With a decade behind the same desk, perhaps it’s not surprising that Blumberg is most proud of the fact that “we have a very strong relationship with our artists, we have a lot of people who have lots of longevity here, including the senior executives who have been together a long time.”

Even though his division’s output to date has been almost entirely 2D, Blumberg rejects a suggestion that Walt Disney TV Animation will become the keepers of the 2D torch. “I don’t know about that – I’m not abandoning anything, nor do I want to be looked at as sort of the keeper of the flame, and we certainly are looking for opportunities to develop shows that are not traditionally executed.

After success on the big screen and home entertainment, Lilo & Stitch hopes to bring in the fans with it own TV series. © Disney Television Animation.

“We just make cartoons here at TV Animation. We try not to think too seriously about 2D or 3D, because it’s about character and story and comedy. Whether it’s produced in clay animation or cel animation or CGI animation, I really think that’s what drives this business. I think every person in this country knows about SpongeBob and that’s not a very technology-driven property. More to the point here, Lilo & Stitch came out a few years ago. It was cel, 2D animated, it did very well at the box office and it has gone on to perform extremely well on TV for us.”

When asked what factor determines which theatrical features best lend themselves to spin-offs and followups, Blumberg admits that “we like to make series from the successful ones,” but acknowledges it’s not a hard and fast rule: “Chances are something that wasn’t successful at the theaters isn’t going to be a successful series, but then again Ozzy & Drix on Kids’ WB! is a very successful animated series from the movie Osmosis Jones, which failed at the box office; again, it all comes down to execution. We always look to the library of animated features to consider development. Sometimes it’s not the ones that you think of first.”

Beginning with The Return of Jafar, one hat trick the TV Animation Division has perfected is creating a sequel to a theatrical feature that serves as the basis of an ongoing TV series. Its most recent success was the direct-to-video Stitch! The Movie. According to Blumberg, “it was the first one with a really novel premise that drives our series, one that wasn’t touched upon in the feature film: if Stitch is ‘Experiment 626,’ what happened to the other 625?

“I think creatively we continue to push the Disney envelope. When I started here, shows like Recess were sort of outside of the typical purview of Disney, all the way up to something like our new show Dave the Barbarian, which you really couldn’t imagine doing here 10 years ago.”

Dave the Barbarian offers Disney Channel a Jay Ward-type cartoon. © Disney Television Animation.

Dave is the Disney Channel’s first new series of 2004. Unscreened as of this writing, the show’s concept and design have a definite Jay Ward-ish absurdist vibe, beginning with its title character, a reluctant warrior who’d rather be a gourmet chef. Writer Douglas Langdale and director Howy Parkins have an impressive array of credits between them, from Darkwing Duck and The Return of Jafar through Recess and the Buzz Lightyear TV series.

Beyond Dave, Blumberg is tight-lipped about Disney TV Animation’s future plans; other than new episodes of Kim Possible in store, all he’ll admit is that two new animated series will premiere in the fall and that the division is developing more projects than ever before. “We really don’t hint. We’ll usually tell you exactly what we’re doing when the timing is appropriate. You don’t want to go ‘hey look, we’re doing shows about kids who play basketball,’ and then the potential is there for Nickelodeon or Cartoon Network or anybody else to say ‘hey we need basketball series’.” But when asked if there are any projects based on Disney inventory they haven’t considered yet, his response is “No. I’m doing them all already.”

Bob Higgins joined Cartoon Network midway through 2003, but still managed to have a terrific, disappointment-free year at the channel. “We did phenomenally well the last six months of the year. Our ratings were up and we ended the year in great shape. We put our best stuff on in the daytime during the Christmas break when the kids were home and got a lot of high sampling, which bodes well for the coming year.