Episode 21: 80's Nickelodeon

gonna get bleeped our nineties booties. We are on the tip end of the eighties there, And you know, I would like to say that in my research with a lot of the Nickelodeon research, the golden age of Nickelodeon is known as the nineties. I'm sorry, I'm sorry. You could you can hit up you know, all of the blogs and if he's just laughing over here, like listen, we heard you. Though. We skipped over the eighties too

quickly and it wasn't fair, and we're circling back. This is the first time where we had so many people write as that we're like, we better circle back now. Yeah, this is this really is the quickest we've rep and there's still so many on the docket. Yeah, we do have a full docket of there's so many fandoms and

nerd things to get into. I do want to say, though, just really quickly, that even even for a show like The Twilight Zone, which is one of my favorite things in the world, we're just not going to be able to talk about every episode. I also think that would be boring. I have listened, I mean I have listened to other people's podcasts that do kind of go into every single thing, And if you want that, that's out there.

But that's not really what we're trying to do. We're just trying to give you the rundown of each topic. But here we are in the eighties with Nickelodeon. I'm scroll deep into if you put together the entire research document for this, and I got deep into the eighties finding out about a lot of shows that I didn't even know exist, and I think you might also not know exists. No, nothing seems familiar. No, But I think people listening that even where like the eighties, and they're

gonna be like, what that was a thing? It was because some of these were in black and white. I actually in my research found out that a lot of the shows came from Canada and um and from other countries as what like Nickelodeon was kind of you know, as a baby wasn't really able to make a lot of their own shows, so they would pull from successful shows from other countries. Yeah, yeah, that's that's kind of

like with Nagen what they did with the Grassy. It was this big hit in Canada and they're like, let's put it on nin So yeah, it seems like it becomes a strong part. So let's officially go into the eighties. Nickelodeon launched on April first, nineteen seventy nine. Almost there, April fools. Oh yeah, that's a good that's good for nick. That fits. It was the first ever all children's network

on Warner Cable system in Buffalo, New York. It quickly expanded its audience reach, first to other Warner Cable systems across the country and eventually two other cable providers. So it's initial programming block had let me count one, two, three, four, five, six, seven shows every day. So the first show was Video Comic Book, which was a show that scanned Silver Age d C comics. Yeah, yeah, and we covered some of the Silver Age comics during our flash episode in the

Silver Age. So definitely if you're not if you're unfamiliar, what that was with DC Comics. Go check out that episode. So Video Comic Book. The show's opening shows kids writing their bicycles to get a to a comic bookstore, to the tune of Right of the Valkyries. That's actually really cool, like getting straight off the bat, like already getting kids interested in comics. That's actually really dope, I know, And it's kind of like a foreshadowing as to what kids

will be rocking out to for centuries to come. Yeah, So our next show up was called pop Clips, and some of that you can also look up on YouTube a lot of these if you're unfamiliar with them and just kind of want to do a deep dive of Nickelodeon further, you can just google pop Clips into YouTube

and check out some of that. It was a music video television program, which was the direct predecessor of MTV, which is interesting because it's like, man, this show is so popular, let's make it a whole channel, you know, I know, and you know. Nickelodeon and MTV actually worked very closely with each other and had a lot of lapovers because some of the people that were famous for the MTV logo and music for that channel. The channel

I d S the channel. I d S actually ended up working on Nickelodeons to make them cool and hip for kids. I can't believe I just said that. Let's move on because Focus was another the show it was featured an apprentice wizard who magically time traveled forward from the Middle Ages named Crispin, who worked in the film department of a public library, who, along with his shape

shifting pet named Ulak, played short films. Crispin's friends included the absent minded professor Rhombus, a young woman named Daisy, and a talking book. You know this sounds like what am I thinking of the McCauley Culkin. Oh yeah, the page Master, the page Master. Yeah, that book. That means that movie. I don't know why, but that I thought it was so tight. Oh my god. It is like because it had those books and they had faces and the personalities. Yeah. Remember was yes the Mobe Dick when

the Horror One scared the crap out of me. I still remember it, Like Sanctuary, Remember that Jacqueline Hyde he ran into I'm going to go home? YEA, go back and check that out. Uh So, Hocus Focus only last did one year. I mean, it seems very fantastical. I mean, you got, you know, a shape shifting pet named Oolock, and you've got Crispin spelled k r y sp n. That was too much for the eighties. They're like, let's

