Before I get to discussing about how the event went, I'll talk about what happened around 24 hours before the event started. It was originally suppose to be called A Night of Nickelodeon Nostalgia at the Hammerstein Ballroom at New York City, but when Mathew Klickstein was being interviewed by Pilot Viruet from flavorwire.com discussing about diversity, things didn't exactly turn out so well. It started out pretty normal with discussing about how late 80's and early 90's Nickelodeon were still fondly remembered today with the advent of nostalgia and the Internet. But then they were discussing about diversity in 90's Nickelodeon shows and that's when things began to crash and burn really fast. Mathew stated that diversity didn't matter to shows just as long as the writing and acting was good, in fact he found it to be rather pointless. Long story short, there were so many negative comments on Mathew's opinion and New York Comic Con officially cancelled the event. It had gotten many people who were excited so angry and disappointed, especially those who were traveling out of state with hotel rooms booked and buying VIP tickets. But Mathew and his friends miraculously pulled through and we had gotten You Can Do That on Television at the Treehouse Theater at NYC.
Kevin, his friend James, and I had difficulty finding the place since it was very small and the sign was practically hidden. We were lost for around 20 minutes until we accidentally saw Mathew being interviewed by some journalist. When we got inside the building, it was super crowded with at least 100 people crammed in waiting to get in the main stage. Then after 10 minutes of waiting, we got in and got front row seats (again) and Mathew came in and introduced the host of the evening Nick Arcade host Phil Moore. While he was no Marc Summers, he was as manic and zany as ever. He briefly talked about loving classic Nick, Nick Arcade, and his son appearing in a few Nickelodeon shows in brief roles.
Then afterwards, the majority of the event was dedicated to Doug composer Dan Sawyer and Livewire host/Doug voice actor Fred Newman singing all the songs from The Beets as well as playing other songs. It was super fun and entertaining with everyone singing along to "Killer Tofu", "I Need Mo Allowance", "Shout Your Lungs Out", and the Doug theme song. Then, there was a very short Q&A where people ask questions and the event was over. There were suppose to be other guests such as Danny Tamberelli and Mike Maronna from The Adventures of Pete & Pete, Polaris from Pete & Pete, Michael Bower and Trevor Eyster from Salute Your Shorts, Kelly Brown from Hey Dude, and Marty Schiff from Out of Control, but when the event was cancelled, most of them didn't show up and Danny, Mike, and Polaris performed in The Bell House in another part of the city very late at night. It was very inconvenient and a huge let down since that was the event I wanted to see the most. I even bought a Polaris t-shirt for the occasion and bought the two songs from their new album to get prepared. But, sometimes, things don't always work out.
While Kevin, James, and I had a blast at the event, we knew coming in that it was going to be inferior compared to last year. It was planned more with so many guests and a bigger venue. He did his best to try to outdo himself and I give him credit for it, but it couldn't be matched. Maybe it never will. While I'm sure he'll throw more book events, there's something about last year's event that felt very special. A reminder that classic Nickelodeon is still fondly remembered by so many people at a time when even Nickelodeon didn't really cared about their humble roots. With that, I thank Mathew so much for it.
As for the controversial article, I'll discuss about it sometime in the future, so stay tuned for that. Did you go to the You Can Do That on Television book event? If so, what did you think of it? What are your opinions on the controversial diversity article? Post in the comments below.
That's all for now. Hope to see you around Old School Lane soon. Thanks for reading.
-Patricia
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