Just go to john kricfalusi's blog and watch him ramble about how merrie melodies from 1930 to 1950 are the best cartoons ever and everything is a pale imitation thereof because they're not slinky enough
I'm well aware of John K's opinions and agree with them up to a point. I love the same stuff he loves, and I hate SOME of the stuff he hates. But I think there's room for more than one kind of cartoon, damn it.
I still hold that the reason there is no good animation is because the indie animation effort is still too young, like the indie gaming movement (which is just beginning to deconstruct the medium). That's where you're going to see innovation, or at least variation.
tl;dr: PEOPLE THAT WANT MONEY DON'T TRY TO INNOVATE
Something John K certainly knows firsthand after seeing Ren and Stimpy taken away from him because it wasn't Nickelodeon-y enough.
I read an interview with Groening a few years back where he gushed about Adult Swim. I doubt if there's a single cartoon on there that would pass John K's standards, but Groening's recognized it as a place where people are throwing shit at the wall and seeing what sticks, and management isn't interfering because it costs so little. Of course, Groening's always been friendlier to low-budget efforts than John K.
...I've actually always sort of wondered what John K's opinion was on Jay Ward. I assume he's a fan of Rocky and Bullwinkle despite its low production values, as he slapped the traditional "J" in as Stimpy's middle initial.
All that said, my typical reaction on seeing most of the current cartoons on Nickelodeon, CN, and Disney is "Ugh, that's HIDEOUS." But I think in the long term, the cream's going to rise to the top and the shit's going to be forgotten.
