The Weinerville Chanukah Special Discussion/Review

On December 15, 1995, Nickelodeon's first Hanukkah special debuted based off of the obscure 1993 variety show Weinerville. One year later, the Rugrats Hanukkah special came out and became an instant classic and left the former special in the dust pretty much forgotten. Now 20 years later, Patricia takes a look at the Weinerville Chanukah special and see how well it holds up today.

Old School Lane's Nickelodeon Tribute: The Weinerville New Year's Special: Lost in the Big Apple

It's 2015. A new year means new content and new reviews. Let's start it off with a New Year's special from Nickelodeon. With that said, it's time to go back into the world of Weinerville.



On January 1, 1996, The Weinerville New Year's Special: Lost in the Big Apple debuted on TV and as of right now, there have been no New Year's special for Nickelodeon shows. The last time I tackled a Weinerville special was a few years ago with the Hanukkah special and if you recall, it's one of the strangest holiday specials I've ever seen. For more details of the special, click here. So, is the New Year's special as weird as the Hanukkah special? How well does it hold up? Let's see and find out.

The story starts off with Marc, Boney, Socko, Pops, Louie, and Captain Bob packing up for a road trip to New York City. While getting ready for the trip, Dottie receives a call from Cocktail Frank saying the bands they hired for the New Year's party have been cancelled and a group of kids are on their way. Dottie calls in Zip to stop them before they leave, but it was too late. Dottie then starts on her quest to let Marc and the gang know about Frank's New Year's Eve party by starting her machine, the A.R.M.S 6000.5. The machine has the power to beam them to any TV so that Dottie can give her message. She first ends up in a TV by a store window. Then she's switched to another TV where two robbers stole from an apartment. She demands them to help her find Marc and the gang and they start dragging it all over the city. Meanwhile, the gang kick Marc out of the van and they separate into various places. Boney wanders around the city, subway, and then dresses like Santa to help a woman receive money for the homeless (but wants to keep it himself), Socko helps a young girl named Jenny play hockey against 4 boys, and Captain Bob entertains a group of kids by the pier. Marc then eventually finds Socko at the toy store and start doing a little shopping.



Meawhile, Dottie is still searching for Marc and the gang, but to no avail. The robbers start getting tired of searching and they return the TV to the apartment they stole it from. She then beams to the large screen at Times Square where the gang eventually see her and head over to the penthouse for the New Year's party. The special concludes with them celebrating New Year's and Boney giving the leftover food to the woman who was raising money to the homeless.



Overall, I have to say that as weird as the Hanukkah special was, at least it had a plot. The plot was practically nonexistent in the New Year's special. There were scenes in the special that showed that there was going to be conflict, but it was pretty much pushed aside. For example, the A.R.M.S 6000.5 can transport her and Zip to any TV, but only until the end they were able to transport to the Times Square screen. Plus, they transported themselves to the party. First of all, why didn't they transport themselves in New York in the first place to look for Marc and the gang? Also, in the beginning, Boney dropped his wallet and it looked like it was going to be some sort of problem in the special. But nope, it was only brought up once at the end when a guest mentioned that he found Boney's wallet and warns him to be careful about losing it. So then what was the point of even showing that scene? It was so unnecessary. While the plot was shoddily written and all over the place with pointless scenes and no direction, the one thing that I can say about it is that it has the classic, corny Weinerville charm that wasn't in the Hanukkah special. It had a lot of cheesy jokes that I couldn't help but laugh at, especially with the Captain Bob segment and the interactions with Dottie and Zip. It felt like I was watching Weinerville. 

Overall, if you're a Weinerville fan or a fan of goofy, corny humor, check this special out. If not, then all the flaws I mentioned will distract you from having a good time. This was the only Nickelodeon show to have a New Year's special and I can understand why no one remembers it.

That's all for now. Hope to see you around Old School Lane soon. Happy New Year!

-Patricia

Old School Lane Presents: What Nickelodeon Means to Kevin

Continuing celebrating Nickelodeon's 35th anniversary is a personal video on what the network meant to Kevin. What does Nickelodeon mean to you? Post it in the comments below and let us know. Enjoy!