get out of here. And then you had Pinwell, which was reformatted as a daily hour long series that ran in a three to five hour block format and was the precursor to Nick Jr. Which replaced in When I Was Born they knew. They're like, if he's gonna like this. I was also born during that year, yes, established, but they're like, if he you know, February, If if he's coming, I feel, I feel the thickness of this child, and

we must prepare for him. But the show was similar to Sesame Street, with live action skits mixed with animation shorts and action scenes took place in around the large Victorian style boarding house called the Pinwheel House with a pinwheel on one of the peaks, and live actors would interact with puppets to cussing various concepts familiar to children's programming, like sharing, being considerate, basic learning skills like colors, numbers,

and letters, and all of the characters lived and worked in various areas in and around the house. This sounds like a mix between Mr. Rogers and Sesame. Yeah. Yeah. Actually a lot of their formatting, which you'll see when we continue, was kind of like that, but it was a formula that worked. Oh yeah, so I guess that's

why UM. And to be honest, Mr Rogers didn't like one of their like clearly that was kind of I don't want to say it was ripping them off, but he was like, no, I don't like that show, which we're we'll get to um. Next up on the docket is America Goes Bananas with a Z, so you know there were zany It was a It was a teenager oriented variety show presented by Michael Young and Randy Hamilton's. It had hip hop music sessions focusing on mature subjects

such as drugs and birth control. That's that is something that I see we saw Nickelodeon tackle, like we talked about with Linda Ellerby in the news segments that she would do for Nickelodeon. But like Nickelodeon was notorious for tackling some of those which MTV did as well. So I do think that they worked alongside each other to provide content for teenagers. Um, So America Goes Bananas was also regularly shown in an effort to interest and educate

a teenage target audience. Yeah, and then they had kind of like their namesake with nickel Flicks, which was technically from the seventies, but they replayd in the eighties and a showcase cereals from the twenties and the forties in addition to early Comic one reelers and short films, and was largely in black and white. Can you imagine, like would your daughter watch this? Like that's the thing though.

So they used to play these these short black and white films and some of them silent from the twenties and forties on Nickelodeon. And you're right, it was their namesake because the network's original logo incorporated a man looking into a Nickelodeon machine that was placed in the uh and those were, as you all know, the little like movie players that in the olden daisies to look into. And so this was this is supposed to be a

young man. He's wearing like a top hat and then he's dressed like basically like Abraham Lincoln um looking into the end of Nickelodeon that was later replaced by their pinwheel logo typeface. And then the final thing was a show called By the Way, which by the Way, I could not find a single thing on I like, Yes, I looked up Nickelodeon's By the Way, um and it brought me up a ton of other shows that they had and on YouTube. I just couldn't find what that was.

So I guess if you find it, please tweet at us, or if you watched it, tell us what it was. Yeah, yeah, okay. So at the time of its launched, Nickelodeon's programming aired for thirteen hours each weekday from eight am to eleven pm. That's that's a pretty hefty block, and for fourteen hours

on weekends from eight am to midnight. Wow. So then they added these new shows in include Dusty st tree House, which was like a Mr. Rogers style show, and it featured a character named Dusty who was played by Stuart Rosen and his amazing custom built treehouse where anything and

everything could happen. Often, Dusty had conversations with his puppet animal friends, including Max and the Cow, Scooter the Squirrel, Stanley, the Red Haired Spider, and sneakers, and Dusty also went on tree trips, phil trip via balloon and basket to factories to see how products were made, and or to parks, zoos, aquariums and so on, and it won eight Emmy. Yeah, yeah, I was like, I need a threat. We have to include Dusty's treehouse because it won Nickelodeon eight Emmy's so damn.

That's insane. Also, it's funny to see how children's program and kind of has it changed. It's always like a person talking to puppets and let's see what different you know, jobs there are. It's so cute and so innocent. Moving on to first Row Features, that was an anthology series. It mainly carried British television films for children, and so this is again a popular theme that you'll see with Nickelodeon buying up or essentially rerunning things that were showed

in other countries. The Times actually described the show as a collection of one hour feature films for children, ranging from comedies and adventures to dramas and semidocumentaries. That's pretty cool. Yeah, that's super dope. And then there was Special Delivery, which is also an anthology series, and it had consisted of like both live action and animated episodes. Much of the programming was made up of children Focus made for TV movies. Yeah,

