MUMBAI: Spike TV president Albie Hecht has resigned from his post due to creative differences. MTV Networks Group President Herb Scannell said, "As Spike TV's first president, Hecht led the effort to create the first network for men. He's a talented producer and executive who will be missed."
"Albie has accomplished much as a producer in film and television and we're beginning discussions about how he might continue working with our company in those capacities," he Scannell.
Hecht, on the other hand said, "I feel immensely satisfied in the job that I have done and I've told Herb and the company that I will do everything to make this transition as smooth as possible."
Hecht oversaw the transformation of TNN into Spike TV, the first network for men. At Spike TV, Hecht oversaw the production of The Joe Schmo Show, which was widely cited as giving birth to a new genre of faux reality shows.
He also launched Most Extreme Elimination Challenge, and the networks' first two signature events, The Video Game Awards, and Autorox, the first car awards show.
In 2004, Hecht introduced Check Up or Check Out, the pro social campaign designed to get men to have annual physical check ups. Prior to coming to Spike, Hecht was Nickelodeon Film and Television Entertainment president, for where he developed and executive produced The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie and Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events, which, together, turned in over $200 million at the box office.
Hecht also served as the executive producer of Rugrats: The Movie, the first non-Disney animated film to make over $100 million at the box office, Rugrats in Paris and The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron. He also produced the live action hit Snow Day.
In television, Hecht developed SpongeBob SquarePants, The Fairly Odd Parents, Blue's Clues and the long running live action hit All That, the first multicultural sketch comedy show for kids, which spun off the hit series' Kenan and Kel, and The Amanda Show. He also created and executive produced The Kids Choice Awards, which is an annual must attend event for Hollywood's A list stars.
During that time Hecht also supervised the creation of Nickelodeon's first television animation studio in Los Angeles and Nickelodeon's first digital animation studio in New York.
