Old Nickelodeon

[Drtooth]

Uh, hate to dis-ajoint you, Drtooth, but speaking from someone who grew up as part of that generation, I can tell you that, yeah, ROCKET POWER was popular when it was on. I mean, this was the late 90s/early 2000s, everything was "extreme" then: mountain biking, skateboarding, roller blading, surfing, scootering, what have you. ROCKET POWER was very much a product of its time, and since that what the mindset of the youth was at that time, yeah, RP was smash when it was out. It wasn't really my thing to be honest with you, but definitely a lot of the kids I went to school with were really into it - even the "indoor kids" dug it.

I didn't say it was bad because it was unpopular. By no means do I forget the horrible X-Treme fad from the 90's. I have vivid memories of various junk foods (really bad ones) with pictures of kids skateboarding/mountain biking/rollerblading being purchased by kids who never would touch any outside activity in real life. You know those parental groups what get their panties in a bunch because a popular cartoon character is on a piece of candy? I feel their real outrage should be junk foods with pictures of kids doing healthy activities on them.

But yeah. That's why I hate Rocket Power. Anyone remember the classic Simpsons where they introduce Poochie to Itchy and Scratchy? That's essentially why Rocket Power was a thing. If you look at other Nicktoons, they were far from pandering. Heck, Ren and Stimpy was a twisted throwback to 1950's- early 60's cartoons. And it was a hit somehow. Now, I know that if there's one thing kids like to see in cartoons it's either really wacky adults, usually in animal form, but mostly other kids. That's why so many CN shows starred kid characters, be they Ben 10, Dexter, or Cow and Chicken. You had shows on Nick like Rugrats and Doug, and of course Hey Arnold. None of them had to pander (well, later Rugrats) to be popular.

Then came Rocket Power. It's so incredibly last 2 years of 90's it's painful. I have real problems with All Grown Up and all, but essentially the characters had personality more or less based on their original counterparts. Rocket Power, however, had very vapid, personality devoid characters spout buzzwords and try to be hip. And that somehow sold, presumably because of that whole "if you don't like it, you're uncool" mindset. They kept shoving that dumb series in kids faces for years. I mean, I have these little toys that I got on clearance, like deep clearance at Target. They were some dumb gimmick where you put these pods in water and you'd get surprise figures. So I buy a bunch of them and, to give you a clue how far they pushed these dumb characters, the line up included Jimmy Neutron and Spongebob (Spongebob, you'll recall wasn't merchandising levels of popular until 2001). And yes, I got some of these guys. And I'd love to go all Sid from Toy Story on them, or just toss them, but I didn't.

But yeah. Rocket Power was a cynical, pandering, unwatchable series. And I hear crap about "ooh, Sanjay and Craig is so terrible" or "Breadwinners is the worst thing ever." But I rarely hear Rocket Power is a soulless piece of crap designed to make money. Only reason it isn't my most hated Nicktoon is because Fanboy and Chum Chum is actually worse.

 

[D'Snowth]

So all this talk of Nick rebooting their old shows from the 90s is cool and all (not really, I just say that as a stock phrase), but they're also talking about rebooting their live action shows as well. ARE YOU AFRAID OF THE DARK? and YOU CAN'T DO THAT ON TELEVISION? Okay, those could possibly work to a degree, considering they didn't really have permanent casts anyway. But CLARISSA EXPLAINS IT ALL? KENAN AND KEL? How are they going to do that? Aren't Melissa Joan Hart, Kenan Thompson, and Kel Mitchell all a tad too old to be doing those shows again? In Kel's case, he's already a regular on that new show GAME SHAKERS; not to mention all these rumors that TMZ keeps circulating that Kenan hates Kel now and wants nothing to do with him (which unfortunately was made more convincing when Dan Schneider was given a Lifetime Achievement Award, and Kenan congratulated him and mentioned everybody he worked with . . . except Kel).

Clarissa was a little too old for me when it was on (and yet I remember the theme song) since I was just a tot and it was more of a tween/teen show, but I love Kenan and Kel, and I don't see how they can possibly try to reboot that show. It'd be a little awkward to, say, have thirtysomething Kel coming over for some orange soda, interrupting thirtysomething Kenan fooling around with a strange woman on the couch while his parents are away.