that was possibly before Disney Channel original movies. Remember Oh yeah, children Focused made for TV movies. It was a big thing. Oh yeah, I remember. Let me see it was Shila buff Um. Yes, yes, where he played huh a mentally challenged kid and it made me cry. Um. That was a really popular movie. And let me see. I'll find it in two seconds. True Confessions. Yes, why isn't it? This is wild? I'm on his IMDb. What year did it come out? Oh? Here, it is True Confessions. I

was in high school. I think, oh boy, um, look at his curly head. He was so cute. When I say this thing wrecked me like I was. I was. This was two thousand three, so I was like sixteen and I was just crying my eyes out. So yeah, and then we would get I love that we're talking about a different network. And then we would get the biggest Disney Channel movie of all time, high school musical. I'm only saying that, like via sales. Well, I thought you meant you were going to say xenon or whatever.

You know, people can argue with me, but I'm just talking about popularity wise, um, and you can't can't argue with numbers. Moving on, What will they think of Next? Which was originally tiled Science International, and each episode featured approximately twenty short segments on scientific developments in and trivia. Nice and You had Live Wire, which series was designed for kids of all ages and the show's main focus

discussed true current events and stories during those times. It was taped at the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York through Reeves Teletape Studios of Sesame Street Fame, so you know, still rocking, Rocking it Down, and it was film live on tape with the participate in audience of about twenty to thirty teenagers and Live Wire was the number one rated show on Nickelodeon Ino and never went below number seven in the ratings during the five years span of

the show. Show was most famously known for giving relatively unknown bands and singers their first television appearance because like the Conan of for kids a lot like um Show, and then in one the network introduced a new logo consisting of a silver pine overlaid by multicolored Nickelodeon text, and later that year, the Canadian sketch comedy series You Can't Do That on Television made its American debut that on Nickelodeon. You Can't Do That on Television? Where do

I remember that? For? Oh? Maybe everyone who tweeted it at us this show. Well, guess what, you don't get to hear us talk about it until after these messages and we're back, and I think we were talking about this, this show that I guess a lot of people wrote us about that we skipped over. Technically, if I want to say that, I did mention it's where the slime came from when I talked about where the green slime came from, but I didn't actually talk about the show itself.

So let's talk about you can't. Actually, let's skip it in and talk about the third Eye. I do not need more people my inbox, y'all. I did a lot of research for the and also watched You Can't Do That. Thank you for exposing it to me, because it was definitely before my time and it wasn't something you know, when I came into the factor. It was all that I watched, all that sketch comedy, and so yeah, we also had what would you do instead of you go

what what? What? What? What? Good? You do way better than you Now you're gonna get so many people writing you. So you can't do that on television. Featured preteen and teenage actors in a sketch comedy format similar to that of Rowan and Martin's Laughing and Saturday Night Live. Each episode had a specific theme that I didn't know about,

normally relating to pop culture of the time. The show was notable for launching the careers of many performers, including I don't know hop if you know this, Ivy alternative rock singer songwriter Atlantis Moore set can go back and look, you can shut it's not actually ironic because if we're talking about ironic, who, No, I'm just kidding. I think I heard Zach laughing from the booths. Some pat myself on the back. No, I'm just saying that everybody that

always corrects like, well, actually, that's not what irony is. Um, don't you go play magic the gathering put some put some of that like pedantry into good use. Um. And also screenwriter Bill Prady. So before Nickelodeon, you can't do that on television debut on February third, nineteen nine on c j o H TV in Ottawa as a one hour,

low budget variety program with some segments performed live. So the show consisted of comedy sketches, music videos, usually thirty per episode in live phone, and contests in which the viewers could win a variety of prizes. I feel like that era of TV is gone. I feel like there was in the eighties nineties there was this huge like you can win stuff from watching this thing, and I feel like that's so that's gone. Do you feel though like that could make a comeback or slowly making a

comeback on Twitch? Yeah, I feel like big time that's where it's coming in and I definitely see people excited for that. And so the short answer is yes. But it's so interesting where there was a lot of incentivizing for television to try and get you to watch because it's like, oh, you can check this out, or you can you know, get a chance to win, or you can get a chance to come on the show. And now it's kind of like, oh, we're just gonna do

our thing. But also one thing that's really cool about you can do that on you can't do that on television, and even when we were talking about earlier with like Live Wire is just um like and even like America Goes Bananas? Is this recurrent theme of like variety shows, sketch shows four kids and how well it ends up doing. And it's so interesting that there isn't one currently for on television right now for kids. But we had All That,

