Cartoon Network
On June 13, Cartoon Network goes au naturel, errr, I mean un-natural with the premiere of its first live-action mystery series, Unnatural History.
Airing Sunday nights, the family-focused series stars Kevin G. Schmidt as Henry, a globe-hopping teenager sent to live with his uncle in an entirely new environment: Washington. D.C. There, Henry, his savvy cousin Jasper, and their brainy friend Maggie solve mysteries at their odd high school, naturally located on the grounds of a history museum.
Fortunately, Henry's picked up some mad skills from his worldwide experiences, including martial arts and lock-picking (!) Think Power Rangers meets Eerie, Indiana meets The Wild Thornberries meets Kyle XY plus a dash of Taylor Lautner's DNA.
Of course, what makes Unnatural History truly unnatural for Cartoon Network is that it's not a cartoon! Is this the beginning of the end for Cartoon Network and the beginning of the beginning for the vague "CN?" Probably. They have more live action shows coming down the pike.
With The Weather Channel airing Hollywood movies and The SciFi Channel renaming itself SyFy, television genre lines are getting blurrier than Jonathan Rhys-Meyers' eyesight. It won't be long before The History Channel starts showing Spanish soap operas and PBS airs cartoons for grownups... again.
Still, it's nice to see the return of hour-long family dramas that don't rely on the supernatural to be super satisfying. Nickelodeon dabbled in this narrative territory a decade or so ago with shows like The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo, The Secret World of Alex Mack, and The Journey of Allen Strange, but soon traded in those programs for zany cartoons and tweentastic sit-coms. Before that, you have to go back to The Hardy Boys.
Now the CN gives this old format a shot. But don't be surprised if the bet pays off. If anyone knows anything about resurrecting antiquated TV genres, it's Cartoon Network -- even if they're not so animated about it.
Will your tweens watch family-friendly TV dramas? Chime in!
Also: Cartoon Network's New Shows for Kids
