It is wild to me how much Avatar: The Last Airbender was lightning in a bottle

I couldn't understand how such a great, nuanced show was airing on Nickelodeon of all channels back in the mid to late 2000s, a channel known primarily for crappy live action tween shows that make Disney's crappy live action tween shows look like Shakespeare by comparison.

The first season may have been a bit rougher in the beginning while they found their footing, but by the mid season up to season 2 and beyond, both the writing and art/animation become such a high caliber it's comparable to DCAU's JLU era of great cartoons.

In a sea of somewhat mediocre shows at the time, out pops up this astonishingly well animated, well written, spiritual adventure with a consistent narrative and multiple strong, endearing, diverse characters.

All the factors that must have gone on in to achieve this... After watching and reading the making of by the show creators, it makes me wonder how did they end up pitching this to Nickelodeon and not a larger company or network? I never did find out.