which follow up and that was successful. Yeah, there was also you know, because so you had the All That show and then you had a Cartoon Networks sketch show Incredible Crew, which currently sits at three point nine out of ten on i MDV and two point nine out of ten on TV dot Com. So I guess, uh, you know who's leaving those reviews, Iffie adults, parents, Parents ruined everything. That's true. Kids aren't kids, aren't logging, going on rotten tomatoes, Oh my gosh. Um. So moving back

to you can't do that on television. The opening sequence, which featured the children's television Sausage Factory, which you haven't seen it please YouTube. It was a reference to Terry Gilliams of Monty Python, Fames Gillamations. So the success in Canady thing doesn't have to be a portman, don't you can just leave it at the door, you know. But this was back in the eighties, if e, before everyone

was doing it. UM. The success in Canada got nixt interest and Nickelodeon aired a handful of episodes and they edited down to a half hour format during one as a test run. This is something that I find very fascinating.

So over the next few years, the ratings gradually declined in Canada, so by you can't do it, you can't do that on television was seen only once a week and a Saturday morning time slot on CTV, but continue to go to go strong in the US on Nickelodeon, where it aired at first five times a week and

eventually every day. They mocked every day. Also, I think it was because they started to change their format, their topics, like once they knew that they were going over to the US airways into a Nickelodeon audience, in an American audience, I think they kind of lost their Canadian viewership. Oh yeah, I think so too, because you know, there there's like a slight difference to the two different styles of comedy. UM.

Last episode we mentioned the origin of the green slime. Yeah, and the green slime originally featured on You Can't Do That on Television was later adopted by Nickelodeon as a primary feature of many of its shows. So they basically was like, oh you like that, Okay, we're just gonna put that in everything. Yeah, that's we got the slim

we're known for the slime Um. Viewers in the US were given the opportunity to enter the Slime in, which was a contest hosted by Nickelodeon that flew the winner to the set of You Can't Do That on Television to be slime So here again is kind of them being like, oh no, we're us now, because this was only open to US contestants. There is actually a two thousand four documentary on the show called you Can't Do

That on Film Real. Yeah, so all of you Can't Do That on Television heads that wrote us watch the documentary. You'll love it. Tell them, we tell them we sent you. And by them, I mean the guy who's working at the Blockbuster that you're going to talk to so much. You can't go to Blockbuster because their clothes. Try Hollywood videos. Did you see that there's still a Blockbuster open in Alaska? Yeah, that's that's cool. Interesting it's because they can't go home,

they're snowed in. I just people are gonna hate. I don't really buy DVDs anymore, even if Hector Navarro was obsessed with buying blue rays and I just don't care. Yeah, it's it's kind of hard to do because you gotta open up that case, put it in the thing, and watch it. When I can just press buttons and wash stuff, it's not even that well. And even on ones that I've had to buy because I wanted to see Cocoa, like right when it came out, and like, I got to own Coco just in case they take it off

Netflix or whatever is it on net? It's on Netflix now, but it wasn't, and so I bought it. Yeah, but I bought it, and so I was like, yeah, I'll have it digitally forever like that. I'm fine with that. I don't need the blue ray of it anyways. If your head, if your house catches on fire, you get you still have yours. Hector, My main thing is that it just takes up space. Like him and a lot of our special effects friends just have walls of blue ray. Yeah, no,

I just have already too much stuff. Yeah, you can't do that. Oh yeah, so I actually have a couple of you can't do that on television, or as I like to say, y C D T O T facts. That's the long Well just say it when it's that long, Okay. Here. So one of the episodes, which was titled Adoption, proves so controversial that it was banned after being shown twice. It had a do not air sticker placed on the master tape of it. Adoption is the only episode that

was banned in the US and Canada. The Divorce episode was banned, but the Adoption episode was shown with one part cut. In the sketch where Senator pre Vert I'm guessing calls the adoption agency to send his son Adam back, but that's really funny actually after using him to do chores all day. The part where he calls adoption agency officer a damn bureaucrat after learning that adoption is forever

was bleeped out. So I guess the word damn and not the actual topic itself the divorce one, I don't know. So another fun Canadian show comes to America. Band situation. Uh that happened later. As with Degrassi, I'm always going to bring it back to Degrassi when we talk about Nick had an episode that had to deal with abortion that never aired in the US, And so what was weird was there was a kind of like aftermath drama that kind of people touched on, but it just was

weird because the episode never aired. So like, what are you talking about? Oh, I see what you mean? Like I just picked up why is Lisa crying? Got it? I didn't really watch Degrassi. I watched a little bit of it. Then in Fears, Worries and Anxieties, episode had to be modified in one scene. This is insane. So the scene, there's so much lore to this show. The scene had Ellistair mom and dad talking about a bully

at school called Killer Curtis. When it was discovered that there actually was a murderer named Killer Curtis in the US, they decided that the bully's name should be changed, so the words Killer Curtis were changed to Crusher Willis. This was done very badly because between the time that the episode was shot and when they were recording, ellis Stairs voice had changed. I just can't believe that. Lord, see, this is what happens when you bring Canadian shows to America.

