tl;dr: Steven Universe and it's consequences have been a disaster for the animation industry.
I have no idea how that damn show became so popular. It wasn't funny, it took forever for the story to actually get going, it kept dipping into forced melodrama, the characters were annoying, and the art style was ugly (and this was before the CalArts style became the cancer it is today). Hell, even the network seemed to be trying to kill it with how they erratically aired and paused the seasons. By all accounts, it should have been canceled after two seasons at most. Granted, I never did get the appeal of any of Cartoon Network's typical stoner cartoons, which Steven Universe didn't seem any different from on the outset, but even on that criteria, people had to have been getting sick of that type of show already.
As someone who enjoyed it early on before the frog boiled, it was very much a patented J.J. Abrams' mystery box. The show teased lots of interesting ideas and concepts before revealing the most boring, basic explanations for everything.
I have no idea how that damn show became so popular. It wasn't funny, it took forever for the story to actually get going, it kept dipping into forced melodrama, the characters were annoying, and the art style was ugly (and this was before the CalArts style became the cancer it is today). Hell, even the network seemed to be trying to kill it with how they erratically aired and paused the seasons. By all accounts, it should have been canceled after two seasons at most. Granted, I never did get the appeal of any of Cartoon Network's typical stoner cartoons, which Steven Universe didn't seem any different from on the outset, but even on that criteria, people had to have been getting sick of that type of show already.
As someone who enjoyed it early on before the frog boiled, it was very much a patented J.J. Abrams' mystery box. The show teased lots of interesting ideas and concepts before revealing the most boring, basic explanations for everything.