This past weekend, the L.A. Times reported that Stu Snyder, the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Cartoon Network had been relieved of his duties effective at the end of March. To all in the know, this is welcome news, as Snyder was the person responsible for the lack of cartoons on the network dedicated to, you know, cartoons.
When Snyder took the position in 2007, his first order of business was to fill programming with live action sitcoms and reality shows, and to get away from the animated programs that the network was created for. His influence even stretched to Adult Swim, the late night portion of Cartoon Network, as silly live action shows began to outnumber the new animated shows by 2009.
Snyder argued that studies showed that kids wanted live action programming and that they did not want to watch cartoons when they turned to the Cartoon Network. This wayward thinking led to many beloved, and critically acclaimed series, such as Young Justice, Green Lantern and Beware the Batman to be cancelled in favor of “kids in a boot camp” type of programming and insipid, pandering “game shows.”
With the amazing successes of Adventure Time and Regular Show, the fans voice was heard over the dimwitted din of the idiot in charge, and the fans ultimately got the win. Snyder’s departure ensures that Cartoon Network doesn’t become the next MTV, a network called Music Television, but is now 100% scripted “reality” shows and terrible tween fare, with nary a music video to be seen.
Snyder’s dismissal is part of a major restructuring of Turner broadcasting from the top down. His replacement has not been named as of this writing.
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