This really irritates me, too. I like the new animation and also the tweaked up theme song, but when I first saw it shortened, I was like "What the...?? Why??" Ugh, they didn't even edit the song very well, and you can very clearly hear that it's cut off. And I miss seeing Frankie, Madame F. (and Mac waving to her), and even Mr. H. And although I'm sure we all get that song stuck in our head for hours on end, we're so use to hearig it that way that when we suddenly hear it shortened it just feels....wrong! Ugh, I'm irritated.
The only thing I can really think of as to why CN did this is because of advertising. That 10 seconds isn't long enough for a full commercial, but it's long enough to air a 40 second commercial rather than a 30 second one. And that of course would pay more, especially in the long run. But that makes me wonder if CN is having financial problems at the moment. Or maybe they're just trying to get extra funds to do something big. I hope it's the latter.
I also wonder if it's just a "summer" thing, and they're trying to keep kids on summer break to keep watching, again without cutting commercial time. I've noticed they've been playing more shorts this summer. Maybe that's where that extra 10 seconds per eppie is going (added with the shortened intros of other shows). They're just trying to keep the ratings up, and the viewers watching.
I sure hope they revert back to the original intro once fall starts again. I'll miss the intro in the whole if they don't. Especially with the new animation and the tweaked theme.