Old School Lane celebrates the 20th anniversary of Weinerville

Around 2013, the kids who grew up in the 90's will be remembering and celebrating the 20th anniversaries of shows such as Beavis & Butthead, Mighty Morphing Power Rangers, and even classic Nickelodeon shows such as Legends of the Hidden Temple, Rocko's Modern Life, and The Adventures of Pete & Pete. These shows were influential, groundbreaking, and were standouts when they first came out. To this day, they are fondly regarded and talked about still to this day. However, there is one show that most people will not be talking about. This show has been forgotten by many 90's kids and hasn't gotten the recognition it deserves. It's a show that Kevin and I love dearly, but many people have never heard of it, let alone seen it. But that's about to change as Old School Lane celebrates the 20th anniversary of Weinerville.

 

Now this is not a review of Weinerville since we already did one a while back. If you want to read our review of it, click here to check it out. But here's a quick recap for those who haven't seen the show before. It's a variety show starring Marc Weiner in a city named Weinerville where he interacts with his puppets consisting of various characters such as the mayor Dottie, the sarcastic redhead Socko, and the loud, rude dinosaur Boney. There were skits, classic cartoons, and a segment called Play Land where Marc would choose two kids from the audience to get them Weinerized, or turn them into half-human half-puppets and play a game.



The show has had different specials such as a presidential special, a New Year's Eve special, and the very first Hanukkah special that Nickelodeon ever aired. Each episode was very zany, wacky, kooky, and fun. Call it weird, call it cheesy, call it whatever you want, but Weinerville can guarantee you a smile on your face. The show was about old fashioned fun similar to what Total Panic and Pee-wee's Playhouse would do. You have to be in the right mindset and mood to enjoy the show, but when you are, you're in for a real ride.



Marc almost didn't create this show. If you ever read the 1995 newspaper article titled "Of God and Weinerville", Marc was a standup comedian focused on doing his puppets for various TV shows such as SNL to perform. It was intended for adults and he became a comedic star. However, a tragic event involving his first son Avi made him go to hospitals to entertain his puppet work with him and the other sick kids who were there. But as time went on, Avi passed away and he almost lost interest in being a comedian. Originally, Weinerville was not going to be in Nickelodeon. Marc Weiner pitched the idea of a game show called That's Not Fair! to Comedy Central about him being a half-human half-puppet host with real contestants asking questions, but with a zany twist. But then the Nickelodeon executives saw the pilot and asked him to perform the show for kids. Thinking about Avi and the kids he entertained at the hospital loving his work as a puppeteer, he accepted and Weinerville was born.







When it first came out, it was a true standout and praised from many sources from The New York Times to The Today Show as being fun, original, and zany. Kids such as Kevin and myself would watch the show on the weekend or after school and we would be engulfed with the world that Marc created. But unfortunately, the show only had 2 seasons and was cancelled a year after its release. Coupled with the schedule changes and Legends of the Hidden Temple, Rocko's Modern Life, and The Adventures of Pete & Pete coming out at the same year as Weinerville made the program overlooked by many other kids. Plus, it's like I mentioned on previous occasions, Weinerville is not for everyone. It's a zany show with corny humor and a classic feel homaging 1950's and 60's variety programs and kids' shows. If those don't interest you, you won't get into Weinerville. But you have to admit that there were no other shows like Weinerville even today. Sure we would get more game shows, cartoons, and teen sitcoms, but never again a kooky variety show with puppets, cartoons, and skits like what Weinerville gave us and that's what makes it a underrated classic.





Despite that Marc and his son Max were doing new Weinerville skits on YouTube, I would love for this show to come back. If you recall from my top 10 Nickelodeon shows that need to be remade, if Marc can do Weinerville similar to his old 70's and 80's skits where the humor was for adults and the 1993 show, then it would be a huge standout once again and would generate a new generation of fans. Kids need to see creativity and originality like Weinerville in this day and age and I know that if done right, Weinerville will do just as well in 2013 compared to when it debuted in 1993. Maybe it'll be a cult hit like the original, but it doesn't matter. Kevin and I would watch it in an instant and this would be a program that we would introduce to kids if we ever have any. Do yourself a favor, watch some episodes of Weinerville on YouTube, go to weinerville.com, and take some time to get acquainted or reacquaint with Marc, Dottie, Zip, Pops, Louie, Socko, and Boney. You won't regret it. Happy 20th anniversary Weinerville! 



