Fucking amazing @Kaiser Chris! It does highlight some weaknesses in our scheduling and pverall structure of our channel, but frankly, at this point I'd call them features rather than bugs as it were. Disney taking over the different animes not made by Sunrise is another way to get one over us. It's just a shame we can't do the same since we are beholden to Sunrise.
I don't think the stuff I described makes LucasTV inherently bad, I just wanted to show some flaws that I noticed when writing and show that LucasTV isn't perfect and there are some reasons why people might watch other channels. I think that by the mid to late 80s we'll have passed through the growing pains and make LucasTV a very competent channel.
Edit: not to mention how, when looking it all together now, it is kind of mindboggling how we've turned the entire culture of America on its head by accelerating the embrace of Japanese cultrue by at least 20 years. There are still veterans who've fought the Japanese who must be living in their worst nightmares right now!
I've been interested in addressing this in an omake but I was unsure of wanting to interfere with the good vibes of relations. To be fair, OTL around this same time weabism was starting to take off, though in an obviously lesser effect. Those same veterans would have been alive during the 90s craze and it's not like there was some huge organized movement against it. There are definitely some who would be horrified, but I think most are accepting, especially when Japan has been surpassed for a long time as a public enemy by the Soviets and China.
And the fear of Japan taking over America with their companies (which was very real OTL) must be increasing even more nowadays as well.
At the very least Cyberpunk's popularity will rise exponentially in tandem with these concerns. I guess such a cultural mindset remaining will depend on how the Lost Decade starts and goes and whether Japan remains a peer power. There's also the OTL trade disputes going on at this current time, but Congress can't simply act aggressive in negotiations because a large population of voters are now Japanphiles and don't care for the nuances of trade but see any restrictions as hurting Japan for no reason.
How the heck is Card avoiding having an aneurism, I'll never know.
Well he did oversee the construction and opening of Disneyland Tokyo so whatever his experiences, OTL he was unbiased enough to support such a major investment in Japan. Airing some anime on the Disney Channel isn't that big of a stretch.
Side note in regards to the japan-american relations in this quest: In RL the translations from japanese to english are... sloppy at best, to put it politely, has this changed here in this quest?
Well it's definitely not perfect, but probably leagues above OTL in quality because studios like Lucasfilms and Disney are hiring professionals and Japanese media is going through the major outlets instead of boot legs and fan dubs. It also helps that Bruce invested so much in bilingual training at Dreamworks and they have a large Japanese staff to help aid in translations. I imagine that for the most part it's pretty decent aside from a few notable memes and infamous lines like "People die when they are killed".
Also on a good note, 4Kids likely never takes off here because bullshit like "Jelly Donuts" and other Americanizations are met more harshly by general audiences and there isn't really a need to protect the children as it were. Although that being said, I don't necessarily mind the English names for children's shows and some US changes like the Shadow Realm in Yugioh actually go pretty hard.
Depends on the company.
Also to note to Japanese American relations:
Japan wants to be America and America wants to be more like Japan.
Take that with whatever you want to believe
The grass is always greener on the other side of the Pacific, lol. Definitely look forward to writing more stuff on this topic, the American-Japanese relationship is undoubtedly going to be a very fascinating topic for historians.
I guess we cloudn't hold an monopoly forever but I still firmly believe that Disney will place second to LucasFilm due to quality and pure price. Also what do you mean that LucasFilm has hubris? It was always the business plan that Dreamworks would focus on low turn out but high quality animation with In-house productions, like Disney with western animation. So does Disney have hubris because they focus on in-house production in the west? The only reason Disney is searching for these animes is because they don't have a studio over there. Though my thoughts are known about omakes on rivals, I still like this post. Also didn't Disney distribute Lupin? So why is Bruce surprised they have anime?
Yeah I don't think Disney will overtake Lucasfilms, but it has been noted that they repeatedly have managed to have some hard dubs and for some reason are immune to the public criticism that Lucasfilms suffers occasionally. For the Disney anime films, I chose to give them some shows that while good, don't necessarily outclass Sunrise in terms of quality. But this way, it helps to keep the anime market diverse and vibrant instead of Sunrise being a monopoly, which is pretty good as part of Hanna-Barbera's decline was that it was the cartoon monopoly in the 60s and 70s and never bothered to innovate.
