Old Nickelodeon

[Drtooth]

I just found this old promo about the early Nicktoons. I don't remember seeing it before (this would have aired just before if not at the time I had gotten cable).

It provides a funny "take THAT" at USA's Cartoon Express. I had forgotten about that (how many people remember Cartoon Express?), though I did watch it a fair bit when I got cable (yeah, I keep saying that when I got cable I practically watched Nick all the time, yet somehow found time to watch Cartoon Express....).

AH. Back when Rugrats and Ren and Stimpy were good. Klasky didn't order Rugrats to be an anemic Muppet Babies knockoff with too many new characters who were less funny and more personality devoid, and Ren and Stimpy didn't turn into a poorly animated mess of jokes that didn't make sense.

But yeah. Wasn't Cartoon Express essentially the same stuff you could see on syndication anyway?

 

[minor muppetz]

AH. Back when Rugrats and Ren and Stimpy were good. Klasky didn't order Rugrats to be an anemic Muppet Babies knockoff with too many new characters who were less funny and more personality devoid,

I didn't realse they were trying to make it like Muppet Babies then, those guys for a
Long time (after the show's original run but before the introduction of Dil) I noticed quite a bit of similarities to Muppet Babies (like having fraternal twins, both shows have "cardboard box TV episodes" due to the TV breaking many of the personality types being similar, both shows having episodes titled "Beach Blanket Babies"...). In fact there's a comparison to Kermit an Tommy - the baby versions were more into adventure, while their older forms were more into show business (with Tommy being an aspiring filmmaker on "All Grown Up").

Wasn't Cartoon Express essentially the same stuff you could see on syndication anyway?

I can't remember everything that was on Cartoon Express, but I remember that it ha The Real Ghostbusters (and suddenly had an obsession with the show at that time) and Scooby-Doo (as well as TMNT, which I forgot about until I seemed out Cartoon Express bumpers on YouTube and saw the turtles).

 

[Drtooth]

I didn't realse they were trying to make it like Muppet Babies then, those guys for a
Long time (after the show's original run but before the introduction of Dil) I noticed quite a bit of similarities to Muppet Babies (like having fraternal twins, both shows have "cardboard box TV episodes" due to the TV breaking many of the personality types being similar, both shows having episodes titled "Beach Blanket Babies"...). In fact there's a comparison to Kermit an Tommy - the baby versions were more into adventure, while their older forms were more into show business (with Tommy being an aspiring filmmaker on "All Grown Up").

I must admit, Rugrats I can dig and respect, but it was never one of my favorites. I've always been more into CatDog, Rocko, Ren and Stimpy, stuff like that. But when I watched Rugrats again, I noticed it had a distinct charm to it. And that distinct charm was in the disconnect between the mundane adult conversations and the babies misinterpreting it, or at least the babies dealing with situations that they're too young for. Then Arleen Klasky dug her claws in it and whined about Angelica (the star of the show, or at least the antagonistic force that kept things interesting), and two movies later the thing turned into "forget the funny adults, let's have the babies go on adventures and pretend things." Ergo, Muppet Babies knockoff.

Long story short, the show got too popular for its own good in the late 90's, and I feel that it's more overrated than Spongebob, and that's the show they run that isn't either a preschool series or a tweencom.

As I've said before, I have enjoyed almost every Nicktoon that I've actually seen. Even, to an extent, the slice of life tween drama ones like As Told By Ginger. There are only 3 Nicktoons I outright despise. Rocket Power for being the sell out EXTREEEEEEEEEEME piece of crap it is, Fanboy and ChumChum for being a loud, obnoxious, waste of the concept, and Guardians of the RushZone for just being...terrible. It has some delightful moments of insanity, though, but you have to be in a pretty good mood to appreciate it on that level. It's essentially the worst thing Nick has ever done to a cartoon (Wild Grinders technically isn't a Nicktoon, otherwise HECK YEAH, I hate that reprehensible garbage), and the reason why no one in the western hemisphere gets sports cartoons.

 

[minor muppetz]

After looking at Cartoon Express on wikipedia, I saw that it actually did last a long time. From 1982-1996. Though it didn't have many original cartoons (which I barely remembered). But the majority of that block's time was before Nicktoons were introduced.

