Old Nick Appreciation Thread

[Hayley B]

The Rugrats have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. I got to see it and my thoughts were. In a 100 years from now. People will probably look at that star like who or what were Rugrats?

 

[CensoredAlso]

The Rugrats have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. I got to see it and my thoughts were. In a 100 years from now. People will probably look at that star like who or what were Rugrats?

I think that might have been different if they hadn't jumped the shark and just preserved themselves as the clever show they were.

 

[Mo Frackle]

You know, I always hoped that these old Nick, CN, and Disney cartoons would eventually wind up being remembered the same way Scooby-Doo, Looney Tunes, The Flinstones, and others have been remembered. "Sure, maybe the shows got cancelled, but maybe Nick, CN, and Disney will let some other network rerun these shows, and maybe that'll lead to some TV specials". A nice dream, but not very realistic.

 

[CaseytheMuppet]

Happy Happy Joy Joy....

 

[Drtooth]

Eh... I can't believe anyone has a nostalgic soft spot for that. He was Barney level annoying.

Fairly Odd Parents will go down in history for me as Biggest, Backstabbing, Disappointment Ever. That show started off so well, I loved it, and then just degenerated into cruel, non funny "humor" with absolutely zero message. It should just be put out of its misery.

At least your not one of those annoying FOP fans that absolutely hate the live action movie and Wishology because they're SOOOO obsessive with their Trixie Tang X Timmy Turner pairings. Like he was going to get her anyway. No... for fandom to have a broken base because a show doesn't fit in with their fanfics, you KNOW something is wrong with it. Besides... the live action movie was no where NEAR as terrible as most theatrically made ones.

As someone who's vicariously watching the show through the crappy single DVD releases and whatever I can find online, I've never witnessed that (though what I read of the Wonderful Life parody seems both clever and insanely cruel at the same time). But that's what happens when a show is on that long. It deteriorates. Sometimes it gets funny again for like a few episodes, but then it goes back to "this used to be funny."

But I'm still a pretty big fan of the series.

 

[minor muppetz]

Does anybody else find it ironic that although Warner Bros. was one of the channel's original owners (along with American Express), Looney Tunes didn't come to the channel until AFTER Warner sold its ownership of the channel?

Sure, maybe it was just a case of other networks having the broadcast rights, but then again, when Nickelodeon began airing Looney Tunes in 1988, the majority of shorts it had the broadcast rights to were basically things that other networks wouldn't touch: Black and white cartoons (including ones with Bosko and Buddy) and shorts from the late-1960s (I've read that Nick was the first channel to show any WB shorts from the late-60s that didn't star Speedy, Daffy, or Road Runner), plus redrawn colorized versions of black and white shorts. It also seems like Nickelodeon NEVER had any problems with airing Speedy Gonzales cartoons (whether pre- or post-1964). At the time ABC refused to air Speedy cartoons on The Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show, and it seems other stations began to show very little (if any) of the character. The WB had the broadcast rights to a handful of Speedy cartoons when the station started, but only a few were broadcast, while Cartoon Network aired ALL of the Speedy cartoons that The WB had broadcast rights to when Warner and Ted Turner merged (only for Speedy cartoons to become scarce on Cartoon Network for many years). In fact, the first time I remember seeing Speedy (and Pepe le Pew) was on the channel. Nickelodeon also showed some other politically incorrect shorts that other channels were against, like Which is Witch?, though there are some shorts Nick had the rights to that the channel refused to air at all (The Ducktators, both cartoons titled Injunn Trouble, and others).

I've read that when Looney Tunes began on Nickelodeon they did have the rights to a handful of cartoons from between 1948-1964. Not sure how big that selection was. But over the years the various networks that had broadcast rights to post-1948 WB shorts would often switch cartoons every few years, and Nickelodeon eventually got to air more of the shorts that casual fans are familiar with, while eventually dropping the black and white versions of the black and white shorts. In fact, there was one promo which pointed out that the channel now had the rights to more Looney Tunes, while even pointing out that Bosko would no longer air on the channel (I wonder if Nick did research to see if kids disliked Bosko, because it's weird that they'd point it out... I usually saw Bosko whenever I was able to watch Nickelodeon before I got cable, and he was dropped by the time I got cable, and I was disapointed to hear the news in the commercials). I've also read on the old Golden Age Cartoons forum that there was a week in 1995 when Nickelodeon aired one Buddy cartoon per day, and then stopped showing Buddy again (I don't remember seeing Buddy on the channel at all).

