• by Ross Fadner , June 12, 2012

“Annoying Orange” has made the transition from YouTube to television, with the series debuting on Cartoon Network last night.

Having logged in more than 1 billion video views on YouTube, “Annoying Orange” will set out to prove that an online video sensation can make a successful crossover to TV.

As the LA Times points out, Cartoon Network had a modest success with the Web-to-TV series “Adventure Time,” which crossed over in 2010. Others, like CBS’ “S___ My Dad Says,” didn’t even last a full season.

One of the challenges of this format, says Jeffrey McCall, a communications professor at DePauw University, is that "Web subscribers won't automatically follow Web series to television because some of the Web charm disappears once a traditional television channel grabs the content and, in a sense, mainstreams it.”

Another problem is story development. “Annoying Orange” is often three minutes per episode, but on Cartoon Network, each episode will be comprised of two 15-minute segments. With that in mind, Emmy-winning writer Tom Sheppard, who created the 1990s cartoon hit “Pinky and the Brain,” has been brought on board to expand the story lines.