They used terms like killer Curtis when we all know, all of us knew that Killer Curtis was a real person here who affected the lives of many people, So damn killer. Can you imagine having like the Zodiac Killer? Moving on, so the kid this is actually really cool fact. The kids on the show got paid extra for episodes in which they were doused with water or green slime. So they got seventy five for water in a hundred

and fifty dollars for slime. And h I found out that they would get water on them if they ever said the word water or if they said wet, yeah, and then it would just come down on them. Um Christine Mclad, known as Moose, had no intention of trying out for the show's cast. She went to the audition solely to keep a friend company. And this also kind of happened to uh in a different way, but kind of happened to Mark Hamill that his friend was actually

auditioning for Luke. And then also, what how Kyle he Bear ended up? Is it? It was either yeah, because it has to be, because it's not how Um Savage or Chris gott it. Kylie Bear was going like his friend was auditioning. Maybe you're right, might be wrong. I just know I'm pretty wrong. I just know that somebody that Mark Hamill's friend, right was I know that that's right, But I don't know if his friend was Harrison Ford.

But that's the part I feel like people are going to correct me if his friend was like a really famous person. But I do know that Mark Hamill was not originally meant to audition for Luke, but was suggested correction. Robert England was auditioning for a role in Apocalypse Now when he walked across the hall where auditions were taking place for George Lucas's Star Wars after This is like probably the most well known fact with all Star Wars people, But here I am giving it to the rest of you. Um,

you can learn along with me. After watching auditions for a while, he realized that Hamill, his friend, would be perfect for the role of Luke Skywalker. He suggested to Hamill that he auditioned for the role. Hamill did and won the role, So there you go. So I guess you know he wasn't intended to moving back. So Christine mcglad, not as Moose, had no intention this show is going off the rails and no intention of trying that we're gonna get slimed at any moment. She didn't play into audition.

Producer Roger Price told her she had to audition or leave. Oh I kind of like that she auditioned and was made host of the show. You never know, you know how salty her friend probably is that that happened. Like I would be so mad if I was like, all right, coming to this audition, I need you and then they get the role, I'd be like, don't ever in your life come around. That's like the type of person she She like, goes to your wedding as a bride'smaid, ends

up getting married. She ends up marrying your husband. Um les Lie, who actually was the only cast member to appear in every single episode so again These Are Children, was in so many sketches that he frequently had difficult to remembering all his lines. So whenever he was seen holding his clipboard it had a script on it, and actually watched them the episodes and he's so cute and he's just like, you know, a great actor, but like is holding his script and kind of glancing down at

it here and there. MM hmm yep, yeah, And I just did some quick math, and by math, I mean put it into the side of a inflation calculator. For if you were wondering how much those kids made for the Slime, one fifty bucks in is equivalent to four hundred and fifteen dollars and eighty five cents in two thousand and eighteen. Holy crap, what Yeah, they're making five slime Slimy Daddy. No, So, there was a reboot that

was reported by a V club. In fact, they were the only ones that reported because all the other articles were referencing a V club and this was from last August. So A V Club said that Fox has teamed up with series creator Roger Price and his Penny Arcade studios, which are pretty popular for the revived series, which will expand beyond the original sketch format to include musical performances, celebrity cameos, and interactive elements across multiple platforms, according to

a press release and Slime. Yeah, but the new you Can't Do That on television has yet to announce a network and it's been a year, so I know what's going on normally in our industry. That means uh um, but it was being produced by Fox in main event media. Yeah, but you know, it wasn't just you can't do that

on television. It was also show I tried to mention earlier, The Third Eye, which was an anthology series on Nickelodeon, and it consisted of several English language science fiction serials from the United Kingdom and New Zealand, and all the program's featurettes focused on characters with psychic abilities. It's pretty cool, yeah, which also explains the title. I feel like that you'd out of psychic stories after what would you probably not? I feel like that would be pretty neat to see

kids psychics. Oh that's terrifying. Well, they would learn so much about the adult world. Yeah, I mean that's literally a Twilight Zone episode. It is. It is, But um, I think what would be fascinating is the way that it would probably be written is that like they would look into their mom and dad's heads, and their mom and dad would be talking like about the stork or something, you know, like it wouldn't actually would be something fake.

