Nick at Nite Thread

[minor muppetz]

I know, they were even playing Rocky and Bullwinkle for a short while.

I forgot about that. I remember reading about it, but never could figure out when it was on (yeah, I could have checked a TV listing or the official website, but whatever...). But I did catch a "Wossamatta U." marathon on the channel. In fact, I think Cartoon Network also had a marathon of all the Wossamatta U episodes, but I can't really remember. It's a shame more channels (to my knowledge) didn't have Bullwinkle marathons, dedicated to individual storyarcs. Bullwinkle was on Nickelodeon back when the channel had "Nick Mania" blocks dedicated to marathons. Considering Nick's broadcasts had three R&B segments per half hour and Nick Mania lasted two hours, they could have included two six-chapter storylines.

 

[D'Snowth]

Considering Nick's broadcasts had three R&B segments per half hour and Nick Mania lasted two hours, they could have included two six-chapter storylines.

That's how they are in syndication...

The syndication package for R&B contains the first two seasons with a R&B segment, a Fractured Fairy Tale (occasionally alternating with Aesop and Son), Mr. Know-it-All, Mr. Peabody (occasionally alternating with Dudley Do-Right), a second R&B segment, and Bullwinkle's Corner; the other seasons were presented with a R&B segment, Mr. Know-it-All, a Fractured Fairy Tale, a second R&B segment, Bullwinkle's Corner, and a third R&B segmetn... after Nickelodeon, Seasons Three and Four were dropped from the syndication package, so only Seasons One, Two, and Five are seen in reruns.

A lot of cartoons are like that, Drtooth can explain this better than I can, but the FCC requires a classic cartoon have a minimum of 65 episodes to be syndicated in reruns, which is why you only see certain episodes and seasons of some cartoons, but not others... like with the 80s version of Alvin and The Chipmunks, the first five and a half seasons (exactly 65 episodes) are syndicated in reruns, but not the other two and a half (but that's okay, those were weaker seasons anyway).

 

[minor muppetz]

That's how they are in syndication...

Actually, from what I remember about the syndication package I saw before Nickelodeon got the show, as well as on Cartoon Network, only the fifth season was shown with three R&B segments per episode (except the last, which had all four chapters of Moosylvania Saved), while the first two seasons have two R&B segments per half hour. But what I remember about Nickelodeon, as well as what I've read elsewhere, each episode had three R&B segments (I can't quite remember what they did about storylines where the number of chapters were not a multiple of three... Pull a Mooselvanya Saved?).

A lot of cartoons are like that, Drtooth can explain this better than I can, but the FCC requires a classic cartoon have a minimum of 65 episodes to be syndicated in reruns, which is why you only see certain episodes and seasons of some cartoons, but not others... like with the 80s version of Alvin and The Chipmunks, the first five and a half seasons (exactly 65 episodes) are syndicated in reruns, but not the other two and a half (but that's okay, those were weaker seasons anyway).

Are you sure it's a minimum and not a maximum?

 

[D'Snowth]

Are you sure it's a minimum and not a maximum?

Yeah, if 65 were the maximum, then some of these distributors would be showing even less episodes in syndication to save money.

 

[dwmckim]

Ah, Nick at Nite!!! Back when Turkey Television was big! When I got to college, I took a course in film making, and my professor, Mickey Siporin, did a number of short films for the show. He even showed me a few animation cels from the opening titles. At one point he even submitted a few shorts for Sesame Street, but I'm not clear if any ever got used.

It's really too bad when channels stray away from their original premise, and not always for the better (does MTV actually play MUSIC anymore?!) Cartoon Network was another idea that started out really strong, showing stuff you couldn't find anywhere else (anyone remember Mr. Spimm's Cartoon Theatre?), but then devolved into showing one incarnation or another of Scooby-Doo six times a day.
Such is progress.

Which ones did he do? I loved Turkey Television - it was like the younger version of Night Flight!

 

[Drtooth]

A lot of cartoons are like that, Drtooth can explain this better than I can, but the FCC requires a classic cartoon have a minimum of 65 episodes to be syndicated in reruns, which is why you only see certain episodes and seasons of some cartoons, but not others... like with the 80s version of Alvin and The Chipmunks, the first five and a half seasons (exactly 65 episodes) are syndicated in reruns, but not the other two and a half (but that's okay, those were weaker seasons anyway).

It's not quite FCC... and it's somewhere between 50 something to 65. It's more of a budget thing than FCC thing.

Remember when they syndicated Garfield and Friends? Other than the fact the syndication rights were hammered out while the show was still in production for CBS, and CBS for some reason wanted control of those episodes. But also, it's just more convenient to have the number of episodes they did have.

In fact, most cartoons have a strict 65 episode (if it lasts long enough) production cap. All budget, since there's no way they'd rerun them anywhere but their own network, where they'll say they have enough to rerun.

 

[minor muppetz]

Here's several great classic promos from the channel:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sQ3vjawSq9I
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hl9gHrmNoDI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1KGjwd-Rts&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejDyG0FEzjI&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXfo7N73nPk&feature=related

 

[minor muppetz]

The book TV Land To Go has a section on publicity stunts "that may have gone too far". Some I remember, some I don't (actually most of the ones I don't came before my household got cable). I've been looking for many of them on YouTube, with no luck. I found one, a "String-a-Thon", a pledge drive parody where Nick at Nite asked viewers to donate string to the station. I posted a link to part of that in my last post in this thread.

Another publicity stunt that I found is what TV Land did to compete against the original airing of the last episode of Seinfeld:

They spent the whole hour with a still of a sign telling viewers that they at TV Land are watching the last episode and will be back on-the-air in an hour. Obviously the whole hour wasn't posted on YouTube.

But the book mentioned quite a few funny publicity stunts I'd like to either see or see again. Like a "Picture Perfect" marathon where shows were broadcast with a picture frame superimposed over them. And a Cinco de Mayo marathon where shows were dubbed in spanish with english subtitles (I didn't get to see that marathon... and by coincidence today is cinco de mayo). And a St. Patrick's Day marathon where black and white shows were tinted green. Not to mention a summer 1997 marathon called "The Odd Couple on Ice", with Tony Randall and Jack Klugman acting as sports commentators.

 

[D'Snowth]

NOW Nick@Nite is doing THEIR own shows now too!

 

[charlietheowl]

I read a review of their new soap opera or whatever it is on The AV Club, and they trashed it up and down and left and right. Guess they are trying to get it on the ABC Family teen-soaps market.