The Complete History of CN Real 

I find it rather ironic that this whole thing started with a bomb scare and that one of the shows they ended up making was literally about blowing things up.

It’s weird to think that for a few years, some shows on Cartoon Network weren’t cartoons.

Yes, I remember watching these back in the late 2000s-early 2000s. Yes, I watched Destroy Build Destroy and Dude, What Would Happen? (both shows that survived after the CN Real block was discontinued when Cartoon Network rebranded to the Check It era in 2010).

This was well worth the wait. Fine work as usual. I always saw CN Real as Cartoon Network's attempt at gaining the audiences that Nickelodeon and Disney Channel got with their live action shows. The problem was that Cartoon Network either liked to half-ass things or didn't put in any time or money to make something with any staying power, they think, if we do the thing it's bound to work no questions asked. About the only thing that had any potential in CN Real is Tower Prep, even Destroy Build Destroy depending on who you ask. When you look into things from a business perspective, it helps paint a clearer picture, but by the end CN Real had nothing worth defending, like they threw whatever they could at the wall.

1992-1998 - Checkerboard 1998-2004 - Powerhouse 2004-2006 - CN City 2006-2008 - Yes! / Fall / Summer 2008-2010 - Noods / CN REAL (

Even as a kid I thought it was stupid for a channel based solely on cartoons would suddenly do live action stuff.

I think the problem wasn’t just CN Real but more everything surrounding it, cancelation of cartoons, lack of new cartoons etc. The Noods deserved a better era. Also Jim Samples wasn’t innocent ether he allowed Re-animated and started airing live action movies around ‘05. Edit: Overabundance of licensed shows too, I like Total Drama as much as the next guy but Canadian cartoons outnumbered the amount of original stuff.

I’d like to see a video about Tickle U, CN’s failed preschool block.

it's fascinating how short these ran for, and the only ones i really did remember were Destroy Build Destroy and Dude What Would Happen before the hybrid of cartoons and live action also, those edits during the destroy build destroy section were amazing, just recreating the transitions from pure passion for it being "The Okay One!" and i love it

I love Hole in the Wall. That show was awesome. It was a game show where panels were pushed across a stage and you had to match the shape of the hole inside them or it would push you into the water.

I remember seeing some advertisements for _Destroy Build Destroy_ back when CN Real was still going, and I honestly never understood it at all.

I was a stupid kid in 2009, I didn't know any of the behind the scenes. I enjoyed Brain Rush, DBD, and Dude, what would happen. They were dumb but enjoyable, the rest sucked, and I would have gotten so much money on Brain Rush if I had gotten on.

They also had chowder at the time too

I remember actually enjoying the CN real shows back when I was 12

here in brazil, cn tried too to seel live actions shows too like level up and mr young, but this really shows of cn real never got airing here. And i can see why.

"Perhaps we treated Teen Titans Go too harshly..."

More like the *TRAGEDY* of CN REAL.

When it comes to CN Real, I see it as a necessary evil because of two quotes I read from DarktonReturns (formerly known as darkton93) of deviantART: 1. CN Real was a last resort, a way to keep the network afloat during the 2007-2008 Writers Guild of America Strike and Great Recession that made animation hard to do. 2. Stuart Snyder may have done CN Real, but he was in a bad position. The 2007-2008 Writers Guild of America Strike and Great Recession hit right around the time it started, and without CN Real, the network couldn't have survived because it would be forced to air reruns, or why else do you think that period got so heavy on Canadian cartoons? The shows were pre-made and only needed to be licensed. It was no different from licensing an anime.

"IT ALL STARTS AT 8!! WEDNESDAY NIGHTS!! CN REAL!! ONLY ON CARTOON NETWORK!!" In all seriousness, I don't like CN Real. I was a little kid whose brain is too childish enough to enjoy old RU-vid and PBS Kids (is that a bad thing?) so I'm not familiar with it until 2012. That's a really good video about the block! Big kudos! 🤗❤ Oh BTW, I like your imitation to Los Angeles Times!!

CN Real was certainly a waste of time.

I find it funny that Knott's Berry Farm made was on Cartoon Network of all places.

I JUST got finished watching your R&S APC video and coincidentally you uploaded this

I really don't remember much about CN Real at all.....and I think I have a feeling everyone will be happy that I didn't much Memories of this Era.

2009-2011 really was such a rough time to watch TV as a kid. CN Real was an instant channel-changer for me and I didn't like most of the Canadian imports (yes, that includes Total Drama sorry). None of those shows interested me in the slightest and were all super boring, but Nickelodeon wasn't doing much better either. They were running SpongeBob and FOP into the ground with several bad seasons in rotation every day, and when it wasn't those, Fanboy and Chum Chum, Bread Winners and all those other garbage shows from around that time period filled out the time slot. 90% of the time I had to settle for Disney Channel, my least favorite of the big 3, but if they were airing a show I didn't like I just had to pray CN was airing old reruns of Cartoon Cartoons or Nickelodeon was airing an old SponegBob episode (or iCarly, that was their one new saving grace imo). I'd say all of those channels peaked probably around 2005, at least for my childhood.

