Halloween Nostalgia

Since so many people seemed to like the Nickelodeon Nostalgia posts I wrote back when this blog started, I thought it would be fun to write one for Halloween. These are some of the Halloween specials I loved when I was younger. Links to the specials are provided when available (some may be to the first part of the special, but you should be able to find the rest of it easily).

Marc Summers' Mystery Magical Special - Summers, then known as the host of Double Dare, hosted this special that also featured magician Lance Burton. Summers is driving a small group of kids home and gets a flat tire. Seeking a phone in a nearby mansion, they witness several odd occurrences (my favorite was always a lady dancing with a mop wearing a jacket and hat) and watch Burton sword fight a masked villain. I loved this special, but not many people seem to remember it. One of the kids was Shiri Appleby, who later was one of the stars of the show Roswell and the movie Swimfan. Another kid was Jonathon Brandis, who later supported Rodney Dangerfield in Ladybugs.

Disney's Halloween Treat - Another special from the 80's that my parens had on a VHS tape. I used to watch this every year. It's basically a clip show featuring spooky or scary moments from other Disney presentations, as well as footage of the Haunted Mansion ride. There were parts that I was always a bit creeped out by, but my sister was flat out terrified by.

The Pumpkin Who Couldn't Smile - A special that starred Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy. They help a jack-o-lantern that, as the title implies, can't smile. He's sad because no one wants him, so he cries pumpkin seeds, which is pretty adorable. They also manage to cheer up a kid who's aunt is grumpy.

Garfield's Halloween Adventure - Garfield and Odie encounter ghost pirates in an attempt to get candy. Probably one of the more well-known of the specials on this post, since I know several people that loved the old Garfield specials. No link because I couldn't find a decent quality video.

It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown - Another classic. I'm pretty sure anyone reading this probably know it. No video again.

Are You Afraid Of The Dark - This show was a running series for a few seasons, so it's not really a special. But there were two early episodes that always stood out to me around Halloween"

• "The Tale Of The Twisted Claw" - After a prank at an old lady's house the night before Halloween, two boys are given a special treat by the lady when they go trick-or-treating at her house: a twisted claw capable of granting wishes. The wishes, however, come at a price. This was I think the pilot that aired before the series started as a special.
• "The Tale Of The Nightly Neighbors" - When an Eastern European family moves in the next door wearing all black and having a fondness for night, a brother and sister suspect that they may be vampires. Just another episode of the series, but it's one of the ones that stand out in my memory.

I feel like I'm forgetting at least one or two. I may have to update this later. Feel free to add your own in the comments section.

Nickelodeon Nostalgia, Part 6

The second part of my post about 90's Nickelodeon cartoons. Keep in mind, if I don't mention it here, I probably didn't watch it.

Hey Arnold! - I just watched the first episode on Netflix earlier today (side note: isn't Netflix one of the greatest things ever?). The show focused on a 4th grader by the name of Arnold (obviously) who lives in a big city (I don't think they ever said specifically what city it is). The show was about his day-to-day life hanging out with his friend Gerald. Also featured were the school bully Helga, her friend/lackey Phoebe and an assortment of other students and teachers. Arnold lived his grandparents in a boarding house that they own, so Arnold also interacted with an assortment of residents (one episode focused on Arnold collecting rent with Gerald). What I remember most about the show was the confusion regarding Arnold's clothing. Despite it being explained several times that he wears a long plaid shirt under his sweater, I remember a lot of people thought he wore a kilt or skirt.

The Angry Beavers - Angry Beavers focused on two beavers (Norbert and Dagget) who are forced to live on their own when their mother gives birth to new kids. They build a dam and interact with other animals in the forest, including a R&B singing bear and a shrew named Truckee. Norbert was always my favorite, though I suppose I was probably more like Dagget. The voice of Dagget later voiced the title character on my all-time favorite Nicktoon, Invader Zim (which I'm not writing about because it started after the 90's). A very weird show that I think was sadly underrated.

