1996-2001 is my favorite CN era, because that’s what I grew up with. “Dexter’s Laboratory”, “Johnny Bravo”, “The Powerpuff Girls”, “Ed, Edd, n’ Eddy”, “Courage the Cowardly Dog”, “Samurai Jack”, and “Grim & Evil”. Those were my shows. That was back when the network first started working with its own original programming, as opposed to just replaying old Warner Bros./Merry Melodies, MGM, or Hanna-Barbera cartoons. It’s also when CN first introduced Toonami.
I still remember the shows that don’t get brought up that much anymore – like “Time Squad” or “Mike, Lu, & Og” (anyone remember those?). I also remember those “Cartoon Cartoon Fridays” programming blocs that were hosted by a character like Edd from EEnE or Bubbles from the Powerpuff Girls and played marathons of one of those cartoons, every Friday.
I guess that means I’d choose the first option, but honestly, I don’t think of shows like “Teen Titans” or “Megas XLR” as belonging to that particular period of the network. By the time those came around, the aforementioned shows had either ended or were about to end. Also, I was starting to grow out of Cartoon Network by that point…