Well call me naive, but despite merchandise having been around back then I still see more like:
80's:
- Hey, I got a cool idea for a comic / cartoon series!
- The comic is awesome, lets make it a cartoon series about it! (where applicable)
- The cartoon series is so popular, lets bring out some merchandise about it!
90's:
- Hey, I got a cool idea for a cartoon series, lets make sure it can come with merchandise!
- Hey, its popular, lets make a comic or movie or video game about it! (optional)
00's:
- Hey, I have this great idea for a merchandise, lets make up a cartoon series around it to advertise it!
So in short, I think back the the merchandise followed the show, while now it is vice versa.
Sprotchymon wrote:
Well, it makes sense, what with decks of playing cards (not necessarily trading cards) existing with every theme under the sun...
As for
merchandise-driven TV shows... they only last if folks actually
buy the merchandise.
Sadly, that is not entirely true. While I can see companies not being so eager to have their advertisement shows airing, the series still remain, and since they are now worthless they'll likely be cheap, and since many a program director likely goes with what's cheap if it looks like a cartoon when told to fill three hours with cartoons, I'm afraid the crap may linger even longer than its merchandise. Unless new merchandise cartoon series keep flooding at a high enough rate to replace the old ones of course.