Spongebob Squarepants - What discussion of Nicktoons would be complete without mentioning Spongebob Squarepants. Now in its second decade (it started in 1999, so I decided to include it despite most of it being produced in the new millenium), Spongebob is one of the longest running series on Nickelodeon, as well as one of few Nicktoons to have a theatrical film spinoff (and also the only show I've written about that's still on the air). For anyone who has somehow not heard of it, the show focuses on the adventures of Spongebob Squarepants, a square sponge that lives in a pineapple, has a snail for a pet (Gary) and works at the Krusty Krab, a fast food restaurant. A great show that has had an impressive history with voice acting (both regular cast and guest appearances).

So that's it. Those are the shows I remember watching and being a fan of. I might at some point do more recent cartoons (started in or after 2000), because Nickelodeon's history of cartoons extends long after Spongebob.

Nickelodeon Nostalgia, Part 5

Yesterday was my 25th birthday. I think that puts me in the right nostalgic frame of mind to write a post about 90's Nickelodeon. I would like to point out before I start that these are the cartoons I regularly watched and considered myself a fan of. Please don't bug me with "What about THIS cartoon?" because I probably just didn't like it.

Rugrats - For my generation, Rugrats is possibly the most well-known Nickelodeon cartoon, if you include the movies and the spin-off series, All Grown Up (if not, the most well-known, second only to The Ren & Stimpy Show). For the 5% of people who haven't heard of it, Rugrats followed the adventures of 4 babies (Tommy Pickles, Chuckie Finster, and twin Phil and Lil DeVille) as well as two slightly older kids (Tommy's cousin Angelica and Susie Carmichael, the latter of which joined later in the series). Various adventures included a trip through "Mirrorland," being locked in a toy store, setting sea monkeys free at the beach and fighting various monsters. For me, the show kinda jumped the shark when Tommy's brother Dil was born (and jumped it again when Kimi joined the series as Chuckie's stepsister after the second movie), but I watched this show regularly since the first episode (which featured Tommy's first birthday).

Doug - Other than Ren & Stimpy, Doug comes closest to the popularity of Rugrats. In fact, Ren & Stimpy creator John Kricfalusi has apparently stated that of Rugrats, Ren & Stimpy and Doug, Nickelodeon thought Doug would be the big hit. The show followed Doug (full name Douglas Yancy Funnie), who, in the first episode, has just moved with his family to Bluffington. The show also regularly featured Doug's best friend Skeeter Valentine, his crush Patti Mayonnaise, school bully Roger Klotz, dimwitted next door neighbor Bud Dink (who constantly bought new gadgets and device that were "very expensive) and Doug's family (father Phil, mother Theda, theater-obsessed sister Judy and dog Porkchop). The show also often featured the music of a fictional band, The Beets. The show only ran for  a few seasons on Nickelodeon, but was later picked up by Disney to run on Saturday mornings on ABC. The later seasons were not very good.

Rocko's Modern Life - By this point I've realized that for my generation, most Nicktoons were well-known, and this one was no exception. Rocko followed a wallaby named Rocko as he interacted with his sog Spunky and his friends friends Heffer (a steer that was adopted by a family of wolves) and Filburt (a turtle that later married a cat). Other regular characters included Ed and Bev Bighead (frogs that lived next door to Rocko, Ed was ill-tempered toward Rocko and his friends and Bev was ill-tempered toward Ed), Gladys (a hippo that usually ended up angry when interacting with Rocko), Chuck and Leon (chameleon brothers) and Mr. Dupette (Ed's boss and Rocko's former boss). The show was aimed at children like all other Nicktoons, but there quite a few double entendres (for example, the show featured a fast food restaurant called Chokey Chicken.


Aaahh!!! Real Monsters - If Rugrats is one of the most well-known cartoons from Nick, Real Monsters is one of the least well-known. And even among those that remember it, most seem to have not liked it. I can't understand why, because I loved this show. The show followed a trio of monsters that attended a school to learn how to scare children. The main focus was on Ickis, a red, rabbit-like monster (who was, in fact, often mistaken for a rabbit) who's special ability was to grow super-huge. Ickis was nervous and often messed up his scaring assignments, but at times found the courage to save himself and his friends, and once pulled all the monsters together to protect their existence. He lived in the dorm with his two roommates, Oblina (a shape-shifter who could also pull her internal organs out through her mouth to scare) and Krumm (who scared using his eyes, which he carried in his hands, and his overpowering stench). The three were taught by The Gromble, and when necessary were disciplined by The Snorch. I was very excited to find out that the entire series is streamable on Netflix.

