McCracken’s story is a testament to persistence. He continued to pitch “The Powerpuff Girls” for years, was rejected, and went back to work, but still got the attention of an executive. In McCracken’s case, it was Linda Simensky, the Senior Vice President of Animation at the Cartoon Network. She was already overseeing “Dexter’s” and saw a lot of promise in McCracken … even after his pitch had failed. Simensky kept on encouraging McCracken to keep the Powerpuff Girls alive and used her position to talk to Mike Lazzo, then the Executive in Charge of Programming.
Lazzo was one of the masterminds of “Space Ghost Coast to Coast,” Cartoon Network’s Dadaist talk show hosted by an old, disused Hanna-Barbera character. He would go on to oversee shows like “Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law,” “Sealab 2021,” and “Aqua Teen Hunger Force” over at Adult Swim. Lazzo had an ear for weird s*** and knew an idiosyncratic animator when he met one.
Simensky pushed McCracken in Lazzo’s direction and history was made. Lazzo responded well to “The Powerpuff Girls,” and the show was finally put into production. The new series debuted on November 18, 1998, and it was a smash hit. It ultimately ran for six seasons and 78 episodes, eventually spinning off into a theatrical feature film in 2002. The show also won three Emmys and spawned an anime spinoff, as well as multiple video games. In 2020, it was announced that a live-action “Powerpuff Girls” series was in the works, but that project has since been canceled.
McCracken went on to create “Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends,” “Wander Over Yonder,” and the Netflix series “Kid Cosmic.” He has recently been shopping around a “Powerpuff Girls” reboot series in Europe.
Be good at your job, be persistent, and you will be noticed. It can happen.