Old School Lane Casual Chats Episode 94: On Your Marc w/Marc Summers and Mathew Klickstein

In this episode of Casual Chats, Patricia discusses about the upcoming documentary On Your Marc alongside special guests Marc Summers, host of Double Dare, What Would You Do?, and the main star on the documentary, and Mathew Klickstein, author of Slimed! An Oral History of Nickelodeon's Golden Age and the director of the documentary.

Check out On Your Marc's links down below
http://www.marcsummersmovie.com
https://www.facebook.com/marcsummersm...
https://twitter.com/marcsummerstime
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChi3...
https://www.instagram.com/marcsummers...

Follow Marc's links down below
http://www.marcsummerstv.com
https://twitter.com/Ibatvmc
https://www.instagram.com/therealmarc...

Follow Mathew's links down below
http://www.mathewklickstein.com
https://twitter.com/NickOralHistory
https://www.facebook.com/NickOralHistory

Thank You for 1000 Subscribers + Special Giveaway

It's official! The Old School Lane YouTube channel has hit 1000 subscribers. It's all thanks to you that we were able to hit this huge milestone. As a special thanks, Patricia will giveaway a copy of Slimed! An Oral History of Nickelodeon's Golden Age by Mathew Klickstein and a Nicktoons DVD to 4 people.

To get a chance to win, email us at oldschoollane86@gmail.com to let us know your name, how you got introduced to Old School Lane, and what were your favorite podcast, video, and interview.

The names will be drawn in two weeks from now on January 22, 2017 and if your name is drawn, PM your address so that the book and DVD will be sent to you. Good luck.

What Nickelodeon Means to Patricia

Patricia reflects on what Nickelodeon means to her discussing about fond memories on watching her favorite childhood shows, reviewing the shows for the Nickelodeon tribute, attending the Slimed! book event, and more.

To read the original article on what Nickelodeon means to Patricia, click here to read.

Old School Lane visited the You Can Do That on Television Slimed! book event

Hey guys, Patricia here. Last year, Kevin and I went to the Slimed! book event at 92Y Street in New York City. If you haven't read my article discussing about it, check it out right here.

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

Discussion/Review of Slimed! An Oral of Nickelodeon's Golden Age by Mathew Klickstein

In honor of the 1 year anniversary of Slimed! An Oral History of Nickelodeon's Golden Age's debut, Patricia gives a discussion on the book. Is it still worth checking out? How well does it hold up?

Old School Lane Presents: What Nickelodeon Means to Patricia

Hey everyone, Patricia here. As you recall from last month, Kevin did a video on what Nickelodeon meant to him in honor of Nickelodeon's 35th anniversary. If you haven't seen it yet, you can click on the video down below.

Now it's my turn. Today is my 28th birthday and I think now is a good time to tell you what this network means to me. So, here we go!



Nickelodeon means a lot to me. Even though that they've made a lot of stupid decisions in recent years rejecting shows that had a lot of potential such as Constant Payne and The Modifyers, shows that turned out to be good to amazing such as The Proud Family, Phineas and Ferb, Dragons: Riders of Berk, and Adventure Time, relying on the Internet to create their shows such as Fred the Show, Awesomeness TV, and Breadwinners, and copying off the Disney Channel with their shows, all the things that Nickelodeon did right was amazing and became a huge part of my childhood. I first saw Nickelodeon back in 1989 when I was 3 years old seeing shows such as You Can't Do That on Television, Double Dare, David the Gnome, and Eureeka's Castle, but the show that cemented me as a huge Nickelodeon fan was The Ren & Stimpy Show with my absolute favorite episode of all time "Space Madness". I was 5 years old in 1991 when The Ren & Stimpy Show debuted. It was such an sugar rush of wacky animation and insanity in the scenes where Ren thinks that a bar of soap was an ice cream bar and where Stimpy was tempted to push The History Eraser Button. Those moments stuck on my head many years later and made me a huge fan of Nickelodeon. While I also loved Cartoon Network, Kids WB, Disney in the Afternoon, and PBS, I would choose Nickelodeon as my favorite.

