Remember the show Teen Titans on Cartoon Network? A lot of people were and are confused on what exactly happened to that show. Everyone seemed to love it and it had an extremely high viewer rate. So why would a show that was so popular with everyone be canceled by the network? While there is no definitive answer, there has been much speculation into what exactly happened to the show. Some of the answers that people come up with are rather odd while others seem misogynistic.

The one theory most talked about would be the idea that Teen Titans was too popular with the female audience and the network did not want this. Teen Titans was a show made for boys and when girls began watching, the network pulled it. Cartoons for children generally use the tactic of market segregation to vary their audiences. They make girl shows for girls and they make boy shows for boys. Networks do not even make this inconspicuous as shows such as the Powerpuff Girls and My Little Pony are directed at girls while shows like Invader Zim and Regular Show are targeted towards boys. There are exceptions of course, as there is to everything, but the goal of some shows to appeal to a certain type of audience. It even goes past the idea of gender into separation by age, nationality and other ways to appeal to many audiences. This sounds dark, but it is a way to make the most money possible by diversifying their network and cover all ends of the spectrum of entertainment. When shows that break this prejudice mold infringe on groups of people that it did not intend to is when issues arise for the show. Teen Titans is a prime example of this concept coming into reality. The show was meant to be targeted at boys but became popular with many other audiences.

Teen Titans cancellation can also be put into question due to the amount of times they have tried to reboot the series and the lack of anticipation of ending. The series ends on a cliffhanger, not only not tying up the series, but creating more plot points for the future. This shows that the creators had intentions of a continued show and had no expectations of stopping. Cartoon Network is also aware of how popular Teen Titans was as they have tried to bring it back in bastardized forms twice. While I haven't seen The Doom Patrol in any iterations, I do know that Teen Titans Go! truly fits into the jurisdiction of a bastardization. Regardless of how good these shows have done, it shows that Cartoon Network understands that Teen Titans was a moneymaker. I use the term moneymaker because that is all these networks care about. They care about how they can market a show and who will buy merchandise using a show. If a show has too large an audience, the network has no idea who to market to and will end up losing money on products that do not sell because they are not sure who to sell to. If a show is targeted for boys, you sell toys for boys. If a show is targeted towards girl, you sell toys for girls. A segregated and flawed system, but a system that some people think work.

There is no hard evidence of this misogynistic attitude being the downfall of Teen Titans and my proof thus far is just speculation of past events. The one piece of evidence that has truly convinced me that the Teen Titans has been convicted of being too open to diverse audiences is from what happened to another show. A show that came after Teen Titans called Tower Prep. Tower Prep was canceled after one season and while I have not seen tower prep, the creator has come out to voice his own opinions. On The Fatman on Batman podcast episode 52, Paul Dini speaks his mind about his show Tower Prep and why it only had one season. Dini explains that he, “began writing stories that got into the two girl's back stories, and they were really interesting”. After Tower Prep did this, Cartoon Network responded, which Dini so poignantly paraphrases “Fuck no, we want boys' action, it's boys' action and it's goofy boys' humor we gotta get that in there”. Tower Prep was popular with both audience of males and females and even their parents, says Dini. But, this apparently did not matter as the show was canceled regardless.

So what exactly happened to Teen Titans? The answer is still in the air, but there is evidence that points the direction of too many people liking it. It sounds crazy, but it would interfere with the money making strategies of these companies. The quality of the show does not matter in the corporate sense of cartoons and animation, rather how much money it rakes in is. If a show has too diverse an audience, it messes with the flow of money.