Updated on December 10, 2021
Yesterday came big news for the home of “Johnny Test,” “Annoying Orange,” “Adult Swim” and live-action family films: Cartoon Network president (and Turner Animation head) Stuart Snyder abruptly announced his resignation, effective at the end of the month.
Snyder’s been the head of Cartoon Network for the past six years, and his tenure’s had a mixed reaction from fans. On the plus side, he’s managed to slightly dig Cartoon Network out of the hole it’d been in the mid-2000s via several hit shows, particularly “Adventure Time” and “Regular Show.” Looney Tunes also returned to Cartoon Network under his tenure. On the minus side, Snyder continued the push toward live-action programming on Cartoon Network, including the marginally-watched annual “Hall of Game Awards” specials. He’s also pushed a boy-centric programming slate otherwise (the various “Adult Swim Lite”-style shows, etc.), which would keep with Paul Dini’s recent criticisms of Cartoon Network’s executives ignoring girls, and might also explain some of Cartoon Network’s ratings problems.
Snyder assumed his position after the previous Cartoon Network head had resigned as a result of the aftermath of the 2007 “Aqua Teen Hunger Force” Boston bomb scare fiasco. Snyder’s reasons for quitting are related to increased tensions between himself and another Turner executive. Hopefully, whoever assumes the head of Cartoon Network this time is well chosen, and will cater to both boys and girls in future programming. The recently announced revamp of Boomerang may also be affected by all of this, though the only new news is that the Boomerang change will supposedly go into effect this fall.