I don't know why, but I feel like Looney Tunes on Nickelodeon was one of the best showings of Looney Tunes. I've often watched Looney Tunes on other channels (though my local ABC station usually showed news instead of saturday morning cartoons). And Looney Tunes seemed to be popular on the channel for a long time. If Time Warner and Ted Turner didn't have their merger which caused pre- and post-1948 cartoons to air together and then set out to have the broadcast rights to all Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies, I wonder if Looney Tunes would still be airing on Nick today (probably not).

 

[HeyButtahfly]

Eh... I can't believe anyone has a nostalgic soft spot for that. He was Barney level annoying.

Totally agree. Although looking back I think I watched Nick Jr for too long (age-wise) and that's why Face bugged me so much.

 

[Drtooth]

Sure, maybe it was just a case of other networks having the broadcast rights, but then again, when Nickelodeon began airing Looney Tunes in 1988, the majority of shorts it had the broadcast rights to were basically things that other networks wouldn't touch: Black and white cartoons (including ones with Bosko and Buddy) and shorts from the late-1960s (I've read that Nick was the first channel to show any WB shorts from the late-60s that didn't star Speedy, Daffy, or Road Runner), plus redrawn colorized versions of black and white shorts. It also seems like Nickelodeon NEVER had any problems with airing Speedy Gonzales cartoons (whether pre- or post-1964). At the time ABC refused to air Speedy cartoons on The Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show, and it seems other stations began to show very little (if any) of the character. The WB had the broadcast rights to a handful of Speedy cartoons when the station started, but only a few were broadcast, while Cartoon Network aired ALL of the Speedy cartoons that The WB had broadcast rights to when Warner and Ted Turner merged (only for Speedy cartoons to become scarce on Cartoon Network for many years). In fact, the first time I remember seeing Speedy (and Pepe le Pew) was on the channel. Nickelodeon also showed some other politically incorrect shorts that other channels were against, like Which is Witch?, though there are some shorts Nick had the rights to that the channel refused to air at all (The Ducktators, both cartoons titled Injunn Trouble, and others).

Out of all the Looney Tunes cartoon compilations made for broadcast television, it certainly was the most diverse. Even local syndicated packages never did anything earlier than the mid-40's. And later cartoons? Forget about it. While I admit the mid-40's to late 50's was the cream of the Looney Tunes crop, to be able to watch those earlier and later cartoons you'd need to buy a Gold collection DVD. Heck, the only time I ever saw the cartoon about a mouse stealing a diamond and that stupid cop going "Oh-dehhh- BOY! Dah Diamon'" (which TOTALLY should be an internet meme) was off someone's VHS copy taped off of Nickelodeon's Looney Tunes.

Not to mention how funny I thought the Looney Tunes on Nickelodeon theme music was.

 

[minor muppetz]

Out of all the Looney Tunes cartoon compilations made for broadcast television, it certainly was the most diverse. Even local syndicated packages never did anything earlier than the mid-40's. And later cartoons? Forget about it. While I admit the mid-40's to late 50's was the cream of the Looney Tunes crop, to be able to watch those earlier and later cartoons you'd need to buy a Gold collection DVD.

Actually the pre-1948 cartoons weren't scarce, and only a handful of late-1960s cartoons were included on the Golden Collections. In fact, until last year official video releases of late-'60s shorts have been very scarce.

