Forget about critical acclaim or cult classic status. If there’s one thing important in the entertainment world, it’s coming up with a big fat hit, a show or movie that has everyone talking and the media lining up to interview your stars.

Originally lambasted as evidence of the decline of family values, The Simpsons (left) has transformed into the model for American households. Dexter’s Laboratory (right) has been a stalwart series in building Cartoon Network’s brand of entertainment. © and ™ The Simpsons and Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. All rights reserved. Dexter’s Laboratory © Cartoon Network.

The stakes are even higher when it comes to animation. With their cross-generational appeal, sky-high licensing potential and ability to attract audiences even in their umpteenth rerun and beyond, cartoons are indeed no longer kid stuff. Programmers and producers scheme and dream to cook up that hit, but it in the long run even a sure-fire concept can go down in flames while the little show that no one even noticed turns into a national phenomenon. It’s a process more alchemy than science, with creators working harder than ever in search of that secret, mystic ingredient capable of transforming what might be programming lead into ratings gold.

Hits tend to hang around longer these days too, with primetime mainstays like The Simpsons in its 15th season and relative newcomer King of the Hill entering its sixth. Even though cartoons can be repeated endlessly and still hold on to younger viewers, a 24/7 outlet like Cartoon Network keeps adding new episodes of its classic series: the promotional value of premiere episodes, their potential for later home video release or just the importance of keeping a series fresh all justify the investment. Shows like Dexter’s Laboratory (now in its seventh season with 78 episodes under its belt) and The Powerpuff Girls (already with 78 episodes in its fifth season) are regularly put back into production or rewarded with one-time specials. The Powerpuffs, for instance get their shot at the holiday season with Twas the Fight Before Christmas in December.

Newer Cartoon Network series are being rewarded with higher production orders right off the bat. Last year’s Codename: Kids Next Door and the new Duck Dodgers and Teen Titans shows all received 52-episode orders. While aging shows may be a problem for most networks, Nickelodeon is keeping Rugrats in play by aging the show’s toddlers into ‘tweens. After 169 episodes and 12 years of the babies’ original adventures, 15 episodes of the follow-up series All Grown Up! are about to begin airing, with 10 more in the scripting stage.

Cartoon Network’s Mike Lazzo (left). Lazzo photo © Cartoon Network. Sidney Clifton (right), svp head of development at IDT Entertainment’s DPS/Film Roman.

“Well, if I knew what makes a hit, I’d be a very wealthy man,” muses Cartoon Network’s Mike Lazzo. “TV introduces dozens of shows every year, and more and more of them are animated. So the first thing we look at is what is the idea? Is the idea going to stand out in a very crowded marketplace? Animation tends at least to get noticed, but then it’s all execution; but it does help you.”

Sidney Clifton, svp head of development at IDT Entertainment’s DPS/Film Roman agrees that the eyeball-grabbing power of animation is a recurring factor in network decision-making. “Every five years or so the broadcast networks take a stab at primetime animation, most notably with The Simpsons and King of the Hill, and most recently with Family Guy and Stripperella. On many shows, however, people kind of forgot about character and story, and created very cartoon-Y cartoons rather than animated series.

The characters weren’t necessarily that strong, and in many cases there were gags but not shows, which is a death knell in primetime. Adults got it and then left.”

Clifton points to what everyone agrees is the make-or-break factor when it comes to TV animation. “You have to start with great writing, and keep in mind that on the networks,” she said. “The foundation for the series should probably be a family. The families can be traditional or non-traditional, and exist in worlds that are ordinary or not. But again, if you write it well and find a visual style that supports the writing, rather than coming up with a really cool look and making the writing of secondary importance, in primetime somebody will take the gamble.”