those off-broadcast TV. ...

Almost ALL animated shows are less expensive than their live-action counterparts, and they continue for freaking ever. The Flintstones is fifty-five years old, but the Fred and Wilma franchise goes on ... and on ... and on.

Old live-action shows that attract eyeballs? There's "Lucy", there's "The Honeymooners", and that's pretty much it. But plenty of old animated shows generate audiences and licensing fees.

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