This is like the fifth CNReal video made this year

I had forgotten CNReal was a thing that happened. I enjoyed the idea behind one or two of the shows, but the execution was lacklustre overall and I think that may have been what drove me more towards cartoons over live action shows.

Kinda ironic that Destroy Build Destroy was parodied on Cartoon Network’s Mad And Andrew WK appeared on Uncle Grandpa

I watched these back in the day and actually thought nothing of it. But now, I don't think anything live action should air in a channel called CARTOON network.

History? More like a mystery

I’ll give CN Real this - the scheduling wasn’t that bad; for the most part, the shows stuck within the block itself. The issue was that they were constantly advertised over what few cartoons the network had like Total Drama Action. If you wanna put the debacle on one fatal flaw, I’d put it on the advertising

"Dude what would happen if our Show got cancelled, I'll get on my knees and thank the Lord" - Benthelooney.

I lived in Latin America, where Cartoon Network was always super popular. I think outside of Re-animated the movie, we never got anything else, not even out of Jimmy's Head. And im thankful for it, as someone who prefers animation over live action as a medium, the idea of CN going live action is as logical as watching a Yuri anime and asking "WHERE DEM STRAIGHT GIRLS AT"

I remember that they had to bring back reruns KND, Ed Edd n Eddy, Courage, and Billy and Mandy because CN Real was such a flop and they didn’t have much in the way of new cartoons.

Ah CN Real, the forbidden era. The only thing good that came out of this, specifically Out of Jimmy’s Head, is Tinashe.

The contestants for being trained by a survival teacher in a survival School.

I can say I really liked Tower Prep & I'm still upset that we never figured out what happened after that s1 finale

CN REAL was the absolute WORST of Cartoon Network even by today's standards! There is nothing redeeming about it, all stuff were terrible and come on- no offense to the Survivorman, but those kids weren't going to survive his challenges! I was in college when this stuff came out on CN and many were severely disappointed till Regular Show finally came on board!😂

Not part of that block, but Harry Hill's TV Burp was also on Cartoon Network. Yeah really, that show of Harry taking the mick out of British TV was on a kid's network. (Albeit edited here and there.)

5:39 how could stewie griffin be a member since march 27 09 with the message being posted the day before?

"Bobb'E Says" was more like "American's Funniest Home Videos".

Ah yes, when Cartoon Network became just... Network.

17:53 not me of course! only _one_ episode being found of tosh.0 with the "cory got a bone hand!" kid is preposterous!

4:16 Hannah Montana slander is unacceptable that show is hilarious.

even as a kid I thought it was kinda odd CN Real was thing but I remember watching the shows anyway

Even as a kid I thought the idea of a channel dedicated to cartoons airing live action shows was dumb. Sure I watched out of jimmy’s head, but looking back, yeah, it wasn’t great.

2009 was Cartoon Network’s first dark age, but at least It had variety, Looney Tunes returned to the channel, and underrated animated movies aired during the morning where kids are at school.

dude! the host for Brainrush is Winston from New Girl!! I never knew that until i started watching that show and seeing this video!

"Dude, what would happen if we canceled your show?"

As a kid, I really liked Brain Rush. Actors aside, I think the show can work if they had a lot more than just the same three RollerCoasters in every episode. Or perhaps explore more parks other than Knott's Berry Farm. Perhaps have a collab with Six Flags and film all over the country.

I’m glad this Train-wreck gave way to Adventure Time & Steven Universe. So at least better things emerged from it.

Remember that one South Park episode where Stan tells Jewelry Host to kill himself? Thats kinda what I bet everyone told Stuart Snydar to do (as well as other people like Bob Iger and David Zaslav)

Maybe one day you can do a follow-up talk about the other live-action shows.

I’m thankful for the animation renaissance Cartoon Network has gained with shows like “Steven Universe” and “We Bare Bears”