This is getting longer than I meant for it, so I'll save the rest for tomorrow. Thanks for reading.

  

Nickelodeon Nostalgia, Part 4

At least one more of these posts before cartoons. There's so much to say about the cartoons that I'm trying to think of how I can make an adequate post that isn't extremely long. So for now, the odds and ends. The things that aren't cartoons, sitcoms or game shows, just random shows or features.

The Adventures of Pete & Pete - I know I wrote about the sitcom back in the first Nick Nostalgia post, but it didn't originate as a sitcom. It was originally short bits shown during commercial breaks. Some of them were released as a bonus feature on the Season 1 DVD. Not sure about Season 2, I don't have that DVD set yet.  A full list of the shorts can be found here.

What Would You Do? - Hosted by Marc Summers, this show is listed on Wikipedia as a game show, but from my memory it didn't really fit that description. Maybe it's just been too long and I'm not remembering right. There are some clips on Youtube that might explain it better than I can.

SNICK - SNICK (Saturday Night Nick) wasn't a show or feature, it was a programming block that lasted for two hours every Saturday night starting in the early 90s, featuring the Big Orange Couch. The line ups varied (the line ups can be viewed here), but most of the shows I remember from my youth were featured at some point. I stopped watching shortly after it became Snick House, because I couldn't stand Nick Cannon. I tried watching once when it became TEENick, but I was obviously too old to enjoy what they were showing by that point.

Nick in the Afternoon - This was a programming block that aired weekday afternoons for a few years during the summer. The block was hosted by Stick Stickly, a popsicle stick with goggly eyes. It had features like U-Pick where viewers picked what show would air next. Another feature involved Stick being dipped into concoctions suggested by viewers, he then had to guess what he was in. Stick Stickly was my first lesson in how jingles effect viewers. Even today I can remember the address to send letters to Stick ("Write to me, Stick Stickly, PO Box 963, New York City, New York State, 10108," typed completely from memory). Now that I think about it, Nick in the Afternoon might be why I remember You Can't Do That On Television, since that show originally aired so long ago that I shouldn't really remember it, but they used to show the older shows sometimes.

Nickelodeon Nostalgia, Part 3

Two posts about live-action shows and I still haven't mentioned You Can't Do That On Television. What a shame. Great sketch show, featured a young Alanis Morissette in later years, and introduced green slime, which became a long-running feature of Nickelodeon.

Anyways, for part 3 of my Nickelodeon nostalgia, I chose to write about game shows. I'm still holding off on cartoons, since that seems to be what everyone wants to see so I'll save the best for last.

Throughout it's years, Nickelodeon featured a unique variety of game shows. Here are a few of the shows I enjoyed in my childhood:

Double Dare - Nickelodeon's most remembered game show. Teams would answer trivia questions or dare each other to answer them. After being "double dared" to answer, teams could chose instead to perform the "physical challenge." The team with the highest score at the end had to run the obstacle course for additional money. The show had a number of spinoffs and retooled formats, including Family Double Dare, Super Sloppy Double Dare, and Double Dare 2000.

Nick Arcade - The opposite of Double Dare, in that it's the least remembered show on this list. Very few people I talk to seem to remember this show. Combining trivia, puzzles, and video games, the show consisted of teams of 2 competing to get to the Video Zone. Using blue screen technology, the team had to get through a video game world to defeat one of 3 villains. If you never saw the show, here's a video showing some teams competing in the Video Zone.

Legends Of The Hidden Temple - 6 teams (Red Jaguars, Blue Barracudas, Green Monkeys, Orange Iguanas, Purple Parrots, and Silver Snakes, I couldn't remember them all so I checked Wikipedia) were whittled down to 1 through games (crossing the Moat, trivia at the Steps of Knowledge, and the Temple Games), most of which were somehow connected to a myth or legend told in the episode. The remaining team then had to get through the temple within a time limit to find an artifact connected to the story without getting caught by the temple guards.