Nickelodeon did air a lot of cartoons that weren't Nicktoons, I wonder if Nick ever thought about having a block for cartoons that weren't Nicktoons.

I found this video with all of the Inside-Out Boy interstitials:

Watching this now, I notice that Inside-Out Boy's body includes an outline of his clothes. I guess it makes sense, because he was dressed when he became Inside-Out Boy, but all this time I hadn't noticed.

I saw on the Nickelodeon Wiki site (so not sure how reliable the info is) that Inside-Out Boy had one new episode a year for five years. I could see the first one being intended as a one-shot that got more later, but I would have thought they'd want to make at least a few a year. Well, by the third or fourth short, there were plenty to rerun over and over.

I don't remember the interrogation one at all.

The first Inside-Out Boy short feels more like a promo for a series than an installment of a series. Or even an extended opening sequence.

And wow, those adults all get scared of Inside-Out Boy upon sight (with the exception of a few who don't realize that his body is inside-out) while the kids are never scared at all. I would have thought that the adults would have the common sense to not be judgmental. And are they scared just because they're grossed out? I wonder if his parents reacted that way to him. I'm surprised that girls (his age) aren't grossed out by his appearance.

Inside-Out Boy doesn't seem to be too aware that adults are freaked out by him. Most of them seem to have rather jerkish personalities (and maybe portrayed as villany-free villains/designated villains), though some don't really deserve it, like the rapper (he seemed to think his appearance was cool, until he found out that it wasn't tattooes).

I wonder what happened after some of the adults freaked out... Did the kid who won at the science fair get disqualified because he basically cheated? Did the teacher/principal eventually find the girl and give her detention (when IOB wasn't around)?

I always thought the ending of the shorts, where the announcer said that IOB had what it takes to (insert something here) and IOB replied "Guts!", was funny. Especially after Nickelodeon introduced the Guts show, I kept thinking it was a reference to that (even though the shorts pre-date Guts and I most likely saw them before Guts).

 

[Erine81981]

I had never seen that last part. Was that like a promo or what?

 

[Xerus]

One thing I really loved about old Nickelodeon was before the orange logo, there was a silver ball with rainbow letters. And it had the coolest theme song too. I wish they still had that music.

 

[Erine81981]

One thing I really loved about old Nickelodeon was before the orange logo, there was a silver ball with rainbow letters. And it had the coolest theme song too. I wish they still had that music.

Man that is old. I never did see these bumpers growing up only cause I was to young plus I was an late 80's early 90's Nickelodeon kid. I wished I would have record all the shows I watched growing up but at the time didn't have a VCR. The only one was my parents and they wouldn't let us use it. But cool to see others who did. Brings back old memories. Thanks for posting this. Cool to see it. But I have seen these before on YouTube.

 

[minor muppetz]

I've been thinking about the first two Rugrats video releases - "A Baby's Got to Do What a Baby's Got to Do" and "Tales from the Crib". I've noticed that every episode in "A Baby's Got to Do What a Baby's got to Do" have all four of the main babies, but all the episodes on the original release of "Tales from the Crib" are Tommy and Chuckie stories, without Phil and Lil (the Paramount rerelease contains The Trial, which has all the babies).

I've also noticed something about those titles. "A Baby's Got to Do What a Baby's Got to Do" sounds like a good title for episodes about adventures or new challenges (episodes like Weaning Tommy and Chuckie vs. the Potty would have been good episodes for such a release), but it has Touchdown Tommy which isn't really an adventure story. In fact, the title is a quote from an episode not on the video (The Barbeque), while the cover is based on a scene from an episode not on the video (Tommy's First Birthday).

Meanwhile, "Tales from the Crib" sounds like a good title for a release of episodes with a horror theme, or even a bedtime theme, but the only such episode on that release is Real or Robot. Let There Be Light would have been a good episode for this (but it's included in "A Baby's Got to Do What a Baby's Got to Do"), and if it were themed around bedtime (not neccessarily scary-themed), then Slumber Party and Be Careful What You Wish For would have made good episodes to include.