Went looking about what happened to the actors. Note - Made this while kinda tired and didn’t finish the video yet lol Brain Rush > Laboren Morris became an actor > Sarah Karges became an actress, but the most recent was as “Jennifer Miller” in Palo Alto The Othersiders Note: They have twitters. Pretty baren though Riley Litman - Actor. Handsome. Last Known Role was in 2019 as Jimmy in “Bit” KC Costonis - No other roles besides this. Someone with the same name is a programmer, but other than that, unknown. Sam Hirsch - Unknown. Couldn’t find anything. Zack Burke - A Musician??? Other than that, Unknown. Jackie Zhao - Unknown. Destroy Build Destroy Andrew W.K. - HE’S A MUSICIAN??? Makes sense since he was practically the face of CN Real. Handsome. Bobb’s Says Bobb’e Thompson - An actor. Last known role was in 2021 in “A Rich Christmas” and “Miracles Across 125th Street” Dude, What Would Happen C.J. Manigo - Has a show-related Twitter with one tweet. Was an actor, couldn’t find anything else. Jackson Rogow - Appeared as Geek #3 in 2 Broke Girls in 2012. Last known role was as a producer in 2022 for the TV Short in “Remembering”. Ali Sepasyar - Last known role was as a script supervisor for the short “Madaran” Out Of Jimmy’s Head Bill Dwyer - Last known role was in 2022 in the show “Loot” as Emcee Jon Kent Ethridge 2 - Continued to be an actor. L.K.R was as George in the movie “Catfish Christmas” in 2022 Dominic Janes - Has performed improvisational comedy. L.K.R was as a writer in “Super Mario Logan” in 2019. Tinashe Kachingwe - Became a musician. We love a queen. L.K. Music video was in 2024 called “Nasty” Matt Knudsen - Continued to be an actor. L.K.R. Was in 2024 in the tv show “General Hospital” as Dr. Mark Kramer Rhea Lando - Has a dog. Also a twitter. May also be in Scientology. L.K.R. Was in a short in 2010, “It’s Not About Coffee” as Vanessa Level Up Gaelan Draper - Got married to the cofounder of Quick Creative. L.K.R was as Greg in the 2021 short “Streamer Stalker” Jessie Usher - Prospered as an actor. A.K.A A-Train in “Gen V” Connor Del Rio - Continued as an actor. L.K.R. Was in 2021 in “Streamer Stalker” as TouchmyToaster Aimee Carrero - Famous Lonny Ross - L.K.R. Was in either “A Futile and Stupid Gesture” or “Little Big Awesome”. Apparently also stared in “Angry Old Man & Teenage Runaway” Unnatural History Kevin Schmidt - President of the Conscious Human Initiative. A creative. L.K.R. Was in the film “Randy’s Canvas” as Clinton in 2018. Jordan Gavaris - Actor. L.K.R. Was in 2024 in the show “Hacks” as Logan. Also Homosexual. Italia Ricci - Hallmark Queen. L.K.R. Was in “Catch Me if You Claus” in 2023 as Avery Quinn Martin Donovan - Actor. L.K.R was in the movie “The Apprentice “ in 2024.

Being born in 2000 is objectively the worst time to grow up with Cartoon Network in the late 2000’s, like CN Real. And the older cartoons from CN barely airing reruns after they’re cancelled. And I didn’t have the boomerang channel when I was a kid because I only owned comcast. I didn’t know what the fuck am I missing out of what came before at the time because I was only a preschooler. So, Womp Womp for me. Talk about bad timing, I should’ve born in the 90’s, and it was my moms fault for not letting her finish work sooner before 2000. At least I didn’t grow up with Cartoon Network during 2016-2021, with the crappy and questionable reboots like TTG or PPG 2016.

those shows were better suited for Nickelodeon and Disney XD. Maybe you should do a dumbest things that Disney XD.

Thank god we had Boomerang in 2009 because it would have been so Boring to only have Cartoon Network during 09

i was one of the very few people who liked this block, loved it as a kid

5:17 Sunday Pants is goated!

4:21, Well, its like he said, Re-Animated (not to be confused for Re-Animator the Horror Movie) and Out of Jimmy's Head were technically Live-Action/Animated Hybrid (which either one should've gotten a pass at some point), but I do somewhat understand where he's getting at. 4:31, I think Out of Jimmy's Head is more of a Sequel series, but again, I understand what you're trying to say here.

My apologies for the last comment, I didn't watch the video at the time of making that comment, I got sick and tired of the CN real related videos on RU-vid but after watching this video my opinions changed, I actually kinda like this video.❤

I would take an all-day Teen Titans Go! Marathon over CN Real any day.

I remember about survive this the contestants been about 2 weeks in survival school learning how to survive in the wilderness the kids have plenty of time to prepare friends to the teacher that they had in the survive School.

0:25, I never heard of that before

I remember watching survive this in my jrotc class a few years ago when we were talking about survival skills. It was a show that I watched and that is all I have to say

and you cant blame cn for trying something new rather than same dying old trend like nick/disney still doing.

most of these shows on paper are what were witnessing now . DBD /dude what would happen is literally all youtubers videos. Othersiders /survive this literally more youtuber vlog type of videos. Its just the execution and budget is what really killed the potential for channel. they had the future right in their hands but cheaped out and lost out. Cnreal was ahead of its time but just had very poor execution. Mark my words

I dispute the LA Times writer's point of "these shows are for kids", and not in the "kids deserve better" way. Reason 1 - CN's own viewers: Considering how badly most of the CN Real shows bombed, I don't think it'd be a stretch to say that even kids didn't like or care about these shows. Reason 2 - Poaching Nick and Disney's viewership: Why would kids watch Out of Jimmy's Head when they already have Suite Life or iCarly? Kids don't mince words; when something sucks, they will react accordingly without beating around the bush. Plus, CN always catered to animation's inherent multi-generational appeal (this is the reason Adult Swim exists), so excluding older audiences from the discussion is honestly asinine to begin with.

