90's Nickelodeon

[Spidey Revivey]

I've noticed a few threads here giving praise to the television shows of old, and a thought occured to me: Nickelodeon in the 90's. I can't speak for everyone, but for me Nickelodeon was perhaps the grandest television channel growing up as a kid. There was a little bit of everything for everyone; wanted something scary? Are You Afraid Of The Dark? my friend. Wanted live action adventure? Legends Of The Hidden Temple was high octane action back then for children. And then of course your smorgesboard (that how you spell it?) of cartoons that aired around this time, including Rugrats and Rocko's Modern Life.

So here are your questions:

1) In your opinion, was Nickelodeon better or worse in the 90's compared to today?

2) What program caught your attention the most back then?

3) If you could reboot any old school show(Figure It Out, All That, etc) for this generation, which one would it be?

The show that caught my attention the most were Animorphs and Are You Afraid Of The Dark?. I barely missed an episode of either, and if I had to reboot one of these, I would want AYAOTD redone, even if it doesn't fit very well today. Kids like scary, least most I know do. Back then it was Goosebumps and that show, and since the Goosebumps series never appears to be out of circulation thanks to public and school libraries, they will be around for quite some time. But the scarier Nick show isn't and I find that sad.

 

[Dagger Dias]

Was Nickelodeon better in the 90's compared to today? That's like asking if the sky is blue. Nothing could ever be more obvious. Today it is nothing but garbage and almost 100% unwatchable. In the 1990-2000 timeframe it was an amazing channel with shows that could appeal to virtually every single person. The sitcoms, game shows, cartoons, old classics like Lassie, Nick @ Nite for the older crowd, and even the abomination known as Nick Jr was tolerable in the early 90's too. The continuous downward trend began right around the time "the Snick House" began airing and the flood of bad Nicktoons began. Nick @ Nite saw a gradual decline after that, and Nick Jr was more or less an abomination from day 1 but it lost all its tolerable shows before the 90's ended. Today not even Nick @ Nite is watchable, and this saddens me to see my childhood favorite channel become destroyed this way.

It's hard to narrow it down to only one program that caught my attention the most. I liked everything that Nickelodeon aired during the 90's. Probably Salute Your Shorts, if I had to pick only one. It was one of the most underrated shows ever. As far as rebooting old shows, it might not get the same result that some may think it would. Starting reruns of them for today's audience might not appeal to them. Our generation lived in a different world and those shows might not get the same positive feedback. Rerunning shows like Salute Your Shorts, Clarissa Explains It All, or Pete & Pete for today's audience is like when we watched shows from the 70's and 80's on Nick @ Nite. Not everyone in the target audience will like it. The nostalgic crowd love it, a few new fans will like it, but it will probably not appeal to the target demographic.

 

[WWWYKI777]

1) In your opinion, was Nickelodeon better or worse in the 90's compared to today?

2) What program caught your attention the most back then?

3) If you could reboot any old school show(Figure It Out, All That, etc) for this generation, which one would it be?

1.On an overall level , I feel that Nickelodeon of today is more consistent.

The shows using real people (Victorious , iCarly , Etc) are actually quite good and the cartoons (Fairly oddparents , Spongebob , Etc) are actually quite good too.

My only complaint with their current programming is the penguins of madagascar , basically don't like that one at all

I recall back in the day growing up that despite Nick having a few really awesome things that alot of it sucked too. I honestly never much liked Doug , AH! Real monsters! , Rockos Modern Life , Ren & Stimpy , Legends of the hidden temple , Clarissa explains it all , or any of that really. I thought those things were mostly just ok at best.

Things like Rugrats , All that , The Amanda Show , Hey Arnold , and maybe even Catdog and stuff like that are what stood out to me in the 90s on Nickelodeon. (In that specific order too)

2.Rugrats

3.Rugrats

Rugrats created memorable moments that I will NEVER forget. To this very day I still sometimes exclaim "OHHHH MY FIBUDA!" , still remember the whole "Lindor the alien" thing and so much more , Reptars an unforgetable character still used in pop culture today (You can seriously buy Reptar merch at hot topic)

I know they tried to reboot rugrats with "All grown up" in which the characters were actually more like 12 year olds , but I would love to see a TRULY all grown up rugrats in which the original Rugrats are now the adults/parents and the show is focused on their babies. That would be awesome.

