As you know, we’ve been following the Cartoon Network debacle over its second hiatus of Young Justice Invasion Season 2 and the rest of the DC Nation block of programming. New programming is expected by January 2013, but no new material is expected in 2012 after only 2 weekends of DC Nation episodes into the Cartoon Network’s 2012 Fall schedule.
If you’re interested in viewing the Young Justice Invasion sizzle real / Season 2 preview click here.
Anyhow, in under 80 hours (or 3 days and 8 hours) the “Bring Back DC Nation” petition, started on October 13th, reached its goal of 10,000 e-signatures by 8 p.m. October 16th. Fear not though. You can still sign the petition here.
I had the privilege to interviewing the articulate and passionate organizer of the petition, Ms. Sara Muftic. Here is that interview.
- COMICS NEXUS: It seems like you will hit your goal of 10,000 e-signatures in 3 days or at the most 4. Did you expect to meet your goal so soon?
SARA MUFTIC: No, I definitely did not expect it at all! I was anticipating reaching a hundred or so signatures at most after a couple of days, because petitions can sometimes be hit-or-miss if they don’t get enough attention. However, I’ve been very fortunate because everyone who has signed the petition has done an amazing job of spreading the word on sites like Facebook, Tumblr, and even on YouTube. If it wasn’t for their effort, the petition would definitely not be where it is now in terms of reaching our goal of 10,000 signatures.
Nexus: What do you think is motivating so many to sign onto this petition?
Sara: I think there are several reasons why people are motivated. One of them is that we, of course, really love DC Nation shows and are upset by the fact that the shows are going back on hiatus without any warning whatsoever, especially after enduring a summer-long hiatus. Second, Cartoon Network has yet to put forth an explanation as to why the shows were abruptly pulled off the air, nor have they released a public apology for their actions. Third, their actions show a complete disregard and even disrespect for fans as well as the creators of the shows over at DC Nation. The shows’ creators were just as much in the dark about all of this as the fans were and that is simply unacceptable to us. Finally, this is not the first time Cartoon Network has done this to their television shows. A lot of people are now really starting to get fed up with their behavior.
Nexus: What do you hope this petition, and certainly the overwhelming responses, will signal for Cartoon Network and DC Entertainment?
Sara: The message that we are trying to convey to them is that viewers are worth more than ratings. We are fans and we have feelings and we really don’t appreciate being toyed around with the way we have been recently. If it weren’t for fans watching the shows and establishing a sense of community because of these shows, these shows wouldn’t be able to exist. Fans are an extremely important part of the equation, yet Cartoon Network doesn’t seem to realize this.
Even if Cartoon Network doesn’t put DC Nation shows back on the air before 2013, we at least hope that they will apologize for their mistakes, as well as act more professionally in the future and take our feelings into consideration if something like this ever happens again.
We also hope that if DC Entertainment sees our reaction to this, the people there will sympathize with us. If the people there realize our dedication to the content they create, then they might also try to get through to Cartoon Network and let them know that things like this simply can’t happen.
Nexus: Do you expect CN and DC to heed your message? Won’t fans still just tune in when the new episodes resume in January 2013?
Sara: I think as long as we continue drawing attention to our message, our voices will be heard. We have an opportunity to make a big splash here and if we remain persistent and continue to build our numbers, CN and DC will have no choice but to notice us.
There definitely is a possibility of the latter happening, though. Unfortunately, sometimes things like this will lose their momentum after some time has passed, and once the shows come back some people might just forget all about what happened this month. Based on what I’ve seen over the last few days, though, a lot of people are really upset by this and it doesn’t look like we’ll be losing our momentum anytime soon. This isn’t the first time Cartoon Network has done something like this to their viewers and I think a lot of people are now starting to realize that enough is enough.
Nexus: Is it just me or has the most vocal fans here been the Young Justice Invasion fans, and even some diehard DC Nation shorts fans, not necessarily Green Lantern The Animated Series fans?
Sara: I’ve actually noticed a lot of upset GLTAS fans, especially on Tumblr and Twitter. This whole situation really seems to have helped unite Young Justice fans and Green Lantern fans. Regardless of what shows we are a fan of, we can all sympathize with each other over this issue and work together to make a change.
Nexus: There are a lot of rumors circulating the ‘net. What do you think are the most plausible reasons for this DC Nation postponement to January 2013?
Sara: Honestly, I have no idea what specifically happened. I’ve also heard a lot of rumors over the last few days, but nothing that really seemed legitimate to me. The most general explanation I can think of is something of a legal nature happened that required Cartoon Network to do what they did and what’s causing them to remain silent now. At least, I really hope that is the case, because if they don’t have a legitimate reason then a lot of fans will be even angrier with them than they are already.
Nexus: What’s next for you? Do you have a new petition target? What happens when you reach 10,000?
Sara: Once the petition hits 10,000 signatures, I plan on sending Cartoon Network a link to the petition, but I definitely don’t want to stop there. We’ll continue spreading the word so that more and more people can sign the petition. When the petition reaches 10,000 signatures, we’ll then shoot for 15,000. When we hit 15,000 signatures, we’ll raise the goal to 20,000, and so on and so forth. As long as we have a message to send and something to fight for, we won’t be stopping anytime soon.
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