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Entity writes...
Hi!
After reading your comments about prefering an hour-long format over a half-hour one, I thought I'd seek your opinion on something I (and I'm sure any other fan) has wondered: Do you think Gargoyles could've been "The One" to break through into mainstream?
Sure, the show was a breakthrough as it is. A heavy, animated drama series... and by the light and fluffy Disney, no less. But could it have gone further? Could it have been the first to gain the attention and respect of mainstream America? I don't think I have to say how condescendingly your average demographic adult views animation.
Gargoyles could've easily been an hour-long show. And while it had the fantasy and the science-fiction, its present urban setting made it down-to-earth. With it aimed at an adult demographic, there could've also been more of a PG rating.
That was the whole problem right there, in my opinion. The series should've never been targeted toward younger children. They were all watching Power Rangers. It was the older viewers who remember it. And they all came upon it on chance. To think of the audience Gargoyles could've gained had it been advertized for adults...
Gargoyles was so many things. Talk about a wide appeal. A cop show. A conspiracy show. A historical show. A mythological show. A sci-fi show. A business show. There were so many levels. It couldn't have been anything BUT successful.
Well, those are my... quite a few... cents. Heh. Hope I didn't ramble on.
Greg responds...
We targeted kids. I targeted kids. And, largely we were successful at reaching that target. Kids (of 1994-1996) still remember the show fondly. I know. They tell me.
I just didn't limit the show's appeal to kids.
So I think what you're really asking me is "WHAT IF IT HAD BEEN IN PRIME TIME and marketed that way?"
And my answer is... I just don't know. I would have thought that first season of BATMAN THE ANIMATED SERIES would have worked on primetime on FOX. And it didn't. And if we had been on one of the three major networks, I know we wouldn't have been given the time to build an audience and we'd have been gone. After six or less episodes. Cable sounds like the answer, but at the time there wasn't a single cable network that could have afforded the show and/or would have paid that money for a cartoon.
And all this by-passes the notion that we created the show specifically for the Disney Afternoon. So any speculation becomes such a series of What if's and maybes...
Which doesn't mean I haven't thought about it endlessly... :)