The Jumping Ground (season 6)

Season six of The Jumping Ground, a New Zealand-produced animated television series created by Lee Eisenhower and Conrad Vernon, began airing on September 4, 2002. The sixth season concluded after 17 episodes on April 9, 2003.

This season is notable for being the only one without Rob as a main character, as he was written off in the previous season. Rob, however, plays a part in some episodes without appearing and returns near the season's conclusion.

The season also notable for being the first to air on Cartoon Network, who picked up the show from Showtime, who cancelled the show after its previous season.

Production
Near the end of season 5, Showtime, the Viacom-owned network which had broadcast the show in the U.S. since its inception in 1998, announced that they would not be renewing the show for another season, due to disagreements with series creators Lee Eisenhower and Conrad Vernon regarding the show's budget, despite high ratings. Potential buyers included that of FX, Cartoon Network, and Starz!.

Cartoon Network was eventually announced to broadcast the series, which was renewed through Season 9 in 2005. As part of the move, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer sold their stake in the show's rights to Turner Broadcasting System, the owners of Cartoon Network, whereas Alliance Atlantis continued to hold the show's worldwide rights. The creators also revealed that there would be severe cutdowns on adult content including profane dialogue and sexual references. There were also plans to move production from New Zealand to Burbank, California, which would eventually come into effect with the eighth season in 2004.

In addition, Nika Futterman (Rob Broflovski) decided to leave The Jumping Ground due to concerns over being "under-utilized". The penultimate episode of Season 5, "Meridian", focuses on Rob struggling to come to terms with the end of his life impending, whilst Puff and the others put emotional matters in their own hands. The sixth season focused on Puff, Lance, and Zowie trying to replace Rob with two different individuals: Melvin Sneedly (Episodes 1-8) and Tweek Tweak (Episodes 8-13).