By Conor Levis
The other day some friends and I were reminiscing about childhood memories. It's always a blast talking about the good old days. Then we got on the subject of our old childhood shows, specifically Nickelodeon shows from the 90's. What a great time it was to be a kid in that era. We grew up with some of the greatest shows you could ever want at that age. Not only that but looking back now you find so many funny things you never realized before as you'll see throughout this blog. They need to create a station wih reruns of all these shows that we can all watch. There was The Adventures of Pete & Pete (theme song playing at the top) and Salute Your Shorts, the Rugrats and Doug, Double Dare and Legends of the Hidden Temple, Ren & Stimpy and Are You Afraid of the Dark. The list goes on and on. I remember every single one too... which kind of makes me wonder what else my childhood consisted of. I think my parents just put me in front of the TV all day because I really don't know how I could have watched so many shows. But hey, I'm not complaining. We also talked about the current state of our former favorite network and the shows of today. I feel bad for today's kids because they don't have the privilege of exposure to these shows. It's a new generation...and since the internet has taken off like it has in our culture, things are different for kids now. But that's a whole different story. All I know is their shows are lousy. So for you readers, I'd like to dedicate today's blog to all of the great shows we grew up with. A blast from the past. Enjoy!
Salute Your Shorts
Remember Donkey Lips? LOL. He raps now, I swear to god. My friend found his music page on myspace a few years ago. Unfortunately I think he deleted his music page but I did find his "official" myspace page and also another one with a couple of his rap songs on it. I can't even put into words how funny this is.
Hey Dude
This is all I could find for Hey Dude which sucks cause it had an awesome theme song. Oh well.
The Adventures of Pete and Pete
Definitely the most grown up show from that era. My friend and I watched episodes on DVD last summer and still found it really funny. Great show.
Clarissa Explains It All
I used to get wicked excited for this show because I believe it was the show that kicked off "SNICK" every Saturday night. Looking back now, how creepy was it that Clarissa's friend Sam used to randomly show up at Clarissa's window with a ladder? On a scale of 1 to 10...I'd say it's about this creepy.
Are You Afraid of the Dark?
Speaking of creepy...Are You Afraid of the Dark was probably my favorite show for that very reason. It was legitimately scary. There was an episode where a guy was buried alive. REALLY? A man was buried alive on a kid's network? That's the most terrifying thing ever. But awesome.
The Ren and Stimpy Show
I get so depressed when my friends tell me they weren't allowed to watch this show. I was so infatuated with Ren & Stimpy that my parents took me to a mall two hours away because they were there (which means two people dressed as mascots). Who could forget "magic nose goblins" and "Happy, Happy, Joy Joy"? This one really was strange.
Double Dare
It doesn't get much better than people getting slimed. Host Marc Summers...is there any doubt that this guy was a pedophile?
Nick Arcade
Easily the most unintentionally funny show intro. Watch the little dance that host Phil Moore does at 00:43 seconds. Phil Moore was such a crackhead. It was so blatantly obvious except for the fact I had no idea what crack was. Skip to 3:15 of this video, how can a guy get that excited about kids playing video games unless he's on drugs? This show was so fun to watch...even if only for the funny moments bad players like these gave us.
I always found it funny that the woman's name was Moe. I also found it funny when players would lose every single competition, like Peach in the video above.
Legends of the Hidden Temple
Easily the coolest game show on Nick at the time. They show reruns on the Comcast channel Nick GAS. We need more of this.
Wild and Crazy Kids
This was a fun show. Who could forget host Omar Gooding? The black sheep of the Gooding family. We still loved him anyway. He went on to play the Running Back who did all the drugs in Playmakers. By the way, what the hell is Marc Summers doing in that video? I told you that guy was sketchy.
What Would You Do?
I always wanted to go to the pie wash because I thought it looked really tasty. All that frosting, yummy!
All That
What's not to love about this show? A great cast that produced one of the funniest duos of our time in Kenan Thompson & Kel Mitchell and also the lovely Amanda Bynes, TLC (my girls) doing the theme song, and it was just funny. Kenan now works on Saturday Night Live and Amanda Bynes turned out pretty hot, also doing movies. I'm not sure what happened to Kel. I remember there was a rumor for a while that he died. I really liked Kel. Remember Lori Beth Denberg? LOL. Oh, how I love it all.
Rugrats
Probably the biggest thing on Nickelodeon during that time. Everyone LOVED this show. I know that it was definitely my favorite for a long time. Too bad they ruined it with that movie, the birth of Tommy's brother, and Chuckie's sister. Why fix something that isn't broke? Then they came back with that Rugrats: All Grown Up. Listen, we don't want to see what Tommy, Chuckie, Phil, Lil, and Angelica are like when they're older. I want to remember them for what they were...little rugrats. And that's the way I'll always choose to remember them.
Doug
The Doug Intro
This seemed to be the second choice after Rugrats as far as popularity goes. Another show that everybody LOVED. With Doug Funny, Skeeter Valentine, Porkchop and Patti Mayonnaise..it was also one of those grown up cartoons that taught us lessons. I remember asking my dad once when I was little what his favorite Nick show was and he responded with "Doug". Looking back now, it makes perfect sense. Too bad they ruined this too by moving it to Disney. Tons of memorable characters in this one (Mr. Dink, hahahaha). The show that gave us Quailman and The Beets, "Killer Tofu" and "Banging on a Trash Can". Gotta love it all.
Rocko's Modern Life
EMBED-Rockos Modern Life Good Intro - Watch more free videos
For me it's a toss up between this and Hey Arnold as the funniest cartoon on Nick. It was funny because it was just so random and weird. And it created one of my favorite moments. Heffer, the cow that lived with a family of wolves. Philbert, the nerdy friend who married Dr. Hutchinson, a cat with a hook for a hand. Mr. and Mrs. Bighead, self explanatory. Lots of great characters.
Hey Arnold!
Hey Arnold -TV-Intro - MyVideo
As I mentioned before, maybe the funniest cartoon on Nick. The show that gave us Football Head and his friend, Gerald. Helga G. Pataki and her bookworm friend, Phoebe. Harold, the fat kid; Sid, the small shady character; Stinky, the tall and lanky hick; Eugene, the jinx and the rest of the gang. Also memorable characters like Stoop Kid, Dino Spimone and Mickey Kaline made Hey Arnold a definite classic.
Aaahh!!! Real Monsters
One looked like a candy cane, one looked like a gremlin, and one held him eyeballs. Oblina, Ickis, and KRUM hahaha. Who thought up this show?
KaBlam!
The thing I remember most about this show is the Action League Now! team that feature a naked guy, a scuba diver, and a huge blonde wonder woman type figure. But this show also had Prometheus and Bob and Sniz and Fondue who were equally awesome.
My Brother and Me
Another show that not a lot of my friends remember. It was about a family growing up in Charlotte, NC. Brothers Alfie and Dee Dee were the main characters...as well as Alfie's friend Goo and the random white kid that Dee Dee hung out with. Anyway, this show created some absolute classics like the "Hit Me!" scene and "Goooooo Punch".
Secret World of Alex Mack
I used to watch this show but I remember not being a huge fan. It came on before one of my favorite shows so I just sat through it. I remember thinking Alex Mack was hot though.
These are just some of my favorites that I remember well. I'm sure I'm missing a few good ones. There's a petition online http://www.petitiononline.com/90snick/petition.html that people are signing to try and get these shows back onto a network. I would watch reruns if they could get it on a channel. There's also a facebook group of over 300,000 people for the same cause. Anyway, hope you enjoyed looking back.
