I’ve never had the pleasure (?) of meeting any big Naruto fans. From everything
I’ve read about them, they remind me of another group of intense fans…Trekkies.
I remember attending some Science Fiction and Star Trek conventions between the
cancellation of the original series and the release of the first movie. Most of the Star
Trek fans were regular people who just liked the show and wanted to see it return.
However, there was always a small group of very immersed fans. They went beyond
normal cosplaying staying in character all the time (possibly 24/7).

One similarity I see is the name describing the fans…for Star Trek, it is Trekkies and
for Naruto, it is Narutards. In both cases, it was a name given to them meant to
be derogatory, but both groups embraced their names and made them badges of
honor.

But there are differences…like when the groups formed. Trekkies appeared shortly
after the original series was canceled in 1969 and grew during the years between
the cancellation and the release of the first movie. The term Narutard appeared,
I believe, shortly after the anime started running in the US. Also, it seems to me
that Trekkies started to fade after Star Trek returned to television…though I could
be wrong.

Anyway, I guess the point of my ramble is that series tend to have some rather
extreme fans and some series have a much larger extreme fanbase than others.

That explains why it didn’t sound familiar to me. Our cable company didn’t start offering Sci-Fi until the mid-1990s and for the first three years it was only
available as part of the higher priced packages. It wasn’t until 1998 or 1999 that it was part of the basic service.

As to why anime was dropped…according to Wikipedia:

“Fans of anime features said the reason for the failure of anime on the Sci Fi Channel was most likely because of how the management of the network handled the programming and scheduling of all anime programs[citation needed]. Bad times, lack of information when shows would be seen, as well as fan inputs to their concerns on programming on the channel.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sci_Fi_Channel_(United_States)

Now that it has returned to Sci-Fi, hopefully anime will have a more successful run.

Turns out I mixed up networks with ‘Saturday Anime’. It was Sci Fi, not Cartoon Network, lol. Their anime included Akira, Dominion Tank Police, Project A-ko and Robot Carnival. That was sometime in the ’90s.

I remember they showed Robot Carnival on Sci Fi so many times I had the story with the old man who escapes the hospital in his mecha-bed burned into my brain! They also showed a few episodes of Lodoss War and a few others. wow that was a long time ago. I think they eventually dropped all of their anime due to lack of interest at the time! Can you believe it?

Since Williams Street Studios produces both Adult Swim and Toonami (as well as Miguzi), I doubt if they will change anything that much. Adult Swim is about to get 7 days of programming…11pm – 6am Mon – Sat and 10pm – 6am on Sun. Toonami appears to have finally settled into the Sat. night (7pm – 11pm) time slot. Miguzi has been canceled. It doesn’t seem likely CN or Williams Street will make any big changes at this point. However, this does leave the door open for another network…which is why I hope Ani-Monday does well and Sci-Fi decides to strip it across the week and, perhaps, into the weekend.

If you are interested in Toonami’s history…it celebrated its 10th Anniversary in March…here is a link to a timeline:
http://www.thexbridge.com/timeline2.html

It does show that, at times, Toonami was treated like an unwanted step child.

I don’t remember many anime movies airing…though I do remember seeing Blue Submarine No. 6 and Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz.

The more ‘dramatic’ anime series could get their own time-slot – someting like Toonami: Drama. Series like Naruto, FMA Bleach would be part of the ‘Toonami: Action’ block, whiles series like Cowboy Bebop would be part of the ‘Toonami: Classic’ block. Older series like Gundam could be ‘Toonami: Vintage’ or something.

Does anyone remember when Cartoon Network’s only anime time slot was ‘Saturday Anime’? They originally only showed anime films, but I can’t remember which ones. That was forever ago!

Oh well, it’s not like I watch that much television anyway

Yes, I agree that the use of the term adult in Adult Swim is a bit of a misnomer.

Though in defense of Adult Swim, even they didn’t consider Naruto adult enough,
which aired as part of CN’s Toonami block. Interestingly enough, someone wanted
Naruto on Adult Swim badly enough that they started a petition drive back in 2005:

http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/narutoanimeadultswim