Figure It Out - A panel of three judges (all cast members from Nickelodeon shows) tried to guess the secret talent of the contestant. Two contestants played on each show, and each contestant got three rounds. The goal of each round was to guess a word and all 3 words were then used to guess the talent. What I remember the most about this show (other than my crush on the host, Summer Sanders) was that Danny Tamberelli, best known as the younger Pete on The Adventures Of Pete & Pete, was a panelist on what seemed like almost every episode.

GUTS - I watched this show often, but I found it the least interesting of the shows on this list. Young athletes competed in various events (a list of all the events can be found on the show's Wikipedia entry). The events changed from show to show, but the last event was always the Aggro Crag, a mini-mountain that the contestants had to climb. Most of the show wasn't that interesting to me, but I loved the Crag portion.

Nickelodeon Nostalgia, Part 2

Since I wrote last week about old-school live-action Nickelodeon shows, friends have brought to my attention individual shows that I somehow forgot to mention. I was just going to let it go, but when I realized how many shows there were I decided to do a second post to remedy my error. So, here’s more live-action Nickelodeon nostalgia:

All That! - The other sketch comedy show I watched on Nickelodeon (in addition to Roundhouse). I watched this from the original pilot (to my knowledge, only aired once) up to the beginning of the second era, which was just awful. The show produced a number of spin-offs, such as the sitcom Keenan & Kel, the film Good Burger, and the multi-format animation KaBlam! It also launched the spin-offs The Nick Cannon Show, The Amanda Show and Zoey 101 and led to Drake & Josh and iCarly, but I think All That! can be forgiven for those.

Keenan & Kel - A sitcom staring Keenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell as two best friends who lived next door to each other. Keenan was a schemer who worked at a small grocery store, and Kel was dimwitted and clumsy and usually went along with Keenan’s schemes. He also loved orange soda. The show was the first spin-off from All That! and the only live-action television spin-off that I actually enjoyed.

Clarissa Explains It All - Melissa Joan Hart (who later played Sabrina on Sabrina The Teenage Witch) stars as Clarissa Darling. The show was about her day to day life and how she dealt with it. She also had an annoying younger brother named Ferguson, a best friend named Sam who always climbed in through the window, and, for a short time, a pet alligator that she kept in a wading pool. I don’t remember much beyond that.

Are You Afraid Of The Dark - I’m upset with myself for forgetting the rest of the shows on this list, but I’m really kicking myself about this one. I loved this show. The premise was simple. A group of teens (“The Midnight Society”) gathered around a a campfire to tell scary stories. Each week, a different member would tell the story, with the whole episode consisting of the story and the bookend segments around the campfire. Several stories involved the recurring character Sardo (every time he was involved, someone would call him “Mr. Sardo,” prompting him to repeat his memorable line, “That’s SarDO, no Mr, accent on the DO”). Each episode began with some talking between the group members, then one would throw some kinda power substance on the fire to introduce the story. At the end, the leader of the group would declare the meeting over and dump a bucket of water on the fire. If my memory serves me right, the first episode, “The Tale Of The Twisted Claw,” (which can be viewed on Youtube, or at least it was there when I watched it back in October) was shown as the pilot around Halloween, then the show didn’t start again for another year or two.

The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo - An Asian-American girl named Shelby Woo solved mysteries. Pat “Mr. Miyagi” Morita co-starred. I don’t remember much beyond that, but seriously, that should be enough to let you know it was a great show.

Nickelodeon also showed modernized or Americanized versions of two shows, both of which I watched a lot:

Land Of The Lost - Sid and Marty Kroft’s remake of their own earlier show, Land Of The Lost followed a man and his two kids after they fall through a time portal and end up in the age of the dinosaurs, where they befriend a baby dinosaur, some kind of sentient monkey thing, and a girl named Christa who fell through earlier.