If you want to know more about Weinerville, check out our interview with Marc Weiner here. Also, check out our newest episode of Casual Chats where Kevin and I celebrate the 20th anniversary of Weinerville with a few special guests.

Hope to see you around Old School Lane soon!

-Patricia

Old School Lane Receives a Gift

Hey guys. Christmas came in early for Kevin and myself. We had gotten a very special gift from Marc Weiner, the creator of the Nickelodeon variety show Weinerville. He loved our interview with him so much that he send us some of his merchandise from his website for free! That is awesome! We love you Marc. Happy Holidays!

-Patricia and Kevin

Old School Lane's Nickelodeon Tribute: The Weinerville Chanukkah Special

Happy first night of Hanukkah, everyone! What better way to celebrate this Jewish holiday than with a Nickelodeon Hanukkah special! When it comes to holiday specials on Nickelodeon, most of them are Christmas. We'll talk about Christmas another time. As far to my knowledge there are two Hanukkah specials on Nickelodeon, one that everyone knows about and one that nobody remembers. Today we're going to talk about the latter. That special is The Weinerville Hanukkah Special.

Released in Nickelodeon on December 14, 1995, it was the very first Hanukkah special to be shown on this network. Since Marc Weiner is Jewish, it makes sense that he would do a Hanukkah special. So does this Hanukkah special burn bright after 17 years later or has the lights burned out a long time ago? This is The Weinerville Chanukah Special.

We start off with Marc Summers telling a brief story about how the holiday first came to be. Then Boney comes along telling the story of Weinerville's Hanukkah story. We then shift off to the main story: It starts in outer space where potato latke aliens are being harrased by other aliens to be just like them. They stand up to them, but the leader named Dorkus, tell them that they'll be back.

Dottie lets Boney know about a big party happening at the Weinerville Ski Lodge. Boney gets excited as he and Socko head over to the Ski Lodge. All of a sudden, the potato latke aliens run out of oil, so they land on Earth to get some more. All of a sudden, Dorkus lands on Earth and threatens Dottie to tell her where a wise man named the Gonsah Knocker is, otherwise he'll ruin the party with his powerful remote. Meanwhile the potato latke aliens look for the Gonsah Knocker to get some knowledge and courage to defend themselves against the evil alien leader. He then explains that their problems are similar to what Jeremiah and his people went through thousands of years ago and the origins of Hanukkah in song thanks to Cocktail Frank, Socko, and Boney. 

After that, Dorkus makes his way to the location of the Gonsah Knocker and Socko and Boney devise a plan to steal his remote. Socko drives his snowmobile and grabs the remote, Boney pours oil on the floor to make them slip, Zip controls a giant dreidel and knocks them over, and the potato latke aliens help defeat the minions. Eventually Dorkus captures Socko and the remote and claims his victory, but Boney tells him that he forgot one thing: he got snow on the floor of the lodge which wasn't allowed. The clean up guy beats him up and the potato latke aliens capture everyone and bring them to their mothership to send them to jail. With that, their freedom is secure and they give a big thanks to Socko, Boney, Zip, and Pops. 

After they leave, Marc Weiner and the rest of the guests arrive at the lodge to set up for the party. Then afterwards, the special concludes with Cocktail Frank and the Weenies singing the song "Menorah Menorah" and everyone wishes the audience a Happy Hanukkah.

Overall, I have to say that The Weinerville Chanukah Special is one of the weirdest holiday specials I've ever seen in my life. I would even go far as to say it's even weirder than Pee-wee's Playhouse Christmas Special. Yeah, I said it. I never thought in a million years that a Hanukkah special would contain aliens, slapstick humor, musical numbers, puppets, and corny jokes, I kinda enjoyed it. It's Weinerville-style humor at its weirdest, but it's a lot of fun. If you're a Weinerville fan or in the mood for a strange Hanukkah special that isn't from Adam Sandler, check it out. If this doesn't sound like your think, then skip it. You have to be in the right mood to appreciate this special.