Another eighties Nick show was Standby Lights, Camera Action. This one was actually pretty big. It was an educational television series hosted by Leonard hosted by Leonard Nimoy. Yes spa himself, So episodes of the series with host Leonard Nimoy at the Nickelodeon studio introducing himself and announcing the episodes focus such as performing stunts, special effects or animation. I think that is so cool that they kind of showed you the behind the scenes, not just the actors, but like

the stunt people. How how are these special effects made? How is this stop motion? You know, animation? Um. Then he leaves the studio to visit a filming location where he describes how different films incorporate the episode's topic, and he typically examines three upcoming movies in each one hour segment before returning to Nickelodeon studio and signing off, that sounds really cool and I wish they would do that again. Oh yeah, that No, that's super dough. Patrick Stewart please

can fill in. No, nice casting choice. So then you had Mr Wizard's World, which demonstrates the science behind ordinary things. Mr Wizard always had some kind of laboratory experiment going on that taught something about science, and the experiments, many of which seemed impossible at first glance, were usually simple enough to be recreated by viewers. Nickelodeon struggled at first,

operating at a ten million loss by four Yeah. Yeah, these shows they got in means and all that, but it seems like they still will run down of money and network had lacked successful program shows on the network had failed to gain tractions during the first few years. Uh and it included against the odds and going great shows that focused on kids of all ages who did very amazing feats in the world and some people couldn't do, which stagnated viewership and finishing dead last amount of all

the US cable channels and well. Then, after firing its management staff, MTV Networks President Bob Pittman turned to Fred Siebert and Alan Goodman, who created MTV's iconic ideas a few years earlier, to reinvigorate Nickelodeon, leading to what many believe to be the channel's golden age. I mean they said it. I mean they said they said it like that you went and you went and added that made

sure that research. Um No, if you do research the history of Nickelodeon, you will see that the nineties is known as its golden age. Whatever. The in ball logo was replaced with a logo featuring buried orange backgrounds, most notably and famously the splat design with the Nickelodeon name overlaid in the balloon typeface, which was used in hundreds

of different variations over the next twenty five years. So Fred and Allen also enlisted the help of animators, writers, producers, and doo wop group The Give Five The Give Five, which are best known for their nine one hit My True Story, to create new Channel I d S, and within six months of the rebranding, Nickelodeon would become the dominant channel in children's programming, and remained so for twenty six years, even in the midst of increasing competition in

more recent years from other kids oriented to cable channels, such as the Disney Channel in Cartoon Network, it also began promoting itself as the first kids networks due to its status as the first American television network aimed at children. I love that they just kind of took over and we're like, no, no, no, we're the first kids network and yeah, and the fact that it's true probably made

it even sting so much more. It is funny, though, that they had that do Op group, because I do remember a lot of Nickelodeon's Channel I d s, like their logo and entrance and stuff, had a lot of that. Oh yeah, yeah, just the Jive five. Oh my gosh. But there were some really big, really famous nineties Nick shows that we're going to get into right after, and we're back right off the top. We didn't really touch on this, I think at all, even though it was

something that I watched religiously. Eureka's Castle, Oh that was your jam huh. Well, it was co created, written by popular goose Bumps author R. L. Stein. That's a little known fact. I had no idea that he was involved in it, and that maybe that's why you liked it, your big Goosebumps it was. I was, well, that's because goose Bumps is a lot like um, the Twilight Zone.

I mean, they have some of this similar It's funny because some of the movies coming out now I've seen people there's one like where the camera takes your picture in it, like like shows your future whatever. That was a goose bump So people like that was a goose Bumps book and I was like, that was actually a

Twilight Zone episode first. But yeah, so your Kids Castle was a charming, family friendly outing that relied on puppets and wizardry, again to present some pretty clever characters in situations. It was set in a wind up castle. They had a couple of these Setton castles that doubles as a music box that also was owned by a lovabule giant. Eureka's Castle focused on wizard and training Eureka and her pack of wacky friends, most notably the tale challenge Dragon Magellan.

