In a world of dumb animation execs, Stu Snyder made a sincere effort to be the dumbest of the pack. He was the brilliant visionary who led a campaign to remove cartoons from Cartoon Network.
Now, he’s leaving Cartoon Network.
When Snyder became the executive VP and COO of Turner animation in 2007, he made the shift toward live-action and reality shows one of his priorities. “We did all the research in terms of what kids wanted to watch, what they were watching on TV at the time, on our network and across all networks,” he said in 2009. “I think these new shows, whether reality or live scripted, really open up and broaden the audience, so you can be thinking about new advertising categories.” His foward-thinking approach included adding golfing and military training shows to Cartoon Network. Predictably, his actions were not appreciated by viewers who liked tuning into Cartoon Network to watch…oh, I don’t know…cartoons.