Rugrats passed the torch to Spongebob as the #1 cartoon , its truly interesting to wonder when Spongebob will end and pass the torch to some other new mega-hit cartoon in the future. I feel like the Fairly oddparents should be more popular and more pushed than it is , but 2nd place isn't bad. I can't even imagine what highly original concept its going to take to fill Rugrats/Spongebobs shoes or if it could even be done

 

[Mike C.]

I can't give an objective opinion on this because Nickelodeon in the 90's was for my demographic. Nickelodeon now is 10-20 years too young for my demographic. I'm sure if I were in the right age range I would love current Nickelodeon. Being in my late 20's I have no interest in any of their programs.

I'd say Salute Your Shorts caught my attention the most back then. I also was a big fan of Welcome Freshmen, Are You Afraid of the Dark, Clarissa Explains it All, and some of the game shows. We basically just left the tv on Nickelodeon or wrestling all day.

 

[bigbootydaddyV]

1) In your opinion, was Nickelodeon better or worse in the 90's compared to today?

IMO it is worse today than it was back in the late 80s/early 90s. I really don't remember the time frame of some shows because I was quite young, but I felt the overall shows were better. I have to agree with Mike C though it is tough to say for sure since the overall demographic has changed. I have a younger brother who loves the programming on Nick. I would love to see what would happen if Nick had an hour or so dedicated to older shows and to see how they do versus current programs.

2) What program caught your attention the most back then? There were a lot that caught my eye, shows like Are you afraid of the dark and hey dude were probably my favorites though i watched everything back then including clarrissa, pete and pete, and salute your shorts... I started to grow out of it after Doug and Rugrats though at the time i did enjoy those too for the most part.

3) If you could reboot any old school show(Figure It Out, All That, etc) for this generation, which one would it be? Are you afraid of the dark. What a concept, horror for kids, I used to love that show, a couple episodes actually scared me pretty bad. There were one or two eps I'd say would give Tales from the Crypt a run for it's money which is saying a lot given the restrictions a show on Nick would have.

 

[Sinister Shadows]

If Nickeoldeon still had the shows now from the 90's... i'd still watch it. It's hard to pick just one show though, between Salute Your Shorts, and Are You Afraid Of The Dark these two along with Rugrats was my three fave shows growing up.

 

[The Dragon Saga]

I used to watch nothing but Nickelodeon. During the summer I'd wake up at nine in the morning just so I could have six episodes of Saved by The Bell before it went to a couple episodes of Kenan & Kel. Rugrats and Doug were even awesome up until I was like ten, Spongebob went huge and I used to be obsessed with watching that too. Nickelodeon was my fucking channel!

Renford Rejects used to be awesome too.

Its wrong to think that now, the Disney Channel has completely taken over from Nickelodeon as kids favorite television station. I don't get why people like this Hannah Montana shit, or The Suite Life of Zack & Cody or whatever the hell they show on that channel. Unless its showing Recess I wouldn't even acknowledge it.

 

[WWWYKI777]

I used to watch nothing but Nickelodeon. During the summer I'd wake up at nine in the morning just so I could have six episodes of Saved by The Bell before it went to a couple episodes of Kenan & Kel. Rugrats and Doug were even awesome up until I was like ten, Spongebob went huge and I used to be obsessed with watching that too. Nickelodeon was my fucking channel!

Renford Rejects used to be awesome too.

Its wrong to think that now, the Disney Channel has completely taken over from Nickelodeon as kids favorite television station. I don't get why people like this Hannah Montana shit, or The Suite Life of Zack & Cody or whatever the hell they show on that channel. Unless its showing Recess I wouldn't even acknowledge it.

Well you openly stated your love for Saved by the bell and truth be told Suite life of Zack and Cody/Suite life on Deck is pretty similar , except its in a hotel/on a boat , do you just hate on it without watching it?

