Classic Nickelodeon TV Shows Part 3

Nickelodeon Studios was a glorious place to be in the 90’s. A lot of children’s memories occurred in that very building in Orlando, Florida. The structure is as iconic as its design complete with the Nick logo embroidered on the exterior along with a green “slime geyser” in front. In this final installment of my Classic Nickelodeon trilogy, I’ll take a look of the remaining Golden Age programming of the network that were filmed at their iconic studios as well as shows from that era that were actually filmed off-site.

Set during the summertime, “Salute Your Shorts” portrayed the lives of several young campers  at Camp Anawana (say that out loud). While away from their families, they pulled pranks and schemed to get out of various activities and past the clutches of their oblivious counselor, Ug. Even though the show’s run was only two seasons, it created legendary characters such as the villainous Bobby Budnick and goofy but likeable Donkey Lips. Even the fictional Zeke the Plumber, the noseless camp handyman who died in a fire, is among the things people remember from this one.

Blake Sennett who played Ronnie Pinski in the second season actually went on to front a popular music group, Rilo Kiley.

Like most Nickelodeon fans, I enjoyed this one. I remember thinking Budnick was such a jerk and was always happy when he got his. I also remember seeing him in Terminator 2 shortly after and poor, naive me thought he his parents withdrew him from camp to hang out with John Connor. Another thing I thought strange when I was little was Michael being recasted in season 2. When Pinski showed up, I kept thinking “well when’s Michael coming back?”.

Marc Summers pulled double duty on Nickelodeon at the height of his fame. In addition to “Double Dare”, Marc also hosted “What Would You Do?”, an audience participation program that showed the viewer several wacky situations, usually taking place at or around Nickelodeon Studios, then asked the audience what they would do in that dilemma. Random audience members would also be pulled throughout each episode to participants in various stunts and performances adding to its unpredictable nature. The show was also filled with cream pie throwing and plenty of contraptions to get the participants nice and messy such as the Pie Pod.

I liked this a lot. Summers’ charisma was unparalleled and he lured the audience into caring about these harmless pranks. I also desperately wanted to ride the Pie Coaster. It looked like so much fucking fun!

The history-themed game show, “Legends of the Hidden Temple”, was a Nickelodeon favorite that people still talk about today. Six teams of two kids competed in several rounds of trivia and physical activities in order to advance to the final round: the memorable temple run. In here, the remaining team must race through a makeshift temple collecting pieces of an ancient artifact and make it out before time runs out. In their way are evil “guards” trying to protect the treasure for themselves.

The show is remembered today for two distinct reasons: 1.) The unusual team names such as the Blue Barracudas, Purple Parrots, and Orange Iguanas. In recent years, people have started to dress up in the uniform the teams wore (including a gold bicycle helmet, elbow pads, and a t-shirt with their respective animal on it. 2.) The show’s mascot, a talking statue named Olmec, that would ask questions and guide the contestants on their journey. He was also a bit of a douche.

I was pretty into history when I was younger so I naturally watched this every day after school. The temple run was so cool. When the kids would get caught by one of the guards, they would have to give them a pendant that they would earn earlier during the games portion of the show. I also imagined punching the guards out and sliding past them but that was against the rules. The temple run also included the shrine of the silver monkey where the player would have to assemble a monkey statue to advance to the next room. It took some people excruciatingly long to complete it which led to me screaming at the TV many a time.

This was a unique show for Nick at the time because it featured a predominantly African-American cast. Set in Charlotte, NC, “My Brother & Me” featured Alfie and his little brother Dee Dee as they experience problems that every kid goes through: not being picked for your school basketball team, trying to be hip, school bullies, and running away from home to name a few. The brothers’ sibling rivalry was the central theme of the program. It showed what a pre-teen went through along with what a little kid endures in life and how certain things you can only do when you’re a little older, not as a child.

I liked this one a lot when I was a kid because when it premiered, me and Dee Dee were the same age and I also had an older brother and we went through similar problems growing up so we related to this one very much. The brothers also loved professional wrestling, another thing me and my bro had in common with them.

What I also remember was how short the series was. One season with 13 episodes is all that was produced and that were replayed for YEARS after its cancellation.

And of course, Goo Punch!

Yet another sketch comedy show, “Welcome Freshmen” premiered on Nickelodeon in 1991. This one was different though because it was centered around high school teenagers and their related themes. Five freshmen students at Hawthorne High School would act out various skits surrounding a theme introduced at the top of the program (yeah, that again). The teens would be joined by their aspiring actor/comedian principal, Mr. Lippman.

After its first two seasons, the show kept up with the times and switched formats, becoming a standard sitcom with a revamped cast. After one season with this tweaked presentation, the show was cancelled in 1993.

Personally, I preferred the sitcom format. I had seen quite a few sketch comedy shows on Nickelodeon until this point so I thought just having teens get by the tribulations of school was just fine. Was it the most original idea, especially having a bumbling principal? Not at all, but it worked.

