Nickelodeon Swears by Cartoons

Above: Jorge Gutierrez and Sandra Equihua, creators of the series “El Tigre”.

There’s a great article in the New York Times on Nickelodeon, sure it has the usual dry business angle but there’s something I always love about seeing an article about cartoons in the paper of record (registration required to view):

SpongeBob SquareProfits: Nickelodeon Swears by Cartoons

“Animated series aimed at children come and go as rapidly as their live-action counterparts on prime time. Of the 10 highest-rated animated children’s shows for the last television season, only two were on the list five years earlier, and none were there five years before that. There has been one constant in the field over the last decade, however: Nickelodeon, the cable channel that last year had nine of the Top 10 most-watched animated series for children.

The home of the current hits “SpongeBob SquarePants,” “The Fairly OddParents” and “Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius,” Nickelodeon shows few signs of slowing down. In 2007 it will show nearly 100 episodes of new animation, a considerable feat given that a single installment of “SpongeBob” or his peers typically takes about nine months to produce.”