When I mentioned to a friend that I was writing this article, she described — without any prompting — Rugrats appeal to herself and her daughter: “We all knew somebody like Angelica or Tommy when we were growing up — not just the nice side of kids, but how they act and behave when they’re at their best and not so best.”

Margie Cohn, Nickelodeon’s svp of production and development, was downright delighted when I told her about my friend. “That’s wonderful — it’s so great when the audience understands what you’re trying to do.” Cohn credits Rugrats duration to the series’ writing, and the appeal of the show’s well developed characters to its ‘deeply devoted’ audience. In fact, she credits those fans with the inspiration for the new series. “We found out kids so identified with the babies that they always wondered what the characters would be like at their age.”

The success of The Rugrats allowed for a spin-off, All Grown Up! © Nickelodeon.

Nickelodeon wondered too, and their curiosity led to All Grown Up!, a 10th anniversary Rugrats special that aired during summer 2001. The fantasy episode (with the babies themselves imagining their tween-years futures) turned out to be Nick’s highest rated special ever, delivering ‘Super Bowl ratings’ to the channel. A two season order of 35 episodes followed, leading to the premiere this December of All Grown Up! — the series, produced by Klasky Csupo.

It’s not the end of the line for the Rugrats babies, however: a handful of original episodes remain unaired, and the channel is “constantly thinking of new ideas” for the characters, according to Cohn. “One idea is to have them star interpretations of classic fairy tales that could air as Nick specials or go to home video. There’s still a lot more we can do with them without beating a dead horse.”

SpongeBob’s phenomenal success on the small screen has lead SquarePants to the big screen. © Nickelodeon.

Which seems to make it all the more strange that the channel’s ultra-hot SpongeBob SquarePants is currently on hiatus with only 60 episodes under its belt. It’s not due to any stinginess on Nickelodeon’s part, says Cohn. “We very much want to do more SpongeBobs, but right now Steven Hillenberg wants to concentrate on the movie version [currently set for a year-end 2004 release]. SpongeBob is a creator-driven and Steven doesn’t want to divide his attention between the series and a movie.

“We’re hoping we can start production on new episodes sometime next year. Believe me, when a show like SpongeBob becomes a phenomenon and people demand to see more of the characters, we want to make them happy.”

“Putting a show together and selling it to the right network is an interesting combination of skill, technique and chemistry. I’m actually a yenta,” laughs Film Roman’s Clifton, comparing herself to a Jewish matchmaker. “My job is to make the matches – it’s the fun part. After all the homework that you do, ultimately if you sell it, that’s Plan A – you’re jumping through a hurdle at every turn. So if you have something they buy into, that’s the first hurdle. You cross your fingers a lot, hoping that you’ve made the right combination there too.

“At the end of the day we’re not in control of events. The most you can do is your homework and go out with quality product. You hope that the buyers are on the same page as you are. Sometimes they are. But they are not, you simply say “thank you,” and try it again.”

Gary Levine (left), Showtime’s evp of original programming. Margie Cohn (right), Nickelodeon’s svp of production and development.

Those networks and their programming staffs all approach their jobs differently. Gary Levine, Showtime’s executive vp of original programming has a unique set of criteria when it comes to judging potential programming for his premium cable channel, animation or otherwise. “We’re always trying to find quality programming that’s both sophisticated and yet noisy, provocative and unique at the same time. We won’t do noisy lowbrow programming, or ‘middle of the road’ quality shows. If we did, why would anyone bother to come to Showtime?”

Meanwhile, Spike’s standard for putting shows into development is far more succinct: “whether or not it is relatable to guys,” the relaunched channel’s target audience, according to Peilin Chou, the network’s development vp. Thankfully, none of the people interviewed for this article cited technology as a deciding, or even minor factor in which shows they consider for air, thus sparing all another ‘2D vs. 3D’ debate.

There probably isn’t a ‘secret ingredient’ that can guarantee, or increase the odds of a primetime animation hit, if there were, the networks would be wall to wall in them. Maybe it’s more of a secret formula, one that isn’t really all that secret: a creator with a vision instead of a knock-off… a network willing to give that vision time to realize itself and connect with its audience… and viewers who recognize a show they’ve never seen before as one they want to watch week after week.

Joe is a New York City television writer/producer with a lifelong interest in animation, and who remembers watching Astro Boy when it first aired in the U.S. His work includes numerous promotional campaigns and special events programming for cable outlets including Bravo and the Sci Fi Channel. He interviewed veteran animation exec Fred Seibert in Animation World Magazine in 2003.