Imagine If... | What A Cartoon Was At Nick

Originally Posted by Jeff Harris

Actual Events: Fred Seibert, who was involved in the creation of the imagery of MTV and the relaunch of Nickelodeon (he was a pivotal part of the design of both network's distinctive logos and IDs as well as co-creator of Nick At Nite), became the head of Hanna-Barbera in the early 1990s, spearheaded a new generation of animators to develop original animation shorts for Cartoon Network. The first of the finished shorts debuted in February 1994, two years after the network launched. Some of the shorts, including Changes, Meat Fuzzy Lumpkins, Johnny Bravo, and No Smoking, served as pilots for Dexter's Laboratory, The Powerpuff Girls, Johnny Bravo, and Cow and Chicken, respectedly, the first generation of Cartoon Cartoons.

He left Hanna-Barbera to form his own company, Frederator Productions, where he launched a pair of What A Cartoon-like projects, Oh Yeah! Cartoons (which introduced Fairly Oddparents, Chalk Zone, and My Life As a Teenaged Robot to Nickelodeon audiences), Random! Cartoons (which introduced Fanboy and ChumChum to an unsuspecting audience).

Nickelodeon's initial three Nicktoons (Doug, Rugrats, and The Ren and Stimpy Show) came with much fanfare and success in 1991, so it didn't come as such a surprise that the network wanted to develop new properties for the network. They already had Rocko and Hey Arnold in pre-production, but Nickelodeon wanted to start a shorts series for the network to compliment the Looney Tunes shorts that remained one of the network's most popular shows.

Enter Fred Seibert.

He was one of the people responsible for the creation of Nickelodeon's current image and look so when Hanna-Barbera's new owners decided to go in a different direction after the purchase by Turner Broadcasting (they wanted to make new versions of their library of characters rather than wanting to develop new properties), Seibert returned to the Viacom fold bringing along with him numerous artists and animators that he helped bring into Hanna-Barbera. Artists like Genndy Tartakofsky, Craig McCracken, Seth McFarlane, Butch Hartman, Van Partible, and David Fleiss joined Seibert in forming Nickelodeon Animation Studio. In 1992, they developed a new series of shorts called in-house What A Cartoon! but on the air referred to as NickShorts. In 1994, the first cycle of NickShorts aired on Nickelodeon. The very first NickShort shown was Meat Fuzzy Lumpkins, which introduced Craig McCracken's Powerpuff Girls to the world. The shorts were shown in installments of three shorts per episode. Pat Ventura created Sledgehammer O'Possum, Yuckie Duck, That's My Pop!, and a pair of new Deputy Dawg shorts (based on the Terrytoons character). Changes introduced supergenius Dexter and his sister Dee-Dee while Butch Hartman made two self-contained shorts, Gramps and Pfish and Chip. Seth McFarlane had success bringing Larry and Steve to the lineup.

In 1995, Dexter's Laboratory was the first NickShort to become a full series. In 1996, Johnny Bravo, Pfish and Chip, and Powerpuff Girls followed. Cow and Chicken, I Am Weasel, Yuckie Duck, Sledgehammer O'Possum were paired together to form Chaotic Animals, a shorts series that was paired off with reruns of Ren and Stimpy in 1997 on MTV. Larry and Steve also found popularity as it became a small cult favorite on Nick at Nite, but because of disagreements between Viacom and MacFarlane, he left the studio and created a show for Fox revamping Larry and Steve as a new property, Family Guy. As the years went on, the NickShorts continued to develop new plots and creating new shows, becoming the de facto studio of Nickelodeon animated products. The NickToons were so prominent on Nickelodeon that by the turn of the 21st century, Nickelodeon launched NickToons TV.

Nickelodeon Animation Studios formed an alliance with smaller studios including Stretch Films, DNA Films, and others to create new shows like Courage the Cowardly Dog and Jimmy Neutron, the latter of which had a trilogy of specials with fellow boy genius Dexter from Dexter's Laboratory, which reentered production after years of reruns as did fellow NickToons Rugrats and Johnny Bravo. After Powerpuff Girls ended, Craig McCracken developed Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends, which was initially developed for Nick Jr., but Fred Seibert recognized it could work better as a prime-time series. In 2007, the new generation of NickShorts will begin airing on Nickelodeon and Nicktoons Network.

Cartoon Network tried to emulate the success of the NickShorts project by bringing Fred Seibert back to the revamped Cartoon Network Studios. Dubbed the Cartoon Cartoons project, the series spawned Camp Lazlo, a new version of Huckleberry Hound, The Fairly Oddparents, Grim and The Count (a darkly comedic series that combined Billy and Mandy with Mina and the Count, the latter of which originally premiered as a NickShort) and their breakout hit Spongebob Squarepants. They were popular in their own right, but they could hardly compete with the NickShorts. Fred Seibert's Frederator Studios was based at Cartoon Network Studios, so they oversaw production of new comedy and action properties, something they continue to this day overseeing Samurai Jack, Megas XLR, Danny Phantom, and My Life As A Teenage Robot.

Back to reality: Nickelodeon may not have been first, but Fred Seibert had the last laugh. Cartoon Network did produce numerous What A Cartoon shorts, but only a handful of them got made into series. Dexter's Lab, Johnny Bravo, Cow and Chicken, and Powerpuff Girls were made into series and actually got the network much press and fanfare. However, many of the subsequent Cartoon Cartoons didn't do so well to the now ratings-obsessed channel. And unlike the first generation of Cartoon Cartoons, today's Cartoon Network originals aren't aimed towards all audiences. They're primarily for kids.

Meanwhile, Nickelodeon seems to be going into reverse, creating shows that draw in older audiences rather than shooing them away like Cartoon Network is doing. Spongebob Squarepants, Avatar, and many of the Frederator shows are aimed towards kids but also bringing in older audiences, making Nick one of the highest-rated networks in the country. Reruns of Spongebob, Fairly Oddparents, and Avatar are counted as the highest-rated shows every week, so it's obvious that kids aren't the only ones watching them.

Much of the success is owed to Fred Seibert, an underappreciated genius that assembled talented creators, artists, and animators to create some of the finest work on the planet. He had a hand in introducing many of the biggest animated characters of the 1990s and 2000s, including Dexter and Dee-Dee, The Powerpuff Girls, Timmy Turner, Rudy Tabootie, Johnny Bravo, Danny Phantom, and countless others. He is responsible for the shift in animation to a more "retro cool" direction that continues today. Now, his studio's latest production, Adventure Time, has become one of Cartoon Network's biggest shows.

Move along (like I know you will).