User blog comment:Bowl108/Resignation from Disney Prez might keep Phineas and Ferb here longer/@comment-406459-20110917030348

I wish Ms. Lightcap the best of luck on her future endeavors, but I don't really think there was any risk of Phineas and Ferb being in danger either way. Gary Marsh, the former second-in-command who is now at the helm, has always been supportive of Phineas and Ferb in his position as an executive, as has most of The Walt Disney Company. In March of this year, Mr. Marsh said the following at Disney's shareholder meeting:

''Phineas and Ferb is a huge developing opportunity for the company. It is the number one animated series for tweens. It has been for three years. It's beating SpongeBob. It's beating The Simpsons. It's beating Family Guy. It is catching fire at retail. We have an apparel program and a games program, which has taken off. We have 100 episodes of the series, which are working in virtually every territory, every major territory, around the world. We have a Disney Channel original movie, which is premiering this summer. It will be our tentpole event for the summer, Phineas and Ferb Across the 2nd Dimension and we are in the early stages of developing a hybrid live-action animated feature film with our studios. This, if you haven't seen it, this is a smart, sophisticated comedy. It works on multiple levels for multiple generations, across virtually every cultural divide.''

Clearly, not only is Marsh behind the franchise, but everyone at Disney is as well, including Dick Cook at the theatrical unit (Walt Disney Studios), who, as Disney historian Jim Hill pointed out on the Magical Definition podcast last month, was the man in charge when the series was originally greenlit.

Mr. Marsh has been at Disney Channel for over a decade, and he is one of Phineas and Ferb's "fathers", as it were, so given that combined with his long service to the network, it's nice to see him get the top job. At the same time, I don't think Mr. Marsh at the helm affects the future of the series positively or negatively in any way as opposed to Ms. Lightcap being there. I congratulate Mr. Marsh and give my best wishes to Ms. Lightcap, but no matter who's in charge, the entire company is obviously behind Phineas and Ferb.