Hannah Montana is over btw , they finished the whole series and its done. (The show actually , if you ever had given it much of a chance was like 95% sitcom 5% music , it wasn't focused on the arguably lame music much in the 1st place so it was a decent show)

Then they also have sitcom Wizards of Waverly place which is a funny show about a family of regular people who happen to be wizards

Then theres "Good luck charlie" which despite its incredibly seemingly stupid name is a totally decent sitcom

"Sonny with a chance" was a funny show similar to "All that" from oldschool Nick , but Demi Lovato quit and now its just called "So random" and is now even more similar to "All that"

"Phineas & Ferb" is a totally legit good cartoon , they have a pet Platypus named Perry the platypus and he is a badass secret agrent Platypus who deals with the nefarious Dr. Doofensmirtz on a regular basis and the kids are always inventing crazy things and their ridiculous sister is always trying to get them in trouble for it to no avail. I like this cartoon for sure

"Shake it up" seems like an ok show , no real comments for this one

Disney channels #1 downfall imo is this horrible... HORRIBLE cartoon called "Fish hooks" , which luckily doesn't actually play all that much

I mean , say what you will about the disney channels 'takeover' but if you actually gave it a chance you might could see why it has (Its not better than nick IMO , but its close to being just as good)

 

[Dave]

Man, Nickelodeon was awesome a decade ago!

Are You Afraid Of The Dark was an epic show that really put the fear of God in me at a very early age. Yes, it may have circled around stories that have been used in every horror movie since the dawn of time but that didn't detract from it's overall quality. In fact, looking back on it now, it was a little horrific for the audience it was trying to attract. I remember being scared shitless of one particular episode. Still, it was a decent show that did what it needed to do.

Kenan and Kel was my favourite show on Nickelodeon though. Who knows where the two stars have gone since their roles on this show but I don't really care. All I know is that for half an hour every other day, I was the most entertained kid on the planet. The storylines were nothing special but the show had this wonderful quality of keeping you entertained throughout without failure. I honestly wish that some of the shows that are on now were half as good as this one but it seems as though it is a fleeting dream.

Hey, Arnold was the absolute dog's danglies too and if I had to pick one show to reboot now, then it would likely be that. I'm pretty sure that all of the cast members may be dead at this point but it was still a kick-ass show that everyone I knew seemed to love.

Asking if it was better then, is ridiculous. Of course it was. In saying that, I'm not watching it these days. It might not be the easiest thing to pass comment on.

 

[ABMorales787]

Let's face it. One thing is obvious. 90's Nick was by FAR more versatile than today. Today it's saturated with sitcoms, cartoons made in vain of older ones and yeah, The Power Rangers. Unfortunately, Nicktoons isn't part of the discussion which featured Wolverine and The X-Men and DBKai.

Back then, you had more than 7 sitcoms and 2 cartoons that look like Fairly Oddparents. You had something for everyone, dark humor, childish humor, "horror", regular comedy, well, it did lack action. Which Cartoon Network easily took advantage of.

 

[Fallen Angel 21.3]

Man i really do miss those old shows cuz they really take me back to when times were simple. Figure it out, Legends of the Hidden Temple, All That, Kenan and Kel (my personal favorite i still remember the orange soda he would drink hell i still drink it to this day cuz of the that show) Rugrats, Doug, Power Rangers the first couple of seasons, sometimes Buggs Bunny, Pinky and the Brain, Tiny Toon adventures, also Animaniacs (granted most of my shows weren't on nick but still awesome) and many countless others . Hell shows were alot better back then, then now because mainly i grew up with those shows and i don't get iCarly or the oddparents and spongebob. I even remember arguing with my 4 year old nephew awhile ago, when i watched him cuz he wanted to watch spongebob and i saw that rugrats were on and said that rugrats were better, i think everybody knows who won the argument (he did and we ended up watching spongebob for almost 2 hours). In a way no decade is better. There might be people that say the 80's are better than the 90's or early 2000's are better than now. I just enjoy the old reruns and love watching remember when i was young and would just sit and just laugh at the stupid stuff.

 

[Hollywood Naitch]

I used to really like some of the shows of Nickelodean when I was growing up.

Kenan & Kel was fucking awesome, I loved it. Sister Sister was another that was really good, I wonder what those girls are doing now? Was Sabrina The Teenage Witch on Nick? That was one of my favourite shows, Salem was one of the greatest characters in TV history, absolutely awesome, and Aunt Zelda was a complete Milf!

Interesting fact- the woman who played Aunt Hilda was Jimmy King's wife on the WCW film "Ready To Rumble" lol!

