A cartoon series is a set of regularly presented animated television programs created or adapted for television broadcast with a common series title, usually related to one another. Cartoon series either appear once a week or daily during a prescribed time slot and are usually created to be open-ended, not with a predetermined number of episodes. These programs typically share the same characters and a basic theme.

Structure

The duration of an each episode varies depending on the individual series. Traditionally, series are produced as complete half-hour programs; however, many cartoons series are produced as animated shorts of 15 minutes or less, which can then paired with other shorts to fill a set time period. Cartoon series are sometimes grouped together according to network programming demands. Thus a particular cartoon series may appear in a number of formats or time block, such as The Batman/Superman Hour.

Content

In general a cartoon is a piece of art, usually developed for humorous in intent. This usage dates to 1843 when Punch magazine applied the term 'cartoon' to satirical drawings in its pages. Since, the cartoon, and later the cartoon series, has been used for comedy. However, animated programs have fallen into other genres. For instance, the action/adventure series, such as G.I. Joe, became popular among children in the 1980s

The 1990s was a renaissance of the cartoon series for children and adults. Various broadcast networks and media companies began creating television channels and formats designed specifically for airing cartoon series. Companies that already had these types of formats in place began to revamp their existing models. Examples of these are:

• Fox Kids
• Cartoon Network
• Nicktoons
• Disney Channel
• Kids WB

Among the many popular cartoon series being shown during the 1990s were Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Eek! the Cat, Garfield and Friends, X-Men, The Tick, Tiny Toon Adventures, Animaniacs, Goof Troop, Duck Tales, Beast Wars, The Ren and Stimpy Show, and Rugrats.

The 1990s also produced cartoon series such as The Simpsons and King of the Hill which contained more "mature" content than those of traditional cartoon series, whose primary audience had been children.

See also

• List of animated television series.