Western Animation has had a number of things associated with it that are nowhere near as popular as they used to be.
Western Animation[]
- The Shmoo, an Al Capp cartoon creature that became independently popular in the 40s as an expression, caricature, etc., have since become completely forgotten, not even a running joke at this point. See Let's Meet the Meat for details.
- Most animated shorts characters from before 1980 outside of animation circles. Disney's characters are an exception, but in the U.S., this is largely because they're used and merchandised as corporate mascots and/or in different contexts than those that made them famous (i.e., Kingdom Hearts, Epic Mickey, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse).
- Ditto for Looney Tunes, although the original shorts still get a fair amount of play.
- A special shout-out to Marvel/Sunbow's G.I. Joe cartoon, which actually used the line "Deader than Disco" in one of the episodes.
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Cobra Commander: As of now, your little project is deader than Disco! |
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- Western Animation in general for much of its existence. See Film above.
- Mr. Magoo seems to have fallen into complete obscurity despite winning Oscars for Best Animated Short Film, appearing in a popular if forgotten Christmas Special, and being an advertising mascot for brands like General Electric. Disney attempted to give him a new lease on life in 1997 with a Live Action Adaptation, but it flopped both critically and financially. There was also an obscure direct-to-video film animated in flash.
- That's mostly due to Values Dissonance. Modern audiences are rather squicked by the apparent mockery of someone with a vision impairment.
- The one time staple of Saturday morning cartoons is also fast heading this direction, with many TV stations selling off their Saturday time slots for more lucrative infomercials and sports blocks, and the shows within the surviving blocks getting worse and worse. It officially settled here in 2016 with the death of NBC's preschool block going unnoticed.
- On the same note, the day of daily cartoons is long over, with a season of 60+ episodes like most of the toy driven series of the 1980s and early 1990s being unthinkable and unfeasible.
- The concept of programming blocks in general, since networks can just create a niche channel like Discovery Family or TV Land to run those sort of shows 24 hours a day.