 

[Erine81981]

Uh, hate to dis-ajoint you, Drtooth, but speaking from someone who grew up as part of that generation, I can tell you that, yeah, ROCKET POWER was popular when it was on. I mean, this was the late 90s/early 2000s, everything was "extreme" then: mountain biking, skateboarding, roller blading, surfing, scootering, what have you. ROCKET POWER was very much a product of its time, and since that what the mindset of the youth was at that time, yeah, RP was smash when it was out. It wasn't really my thing to be honest with you, but definitely a lot of the kids I went to school with were really into it - even the "indoor kids" dug it.

I didn't mind it. I wasn't all the special and all but I didn't mind watching it when it was on. I just liked the show from the characters and not for it's "EXTREME" type of sports. I never really cared for Mountain biking, skateboarding, roller blading, surfing and scootering.

 

[Erine81981]

So all this talk of Nick rebooting their old shows from the 90s is cool and all (not really, I just say that as a stock phrase), but they're also talking about rebooting their live action shows as well. ARE YOU AFRAID OF THE DARK? and YOU CAN'T DO THAT ON TELEVISION? Okay, those could possibly work to a degree, considering they didn't really have permanent casts anyway. But CLARISSA EXPLAINS IT ALL? KENAN AND KEL? How are they going to do that? Aren't Melissa Joan Hart, Kenan Thompson, and Kel Mitchell all a tad too old to be doing those shows again? In Kel's case, he's already a regular on that new show GAME SHAKERS; not to mention all these rumors that TMZ keeps circulating that Kenan hates Kel now and wants nothing to do with him (which unfortunately was made more convincing when Dan Schneider was given a Lifetime Achievement Award, and Kenan congratulated him and mentioned everybody he worked with . . . except Kel).

Clarissa was a little too old for me when it was on (and yet I remember the theme song) since I was just a tot and it was more of a tween/teen show, but I love Kenan and Kel, and I don't see how they can possibly try to reboot that show. It'd be a little awkward to, say, have thirtysomething Kel coming over for some orange soda, interrupting thirtysomething Kenan fooling around with a strange woman on the couch while his parents are away.

I thought what I read was that it was going to be TV Specials and Movies not reboots of those shows.

Now I could see Are You Afraid of the Dark and You Can't Do That On Television would be great for reboots but I agree don't do reboots of those shows.

I know one of the things they could do with these older shows? Why not do what's been going on with older shows. Do a squeal to them. How would you react to that? Would you like them or not care for them at all? Let me know.

 

[BertsNose]

So all this talk of Nick rebooting their old shows from the 90s is cool and all (not really, I just say that as a stock phrase), but they're also talking about rebooting their live action shows as well. ARE YOU AFRAID OF THE DARK? and YOU CAN'T DO THAT ON TELEVISION? Okay, those could possibly work to a degree, considering they didn't really have permanent casts anyway. But CLARISSA EXPLAINS IT ALL? KENAN AND KEL? How are they going to do that? Aren't Melissa Joan Hart, Kenan Thompson, and Kel Mitchell all a tad too old to be doing those shows again? In Kel's case, he's already a regular on that new show GAME SHAKERS; not to mention all these rumors that TMZ keeps circulating that Kenan hates Kel now and wants nothing to do with him (which unfortunately was made more convincing when Dan Schneider was given a Lifetime Achievement Award, and Kenan congratulated him and mentioned everybody he worked with . . . except Kel).

Clarissa was a little too old for me when it was on (and yet I remember the theme song) since I was just a tot and it was more of a tween/teen show, but I love Kenan and Kel, and I don't see how they can possibly try to reboot that show. It'd be a little awkward to, say, have thirtysomething Kel coming over for some orange soda, interrupting thirtysomething Kenan fooling around with a strange woman on the couch while his parents are away.

I don't remember hearing any rumors about Kenan hating Kel. If I remember correctly TMZ is a tabloid magazine so I would hope that the rumors of Kenan and Kel not speaking to each other are just that, rumors. Although I have to admit what you mentioned about Dan Schneider and Kenan does make it more convincing. Never in a million years would I have imagined that Kenan would hate his co-star. I don't pay attention to these kind of things that might be rumors so I have no idea why Kenan supposedly hates Kel.

