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 Casual Chats Episode 3: The Sly Cooper Series

This week on Casual Chats, Kevin was sucked in a paradox and David a.k.a. Brekclub85 from Manic Expression takes over. They discuss about how they got introduce to the series, their favorite scenes, games, and what they want in Sly 4: Thieves in Time.

To know more about Brekclub85, check it out right here.

To check out the video involving the voice actors of the Sly series stealing the KFC recipes, check out the video below.

What is your favorite game in the Sly series? Are you excited about Sly 4? Post it in the comments below. Hope to see you around Old School Lane soon. Take care.

-Patricia and David

Old School Lane's Top 10 Nickelodeon Female Role Models

Time to wrap up this list of my favorite female role models in Nickelodeon. If you want to see numbers 20-11 before seeing this one, go back and check it out. Until then, here we go!

10. Wanda from The Fairly Oddparents



The only person who seems to be the smart one around the show has a lot of loyalty and patience. She's been married to a moron for almost 10,000 years, her godchild is a wild reckless child making extreme wishes, she's a mother, and she's has to clean up the messes of the extreme wishes. She's pretty low on this list because she nags a lot. At least the show is self aware of that which results in hilarious jokes.

9. Moira Quirk



As I mentioned in my GUTS review, I loved Moira a lot more than Mike O'Malley. Her British accent and quirky personality was a great compliment to Mike's goofy personality. After being the referee in GUTS and Global GUTS, she went on to voice Britt Krust in My Life as a Teenage Robot and Jane in The Wild Thornberrys Movie. She was one of the many people we interviewed and she was one of the nicest people we talked to.

8. Arlene Klasky



She was truly the Lauren Faust of the 90's. Alongside her now former husband Gabor Csupo, she co-created Rugrats, Rocket Power, The Wild Thornberrys, and All Grown Up. In 1999, she was in the list of the Top 25 Women in Animation according to Animation Magazine. Nowadays, she's the co-creator of a graphic novel called Ollie Mongo: Adventures in the Apocalypse.

7. Grey DeLisle



It was so hard to decide on which voice actress to put on my list. There were so many great voice actresses in Nickelodeon over the years: E.G. Daily, Christine Cavanaugh, Kath Soucie, Cree Summer, Laraine Newman, Tress MacNeille, Mae Whitman, Candi Milo, Debi Derryberry, Tara Strong, and many more. But I decided to choose Grey because she's very versatile, her many characters, and her amazing talent to portray her characters. She started off as members of the McNulty boys and Reptar in Rugrats, then she went on to portray as Vicki, Tootie, Principal Waxelplax, and other minor characters in The Fairly Oddparents, Brandon Higsby in As Told by Ginger, Sam in Danny Phantom, Kitty in T.U.F.F. Puppy, and Wubbzy and Wow! Wow! Wubbzy. But she gets in on this list because of one character: Azula from Avatar: The Last Airbender. Azula is one of the best villains, not only in Nickelodeon, but probably in animation history. It's very rare that you can hate and feel bad for a villain at the same time when she has to use fear to control people so that they don't abandon her.



I can't wait for the new character that Grey will voice in the new season of Legend of Korra.

6. Helga Pataki from Hey Arnold!



I'm going to be completely honest with you guys. I never really liked any of the female characters from the early Nicktoons. Lil is basically a female version of Phil, Angelica is a really spoiled brat, Susie is pretty much the anti-Angelica and nothing else, Oblina was a stick in the mud, Dr. Hutchinson wasn't in the show as often, and Mrs. Bighead was a bit too promiscuous and bossy. When Hey Arnold aired, I was immediately hooked when I saw Helga. When I first saw her, she was a bully. I shouldn't like her since she's constantly teasing everyone, especially Arnold. But then as time goes on, we find out about her crappy life with her parents and we feel bad for her. We also learn that she loves poetry, writing stories, and has a huge crush on Arnold. She develops into a three dimensional character that most of the other female characters before her didn't have. She would pave the way for more awesome female characters for Nicktoons!

5. Clarissa Darling from Clarissa Explains it All



The first female protagonist in Nickelodeon has definitely has to be on this list! She's an everyday teenage girl trying to live her everyday life with school and home life. She loves video games, bands such as Pearl Jam and They Might Be Giants, believes in aliens, and trying to understand being a teenager with boys, annoying little brothers, and more. She was a very relatable and memorable character that we wished we could be like. Both boys and girls tuned in to see Clarissa talking to the audience about growing up.

As much as I love Clarissa, there's another teenage girl from a Nickelodeon teen sitcom that I like slightly better.

