Toonzai


Toonzai was an American Saturday morning cartoon children's television block that aired on The CW from May 24, 2008 to August 18, 2012. The block was created as a result of a four-year agreement between 4Kids Entertainment and The CW. The original name for the block from May 24, 2008 to September 11, 2010, The CW4Kids, was retained as a sub-brand through the end of the block's run in order to fulfill branding obligations per 4Kids Entertainment's contract to lease The CW's Saturday morning time slots. The name is a portmanteau of "toon" and the Japanese term banzai, reflecting the majority of anime programming on the block.
The block was replaced by Saban Brands' program block Vortexx, which debuted on August 25, 2012. On April 11, 2013, the Toonzai website redirected to the Vortexx website. Vortexx closed on September 27, 2014, and was replaced by Litton's One Magnificent Morning.

History

Origin and launch

On October 2, 2007, The CW announced due to a joint decision between the network's parent companies Time Warner and CBS Corporation that it would cancel the Kids' WB programming block, due to the effects of children's advertising limits and competition from cable television, and sell the programming time to 4Kids Entertainment. Kids' WB was discontinued on The CW on May 17, 2008. 4Kids Entertainment took over programming the block on May 24, 2008, premiering under the name The CW4Kids. In addition to programming the block, 4Kids also handled responsibilities for its content and advertising revenue.
At the time of the block's launch, 4Kids also programmed the competing 4Kids TV block for Fox, until that network canceled its time leasing agreement with 4Kids TV on December 27, 2008, due to a dispute between Fox and 4Kids involving 4Kids' failure to pay the network for its time lease, and the network's inability to maintain guaranteed clearances for the block, due to difficulties getting Fox affiliates and stations that would be used as default carriers of the block in markets where the Fox station did not carry 4Kids TV to air it.
On April 27, 2010, 4Kids announced that it would rebrand The CW4Kids as Toonzai, which took effect on September 18, 2010.

Takeover by Saban Brands and closure

On June 26, 2012, Kidsco Media Ventures, an affiliate of Saban Capital Group, finalized a bid to acquire 4Kids' agreement with The CW for the block. On July 2, 2012, it was announced that Saban Brands, through Kidsco Media Ventures, would begin programming the block, which would be relaunched under the name Vortexx. Toonzai quietly shut down on The CW on August 18, 2012, after a Yu-Gi-Oh! marathon, with Vortexx premiering the following week on August 25, 2012. Some of Toonzai's programming, including Yu-Gi-Oh!, Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal, Sonic X, and Dragon Ball Z Kai episodes|Dragon Ball Z Kai] continued to air on the block until September 27, 2014, when Vortexx closed.

Programming

It was the final children's block on The CW to be broadcast only in standard definition.

Programming differences

In most markets, CW affiliates used the network's recommended Saturday morning scheduling for the block, though some such as CW owned-and-operated station WUPA in Atlanta aired it on Sunday, instead due to regular Saturday programming. Connecticut affiliate WCCT-TV aired three hours on Saturday, and two hours on Sunday. KMAX-TV in Sacramento, California aired the entire lineup, but it had a four-hour tape delay, running from 11:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. WLFL in Raleigh, North Carolina and WNUV in Baltimore, aired the entire lineup, but it had two hours earlier, running from 5:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. San Diego's XETV-TV, aired three hours from 5:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. and two hours from 10:00 a.m. to noon. San Antonio's KMYS, which affiliated with The CW in 2010, aired it on Sunday and Monday before 5:00 a.m. Other stations preempted portions of the block, while Shreveport, Louisiana's KPXJ-TV preempted the final hour of the block. Columbus, Georgia's WLTZ-DT2 preempted the first half-hour of the block.
While The CW recommended that its affiliates carry The CW4Kids/Toonzai block at 7:00 a.m. to noon Saturday mornings, its secondary CW Plus national feed for smaller markets aired the Toonzai block an hour earlier on its broadcast and cable-only affiliates in the Central, Mountain and Alaska time zones, as The CW Plus operates two separate feeds running on Eastern and Pacific time zone schedules. The only exception was in Boise, Idaho, where they had two CW networks, The CW Plus affiliate KNIN-DT2 carried the block, but the main CW affiliate KNIN-TV declined to carry the block or the block's predecessor Kids' WB upon becoming a charter CW affiliate after the affiliation switch from UPN in September 2006, as the station did not clear for daytime CW programming including weekends; KNIN-TV instead carried syndicated E/I programming in the station's Saturday morning timeslot, making Boise one of the only television markets where Kids' WB or The CW4Kids not available on a CW affiliate via analog before the analog signal shutdown on June 12, 2009.

Former programming

The CW4Kids

Programming from [4Kids TV]
Acquired programming
† - Program transitioned from Kids' WB!

‡ - Program transitioned to Toonzai

Toonzai

Programming from [4Kids TV]
Acquired programming
† - Program transitioned from The CW4Kids

‡ - Program transitioned to Vortexx

Short-form programming