When looking at a Rugrats videography, I was reminded of the fact that very few VHS releases overlapped pre-1997 and post-1997 episodes. Post-1997 holiday specials are the main exception. I wonder if this was deliberate or more of a coincidence (well the post-1997 episodes kind of have a different style). I was recently looking at the contents list for the 10th anniversary releases, and it seems like the post-1997 episodes dominated those releases (but at least the unaired pilot got to be included as a bonus). I'm starting to feel that there was a way for fans to nominate/vote for episodes to include (can't remember for sure, do know that I didn't participate), so maybe the shows target audience preferred the later episodes.

And I must say that I recently watched one of the post-1997 VHS releases, Angelica Knows Best. For years I've been thinking that they weren't as good as the pre-1997 ones, but watching the video, I found that most of the episodes included were really good. When the show was brought back in 1997, I really enjoyed the new episodes, though there are some that I don't remember being too fond of back then (though there are classic episodes I'm remember being too fond of, like the one where Tommy dreams of alien versions of his family, or Grandpa's Teeth, or the one where they think Lil turned into a butterfly). Of course I started watching the show a lot less around the time Rugrats in Paris was released.

For years I've known that Touchdown Tommy was the first major appearance of Chaz (after he appeared in the background a few times), and for years I've noticed that Howard didn't get any dialogue in that one (though there are a lot of episodes where he doesn't get dialogue or has a real minor role), and something about this hit me recently. Could it be that Phil Proctor, the voice of Howard, wasn't available for this episode, so they gave Chaz a big part (the two do seem a little similar, both kind of nerdy). Of course with the plot involving the fathers watching a big football game, they probably wanted another adult to be included as well (of course they could have had Boris fill that role).

And after watching a few episodes recently, I've noticed a few instances involving Angelica where I wonder if they had intended on using Susie but settled for Angelica instead. I know I mentioned somewhere that her scene in Feeding Hubert seems like it should have been Susie (she helps the kids in that scene, and it doesn't look like she's trying to get them in trouble). And there's the ending to The Mysterious Mr. Friend, where she shows up with the Mr. Friend doll that the babies got rid of by luring it past the loose fence board. The babies run off, but she doesn't seem too proud of the fact that she knows a new way to scare them... She just looks slightly confused but says that she thinks it's a neat toy (I could see Susie enjoying it while the babies are scared of it). And I feel like there's another time that I was thinking about recently that I just can't remember now.

 

[Drtooth]

While not extremely old Nickelodeon, I've came to a realization lately.

Ren and Stimpy has always been my favorite Nicktoon, but lately I've come to the conclusion that Rocko is a better show overall. The Spumco and just post Spumco enough that they were still using their scripts era of Ren and Stimpy was great. Then the series took a long, painful slide in quality. The irony is the later episodes of Ren and Stimpy rely more on toilet humor than the originals. And they were clumsily performed some of the time. Ren and Stimpy always had a disturbing element to it, but while the earlier episodes managed to either have great timing, cleverness, or some odd reference to obscure films (Ren's soliloquy to his "ice cream bar" was a reference to a film I can't remember the name of and never seen or heard of for example), later episodes turned Ren going nuts into a once an episode occurrence, and without anything funny or clever about them. Some actually felt tacked on.

Meanwhile, Rocko operated under the radar, well, most of the time. We got some truly inspired humor from the show consistently. And unlike R&S, the show actually got stronger as it went on, with the first season finding its voice and almost tame compared to the rest of it. I dare say Rocko has unseated Ren and Stimpy as my favorite as an adult, though to be fair, it's mainly due to the post season 2 episodes of R&S being juvenile and unwatchable by the end of the series.

Oh, and I HATE how Rocket Power has become a regular on The 90's are all that! That's cheating. The show came out so close to the end of the 90's that they might as well add Spongebob to that line up. It sucks that beloved shows like Rocko, Ren and Stimpy, and Doug take a backseat to a show that wasn't exactly universally beloved by Nicktoons fans. It was a show that spelled the end for Klasky-Csupo and Nick's partnership. It was a cynical money making move, and by all means that's what makes it one of, if not, the worst of the Nicktoons line up.