4. Caitlin Seeger from Caitlin's Way



I've mentioned about this time and time again throughout this tribute that Caitlin's Way is the most underrated teen sitcom that Nickelodeon ever aired. The character of Caitlin was just as memorable as Clarissa, but with a little more edge. She's going through a lot more pain and angst since her mother's dead, she doesn't know her father, and she was going from foster home to foster home causing trouble. Now her life turns upside down when her mother's cousin comes to bring her home to her family in Montana. Having to deal with her pain plus living in a small town with a family she never knew existed is pretty hard. But as time goes on, we get to know her more and we get to see that she isn't just some girl with angst: she loves horseback riding, photography, the color black, and she walks around with her CD player. Sure her personality slightly changed into a more happier one around the last season, but I didn't expect her to be moody all the time. At least they broadened her more than most of the girls that Nickelodeon portrayed in other shows. She's truly someone to look up to.

3. Ginger/Lois Foutley from As Told by Ginger



I really couldn't decide between putting in Ginger or Lois, so I decided to put in both. Ginger is a very well developed character trying to fit in with the popular crowd, hanging out with her friends, and writing down her experiences in her journal. As time goes on, she grows into a more self aware capable person who doesn't care about being popular, has everyday problems, and learns about things like growing up and love. Lois is my absolute favorite parent in any Nickelodeon show ever! She's tough, assertive, and lays down the law whenever Ginger or Carl causes trouble. But at the same time, she's loving, caring, and gives great advice. We see her as a single mom working as a nurse for many hours of the day. As time goes on, she starts going out with Dr. Dave and loses weight to better her appearance. In the TV movie The Wedding Frame, it's a great closure and I felt satisfied to how their lives ended up as in the end.

2. Katara from Avatar: The Last Airbender



It was a tough call between Katara or Toph, but I decided that Katara is the better choice. When her mother died by a Fire Nation general, she had to take care of the household containing her grandmother, father, and older brother. She's the only waterbender in the South Pole and wishes to enhance her ability. Then she meets Aang and her life changes forever. As time went on, her powers grow and she becomes a waterbending master. She helps become a mother figure to everyone around her, she fights during intense battles, she assisted Zuko in taking out Azula, and she has the honor of teaching two Avatars waterbending: Aang and Korra. She will never let anyone abandon anyone who needs help and will stop at nothing to help Aang bring peace to the world.

1. Geraldine Laybourne/Vanessa Coffey



You might be thinking, "Who are these women?" Well, they pretty much brought Nickelodeon of what it is today. Laybourne was a program manager of Nickelodeon in 1980 before becoming its first president in 1984. She and her team was responsible for accepting the advertisement brought in by Fred Seibert, Alan Goodman, and others, launching Nick at Nite, expanding the network to other countries, and creating the movie, toy, and theme park divisions. Because of her leadership, the network grew into becoming the #1 kids' network. Laybourne eventually left Nickelodeon in 1996 and then became president of Disney-ABC Cable Networks overseeing the programs of the Disney Channel and other channels. She left Disney in 1998 and became the founder of Oxygen in 2000.

Coffey first started as the producer of the first foray of animation Nickelodeon's Thanksgiving Fest before she would eventually become the vice president of animation. She would be the executive producer of Doug, Rugrats, The Ren & Stimpy Show, and Rocko's Modern Life. Her direction behind these now classic shows was very important to what it would be today and more people should be aware of what she did for Nickelodeon. There might even be a possibility that Kevin and I will interview her, so we're crossing our fingers. If it happens, I will thank her for what she did.

These two women were responsible for making Nickelodeon what it is today and I have the most respect for them.

Those are my top 10 Nickelodeon female role models. Who are your role models in Nickelodeon? Post it in the comments below. Tune in next time as we go into Part 3 of my list and we talk about the worse role models. Oh boy!

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

-Patricia

Old School Lane's Top 20-11 Nickelodeon Female Role Models

Hey guys. Time for Part 2 of my top list of role models. This time we're covering the females. If you want to check out my top 20 male role models before reading this one, go check it out. Same rules apply, so let's get started.

20. Summer Sanders

She’s a great role model for anyone who wants to get into swimming or being a game show host. In 1992, she won 2 gold medals in the 200 meter butterfly and 400 meter medley relay, a silver medal in the 200 meter individual medley, and a bronze in the 400 meter individual medley. But for most kids in the late 90’s, they know her as the host of the Nickelodeon game show Figure it Out. As of now, she is the only female to have ever hosted a Nickelodeon game show. How can you not respect her?

19. Moze from Ned’s Declassified School Survival Guide

This feisty, intelligent, and witty middle school student knows her way around dealing with everyday problems and taking the huge amount of crap that her friends Ned and Cookie go through. She isn’t a stereotypical girl token, she was a standout among the crowd and isn’t afraid to stand up for herself.  However, she isn’t a perfect person: she has a bit of a nasty temper and whenever she has a problem, she talks to Ned to see his school survival guide. Nonetheless, she’s one of the best female characters in a Nickelodeon teen sitcom.

18. Catalina from Space Cases

She was my absolute favorite character from a sci-fi series with huge flaws. She’s the ship’s engineer that comes from Titan, a moon from Saturn.  Her kind are capable of releasing dangerous sonic screams and vocal patterns that can pick up frequencies that other people and alien beings can’t hear. At the end of the first season, she sacrificed her life to save her friends from Warlock Shank. But it turns out that she wasn’t dead: she was sent to the same dimension that her friend Suzee lives in. Suzee became the new engineer in the second season, but Catalina was a way better character.

