Cartoon Cartoon Fridays (2024)

Cartoon Cartoon Fridays was a Cartoon Network block that lasted from 1999-2003. It included Cartoon Cartoons, originally created as a block for additional reruns back in 1999. In 2000, it began telecasting new episodes of Cartoon Cartoons. Each week, it would be a different character that hosted. Cartoon Network dropped their Cartoon Cartoon brand name in 2004, shortly after they reduced the CCF block to just "Fridays." Cartoon Cartoon Fridays was recommended to be one of the most memorable blocks on Cartoon Network, besides Toonami. Cartoon Cartoon Fridays left a mark in Cartoon Network's reputation in a good way. The Cartoon Cartoon Fridays theme song is written in the key of F Major.

In 1999, Cartoon Network entered the new millennium with ambitions to not only to shed their skin, but to compete with other cable networks with their own original programming in prime time. A weekly event titled "Cartoon Cartoon Fridays" (also "CCF") began on June 11, 1999, and was a 4-hour block of programming in which Cartoon Network aired all of their original "Cartoon Cartoons". Written by Chris Kelly, Steve Cone, and Steve Patrick, the on-going series slowly changed from a series of cartoon injected parodies (such as fake cooking shows and weather forecasts), which was used from 1999-2000, into a full series of hosted segments. Each Friday night, the block was hosted by one of the network's stars.

Beginning on June 9, 2000, "Cartoon Cartoon Fridays" took place on a pristine white set, in which oversized ribbons (that have emerged from the "Cartoons Cartoons" logo during the introduction) lay about with a monolithic presence. Each week, a new character such as Bubbles (The Powerpuff Girls), The Mayor (The Powerpuff Girls), Weasel (I Am Weasel), Eustace (Courage the Cowardly Dog), Edd (Ed, Edd n Eddy) or Johnny Bravo (Johnny Bravo) would host the program by announcing upcoming episodes and interacting with other random cartoons on the set. To tie this all together, an off-screen announcer introduced each host as well as the weekly commercial ads. The feeling of a chaotic television set and "live" hosts ushered in a weekly event that garnered Cartoon Network with some of its highest viewer ratings from 2001-2002.

In October 2000, Cartoon Network launched Cartoon Orbit, an online electronic trading card game in which users would buy, sell, and trade cToons, which were virtual stickers of animated characters and objects from Cartoon Network's library of animation. Though many cToons were available at the game's online marketplace (the "cMart"), some were only made available by entering special codes, which could be found on select advertising partners' products. Special one-day codes were featured during the broadcast of "Cartoon Cartoon Fridays", and the cToons rewarded for entering these codes would often feature a Cartoon Cartoon character in the "Cartoon Cartoon Fridays" logo. Many of these cToons have been archived at the Massive Cartoon Orbit Archival Project.^[1]

In mid-2003, CCF was replaced temporarily by Summer Fridays, which not only aired the original Cartoon Cartoons but also aired What's New Scooby-Doo? and Justice League, two shows which also aired on the Cartoon Cartoon Fridays block.

During CCF's 2000-2001 season, the following Cartoon Cartoon characters took turns hosting the show:

CCF was revamped again on June 8, 2001, and the bridging format featured newly-animated segments starring the Cartoon Cartoon characters. These segments were repeated until late summer of 2002. The revamp also introduced the following hosts, alongside the others:

Some of the most memorable moments of "CCF" involve seeing characters from all of Cartoon Network's original shows interact with each other. Brought to life by the folks at Primal Screen video production, "Cartoon Cartoon Fridays" had critical acclaim and displayed some of the network's best programs. In the introduction, the infectious "bum bumm bumm" of the the theme song (thank you Michael Kohler) swirled you into the upbeat insanity that set the pace on Friday nights. While the show only lasted three years, the success of this formula led to what we see today as "Cartoon Network's Fridays", replacing the characters with live hosts, taking the original idea to the next level. While "Cartoon Cartoon Fridays" may no longer be, the original idea and spirit have manifested into a groundbreaking program that has entertained all ages.

Cartoon Cartoon Fridays was produced by Christina Augustinos, Billy Cone, Steve Patrick, and Chris Kelly. It featured the guest voices of

Mr. Announcer was voiced by Tom Clark.