The Tomorrow People - Forget what I said about Alex Mack, this might have actually been the first sci-fi I watched. An Americanized version of a British show from the 70’s, The Tomorrow People followed a group of teens who discover they are part of the next stage of human evolution, Homo superior, also known as “Tomorrow People.” Using their psychic abilities (specifically, telekinesis, telepathy and teleportation) they attempt to hide from the authorities that are looking for them. What I remember most from the show (it aired before I was even 10, I sadly don’t remember much other than how awesome it was) is that in the opening story arc, an Australian character named Adam does this cool “Now you see me, now you do” thing with the teleportation while explaining what’s going on to another character.

Nickelodeon Nostalgia

Earlier today, my Wikipedia-surfing led me to this page listing 1990's Nickelodeon shows. I grew up in the 1990's, and like many people my age I watched Nickelodeon almost constantly. I'm in a nostalgic mood right now from writing about Green Day's Nimrod earlier, so I thought I'd write about some of the shows I miss watching every week. This post solely contains the live-action shows I watched. I may write about the cartoons and game shows in a later post.


The Adventures of Pete & Pete - If you don't already know this show about brother Pete and Pete Wrigley then I just don't know what to tell you. This show was hysterical, amazing and groundbreaking. This is the benchmark for any live-action Nickelodeon show to follow. The show launched the career of Michelle Trachtenburg and featured a long list of celebrity cameos. I'm holding back on saying too much because I could go on and on about the show. The soundtrack is available for sale, featuring the theme song, "Hey Sandy," as well as other songs performed by Polaris (which was actually 3 of the 4 members of Miracle Legion). I recommend picking it up even if you didn't watch the show. Then pick up some Miracle Legion and frontman Mark Mulcahy's solo work.


The Secret World Of Alex Mack - Secret World followed the adventures of a teenage girl who is accidentally covered in an experimental chemical from a local company. Upon returning home, she discovers that the chemical has given her special powers, specifically telekinesis, the ability to shoot electricity from her fingers and the ability to turn into a puddle that can move around. Helped by her best friend and her sister, Alex has to hide from the company as they constantly search for her. This show is possibly the first sci-fi I ever watched, and Larissa Oleynik, who stared as the title character, was my first celebrity crush.

Space Cases - A group of slackers in a space academy accidentally take off on a space ship, accompanied by their teacher, a former captain and a robot. If Secret World is the first sci-fi I watched, Space Cases is most likely the second. Jewel Staite, who played one of the students until her character was replaced at the end of season 1 (by a girl from another dimension that only she could talk to, who all the other characters assumed was an "invisible friend), was later cast by Joss Whedon as Kaylee, the mechanic on the space ship Serenity on the TV show Firefly and its spin-off movie Serenity.

Salute Your Shorts - A sitcom about a group of campers at a summer camp called Camp Anawanna. I remember going to boy scout camp and being very disappointed that my camp experience was nothing like the show. Years later, I worked at a camp for a few summers. After that experience, I can't help but feel offended that the only supervision ever shown was occasional interaction with the camp's head counselor, "Ug" Lee. There were two episodes that I remember the most. One involved a wimpy camper nicknamed Sponge trying to gain weight so he could compete in a wrestling tournament, while a larger camper nicknamed Donkeylips tries to lose weight for the same purpose. The other involves two campers faking an illness to get out of swimming, then scheming to get into a freezer full of ice cream.

Hey Dude - A sitcom about a group of teens working at a dude ranch in the wild west. I sadly remember very little about the show aside from how much I loved it back then. I do remember a Native American guy and one of the teens went on to play the role of Josh on the TV spin-off of Clueless, taking over the role from Paul Rudd. One of the other teens was played by Christine Taylor, who went on to a successful film career (and also married Ben Stiller).

Roundhouse - A sketch comedy show that predates Nickelodeon's more well-known sketch show, All That. Again, it's too long ago for me to remember much about it aside from loving it. I do remember that one of the actors always moved around on a motorized recliner, and I always wondered if it was just for the show or if he used a wheelchair beyond the show. I also remember a sketch that was an advertisement for dehydrated drinking water. I was surprised that there was a Wikipedia entry for this show, as I have yet to meet anyone other than me or my sisters that remember it.