If it really is true I hope they can work out their issues. I kind of would like to see a "Where Are They Now?" sort of thing with Kenan and Kel, what the characters been up to since the original show ended. I admit the whole thirtysomething Kel bursting in for orange soda interrupting thirtysomething Kenan would be kind of awkward. I just would like to do them do something together again if they could ever become friends again. If they can't make a movie or special out of it because of Kenan and Kel's "issues" (I'm using air quotes because I'm still a bit skeptical) why can't they at least rerun the old show? I thought that's what this whole Nickelodeon reconsidering their old programming was going to be about. I only read the article once so I may have missed something.

 

[Drtooth]

So all this talk of Nick rebooting their old shows from the 90s is cool and all (not really, I just say that as a stock phrase), but they're also talking about rebooting their live action shows as well. ARE YOU AFRAID OF THE DARK? and YOU CAN'T DO THAT ON TELEVISION? Okay, those could possibly work to a degree, considering they didn't really have permanent casts anyway. But CLARISSA EXPLAINS IT ALL? KENAN AND KEL? How are they going to do that? Aren't Melissa Joan Hart, Kenan Thompson, and Kel Mitchell all a tad too old to be doing those shows again? In Kel's case, he's already a regular on that new show GAME SHAKERS; not to mention all these rumors that TMZ keeps circulating that Kenan hates Kel now and wants nothing to do with him (which unfortunately was made more convincing when Dan Schneider was given a Lifetime Achievement Award, and Kenan congratulated him and mentioned everybody he worked with . . . except Kel).

Exactly. You can make a new Are you Afraid of the Dark, All That, and You Can't Do That by just throwing new kids into the mix. Of course, the problem is, I can just see them making inferior sketch comedy shows and just slapping "All That" and "YCDTOT" on the label.

As for the cartoons... ehh... that's a tough one. If you make things exactly the same it's a retread, if you change anything it's blasphemy. I still don't get the hate certain cartoon shows reboots and continuations get. Biker Mice from Mars, He-Man, Xiaolin Showdown... those shows were essentially the same to me. I never got why Extreme Ghostbusters got the crap it got because, quite honestly, the series fixed all the things ABC ruined the original cartoon with (Janine was her sarcastic self, Slimer wasn't the focus of attention and he didn't even talk, it kept canon to the original).

When it comes to Nicktoons, I'd much rather see cartoons that didn't get a fair shake brought back... ones like Zim (it's a comic, but I haven't picked any of it up yet), El Tigre, Catscratch. Rugrats was pretty much milked 'til the cash cow ran dry and what was left was ever souring. Doug? Ehhh... Would they age them up or somehow do some midquel between the original and Disney series? And while not brought back up, Rocko needs it's original writers back (that's why Camp Lazlo was so uneven), and I really don't trust a Ren and Stimpy come back unless they make it the original shockingly past the radar for kids and not the waaaaaay too much freedom, actually goaded into being too adult Adult Cartoon Party series.

 

[minor muppetz]

I don't remember hearing any rumors about Kenan hating Kel. If I remember correctly TMZ is a tabloid magazine so I would hope that the rumors of Kenan and Kel not speaking to each other are just that, rumors.

This reminds me of one promo, I think it was for a Kids Choice Awards, where it was said that Keenan and Kel spent so much time together counting votes that they stopped talking to each other, just because they had been talking to each other for so long.

I wonder if any of the live-action sitcoms would work with a completely new cast (or with the original cast as adults).

 

[Xerus]

I hear that they're making a brand new Dangermouse series. And I'd like to see Dave Coulier's old show, Out of Control, come back in reruns. Or even Turkey Television.

 

[fuzzygobo]

Turkey TV was great. One of my professors, Nick Siporin, contributed short films to them.
Now I'm getting misty-eyed over Pinwheel. You know you got a few decades under your belt if you remember that.

 

[D'Snowth]

If I remember correctly TMZ is a tabloid magazine so I would hope that the rumors of Kenan and Kel not speaking to each other are just that, rumors.

TMZ is unfortunately an entity all to its own: they have a website and a TV show, and while they are mostly tabloid junk, they apparently are a reputable source because the man behind it was apparently once a decent and respected lawyer who later became a journalist.

Notice I said "apparently."