A video game-based game show. What more could a kid want? In “Nick Arcade”, two teams answered questions to gain points and control of the show’s central character, Mikey.  While moving him across a virtual map, the teams also try to score points by playing the hottest arcade games at the time including one of my all time favorites, Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Here is Clarissa herself, Melissa Joan Hart, taking a crack at it:

After getting Mikey across the video board, the team with the highest score at the end of the game would enter the “video zone”. In the “video zone”, both team members would have to trek across three stages of different simulated video games, including defeating a main boss, in order to win big. It was an experience that was pretty mind-blowing at the time. Kids love video games. I loved video games. What kid wouldn’t want APART of a video game?

A hidden gem from this show is future N’Sync member, Joey Fatone, making his television debut here as a contestant, years before he showed off his singing chops.

As a kid, I loved the host, Phil Moore. He just seemed like a really cool dude and his jokes were hysterical to 6-year-old me. Like Marc Summers, Moore was actually a stand-up comedian who got his big break hosting this program. The video games that were played were games me and my brother played growing up. Whatever we didn’t play, I wanted to own so bad.

We all remember the mystery solving children’s mystery show “Ghostwriter”, right? Well while that show aired, “The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo” gave them a run for their money. This children’s version of CSI starred Shelby Woo, an Asian-American teenager who interns at a precinct in Cocoa Beach, Florida and solves mysteries in her spare time with the aid of her two best friends. One of said pals was actually Adam Busch of “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” and current “Men at Work” fame.

The show would always have Shelby’s boss, Det. Hineline, telling her to stay out of the dangerous situations while the real police handle it, then showing gratitude at the end when she winds up cracking the case.

Who played Shelby’s grandfather and sole guardian? Why, Pat Morita aka Mr. Miyagi, of course!

I loved “Ghostwriter” growing up so I immediately took a liking to Shelby Woo. Solving mysteries and being in the heat of danger always attracted me. I also fucking loved “The Karate Kid” so seeing Pat Morita on a weekly basis was enough for me to keep tuning in. This was also one of the last shows I really got into before I stopped watching Nickelodeon all together and was even part of the SNICK line-up at one point.

This was one of the rare Nickelodeon shows that was shot on location. Filmed in Tucson, Arizona, “Hey Dude” features the staff of the Bar None ranch, recently acquired by stressed New York City accountant, Mr. Ernst, who isn’t very savvy of the dry land. The workers battle problems amongst themselves as well as the troubles of the desert. Actress Christine Taylor who would go on to be Mrs. Ben Stiller, got her first exposure on this show.

Ted, the show’s main character and resident troublemaker, is one of my favorite characters in the history of the network. Growing up, it was cool how he popped up in numerous other sitcoms throughout the 90’s. I thought this success would propel him to become a huge Hollywood star but hasn’t done anything of note in over a decade which is pretty sad as he had a ton of potential.

This one was a dream for children worldwide. Destroying things, running around, and getting messy without your parents yelling at you? What kid wouldn’t enjoy that? Well Nick saw an opening and went for it with “Wild & Crazy Kids”. Three hosts would each introduce a different game where different teams played against each other for bragging rights.

Some of the locations for these games were usually places where kids would want to wreak havoc such as shopping malls and theme parks. Believe it or not, after the success of the GAS network (a channel airing old Nickelodeon game shows), the show was rebooted for a limited run in 2002 with new hosts and new challenges.

The show wound up getting so popular that even celebrities swung by to partake in the festivities like Arnold Schwarzenegger and a young Tobey Maguire.

Every single time I tuned into this show, I became instantly jealous that I wasn’t there with those kids. I was hoping the show would come over to my neck of the woods so I could be on it but sadly, it never happened. There was an episode where kids had to complete a huge race around a mall which included lacing up a pair of Reebok pumps and pumping them up a certain number of times, chugging root beer, and completing an Nintendo game using the famous Power Pad. The anger I felt that when I couldn’t be there in person could not be contained.

Every adolescent’s favorite athletic competition was “GUTS”. Taking place in what was dubbed the “Extreme Arena”, the Mike O’Malley hosted program featured three kids who would compete against each other in different sports-related tasks to earn points. These obstacles included an insane slam dunk contest where the players had to bounce off trampolines to reach the hoop, having to run across a track horizontally, and even paddling across a pool using only an oar and your feet. The final competition, the one which everyone remembers, was the Aggro Crag where the competitors scale a colossal, mountain-like structure and try to be the first to make it to the top. The grand prizes of the contest were a silver medal, gold medal, and a piece of the Crag itself for the first place champion! The show was retooled in the mid-90’s as Global GUTS where three different kids from three different countries would compete.

Being the crafty one, I actually tried doing my own version of GUTS in my house building my own sports games using mostly pillows and blankets. I didn’t earn any medals but I had a lot of fun doing it. I wasn’t very active as a child but man, GUTS sure made me want to leave the house and start running up walls and jump through tires. Plus, I loved the adorable British accent of the show’s head coach, Moira Quirk.

That just about wraps up my look back at Classic Nickelodeon. It’s been a real fun and nostalgia trip these past few weeks. Will there be an article about Nicktoons in the future? Keep up with me and you’ll find out.