Oh man, this is sounding way familiar. Oh if he did, you not what here? And you may remember this dum dumb dum dum dum dumb dum Eureka's Castle. Yeah mm hmm yeah yeah. When I saw like the puppet winding up the castle, it seems so familiar. So I'm very curious about that. Hmm. Has a lot of Gola Gola island vibes. Yeah, buddy, I love me some Golagala Island.

Oh my gosh. So then after that, you know, we also had Finders Keepers, which was a game show where contestants ransacked a massive dollhouse like for prizes, trashing stuffy old libraries, staring through kitchens, pilfering, and garages all to find a prop that would answer a riddle. Now this I do kind of remember. Really, that sounds like what our friends do now in escape rooms the Bay fifty Yeah dance very excited about escape rooms. Actually wasn't what

we almost we almost got out. We almost did. I had a lot of things I have. I already lived with a lot of anxiety, So doing that is not fun. It's not fun. Moving on Danger Mouse. Danger Mouse actually had originated a few years earlier in the UK. It was a spoof of James Bondum the Avengers and secret Agent the other Avengers, not the Marvel Avengers. There were those. There was those which you might see pop up when you search IMDb for the Avengers. That was a British Avengers,

which were these dapper secret agents. Yes, so Danger Mouse was actually the biggest animated hit for early Nick and it spawned a spinoff, Count Ducula. I don't know if you remember Count Ducula and the other you would recognize. If I showed you the Google what he looks like, you would be like, oh, yeah, I remember this guy. Um. It's so funny how many things are like blurring together as we try to go back to when we were like four um and that he also had so danger

Mouse also had. Oh yeah, I remember Count Ducula. He had a trusty hamster sidekick, Penfold. Yeah. And then you had the World of David the Gnome, which was a Spanish animated television series based on the children's book The Secret Book of Gnomes and David is three years old, making him the oldest gnome around and since most gnomes live no more than four hundred years exactly, although he

possesses exceptional constitution. David is a doctor and he uses his knowledge of many fields, such as hypnosis and acupuncture to heal his patients, usually animals such as his faithful friend Swift the Fox or other gnomes. Did you watch David the Gnome? Watch My older brother's name was David, and I was a little creeped out by David the Nome are the animation is a little bit creepy. It's a little David the Nome being, you know, an elderly

man was a little bit creepy. I mean also, like, based on everything we just read an elderly man getting ready to die, David the Nome as a meme now too. Yeah, he's in a lot of me, Oh, shoot, you're right, yeah, um, okay. So, moving on to another nineteen technically eighties Nickelodeon show because it aired on Nickelodeon was Inspector Gadget uh so from Deek. We had a lot of people correct us, which we asked for. We were like, how do you say this?

D I C. Deek Entertainment. Thanks for everyone that kindly wrote us. The franchise followed the adventures of a powerful, bit dim witted cyborg police inspector who played him in the movie again ah farious Bueller the actor. Yeah, why can nobody in this office recall anything because we're doing this late at night? Yeah, it is Ferris Bueller was played by Matthew Matthew Broderick. I was gonna say, simba

adult simba. I'm just gonna you know, married to Seth Sara Jessica Parker or was I don't know if they're still together. Matthew Broderick, right, he played Inspector okay, so, and he also was in election and he had a problem with the way that Whe's Witherspoon was running for Don't worry, you'll be able to cut that fact that

huge little known factum. Also in modern family. So Inspector Gadget would try to stop the criminal schemes of Dr Claw and his organization MAD as they fruitlessly Dan our producer is just petting an imaginary can as they fruitlessly attempt to stop him. However, neither side is aware that Gadget's niece Penny and her dog Brain, who are truly responsible for thwarting Mad. Is that true? Fun fact? Election you're still on That election is the role he did

right before Inspector Gadget. So election was that? Do you remember election? Yea with Reese Witherspinish. She was this over obsessive and dating teachers and Matthew Brauneriki talks like this and he's like, he's got so much going for you, but you need a step on everyone to get there. And I had to do that scene in my acting class. That's why That's why it's stuck in my head. Anyway, Oh,

