It seemed that as soon as he took Geraldine Laybourne's place as president his mission was to bring the whole network down. Here's what I mean: He cancelled "Space Cases" after the second season angering a lot of fans, he cancelled previous shows such as "Alex Mack" and "Ren And Stimpy", and took them off completely(well maybe not Alex Mack), he treated "The Angry Beavers" badly after the whole 'shut up' incident, he cancelled "Allen Strange", "100 Deeds For Eddie McDowd", and "Animorphs" before they could finish their storylines, he ran "Rugrats" into the ground making a lot of people hate it(especially "CatDog" fans), he cancelled "Invader Zim" angering a lot of fans when he simply could've just sold it to another network. He exploited "SpongeBob" to death and seemed to sacrifice the whole network for it. It seemed like he just didn't care at all, and always took the easy way out.

Then there's Cyma Zarghami(the current president) who is basically a female version of him who decided to follow in his footsteps and continue ruining Nickelodeon. A perfect example is the post-movie episodes of SpongeBob. Fans HATE them. She ruined the show. She also shows it too
much and hardly shows any of Nickelodeon's other shows.

The point I'm trying to make is: Why did Herb hate Nickelodeon and Geraldine Laybourne SO much that he wanted to ruin all the hard work Geraldine put into the network making it the #1 kid's network as well as the #1 network on cable TV? Was he jealous or something? I just don't understand.

Is there actual evidence he was responsible? I'm not saying you're wrong, but if he took over in February of 1996, it had a delayed effect. Rugrats went to hell in the episodes made after David Doyle's death (97). The first of the newer episodes in 97, with Doyle present, still had the same magic as the older ones. Even the last episode ever made with him ("Lady Luck") was well-crafted.

With Ren & Stimpy, I think there were problems with the creator/head writer, who didn't get them completed on time and was in conflict with network execs. It's one of the reasons R&S is the one nicktoon without the standard 4 seasons/52 episodes catalog that they had signed on for (well, Rugrats and Hey Arnold exempt, since they were so popular they were given additional seasons).

I don't know the ratings figures for the shows, so I can't really comment on the rest. I do know Alex Mack was extremely popular, though. Personally, I thought it was about time to start wrapping up simply because of where they were in the story (let's face it, they couldn't keep it a secret as the actress started getting closer to being of college age), but it may have been more a matter of fixing what ain't broken..."NEW SHOWS, to infinity and beyond!"

I seriously don't get why you came to the conclusion that he hated Nickelodeon just because of some changes he made. :roll:

Plus, were you seriously expecting shows like Alex Mack and Ren and Stimpy to go on forever? Because that's what it seems like how you're trying to make it out. They both had a nice, long run on the network. Also, if I'm not mistaken, didn't Alex Mack end with a two-part episode where her powers are finally exposed to the world, and that she's asked to take some sort of antidote. If so, then that actually sounds like a great way to end the series. As for Ren and Stimpy... I think that ending it was a good idea at this point since the show was already running it's course at this point, not to mention a lot of people didn't like it was the same without John K. I think 5 seasons is plenty for this type of show.

As far as shows like Rugrats and Spongebob running on the network to the ground. Well, I believe the reason why these shows have been going on for a long time is because it's.... oh I don't know.... POPULAR!!! That's pretty much why they kept those on the network for that long is because kids love them, and they're willing to market them if it's that popular, and Spongebob still has a wide audience for kids. Yeah, I do know that the older fans of Spongebob stopped watching it a long time ago, but it's still very popular for kids.... and as long as it's still profitable, then they're going to keep showing it.

In short.... I doubt the people who run Nickelodeon are actually against the network. It's more so that they would run whatever shows are successful and still gives them good ratings.... that's how the network has always been since the beginning.