Suppose you had the chance to read the visionary writings of the president of a small but prestigious, innovative groundbreaking animation studio? Certainly, you've long known that this little studio he runs, staffed with the richest of creative talent, has been releasing revolutionary new products into the marketplace and is constantly developing new ideas which will continue to lead the industry to the future! Wouldn't you agree that this man is famous and worshipped by adoring fans all over the globe? Yea, and he is as glorious and as radiant as a God! Crowds cheer on his arrival!! His disciples hang to their modems, archiving his every article for posterity! And no matter where he went, his sterling, holy reputation would precede him and he would need no introduction...
Let me know if you find such a person! Then I wouldn't have to write this article anymore!
Hello, my name is David Ho. I am president of RUNNING INK ANIMATION PRODUCTIONS (RIAP) and along with my partner and Executive VP, Chad Kime, we will be writing for this monthly column. Our perspective on the animation industry is unique, I feel, since RIAP was the first to produce anime-style animation here in the US and we continually develop new anime concepts specifically for American audiences. Our ties and experience with American television and with the American anime market has taught us a lot of lessons. Lessons, we believe, might be interesting to others. We hope you will enjoy reading about our experiences and opinions.
Its always been amazing to me that an industry with such high visibility could be so badly misunderstood. Such is the world of American television. Like the title of this article says, I hope to dispel some myths and explain some of the mechanisms of American TV as they apply to cartoons.

The magic number: 65

Why is "65" such a magic number in television syndication? What's so special about "65"? ANIMANIACS had 65 episodes its first year. So did BATMAN. Even SAILOR MOON was cut up so that it could have 65 episodes in its first run, too. Why 65? The answer lies in how the American television calendar is divided up into "seasons." A little math will reveal this television industry secret: Everyone knows there are 52 weeks in a year. (If you didn't know, just ask anyone who earns a salary.) So, if there are 4 seasons per year, that means each season has 13 weeks. If you've watched weekday mornings or afternoons, you know that a cartoon is aired Mon through Fri: 5 days a week. So, if you want to fill a season's worth of programming at 5 days a week, that's 13 x 5 = 65. (!) There's where the magic number comes from!
What does this mean for anime? As many of you know, there aren't all that many anime series that last longer than 65 episodes. That means really good shows like NADIA (39 episodes) or KIMAGURE ORANGE ROAD (48 episodes) may never get on the airwaves here in the US because they don't have enough episodes. That's why SAILOR MOON was cut in the middle of SAILOR MOON R because they needed to pad the first year's run to get to 65. (By the way, the practice of taking a long running series like HAPPY DAYS which used to air once a week in prime time and repackaging it so it gets played 5 days a week in reruns is called "stripping" the show.)
Television is an advertising medium, not a content medium.
This always is a rude shock to people with idealistic beliefs. They think that the best shows (i.e. the one's with thought provoking, intellectual content) will survive and the bad shows will die off. Unfortunately, this is just not true! Broadcast television (not cable TV, mind you) is for advertisers, not you! If you had the money, then TV would be for you, but it's the advertisers who have the money, so TV revolves around them. This is one of the major differences between TV and motion pictures. That's why you hear so much complaining about how much junk there is on TV. The fact that good shows (like PICKET FENCES or ER) bring in good ratings is a happy coincidence! Otherwise, why would there be shows like AMERICAN GLADIATORS? Or tabloid TV like CURRENT AFFAIR? Or drivel like WHEEL OF FORTUNE and ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT? These shows get renewed year after year! TV doesn't care how they get high ratings, all they care about is that they get them one way or another! The adage, "You get what you pay for" is worth bearing in mind when talking about TV.

Neilsens, clearances and time slots

I think everyone knows who Neilsen is. He's a guy who gives out points to shows. If a show is watched by a lot of people, it gets more points. If a show is not watched by a lot of people, it gets canceled. Each "point" represents approximately 1 million households. So, if a show gets a rating of 10 points, the presumption is that there are about 10 million television sets tuned in to that show at that time. What you may not know, however, is just how influential Neilsen is when it comes to what shows stay on the air and what shows get canned.
Just to get some perspective (since not all of you out there want to spend your life tracking these numbers, but, sadly, there are people who do!) a really hot, prime time show, say FRIENDS, typically gets a rating of about 30. An average show like STAR TREK: VOYAGER gets about a 15. A really terrible show like COPS gets about a 6. So, now that we have some sort of scale in mind, lets concentrate on children's television where the cartoon are. It may come as a shock, but there are no cartoons in the children's line-up that can break a 4 rating. Sadly, the market for cartoons is not the battle to be on top, rather, its really a fight not to be in last place.
Kinda pathetic, huh? Let's take a look at some of the ratings that some of your favorite cartoons get. X-MEN probably gets one of the best ratings around at 3.4. POWER RANGERS was also up in this "stratospheric" high at one time too. Disney afternoon, which consists of shows like DARKWING DUCK and TALE SPIN, consistently gets a 2.6. So does a lot of Warner Brothers stuff like ANIMANIACS. (continued)