I want to go back, circle back about David. David the Gnome kind of actually just looks like Santa Claus, so not as creepy as we suspected if you look at some of the memes. He's creepy, but he also I think has a wife that's no, that's adorable. Oh he's so cute. He looks like Santa Claus, like fused with an ewak um. Moving on to another sitcom that I loved, which was Hey Dude, Hey, yeah, now this

is the now we're talking about stuff? I remember. Yeah, it was sent around a dude ranch in Arizona and bringing back the feel of classic comedies like petticoat Junction. You know everyone like everyone watched petticoat Junction and hehaw um, I remember, Hey Dode and I remember salute your shorts, but your shorts was the nineties. Hey dude, we're only talking about the eighties right now, I know. And also what start in the eighties was something we did talk

about a lot, which was Double Dare. Mm hmm we did. I like that. It just stopped like, yeah, we only did you know? Double Dare went on to pass the torch of the eighties generation to the nineties, which ran burned bright did way better than any era of Nickelodeon. And that's the eighties it is. Yeah, we covered we covered most of the did we cover enough? Y'all? Let us know what what what is your show that we we missed? And tell us. Why, Yeah, Nickelodeon, eighties. This

is eighties Nickelodeon. If we missed your show this time, you need to tell us what it is, what it was about, and why you loved it. What if it was by the way it goes, by the way of it, oh man. But yeah, No, the eighties were great, And it's funny to go back and do this and see towards the end how much stuff I actually do remember. So it was fun to actually dip it into this revisiting some of this. And I'm definitely gonna have to bounce back and actually watch some of these old shows

because I'm so curious. I want to watch the page Master to night. That's unrelated. I will say there was a show apparently that aired on Nickelodeon called Doctor Snuggles. Um even creepier if he even creepier than David the Gnome, because it's like David the Gnome, but you see him. He has his he has his animal friends, but he kind of looks like a like a dollar store Willy Wonka. Um. You know it. This might have been someone's childhood right here.

It's a little bit creepy. His name was Dr Snuggles. Never see a doctor named snaps Um. Yeah, so we did it. We actually circled back. We always we're going to circle back, and we did it. So how do you feel you won? Did no appreciate you? We? You know what? That's the whole reason why, because I'm normally like I don't always when people write us. Sometimes I'm like, we just look, I love the thing too. We can't

cover it in an hour. But we had so many people that wrote us about you can't do that on television that it truly meant that it was a of their childhood that I wanted to take the time to go back and look at it. Yeah, and it was real fun and I can't wait to go back and watch old episodes. But thanks for listening seriously, and definitely if you reminders you know you want you wanna rock dope tees, go to tea public. We definitely have some new shirts up. All of y'all who have been sending

me you in the shirt, thank you. Please if you buy the clothes, wear them, be our model so I can show you off to the rest of my friends. And uh, footnotes are now specifically in the episode description, so you no longer have to go to the website, So just go ahead and hit more info on wherever you're listening to this, and you can have links to all the different stuff. You can see all the research that Danny did and uh, you know, as we close

out any anywhere, anything you wanna plug Danny coming up. Yes, I do actually have a show September one at UCB Sunset. It's called Hollywood for Ugly People. It's a very honored that they asked me to beyond that show. Um it is actually I think it's like a political show with a bunch of comedians, a panel of comedians and improvisers and stuff where we we talk about politics apparently in a very funny way. Have you actually done that show, Iffie,

because I see you on the list. Okay cool, Um, Yeah, it's a really dope, really funny show. So that'll be UCB Sunset September one. I believe it's at seven pm. You can catch me there. Follow me on my socials at MS Danny Fernandez. It's M S D A and I F E R N and D easy. I love having polite discord with people. Yeah yeah, I know, yeah, the discord. I'm gonna pin it because every time I talk about it, people ask where it is and I have to go dig up the tweets. I'm gonna pin it.

It should be pinned by now. But also just gut you know, anyone in the d C or DC area on the twenty nine September, white women will be coming to the d C improv assible to do some himprov So make sure you get yourselves a ticket as soon as they dropped before they sell out. We just did Portlands Portland was packed out so many NERD fan site gangs came out to uh show show support Coult King's uh cult royalty. Uh so thanks to everyone who came through.

Two picks definitely a few of y'all took picks and didn't tag me in it when you posted it or something. Please do that so I can RT because the amount of picks and I mentioned don't add up to the amount of picks I took. Let's share that love, And if you're in the DC area or around it, come meet you boys. You'll get two for one. You'll get to see me, see t Z and a lot of great folks from white women who I think are just

as funny. So uh definitely checked that out. And also big shout outs to Zach McKeever and The Booth Big Dog editor Dan Goodman. You heard his voice for the first time last week. I hope you enjoyed that. Lots of good rode from there. And uh, you know, like we'd always always end me every time every week, you know, I gotta send you off the way I always like I would like to send you off. It's never going to change because I always want you to stay nerdy,