That's all for now. I'll be back for the last day of Hanukkah to talk about the Hanukkah special that everyone remembers fondly: The Rugrats Hanukkah Special.

Hope to see you around Old School Lane soon. Happy Hanukkah!

-Patricia

Old School Lane's Nickelodeon Tribute: Interview with Marc Weiner

A tad bit late, I know. But still, better late than never. Our next interview is comedian/puppeteer Marc Weiner. Around the 70’s and 80’s, Weiner performed his kooky and creative puppets on Saturday Night Live, The Bizarre Show, The Jim Henson Hour, Laughs, The Joey Delux Show, and many more. For kids who grew up in the 90’s, he’s mostly known for his 1993 variety show Weinerville.



For kids who grew up in the 2000’s, he’s mostly known as the voice of Swiper and Map from the Nick Jr. program Dora the Explorer. Today he still does his standup show worldwide, he’s the founder and developer of The Empathy Labyrinth Center, and he’s currently working on putting new Weinerville videos on YouTube alongside his son Max.

Kevin and I had the chance to interview Marc, so I hope you enjoy it.

 

Patricia- What were your favorite cartoons/programs growing up?

Marc- Little Rascals, Three Stooges, Abbott and Costello, Red Skelton Show, and Laugh-in.

Patricia- Who are your comedic influences?

Marc- Red Skelton, Stooges, Abbott and Costello, Jerry Lewis, Jonathan Winters, Lucille Ball, Robin Williams, Ray Abruzzo and Marvin Silbermintz.

Kevin- What was it like doing your puppet show on The Bizarre Show?

Marc-  AMAZING! The producer of that show, Bob Einstein was and still is one of the funniest and nicest person I have ever met in show business. As well as John Byner, the host. Both John and Bob were very supportive of my work and gave me room to be funny. I will always be grateful to them.

 

 

Patricia- What funny stories can you tell us about your experiences being on Saturday Night Live?

Marc- It was after my first appearance on SNL that Joe Piscopo took me into the producer's office and made them hiring me for the following week. My head writer and dear friend Ray Abruzzo, wrote a rap song for my Afro-American puppet Weindulah to perform. We played it for Eddie Murphy and he said, "You white boys don't know how to write rap music" and re-wrote the song on the spot. It went over very well.

You can see these SNL shows on Netflix (Feb 1980)

 

Patricia-What made you decide to create half-human half-puppets?

Marc- I worked with a street puppeteer in Boston and then when I came to NYC, I joined the Bond Street Theater group. They asked me to make puppets for them and I just did it. I developed the Weinerville style puppet for my nightclub act because I wanted to be able to do many different puppets on stage without having to make the audience wait as I took off one and put on another. So I lined a series of puppets up each behind little closed door on my puppet set and I would put my head on one and open the door, do my routine close the door and move to the next one. It was quick and funny.

 

 

Kevin- How did you come up with the idea of Weinerville?

Marc- I was coming up with all these head puppet ideas and getting them on many different TV shows and a producer suggested that I could actually have my own show, I'll called it Weinerville.

Patricia- What were your inspirations to become a puppeteer?

Marc- When I first came to NY, I watch a street mime use his fingers to do a tight rope walking routine. I didn't just see his fingers but I saw a little man. So I sewed a little puppet outfit for my hand and asked a mask maker to help me make my first mask to fit around my wrist.  That's how I made my first hand Weinerette style puppet (Rocko and Socko).

Patricia- How did you come up with the ideas of your puppets such as Dottie, Boney, Socko, and Cocktail Frank?

Marc- Dottie, well, I think I put on a wig and just went with it and out she came. The idea for Boney came from a very funny man named Marvin Silbermintz, who was one of my writers on Weinerville. Marvin told me his idea, I came up with the voice, and puppet master David Jordon made the puppet. Socko is a younger version of my puppet Rocko from SNL. Cocktail Frank is living my dream of being a rock n roll star.

 

Patricia- What would be the process of getting an episode of Weinerville done?