I will say that one other butterfly I have planned is Kyoto Animation taking the lessons of Sunrise to heart and really rolling with it to become their wholesome and beautiful selves a couple decades early. Not planning on having them paired with Disney, but I just really want to support the guys who really occupy the same mindset we have.
In regards to hubris, please note that's not an obejctive statement and is how Disney sees Lucasfilms operations and Abraham's rather biased thoughts when engaging in negotiations which is definitely influenced by the attitudes of those who have been negatively affected by Sunrise. It's a mixture of personal thoughts and Disney's coping attitude.
I think for Disney, unless they are invested on making their own version of Sunrise, they'll probably stick to licensing from a collection of allied studios. Gives them great flexibility and a wide variety of options to chose. Although interestingly, there was a Disney Animation Japan that was formed in 1984 OTL, but they never worked on original programming and were more an outsourcing department for TV animation and direct to DVD movies.
As for Bruce being surprised, it's more he's shocked that Disney is outright distributing anime shows on their debut premium channel to fill time slots and some alarm that the Anime monopoly is ending and other studios will follow suit.
For Tom Werner, the decision to leave ABC had come at the most opportune moment in his career. He was not ignorant to the fact that the current direction that the company was going through was beginning to enter its complacency stage, after nearly an entire decade of success and innovation, the company was ready to sit on its laurels and let the rest of the decade go by. And so, though it pained him to leave at the time when Three's Company was just starting to take the country by storm (and being told he was insane by more than one of his colleagues) he decided to leave and try for new pastures.
Not that he was striking out blindly of course. He'd been scouted by a newcomer to the game, one of the most unlikely ones as well, but the offer was intriguing enough to make it worth his while. The forming of a new Network in the Paramount Television Network presented both, new challenges and opportunities to those willing to take them, and he was determined to be one of them.
Not that he needed to do it alone of course.
"I spoke with Bill, so far he's still on the fence for that new actress, but he understands we can't hold off for too long either. Barry is patient, but not when the delay is because of one capriciousness". Said his friend and partner in this venture. Marcy was not what many expected when they thought of TV executives, yet he would not trust any other with his back, or project, as he did her. She had also been scouted by Paramount and proved herself as adept at producing in a new environment as himself. The both had worked in making sure shows like Taxi as well as Mork and Mindy became the new flagship series, along with Star Trek: Phase II and Gundam when the latter was still on the network.
And God willing, The Cosby Show will soon join their rank.
"We might have to cut the role if he remains stubborn, we just can't hold on for this long."
"Bill will hate that, and you know it. He's set on the fictional family to imitate his real one, and you know he has the near support of the rest of the cast. We might be able to replace them, but we are not getting another Phylicia to replace her." She argued.
"Well, what does he expect us to do?" Tom sighed. "Not like we can get his own daughter to audition, right?"
She rubbed at her brow as she actually considered Tom's words before shaking it off. Perhaps they could try looking at non actors or models, heck at this point she would be fine with even a regular highschooler.
Just, who knew casting Denise Huxtable would be that difficult?
Huh, interesting how such a simple casting change is drastically affecting The Cosby Show so much. It's a real shame that Bill is such a monster because the show was so good. Were you setting up the Show for a rough production schedule or having less popularity?
Well at the very least Bruce can help take up the spot as America's Dad.
Coming up next on "Dark Disney Nights"; The golden hero from the East, 'Phantoman'. Then recapture the magic and scares from 'The Black Cauldron'. And finally, he thought he was bringing his friend back to life, but he could not have predicted what would happen then in 'Frankenweenie'
Only on The Disney Channel!
-The Disney Channel, September 17, 1983.
Actually the proper format would be "Disney Night Time" which was a block from 1983-1997:
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=61hnFFTwi34
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zusGvZEJEdc
Part of my inspiration from the omake was watching a Yesterworld video on the Disney Channel, and 80s and 90s Disney Channel along with Disney in general at the time is so fascinating because they truly did try to become a "Family" company that caters to all ages instead of just kids with parents along for the ride. I think it's a real shame that Disney abandoned this in the post-Eisner era and only draws in adults with nostalgia, but they seem to be learning somewhat with all the Hulu, Fox and Netflix imports on Disney+.
Also, kind of hoping Pleasure Island is a permanent part of Disney World here.
View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJJ09p5S5-Y