In the late-1950s, Warner Bros. sold its entire pre-1948 library to either United Artists or A.A.P. (and whichever other compaany bought the one that bought the library). At the time Warner no longer had the rights to the majority of black and white cartoons (for some reason the only exception was most of the Merrie Melodies produced by Hugh Harman and Rudolph Ising), re-obtaining the rights in the 1960s. Subsequently the various companies that owned the pre-1948 shorts were purchased by MGM, which was eventually purchased by Ted Turner. In 1997 Turner had a merger with Time Warner, making WB the sole owners of all the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts once again (I often wonder what would happen if the two companies had a "divorce", but I don't think I have to worry).

MGM released many Looney Tunes VHS and MGM titles. In fact, "The Golden Age of Looney Tunes" laserdisc collection ended up including EVERY WB short that MGM had the rights to (except for "the censored eleven"). A number of pre-1948 cartoons have been included on many public domain releases as well (including the censored 11). In fact, none of the post-1948 shorts are in the public domain (despite this "Which is Witch" and "Gift Wrap" have been included on public domain tapes).

The post-1948 shorts had been split into many television packages over the years, allowing the shorts to be broadcast on many networks. For some reason (I assume to be able to show more shorts on their channels) the various television packages changed cartoons every few years. With Turner owning the shorts, the pre-1948 cartoons were heavily broadcast on TNT, TBS, and Cartoon Network (for some reason I didn't watch Looney Tunes on those channels often until after they started showing post-1948 cartoons, though I heavily watched LT on Nickelodeon and That's Warner Bros./Bugs 'n Daffy Show). After the merger, The WB began broadcasting pre-1948 shorts on The Bugs 'n Daffy Show and The Daffy Duck Show, and the Turner networks began broadcasting later shorts, while Warner Home Video began releasing pre-1948 cartoons on VHS. It was around this time that they set out to have Cartoon Network (along with Boomerang) be the only channel to show Looney Tunes. TNT, TBS, and The WB all soon stopped airing the shorts, and Time Warner let Nickelodeon and ABC's contracts run out. In fact, shortly after Nickelodeon stopped airing Looney Tunes, there was a commercial on the channel advertising the fact that Cartoon Network was now the only cable channel to air Looney Tunes, and CN aired a similar commercial after ABC lost the broadcast rights, promoting Cartoon Network as the only channel to air Looney Tunes.

I think that after these changes Cartoon Network was a little more diverse than Nickelodeon. The Bosko and Buddy cartoons never aired on CN (outside of a few Toonheads specials. It's a shame they wouldn't even show them on Late-Night Black and White), but the Harman-Ising Merrie Melodies were often shown on Late-Night Black and White. Black and White shorts were also shown on Toonheads and The Bob Clampett Show. CN also seemed to show post-1964 shorts as often as Nick did, with the main exception being the Speedy cartoons for a good period of time. And in the time since the Golden Collections the pre-48 cartoons have been released on other DVD collections, like the Superstars releases (though there was a brief period when WB wouldn't anything from before 1953, but that's changed now), the Looney Tunes Platinum Collections, and the recent Mouse Chronicles set which includes the entire filmographies of Sniffles and Hubie & Bertie, most of which are from before 1948.

Sorry, I hope I didn't turn this into a Looney Tunes thread, when it's supposed to be a Nickelodeon thread. But while Cartoon Network did show a little more than Nick, I think I actually prefer Nickelodeon's broadcasts of Looney Tunes better. I think the two channels weren't too strict on censoring violence (except for suicide gags).

I plan to post my thoughts on various Nickelodeon shows in a later post.

 

[Drtooth]

Actually the pre-1948 cartoons weren't scarce, and only a handful of late-1960s cartoons were included on the Golden Collections. In fact, until last year official video releases of late-'60s shorts have been very scarce.

I'm talking about the 1930's stuff. The only way I ever had access to that stuff was those old, crummy, expired copyright VHS released from the mid-80's. Never saw any of those on TV except for Nick's airings. Local syndication and even official Looney Tunes blocks usually use 1940's-late 50's stuff.

And as for the late 60's ones... well, I'm not surprised they don't release them often. They're... they're nothing to be proud of in some cases. Injun Trouble (the Cool Cat one) was embarrassing AND offensive.