Shows from Nickelodeon during the 90's were, for the most part, incredible and extremely memorable for me. Shows such as the 3 original Nicktoons, Clarissa Explains it All, All That, The Adventures of Pete & Pete, Rocko's Modern Life, Weinerville, Hey Arnold!, The Angry Beavers, Kenan & Kel, and more, were programs that shaped my sense of humor and my inspiration of becoming a writer. When rewatching this shows for the Nickelodeon tribute, I gained a bigger appreciation on these programs and how relatable the characters were, how much of the humor went over my head as a kid and understood when I got older, and how to tell a cohesive plot with great storylines. As a kid, I had little to no friends in school due to being socially awkward. But the characters from these TV shows sort of became the friends I never had growing up until I met Kevin at my 4th grade class. He also had a love for Nickelodeon and we would spend hours talking about our favorite shows after school. Of course, not every show in the 90's were flawless, you can read my article that I wrote last year on whether the 90's Nickelodeon shows are overrated right here.



Family Double Dare, Nick Arcade, Nickelodeon GUTS, and Legends of the Hidden Temple got me hooked into game shows and I wished that I could join in one of the game shows at Nickelodeon Studios in Orlando, Florida. The sets, games, hosts, and prizes looked so awesome and everyone I knew dreamed of being a contestant of one of those game shows. I did go to Nickelodeon Studios 3 times around the 00's and even saw the employees building the set for Double Dare 2000 and went in the Jimmy Neutron simulation ride. It was an amazing experience that I never forgot and the reason why I want other kids who either never went or were too young to remember to go through the same thing. Hopefully it'll happen someday.



As I grew older in the late 90's and early 00's, I didn't watch Nickelodeon as much and I gravitated towards other networks that were showing programs for teenagers. This was also when I went through the beginning of my anime faze watching programs such as Dragonball Z, Cowboy Bebop, and Pokemon. However, when programs such as Caitlin's Way and Invader Zim brought me back watching Nickelodeon and seeing what it had to offer for the new generation. By the first episode of Invader Zim, I was immediately hooked and hadn't gotten excited into watching a new show since The Ren & Stimpy Show. I remember back in high school that the goth/emo craze was big and I had a friend who was a part of that group. We would sit at the lunch table talking about Invader Zim as well as all the other graphic novels written by Jhonen Vasquez.

This was also the time in which forums complaining about Nickelodeon in the 00's started to form. Even back in 2000, many teenagers who grew up in the 90's bashed these new programs and stated that they were inferior to the old programs that we saw as kids. For a while, I agreed with them. But then, I saw the shows that were coming out at the time and slowly I no longer listened to them. There were so many programs such as SpongeBob SquarePants, The Fairly Oddparents, Invader Zim, My Life as a Teenage Robot, ChalkZone, Drake & Josh, Ned's Declassified, and Danny Phantom that I wished were around when I was a kid since animation, writing, and character development was gradually improving. This was the first time I learned about people being narrow minded and being blinded by nostalgia hating the programs that were new and only liking the programs that they grew up with. This experience would come into fruition a few years later when I co-founded Old School Lane.



However, in 2004, when I graduated from high school and entered into college, I slowly got away from Nickelodeon once again. However, 1 year later, one show brought me and my college friends back to this network: Avatar: The Last Airbender. That show was such a marvel to see when it first came out with its stunning animation, memorable characters, and amazing storyline. It was the best show I've ever seen for Nickelodeon and it was one of the most talked about topics that my friends and family brought up. A few years later, I went to my first sci-fi/anime convention in Orlando and I saw many people dress up as Nickelodeon characters such as teams from Legends of the Hidden Temple, Quail-Man from Doug, and numerous characters from Avatar: The Last Airbender. I even dressed up as a Blue Barracuda at Megacon 2008. It showed me that the love of Nickelodeon, both classic and new, is still going strong.

