Of course it broke SpongeBob's debut. SpongeBob didn't develop popularity until later on, and was considered mediocre by the general public at the outset. As an added bonus, Nick's advertising style likes to really shove the new feature cartoon in your face, and children buy into that. They had some of that with SpongeBob and Rocket Power, 8 years ago, but not to this extent.
As for the cartoon itself, I have mixed feelings. El Tigre has a venerable moral element, which doesn't exist in most cartoons. The background is unorthodox, though clearly influenced by Mexican culture (although there are loads of semi-stereotypes...hm...). The plots themselves are lacking, though I am leaving the door open for the writers to get better with later episodes. My main issue is with the animation and style. This is the first Nickelodeon cartoon completely animated in Flash. (the X's?) Unfortunately, while CN's Foster's could pull off the Flash (and very well, I might add), this does not as well. It, carrying over influence from the artists of Fairly OddParents, adopts that almost childlike, unsophisticated style. It looks like a repackaged animation that one might find on Homestar Runner (though there's nothing wrong with those, just...not Nickelodeon).
Oh, wow. I wrote a lot...