 

[BertsNose]

While not extremely old Nickelodeon, I've came to a realization lately.

Ren and Stimpy has always been my favorite Nicktoon, but lately I've come to the conclusion that Rocko is a better show overall. The Spumco and just post Spumco enough that they were still using their scripts era of Ren and Stimpy was great. Then the series took a long, painful slide in quality. The irony is the later episodes of Ren and Stimpy rely more on toilet humor than the originals. And they were clumsily performed some of the time. Ren and Stimpy always had a disturbing element to it, but while the earlier episodes managed to either have great timing, cleverness, or some odd reference to obscure films (Ren's soliloquy to his "ice cream bar" was a reference to a film I can't remember the name of and never seen or heard of for example), later episodes turned Ren going nuts into a once an episode occurrence, and without anything funny or clever about them. Some actually felt tacked on.

Meanwhile, Rocko operated under the radar, well, most of the time. We got some truly inspired humor from the show consistently. And unlike R&S, the show actually got stronger as it went on, with the first season finding its voice and almost tame compared to the rest of it. I dare say Rocko has unseated Ren and Stimpy as my favorite as an adult, though to be fair, it's mainly due to the post season 2 episodes of R&S being juvenile and unwatchable by the end of the series.

Oh, and I HATE how Rocket Power has become a regular on The 90's are all that! That's cheating. The show came out so close to the end of the 90's that they might as well add Spongebob to that line up. It sucks that beloved shows like Rocko, Ren and Stimpy, and Doug take a backseat to a show that wasn't exactly universally beloved by Nicktoons fans. It was a show that spelled the end for Klasky-Csupo and Nick's partnership. It was a cynical money making move, and by all means that's what makes it one of, if not, the worst of the Nicktoons line up.

I've noticed too how Rocket Power has started appearing on The 90s Are All That. It was never my favorite but maybe that's because I'm not into extreme sports. At least that is how I see the premise of the show. It just didn't interest me.

As for my favorites, one of them is definitely Rugrats. Spongebob is a favorite too but only the first three seasons. There might be one or two season 4 episodes that made me laugh and would watch if I saw them come on.

I know what you mean about beloved shows getting overlooked. I did used to watch Doug but not a whole lot. I will say, however, that while Ren and Stimpy and Rocko weren't my favorites I wish they would take off say Rocket Power or dare I say, even CatDog and put Kenan and Kel back on. No offense to the people who are fans of the show CatDog. It was just never my favorite even if I used to watch it. Kenan and Kel was my all time favorite live action show from the 90s. I used to see it on back when the 90s block started if not later on when the block started getting popular. Now its gone again. They just took it off the block without any warning. Another favorite from back in the day was Kenan and Kel and Hey Arnold. It wasn't too often that I used to watch Hey Arnold but I liked it.

Probably one of the last Nick shows that made me laugh was Drake and Josh.

I've been thinking about the first two Rugrats video releases - "A Baby's Got to Do What a Baby's Got to Do" and "Tales from the Crib". I've noticed that every episode in "A Baby's Got to Do What a Baby's got to Do" have all four of the main babies, but all the episodes on the original release of "Tales from the Crib" are Tommy and Chuckie stories, without Phil and Lil (the Paramount rerelease contains The Trial, which has all the babies).

I've also noticed something about those titles. "A Baby's Got to Do What a Baby's Got to Do" sounds like a good title for episodes about adventures or new challenges (episodes like Weaning Tommy and Chuckie vs. the Potty would have been good episodes for such a release), but it has Touchdown Tommy which isn't really an adventure story. In fact, the title is a quote from an episode not on the video (The Barbeque), while the cover is based on a scene from an episode not on the video (Tommy's First Birthday).

Meanwhile, "Tales from the Crib" sounds like a good title for a release of episodes with a horror theme, or even a bedtime theme, but the only such episode on that release is Real or Robot. Let There Be Light would have been a good episode for this (but it's included in "A Baby's Got to Do What a Baby's Got to Do"), and if it were themed around bedtime (not neccessarily scary-themed), then Slumber Party and Be Careful What You Wish For would have made good episodes to include.

