WarnerMedia has officially launched its own streaming platform, HBO Max, with content from The CW, DC Entertainment, Adult Swim, Cartoon Network, and more, but it’s missing some popular titles, especially from Cartoon Network. The streaming wars continue to heat up, especially during the coronavirus pandemic, as streaming platforms are now the only way in which audiences can get their fix of films and TV shows, and WarnerMedia has now joined the battle.
HBO Max launched on May 27, and it arrived with a lot of licensed and original content, most notably Friends, Game of Thrones, all Lord of the Rings films and the whole Harry Potter saga. Contrary to other recently launched services, HBO Max has content for all ages and tastes, with Cartoon Network in charge of the younger audiences. The platform arrived with some well-known and beloved cartoon shows in its catalogue, but subscribers were quick to point out that the service is still missing a lot of Cartoon Cartoons.
Those with an HBO Max subscription can enjoy cartoons like The Powerpuff Girls, Dexter’s Laboratory, Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends, and Samurai Jack, but the platform is missing a lot of other popular and fan-favorite shows. Fans have voiced their disappointment when they didn’t find Ed, Edd n Eddy, Johnny Bravo, Courage the Cowardly Dog, and Codename: Kids Next Door in HBO Max’s catalogue of Cartoon Network content, making them wonder if their deal fell through or if there’s another platform blocking them from joining WarnerMedia’s.
In some cases, the problem is that these cartoons are still streaming in other services. Courage the Cowardly Dog, for example, can be found on Amazon Prime and Boomerang on Amazon; season 1 of Johnny Bravo and Ed, Edd n Eddy are on Hoopla; and Codename: Kids Next Door is currently streaming on Boomerang on Amazon and Hoopla. Others, like Cow & Chicken, aren’t streaming anywhere, so it’s possible that they will be added in a near future, as well as the previously mentioned shows as soon as they are free to move to HBO Max.
In the meantime, HBO Max subscribers can enjoy other, more recent shows from Cartoon Network that might not be considered classics just yet, but they are definitely entertaining, such as The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack, Adventure Time, Regular Show, Steven Universe, and Clarence. Though it’s understandable that subscribers are disappointed to see those classic Cartoon Cartoons missing, more so as some of them were used to promote the platform, it’s just a matter of waiting for them to be added – after all, it’s a very extensive vault of content and it can’t be released at once.