“We premiered three shows in ‘03. Codename: Kids Next Door actually began in December, just at the end of the year and took off in ‘03; it became our highest rated show in the first or second quarter and has stayed there ever since. It’s a huge kid empowerment show that takes an unexpected approach and revels in its silliness.”

While Higgins is also happy with Cartoon Network’s newest DC Comics’ franchise Teen Titans, he admits, “it’s not our number two show. It’s definitely in top 10 or top five depending on the week. It’s been well received by critics, fans and by the viewers. It’s driven our Saturday night action franchise since it premiered in the summer and it’s our ratings leader for night.”

Daffy Duck finally gets the respect he feels he deserves with his own series, Duck Dodgers. © Cartoon Network.

Higgins is also pleased with Daffy Duck’s return to his classic Chuck Jones Duck Dodgers persona in the channel’s third new series of last year. “The show has done great. It’s a funny show and it was a big risk in trying to recreate a classic. I think Spike [Brandt] & Tony [Cervone, the series supervising producers] did a phenomenal job. This was their passion project for years and they pulled it off.”

The flipside of the Dodgers series is the diminishing presence of the classic Looney Tunes themselves, a move that Higgins admits is a “conscious decision” on the channel’s part. Apart from a growing inventory of original, Cartoon Network-branded characters and programming to fill airtime, “there’s a station we have called Boomerang, which is all about classic characters. We’re trying to grow Boomerang, and by moving those characters there we’re hopefully going to make it an alternate destination that people will be asking their cable operators to add to their lineups.”

One surprise for Higgins and the channel was the popularity of a pair suburban kids and their buddy the Grim Reaper. After two years on Cartoon Network as part of The Grim and Evil Show, The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy was spun off into its own series this past June (as was the perpetually frustrated, would-be world dictator “Evil Con Carne”). “This is the little show that could,” says a proud Higgins. “It came on without much fanfare and these two characters just really popped. The decision was made to give them their own show and Evil Con Carne got his own show as well. It just continues to increase its ratings week after week, exhibition after exhibition and we have huge amounts of hope for it. It’s just a great funny little show.”

Like his competition and colleagues, Higgins has a batch of new programming in the works for 2004. Although he took over at the network in mid ‘03, he is partial to one new show called Megas XLR, set to premiere in May. “It’s the one I was able to put the most imprint on. It’s a real different show – if there was ever a show that’s made by fanboys for fanboys, this is it. I don’t think it’s fanboy exclusive, but it pokes fun at pop comic book and cartoon culture in the way a South Park would, but not dirty like South Park.

Cartoon Network execs are very optimistic about the possible success of Megas XLR. © Cartoon Network.

“It’s really a show for gamers, for cartoonists and all their friends. The characters in it are funny and relatable and we have huge hopes for this show. It’s about two Jersey guys who happen to find a giant robot in the local dump – The Iron Giant meets Clerks, but without the profanity.

“Saturday nights we’re going to be targeting boys – we’re putting a real concerted effort behind building Saturdays, and Megas goes right after every 9-14 boy out there.”

Other plans for the first half of 2004 include new seasons of Teen Titans, Kids Next Door, Billy and Mandy, Duck Dodgers and the return of Johnny Bravo, beginning with a new 30-minute, guest star-filled special, Johnny Goes Hollywood. “He had been on hiatus for a while,” reports Higgins, “but then the network decided he went away too soon, and wanted to bring him back. We ordered 13 new half hours that will be premiering over the next six to nine months.”