When looking at a Rugrats videography, I was reminded of the fact that very few VHS releases overlapped pre-1997 and post-1997 episodes. Post-1997 holiday specials are the main exception. I wonder if this was deliberate or more of a coincidence (well the post-1997 episodes kind of have a different style). I was recently looking at the contents list for the 10th anniversary releases, and it seems like the post-1997 episodes dominated those releases (but at least the unaired pilot got to be included as a bonus). I'm starting to feel that there was a way for fans to nominate/vote for episodes to include (can't remember for sure, do know that I didn't participate), so maybe the shows target audience preferred the later episodes.

And I must say that I recently watched one of the post-1997 VHS releases, Angelica Knows Best. For years I've been thinking that they weren't as good as the pre-1997 ones, but watching the video, I found that most of the episodes included were really good. When the show was brought back in 1997, I really enjoyed the new episodes, though there are some that I don't remember being too fond of back then (though there are classic episodes I'm remember being too fond of, like the one where Tommy dreams of alien versions of his family, or Grandpa's Teeth, or the one where they think Lil turned into a butterfly). Of course I started watching the show a lot less around the time Rugrats in Paris was released.

For years I've known that Touchdown Tommy was the first major appearance of Chaz (after he appeared in the background a few times), and for years I've noticed that Howard didn't get any dialogue in that one (though there are a lot of episodes where he doesn't get dialogue or has a real minor role), and something about this hit me recently. Could it be that Phil Proctor, the voice of Howard, wasn't available for this episode, so they gave Chaz a big part (the two do seem a little similar, both kind of nerdy). Of course with the plot involving the fathers watching a big football game, they probably wanted another adult to be included as well (of course they could have had Boris fill that role).

And after watching a few episodes recently, I've noticed a few instances involving Angelica where I wonder if they had intended on using Susie but settled for Angelica instead. I know I mentioned somewhere that her scene in Feeding Hubert seems like it should have been Susie (she helps the kids in that scene, and it doesn't look like she's trying to get them in trouble). And there's the ending to The Mysterious Mr. Friend, where she shows up with the Mr. Friend doll that the babies got rid of by luring it past the loose fence board. The babies run off, but she doesn't seem too proud of the fact that she knows a new way to scare them... She just looks slightly confused but says that she thinks it's a neat toy (I could see Susie enjoying it while the babies are scared of it). And I feel like there's another time that I was thinking about recently that I just can't remember now.

Minor Muppetz, your post was very informative and interesting. I never thought of any of these things before like instances where they used Angelica instead of Susie. I can't think of anymore but you bring up a good point with "Fedding Hubert".

Your post also made me still wish I had my Rugrats VHS tapes from when I was a kid. I am going to eventually continue rebuilding that collection. I was so lucky one day when I found "A Baby's Gotta Do What a baby's gotta do" in this used bookstore/thrift store in my city. Then later on I recovered "Diapered Duo" because my mom loves the Tommy and Chuckie episode "The Odd Couple". I have Rugrats in Paris too. I still plan on getting the first movie. Anyway, I know most people probably started to move away from the show after Kimi became part of the main babies. I will admit that I never really got into the post-Kimi episodes but loved "Rugrats in Paris" because of all the mayhem the babies create in France.

I never thought too much about where they were going with the titles for the videos either but you also bring up a good point about certain episodes being good fits for a video like "A Baby's Gotta Do What a Baby's Gotta Do." I feel like the reason "Touchdown Tommy" is even on "Baby's Gotta Do" is that while it isn't an adventure it most likely feels like one, what with the huge battle over the chocolate milk. You said that the title is good for overcoming new challenges and maybe that's where the video makers decided to put on "Touchdown Tommy". It may not be a challenge babies face like potty training but I can see how fighting with Angelica over a bottle of chocolate milk would be a challenge. I see what you mean that "Chuckie Vs. The Potty" could work for "A Baby's Gotta Do" but in my opinion it fits better on "Chuckie the Brave" since those episodes are about Chuckie overcoming his fears. I'm really not sure where "Chuckie's Wonderful Life" fits in there since its not really about Chuckie facing one of his fears. I guess I would have to watch it again one of these days to see the connection.