Doug, Rugrats etc, the list goes on. 90's Nick was great TV, probably better than the Cartoon Network stuff, although I liked that too.

 

[Kenny Powers]

I think the majority of people on here will agree Nickelodeon kicked major ass in the 90's, unless you are a pre teen girl and watch Hannah Montana or Selena Gomez. I had horrible cable growing up, but when I could watch Nickelodeon I was in heaven. I would even stay over at my friends house to watch some classic Ren and Stimpy, Clarissa Explains it All, Salute Your Shorts, Doug, Weinerville, All That, Rocco's Modern Life, and Double Dare to name a few. The Hidden Temple and You can't say that on Television was great too.

I also watched Keenan and Kel and Are You Afraid of the Dark when my parents finally bought a cable package that had more then ten channels. So many great shows and game shows. I would have loved to be on Double Dare or Hidden Temple as a kid. 90's Nickelodeon pretty much was the main network to watch as a kid growing up.

 

[LoudClearVoice]

How about these blasts from the past, Nickelodeon GUTS!, Nickelodeon Arcade, and my all-time favorite on Nick, SALUTE YOUR SHORTS!

Bobby Budnick was a childhood hero of mine.

Anyway, I don't watch any of the current stuff on Nick so I really don't have a clue how it stacks up.

 

[IrishCanadian25]

I got through my adolesence and made my "first trips into manhood" thanks to The Secret World of Alex Mack. I barely recall what the show was about, something about a chick with super powers, but Larissa Olenyk has always been such a little hottie. Had to get locks put on my bedroom door when that show aired.

 

[JW'sGirl]

1) In your opinion, was Nickelodeon better or worse in the 90's compared to today?

WAY BETTER. Nickelodeon now is just awful, the shows are so dumb. My fiance has a 7 year old little sister so I watch a lot Disney and Nickelodeon with her and I'm appalled by some of those shows. They aren't entertaining at all. 90s (and a little into the early 2000s) Nick was the best! All That, The Amanda Show, Kennan and Kel, GUTS, Are You Afraid of the Dark, Rugrats, Clarissa Explains It All, and The Secret World of Alex Mack are all classics!

2) What program caught your attention the most back then?

Basically everything I mentioned above lol but All That! and Clarissa Explains It All were definitely my favorites. I was so excited when I heard about The 90s Are All That!
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The annoying thing is that it's on from 12am-2am and I work at 6am so I can't stay up that late. I just have to remember to DVR them and it'll be all good

3) If you could reboot any old school show(Figure It Out, All That, etc) for this generation, which one would it be?

Definitely All That! My favorite era was that of Nick Cannon, Amanda Bynes, Kel Mitchell, Kenan Thompson, Lori Beth Denberg, Josh Server, and Danny Tamberelli. That really started when Amanda Bynes joined the cast in 1996 and was definitely elevated with the additions of Nick Cannon and Danny Tamberelli in '98. But After season 5 (1998-1999) the show just went downhill and wasn't as funny. If it could be revamped with a cast as excellent as that one, I'd definitely watch. Or if they just played reruns at a normal time of day of seasons 1-5, I'd be happy

 

[Serious Mozzarella]

Nickelodeon catered to us a decade ago. Now Nickelodeon is catering to the current generation of kids. Of course we're all going to think it was better back in the day, but to say it's objectively better than it currently is? Bullcrap. iCarly is pretty goddamn funny to me now, whereas I'm sitting down watching All That, or Kenan & Kel, and while I'm getting blasted with a constant river of nostalgia from watching it, it's just the least funny thing I've seen on Nickelodeon in a long time.

Honestly, I remember it being the bee's knees back in the day, but watching it now is just listening to a series of fart jokes.

 

[I Suck Ass]

1) Nick was WAY better in the 90's than it is today. 90's Nick had more cartoons that were funnier, and had more variety. You had Catdog, Rocco, Rugrats, Hey! Arnold, Keenan and Kal, and The Amanda Show, along with a ton of others, plus the introduction of Fairly Oddparents and Spongebob, when they were actually funny. 90's Nick wins by a mile.

2) Catdog. I loved that show so much. I don't know why I loved that show so much. I think it was just the randomness of it.

3) I wouldn't mind seeing a comeback of Catdog, Hey Arnold, or Rugrats.

