As Disney Channel prepared to launch the cartoon series “Phineas and Ferb,” one top company executive thought the hard, geometric shapes of the characters’ heads represented too radical a departure from Disney’s round-faced animation tradition.

But talk of forcing the creators to soften the edges of Phineas’ isosceles dome to make him and the other angular characters less jarring was quelled.

Two seasons later, “Phineas and Ferb” has emerged as Disney Channel’s first breakthrough original animated series, attracting more children and young teens than even rival Nickelodeon’s 11-year juggernaut “SpongeBob SquarePants,” according to Nielsen Media Research.

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