Marc- Someone would pitch the premise for the episode, then I would ask them to add twice as much shtick and gags to it and then we would shoot it.

 

 

Kevin- If you could've had any guest on Weinerville, who would it be and why?

Marc- I never thought I could have guests on my show. The only reason a few guests appeared on the show was because they happened to be visiting Nickelodeon at Universal Studios in Florida. A PA would come running in and say so-and-so is on the Nick Tour, do you want me to ask them if they would appear on the show? Yes!!!!! Grab them and quickly get the writers.

Patricia- When Weinerville first came out, it had gotten many praises from viewers because there was nothing like it on TV. Even still to this day, there's no other show like Weinerville. What, in your opinion, makes Weinerville still a very unique show that still holds up today? Why do you think no one tried to replicate it?

Marc- I think Weinerville was kind of in the genre of The Soupy Sales Show and Pee-wee’s Playhouse: silly funny shtick for kids and adults.

Patricia- What was the audition process for voicing Swiper and Map on Dora the Explorer?

Marc- I knew the producers from working down in Florida and they just hired me.

 

Patricia- On January 2011, you made an announcement that you and your son Max were going to release new episodes of Weinerville on YouTube. How's the process coming along? When can we expect to see new episodes?

Marc- Max is very busy with his musical career and we hope to release a few short Boney shorts each year. We really appreciate all our YouTube fans.

 

 

Kevin- What was the nicest feedback you had ever received from a fan?

Marc- I think it was when a fan wrote to us saying that they had been watching Weinerville on TV in their family play room instead of playing in the front room of his house. All of a sudden, a car crashed into that front room of his house. If he hadn't been watching Weinerville, he would have been in that front room and would have been killed. Now that's great fan mail!

Patricia- Whenever you're out and about, do people stop and say "Oh my god, you're Marc Weiner. I was a huge fan of Weinerville when I was a kid. You're awesome!"

Marc- Back in the day.  Now it's just when I look in the mirror.

Patricia- What are your upcoming projects?

Marc- Finishing up our 8th season of Dora, teaching children and adults how communicate more compassionately with each other via my Empathy Labyrinth, touring with my stand up show, and trying to be the most empathic and loving father I can be to my children.

Patricia- That’s all the questions. Marc, thank you so much for taking the time to interview us. It has been an honor.

Marc- Thank you very much for this interview. Happy holidays.

To learn more about Empathy Labyrinth, you can check out the website at www.el4peace.com. For more information about Weinerville, check it out at weinerville.com. Also follow him on Facebook and Twitter at facebook.com/Weinerville and @WeinervilleTV.

That’s all for now. Hope to see you around Old School Lane soon. Thanks for reading.

-Patricia and Kevin

 

Old School Lane's Nickelodeon Tribute: Weinerville

The year is 1993. Jurassic Park, Schindler's List, Mrs. Doubtfire, and the granddaddy of crappy video game movies Super Mario Bros. was released in theaters. Beavis and Butthead, Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Bill Nye the Science Guy, and Boy Meets World debuted on TV. Nickelodeon had stiff competition of staying on top as the #1 network for kids with Fox Kids, Disney Channel, and Cartoon Network dishing out great cartoons. They needed something really creative to suck kids back in. So around July 13, 1993, a man named Marc Weiner created the bizarre, kooky, unique, and creative puppet-like variety show Weinerville. 

The show was about Marc Weiner portraying as half-man, half-puppet characters interacting with a live audience doing skits and storylines. He would play these characters alongside other actors like Ray Abruzzo, Scott Fellows, David Jordon, and Brian Burns. Weiner would host the show and try to solve the problems of Dottie, the mayor of Weinerville.

Most of of the half-man half-human characters were played by Weiner himself. They included the following:

Dottie is the mayor of Weinerville. She always goes through a bit of misfortune and screams a lot in pain.

Baby Jeffrey would introduce the show, then start crying afterwards.

Commander Ozone was an intergalactic superhero. He would defend evil from the villain Eric Von Firstensecond alongside his sidekick Wilson.

