Craig Bartlett’s flagship series Hey Arnold! — which he created, produced through his Snee-Oosh, Inc. banner, and shepherded in continuous production from 1995 to 2001 — appeared to reach a definitive high with the theatrical release of Hey Arnold!: The Movie in June 2002. Behind the scenes, however, the show’s future fractured: the Wikipedia record notes a dispute over a planned second Arnold movie that ultimately led Bartlett to sever creative ties with Nickelodeon. Rather than stay and fight inside the kids’-television giant, Bartlett decamped to Cartoon Network to write, direct and produce Party Wagon, a movie-length pilot that aired on Cartoon Network but was not picked up to series. The move represented a striking career pivot — from the channel that had greenlit and nurtured his most famous work to a rival network — and underscored a very public breakdown between a creator and his original home.
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AI concept artworkArchive Record · 2000s
Nickelodeon Rift: Craig Bartlett Walks Away After a Dispute Over a Second Hey Arnold! Movie
Craig Bartlett / Hey Arnold! / 2000s
Craig Bartlett’s flagship series Hey Arnold! — which he created, produced through his Snee-Oosh, Inc. banner, and shepherded in continuous production from 1995 to 2001 — appeared to reach a definitive high with the theatrical release of Hey Arnold!: The Movie in June 2002. Behind the scenes, however, the show’s future fractured: the Wikipedia record notes a dispute over a planned second Arnold movie that ultimately led Bartlett to sever creative ties with Nickelodeon. Rather than stay and fight inside the kids’-television giant, Bartlett decamped to Cartoon Network to write, direct and produce Party Wagon, a movie-length pilot that aired on Cartoon Network but was not picked up to series. The move represented a striking career pivot — from the channel that had greenlit and nurtured his most famous work to a rival network — and underscored a very public breakdown between a creator and his original home.
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