I like to say that demolition ranch on yt is, a spiritual embodiment of destroy build destroy

for me it was hole in the wall, destroy built destroy, and dude what would happen

I rarely remember CN Real.

Vaguely I remember watching a lot of Nickolodeon back then.

The very idea of live action programming on a network dedicated to cartoons (with "cartoon" being right there in the name) was bad enough, but I think the main reason the shows failed was because they were clearly made because they were cheap to produce. That is just simply not enough to get audiences interested, even if the audience is primarily children.

first MTV stops making music, then cartoon network makes live action shows, what's next, is comedy central making a dead-serious drama with no jokes?

Dude what would happen is a guilty pleasure

I really wished they tried to think of how to at least make a show that could relate to animation, like a game show where contestants how to animate a scene in a short amount of time or a VR like game with motion capture animation.

The more I think of Brain Rush: How do these people even hear each other on a roller coaster? I can barely hear anyone talking to me over the wind & screaming.

I didn’t like the era of Cartoon Network going this route but I do have a guilty pleasure/soft spot for Out of Jimmy’s Head? Is it possible you do a history episode of the series and Reanimated?

History Time!

Channeleven my boi.

15:29 NGL, I wonder how the cast of Scooby Doo would fare against Mr. Beast.

I remember the Othersiders is what got me into ghost hunting. Which is why I was obsessed with Ghost Adventure's till I was like 13. Other then that I hated when this block came on. A couple memories I have of this block is. One night I think the rollercoaster show was on and I was so board I turned on Dogs 101 because literally nothing else was on. And my brother didn't want to watch Dogs 101 so we started fighting over the control. So my mom stormed in and made use agree on a DVD and for me to put that on. And then another time I was with my mom and she stopped at her friends house to have a bowl made. And I was so board he let me watch TV and all I could find was Destroy Build Destroy or Gorege Lopez. And i HATED GL so DBD it was. This block is what causes me to focus more on RU-vid/New grounds for pirated shows/ just my entertainment in general. So there is that.

So the Boston aqua teen adverts killed CN basically. Cause I never liked anything that came after CN real, watched Edd Ed n Eddy's big picture show I never really turned back, I gave them a try and just didn't like them.

Alot of these shows are awesome. They just didn't belong on CN. I still love Hole in the Wall to this day. Dude what would happen and Dextroy Build Destroy were super cool. I happily watched those shows as a kid.

Cartoon Network started to die when they canceled Toonami

To Be Honest Here The Only Thing I Barely Cared About on CN Real was Slam Ball It was a bad concept from bad creative

The only shows from this era that I enjoyed were Hole in the Wall and Destroy Build Destroy.

The Lost era of cartoon Network

9:37 Damn.

Tower prep, unnatural history, and Level Up were the shows I cared about on CN real

When CN Real started I was really interested because I liked watching Ghost Adventures. The Othersiders being a ghost show specifically for teens was awesome for me and I remember going on the website to see the extra things they had to listen to. After watching the other shows, I only cared about The Othersiders and Dude, What would happen? I actually never once saw Bobb'e Says because for some reason it just never actually came on. I've never heard of Survive This, how is this part of the line-up? I don't think I've ever once seen it in a commercial either. Destroy, Build, Destroy was okay, I just had no interest in it

Most recent CN real vid I seen so far

'These shows-by definition- have not been created for that particular audience'. In other words, 'It wasn't made for you!' Also 'to serve younger, less particular CN viewers.' Or, to quote A certain drinker, 'Modern Audiences'. (Sound familiar?) Truth be told, the inclusion of these shows was sacrilege, and A betray to A cartoon fan. Also, I would rather watch older sitcoms than the tween stuff airing on Nick, and Disney Channel. (Yes, I would rather watch 'DuckTales' than 'Hanna Montana'.)

Huh. I thought Re-Animated was a part of CN real or at least the same push for live action.

Hated Hole in the wall.

Bobb’E Says in some aspects reminds me of World’s Dumbest.

Wait, parents had a problem with soda?

I’m the only one who didn’t hate out of jimmy’s head it’s not the first time I’ve had the hottest take but still ( yes I did consider doing a family guy style cutaway here as well 😂)

6:01 that contrarian being me. pretty much every live-action show cn aired i ended up liking to various levels.

I remember this as a kid. Needless to say, I never got into them. They seemed so out of place on the channel.