Cocktail Frank was the leader of the house band Cocktail Frank and the Weenies. He was the only half-man half-puppet while every other band member were puppets.



There were also puppets included in the show.

Zip was Dottie's assistant who always ended up getting in trouble and crashing into walls.

Pops was an owner of a restaurant who always starts fights with a laundromat owner named Louie.

Louie was a laundromat owner who always argues with Pops.

Socko was a hand puppet who loved to kick Marc and make sarcastic gestures.

Boney was a parody of Barney who would tell kids stories about negative things. He was being a represented beloved children's character, but he actually hates kids. He would always tell kids in the end of every story "Now get out of here. I'm Boney, I'm Boney. Leave me alone-y." He was the favorite puppet among Weinerville fans, including Weiner himself.



In between the segments, they would always run a cartoon for the kids ranging from educational cartoons to classic cartoons like Mr. Magoo. 

At the end of every episode, two kids from the audience get "Weinerized" which was get turned into half-man half-puppets. They would play a game called Playland in which the winner would receive The Golden Hot Dog.

Also, I made a minor mistake when it came to Rugrats being the first Hanukkah special since Pee-wee's Playhouse Christmas Special. Weinerville had a Hanukkah special before Rugrats had theirs one year prior. See, this is what happens when you don't look at the minor details.

 

The show also had special celebrity guest appearances. Some of them included Dr. Joyce Brothers, the wrestler Kevin Nash, Paul Shaffer, Huey Lewis, Andy Lawrence, and Bill Maher. Also, you can't have a Nickelodeon show without throwing him some Nickelodeon stars at the time. They included Marc Summers, Phil Moore, Moira Quirk, and the cast of Clarissa Explains it All.



The show lasted for 2 seasons ending its run on June 30, 1997. The people involved with the show did other things after Weinerville. 

Scott Fellows had created other shows for Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network such as The Moxy Show, Cartoon Network's very first original show, Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide, Johnny Test, and Big Time Rush. He has also written episodes for shows like U to U, The Fairly Odd Parents, 100 Deeds for Eddie McDowd, and Brand Spanking New Doug.



Ray Abruzzo had done other TV roles such as The Practice, Dynasty, The Sopranos, The Nanny, Law and Order, NCIS, and House.



As for Marc Weiner, he had decided to take his show on a live tour known as Marc Weiner's Weinerville Live. On and off over the years, he was traveled to other parts of the world to do live shows based on his show until he stopped in 2000. He is currently providing the voices of Swiper the Fox and Map on Dora the Explorer. On January 23, 2011, Marc and his son Max launched a YouTube channel called Weinerville TV in which they are bringing the show back for people who grew up with Weinerville as well as a new generation who had never seen it. They claim that new episodes will be coming in soon. 

They launched a Facebook page, Twitter page, and an official website. Check it out right here at http://www.weinerville.com/.

When Weinerville first came out, it was something that has never been seen before. It was the first and only show that involved with half-man half-human puppets. It had gained a huge amount of popularity among audiences and it was acclaimed by Good Morning America, The Early Show, The New York Times, The Daily News, Newsday, TV Guide, and The Los Angeles Times. It was nominated for two CableACE Awards. It was one of the most popular, zany, and creative shows that Nickelodeon had done up to that point.



Overall, looking back at this show, it was one of the zaniest, kookiest, strangest, and most unique Nickelodeon shows that has ever aired and I still love it! I grew up watching this and some of the jokes are still funny. Sure, there are some that are a bit dated due to some of the pop culture references, but other than that, it's a show that I can really appreciate due to its amount of creativity that it had at the time. Similar to Roundhouse, no other show try to replicate what Weinerville tried to do at the time or since then. But unlike Roundhouse, there's just something about it that makes Weinerville still work after all these years. I can appreciate the charm, creativity, humor, and zaniest that Marc Weiner did for this show. I highly recommend checking it out.



That's all for now. Tune in next time as I discuss, in my opinion, the best Nickelodeon kids' game show in the  90's. Legends of the Hidden Temple. Also, Kevin is going to review one of his favorite Nicktoons that many people call a Ren and Stimpy clone, Rocko's Modern Life.



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

-Patricia