While president of the Hanna-Barbera studio, he hatched the idea to produce 48 original shorts for the Cartoon Network.

His goals were to revive classic, Looney Tunes-type animation and to find new characters that could be spun off into their own series. That's how Dexter's Laboratory and Johnny Bravo came to life.

Nickelodeon executives aren't bothered by comparisons between The Cartoon Network's What a Cartoon Show! and Oh Yeah! "Fred's a Nick person first. The Cartoon Network enlisted him to bring some of that same sensibility to them,"says Nickelodeon entertainment chief Albie Hecht.