How The Real Ghostbusters Cartoon Was Completely Ruined By ABC

Though my memories of the classic TV cartoons from my childhood are a little hazy and probably biased by nostalgia, I know I preferred the "The Real Ghostbusters" animated series over Ivan Reitman's iconic 1984 live-action original. Although the show was essentially a continuation of that movie, it also felt like a soft reboot that reimagined the story and characters in a much livelier, funnier, and more laid-back way. There was a lot of slapstick humor and playful banter that somehow fit the animated universe better than the film. The creators had more room to expand and experiment with the characters, alongside an infinite potential for coming up with new spooks, monsters, and ghosts roaming around New York City. And of course, Slimer was more hilarious than ever, and it's because of this show that he even appears in "Ghostbusters II."

But as is often the case, the network couldn't refrain from tinkering with a working formula in hopes of increasing viewership, which ultimately ruined what had been great about the series and led to its cancellation in 1991. According to one of the series' writers (via Den of Geek), Dennys McCoy, once ABC brought in the consultancy firm Q5 from Season 3, things slowly began to go downhill. They started changing the show's tone, core humor, and satirical banter that had been the bread and butter of the main characters to make the show more appealing to young children. The cheeky, edgy Janine was altered to appear softer to appeal to younger female viewers. The firm even floated the idea of writing out Ray Stantz completely. But as McCoy stated, the lowest point was perhaps the introduction of the Junior Ghostbusters, a team of children working alongside the Ghostbusters to create a "deeper connection" with younger viewers.

Among the many changes that came in Season 3, "The Real Ghostbusters" was renamed to "Slimer! and The Real Ghostbusters." McCoy (and his wife, Pamela Hickey, who was also involved as a writer with the "Slimer!" sub-series that aired alongside "The Real Ghostbusters" at one point) didn't like the modifications and tonal shifts, and spoke about how altering the show to appeal to more kids eventually backfired.

In the same Den of Geek interview, he said, "There was always this idea that children have to have somebody their own age in their cartoons. But how do you explain watching Bugs Bunny? He was obviously a 25-year-old guy." He also elaborated on why that idea wasn't necessarily the right one to follow, given that they already had a good show that was doing just fine. "It's a fallacy because if you look at the most successful cartoon in the world today, it's something like "One Piece" where there are no children, and yet everyone watches it. Kids appreciate a good story as much as anybody, and they don't care if it comes out of an adult space or a kid's one."

However, ABC clearly didn't take that into consideration and kept implementing more detrimental changes that destroyed an initially superb cartoon, ultimately leading to poor ratings and a cancellation after 140 episodes and seven seasons. It's a shame, but again, you can't really say that "The Real Ghostbusters" didn't have a (mostly) good run — even if the end was rather bitter.