Recently Cartoon Network has begun the downward slope towards the employment of playing back to back 11 minute episodes of their shows; along with this, they have also lost a great number of quality shows that started with the discontinuation of Teen Titans in 2006 and Young Justice in 2013. With the loss of shows like Teen Titans, Ben 10, Young Justice, and Star Wars: Clone Wars from Cartoon Network, have we seen the last of well animated television from the network? Exploring this topic would also need to include the success or failures of such shows as Adventure Time, Regular Show, Steven Universe, and so on. It should also include an introspective comparison between the differences of audience, plot, and animation style.
I think with any decade there's hit and misses and its important to not let nostalgia lead to an obvious bias. Growing up in the 90s I had mostly exposure from cartoons from the 80s and the 90s. There were certainly great ones but also stinkers looking back. All the shows you listed as the classic era are all from 2000s, which I think would be the weaker era if any. Shows like Adventure Time and Steven Universe actually felt like a Renaissance to me with how they handle continuity, character development, and mature relationships and themes. – ivanly8 years ago
A great video on this topic:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUwiYrOmAuM – m-cubed8 years ago