Then when 2011 came, Kevin and I started our blog Old School Lane and the first tribute we wanted to dedicate to was Nickelodeon. We rewatched all the old shows we grew up and gave our opinions on them. Some of them are still classics that still hold up. Others are awful trainwrecks that should be forgotten in the sands of time. A lot of our reviews and opinions on these shows and topics has brought us our fans and our haters, but we still stand by them and not worry about the negative feedback we get. We focus on the wonderful people who have been on our side for these 3 years reading our articles and listening to our podcasts. Eventually, we became associates of Manic Expression were we shared our love for all things Nickelodeon to the members. Some of our favorite episodes of Casual Chats are the ones that we've talked about Nickelodeon with the people from Manic Expression such the Rocko's Modern Life, Legends of the Hidden Temple, The Adventures of Pete & Pete, and Danny Phantom. 

Then I became an admin for The Re-Open Nickelodeon Studios page and founded the Nickelodeon Slimecast Podcast. It's amazing that I've been an admin for this page for over a year and I've gotten to know so many people who have a huge passion for Nickelodeon as I did when I was young. Talking about the Nickelodeon topics is always a lot of fun and I'm glad that we have a dedicated fanbase who also enjoys listening to us discussing about them. That means more to me than you will ever know.

The Nickelodeon tribute has also giving me the courage to interview all the wonderful people who had worked on these shows that I grew up with. When Kevin first brought up the idea of trying to get a hold of people such as Marc Summers, I thought he was crazy. "There's no way we can get a hold of these people. They accept journalists or reporters to interview them, not regular fans like us", I thought. Boy, was I wrong and I'm glad I was wrong. In total, we interviewed about 30 people including Marc Summers, Cheryl Blaylock, Noel MacNeal, D.J. McHale, Moira Quirk, Craig Bartlett, Marc Weiner, Bill Burnett, Ross Hull, and more.

We even met these people face to face at the Slimed book event in NYC hosted by Mathew Klickstein (whom we also interviewed). All the work that Kevin and I put in had been worth it meeting wonderful people such as Marc Summers, John Harvey, Phil Moore, Vanessa Coffey, Jim Jinkens, and more. Meeting up with various people who also shared the same love of these shows and people was also incredible. It was probably one of the best moments that I've ever experienced in my life and a wonderful opportunity to meet up with the people that shaped my childhood.



If you haven't been to the Slimed book event, it was recorded live and has been uploaded to YouTube. Here's the video to check out. If you see the audience, Kevin and I are the ones in the first row in the middle.

So, as you can see, Nickelodeon still means a lot to me today. Sure, Nickelodeon has made a lot of mistakes over the past few years and it isn't the same network that I grew up with, but the huge impact that it made to me shaped me into a better person. I hope that Nickelodeon continues and shapes many children's lives for years to come.

-Patricia

Old School Lane visits the Slimed! and A Christmas Story book events

Hey guys, Patricia here. Just got back from my trip to NYC where Kevin and I went to two book events: the Slimed! book event at 92Y and the A Christmas Story book event at Solas Restaurant. Both events were a lot of fun in different ways. First the Slimed! book event.



When arriving at 92Y, the line was already long. It was crazy because Kevin and I wanted to get there a few hours early to get good seats. Now that's what I call true old school Nickelodeon fans.



Next up, we went inside to see if we could get some VIP tickets, we were so lucky to get the last two. With that, some of the special guests who were appearing at the event were already there talking, mingling with other people, or getting drinks at the small bar. Kevin and I knew who we were going to see first.



Marc Summers, the host of Double Dare and What Would You Do? was going to be the showrunner for the book event. Kevin and I interviewed Marc last year for the Nickelodeon tribute discussing about his years hosting Double Dare, What Would You Do?, and being an executive producer for a couple of Food Network programs. He remembered us interviewing him and we once again thanked him so much for the wonderful thing he did hosting Double Dare. He is one of our childhood heroes and it was amazing meeting him face to face.

The next person we met was Harvey, who was the announcer of Double Dare. Not only was he just the person who would announce the show and tell the contestants what they won, but he also would interact with the audience and tell a bunch of funny jokes alongside with Marc and Double Dare assistant Robin Marella. Robin made it to the event, but unfortunately, we weren't able to have met her. But it was great meeting Harvey nonetheless. Plus we got Harvey's autograph.





