>>150399212 (OP)
Top one only ever applied to CG Rugrats. Everyone ate up the ZIM, Rocko, and Hey Arnold movies, and A New Wish brought about a spark to the FOP fandom that hadn't been felt in over a decade. Nostalgia is still King.
And even though the SpongeBob prequel had its fair share of criticism, it was given TONS of free publicity from both sides of the fandom: the spongeboomers who hate anything post-movie & want to "protect the sanctity of Steve's vision," and the post-movie defenders who'll eat up anything thrown their way. The heated debate surrounding Kamp Koral was so loud that it overshadowed actually original Nicktoons premiering around that time like Middlemost Post or It's Pony.
Ignoring TTG! since it's protected by its DC branding, Cartoon Network doesn't have an all-powerful cash cow like SpongeBob, but AT, RS, Gumball, and now SU I guess are the closest thing. Similar to Nu-Bob defenders, fans of these early 2010s CN shows will go to bat for any creatively bankrupt attempt at reviving "their childhood favorites." They forgot all about Close Enough the moment we started getting teases of a Regular Show revival. The industry is COOKED, and nostalgia-blind superfans are to blame.