 

[RatedRKO2011]

The 90s were the best, no show can beat Kenan and Kel !!!

 

[Chicago1989]

Nickelodeon WAS the shit back then in the 90's. It was either Cartoon Network and Nick back then for me, almost like how it was watching either WWF or WCW at once!

My favorite shows were Hey Arnold!, The Rugrats, Doug, Aaahh!!! Real Monsters, and Kenan & Kel. I miss those days where it was OK to watch cartoons, even as you got older. They were many entertaining shows for everyone. At this point, Spongebob is probably the only show in Nick that I can tolerate, even at my age.

 

[Cracka Jack]

1) In your opinion, was Nickelodeon better or worse in the 90's compared to today?

Much better, but I'm sure some of that is nostalgia speaking for me. I have been re-watching some old Nicktoons on Netflix lately, like Rugrats and Rocco's Modern Life, and they hold up pretty well today. I haven't found myself interested in anything on Nick this past decade other than Avatar, which I loved, but one great show isn't enough to compare to what they had in the past. Their live-action work has become kind of a joke to me, and not in a good way. None of the jokes on the recent shows seem to make much sense, but they're apparently popular anyway. It's a puzzle to me.

2) What program caught your attention the most back then?

Legends of the Hidden Temple was huge to me. Not really sure why. Maybe I just really wanted to be on it myself. I was a big All That fan, but I can't say if it was any good or if I was just a dumb little kid who didn't know any better. I loved just about every Nicktoon back then, and still watch them occasionally.

3) If you could reboot any old school show(Figure It Out, All That, etc) for this generation, which one would it be?

All That could work, but only with a great cast and team of writers. Of course, I might be too old to enjoy the humor they'd come up with, but it could still be popular if done right. It's still too soon to re-hash any of the old Nicktoons, so just leave those alone. I guess I don't see anything from the 90's I'd like to see them bring back. Maybe just leave the memories alone and focus on some potential new shows.

 

[Skairipa Matrix]

yesss 90's nick was the shit! im so happy that teen nick now shows reruns of all that,kennan & kel,clarissa explains it all and doug on weeknights! BUT im bummed that some of my favorites from when i was a kid like Legends Of The Hidden Temple,GUTS and figure it out...oh and rugrats havent been brought back i never missed an episode of rugrats and i loved the other 3 shows! GUTS was like the show for people who wanted to see a sports show on nick and legends of the hidden temple god i rember the temple guards jumping out and scaring the shit out of the kids on the show and nobody was able to put together the silver monkey even though it was only 3 pieces! figure it out was pure entertainment though....well i better stop my rambling but i do miss alot of the 90's nick shows more should be brought back!

 

[wrestlingfan]

That's because back then 90s Nickalodeon had more heart and soul in the 90s then it does today, Nowadays in Nick and Disney Channel it's usually just them giving a hot girl her own TV Show so that she can get some quick money and hopefully go on to becoming a singer. <- A big trend of that, The comedy back then was well, it connected with you in a way it doesn't today.

 

[Arcade]

Nickeloden is kind of like Cartoon Network. Awesome 10 years ago. Shit today. Cartoon Network was HORRIBLE in 2009. Now CN had improved. Nickeloden is doing ok, but shows like Big Time Rush and Victorious seem to take over the station. The live action shows in the 90's were awesome like the Amanda Show and All That. Kablam and Oh Yeah Cartoons was fun to watch. My favorite Nick cartoon of all time Rocko's Modern Life came on regularly too.

 

[wrestlingfan]

Nickeloden is kind of like Cartoon Network. Awesome 10 years ago. Shit today. Cartoon Network was HORRIBLE in 2009. Now CN had improved. Nickeloden is doing ok, but shows like Big Time Rush and Victorious seem to take over the station. The live action shows in the 90's were awesome like the Amanda Show and All That. Kablam and Oh Yeah Cartoons was fun to watch. My favorite Nick cartoon of all time Rocko's Modern Life came on regularly too.

CN hasn;t been bad, It has had shows like Total Drama Island, Star Wars: The Clone Wars, Batman: The Brave & The Bold, Young Justice, Bakugan, Beyblade: Metal Fusion. It's started to do more seriosu cartoons instead of just comedy.