Next we met two cast members from one of our all time favorite Nickelodeon sitcoms The Adventures of Pete & Pete, Michael Maronna who played Big Pete, and Hardy Rawls who played the dad. We also got their autographs.





Next we met Vanessa Coffey, who was the vice president of animation for Nickelodeon and was the main forerunner for the original three Nicktoons Doug, Rugrats, and The Ren & Stimpy Show. Not to mention, she was the one who came up with the concept of 11 minute cartoon segments, which is now a staple in cartoons. We didn't recognized her, but she was impressed with Kevin's Doug doll. Since there never was an official Doug doll for Nickelodeon, Disney released Doug merchandise when they bought the rights from Jim Jinkens, the creator of Doug. But speaking of which, Jim Jinkens showed up and Kevin was absolutely floored! As you know, Kevin is a huge Doug fan and he was so excited to finally meet the man who created one of his all time favorite cartoons.

Plus, we also met the voice of Skeeter Valentine, Mr. Dink, and who did the Doug soundtrack, Fred Newman. Fred was also the host of a kids' talk show host from Nickelodeon called Livewire back in 1980 and he's currently the sound effects man for the popular radio show A Praririe Home Companion. He even did the Skeeter voice and honked at us. It was amazing! Plus we gotten Jim and Fred's autograph.




The next following people we met were Jessica Gaynes from Wild & Crazy Kids and Sean O'Neal from Clarissa Explains it All before we were called to take our seats for the main event. Plus, we gotten their autographs as well.





For the next three hours, Kevin and I sat in the front row seats watching the people behind the #1 kids' network. There were a few panels that occured: there was the panel that contained the people who brought Nickelodeon from being almost bankrupt to the #1 network with the first creative director Scott Webb, the director of various Nickelodeon shows Bob Mittenal, the half of the advertising company Fred/Alan Inc. Alan Goodman, and more. The second panel had the co-creator and cast of You Can't Do That on Television, the third panel had the cast of Doug, which included Jim Jinkens, Vanessa Coffey, Doug creative director and creator of Clarissa Explains it All, Fred Newman, the voice actress for Patti Mayonaisse Connie Shulman, and the voice of Doug, Roger, Ren, Stimpy, and hundreds more Billy West. Afterwards, Fred Newman and Doug musician Dan Sawyer played music from Doug which everyone sang out loud. Next, the panel of Clarissa Explains it All, The Adventures of Pete & Pete, and a misc. panel concluded the event with joyous cheers from 900 people on their teens, 20s, and 30s reliving their childhoods. For those who missed the event, watch it right here! You can even see Kevin and I on our seats.

Next was the afterparty where we met Nick Arcade host Phil Moore. Despite Kevin and I making fun of him in Casual Chats episode 1, he was one of the funniest person on the event.


Next, we finally met the man himself, Mathew Klickstein. At the event, we slowly became good friends with him. He also autographed our book.



Next, we met and talked to Nick Arcade creators Karim Miteff and James Bethea, Salute Your Shorts actor Tim "Trevor" Eyster who was Sponge and Are You Afraid of the Dark? actor/meterologist Ross Hull who was Gary. He told us that not only did he remember our interview with him last year, but our interview was his all time favorite. It was a long 4 hour event, but it was worth it and one of the best nights I've ever had.



Next was the A Christmas Story book event at Solas Restaurant. It was small, informal, and much more quiet. It was much needed since being around over 1000 people for 4 hours was very tiring. I met Caseen Gaines for the first time face to face. As some of you know, he was the first person we've ever interviewed for Old School Lane when he talked about his first book Inside Pee-wee's Playhouse. Surprisingly, Mathew Klickstein and Jessica Gaynes showed up at the event and for the next 3 hours, we were talking about the movie, the book, and their upcoming projects. It didn't feel manipulating, it felt like I was talking with real friends. With that, I truly felt like I made some while I was there.



That's all for now. Tune in next time as Kevin and I discuss about the two books, our experiences with the events, and continue with the Nickelodeon tribute.

Hope to see you around Old School Lane soon. Thanks for reading.

-Patricia