Not to mention that she was played by Jewel Staite, the same woman who would play as Kaylee from Firefly. That’s awesome!

17. Jenny from My Life as a Teenage Robot



Created by Mrs. Wakeman to save the world from destruction, XJ9 or Jenny has so many awesome weapons and devices that can be useful for anything! However, she was giving a personality of a teenager who wants to fit in with other teenagers. With her friends Brad, Tucker, and Sheldon, Jenny learns eventually about being herself. With that, she has epic fights against many villains while still completing her homework.

16. Alex Mack from The Secret World of Alex Mack



This everyday teenage girl is anything but ordinary. When a truck crashes in front of her pouring out a dangerous chemical called GC-161, Alex starts developing powers such as shooting lightning from her fingertip, telekinesis, and turning into a puddle. She keeps this secret from everyone except her best friend Darren and her sister Annie so that the plant responsible for the chemicals don't capture her to be experimented on. Alex is pretty low on this list because, as cool as those powers are, she doesn't use them that often or for the right reasons. But come on, don't you wish you had cool powers like that? I do.

15. Christine "Moose" McGlade



Sure there were a lot of kids and teens over the years on You Can't Do That on Television, but we all remember Moose. She had a great presence to her whenever she performs the jokes and interacts with the other kids, especially with Lisa "Motormouth" Ruddy and Les Lye. She was on the show for over 9 years and then starred in the other Nickelodeon program Turkey Television. To many kids in the 80's, she's a very iconic actress in a very popular TV show. Today she's mostly focuses on being a producer on a Canadian TV station, but we'll always remember her as Moose.

14. Lori Beth Denberg/Lisa Foiles



There were two versions of All That that occurred during its 10 year run, the original and the relaunch. I decided to put my favorite actresses from both of the show's different runs: Lori Beth from the original and Lisa from the relaunch. Both of them were the most well known with their hilarious skits such as Vital Information, The Loud Librarian, Sugar & Coffee, and Bridget's Slumber Party as Claudia. Each girl are extremely hilarious and talented. Lori Beth left All That and went on to do a few movies and TV shows such as The Steve Harvey Show. Lisa went on to do SNICK on Dare. After she left All That, she dedicates herself to reviewing video games on her website Save Point.

13. Emily Kapnek



She had the dubious honor of creating the very first and only Nicktoon under Klasky-Csupo Productions that was not created by either Arlene Klasky or Gabor Csupo: As Told by Ginger. The show was really ahead of its time with its story arcs, character development, serious and down-to-earth messages, and clothes swapping. It's also one of the very few Nicktoons that had a very satisfying ending with the TV movie The Wedding Frame. Today she's the creator and executive producer of Suburgatory, but she will always be known as releasing the most underrated Nicktoon ever. A truly wonderful creator.

12. Korra from Legend of Korra



The next Avatar after Aang is the complete opposite from the calm, spiritual, and non-confrontational airbender. She's tough, in-your-face, and a real prodigy after learning 3 of the 4 elements when she was 5 and mastering them when she was 16. But she hasn't connected with her spiritual side and she hasn't learned airbending. Her situation gets even more serious when an anti-bender group led by a man named Amon occurs in Republic City. At first, she wants to take him down, but as time goes on, she gets frightened. She wants to protect the city, the benders, and non-benders from this evil man, but things eventually gets more complicated. She gets stressed out, but never gives up. In the end, she maintains peace towards the city. She's not higher on this list because we don't know about her character yet and we won't see any new episodes until next year. Until then, she has became one of my favorite heroines in Nickelodeon history.

11. Cheryl Blaylock



A truly fantastic female puppeteer who is responsible for playing as Mona in Sesame Street and other minor characters in Muppets Take Manhattan before she would be portraying as Eureeka from Eureeka's Castle. After that, she went on to perform as Fred from Blue's Room, a character in Oobi, and many more. Today she's in charge of kids activities in a non-profit organization called Trees NY. She's one of the many people we interviewed and we were so honored for her to take her time to do so. It was even better when we met her in person talking for an hour and a half about puppets and everything! It was a dream come true!



Those are my top 20-11 Nickelodeon female role models. Who are your female role models from Nickelodeon? Post it in the comments below. Tune in next time as I countdown my top 10 favorite female role models.

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

-Patricia
 

Old School Lane's Top 10 Nickelodeon Male Role Models

Hey guys! Time for part 2! To take a look at numbers 20-11, go back and check it out! Let’s not waste any time. Here we go!

10. Will McRobb and Chris Viscardi

When you think of one of these men, you immediately think of another. Around the late 80’s, they created little shorts about a family going through everyday situations, but with a strange twist. A few years later, those shorts became a TV series. The Adventures of Pete & Pete is one of the very few Nickelodeon teen series that’s still not only strange, odd, and unique, but holds up to this very day.  When it was cancelled in 1996, the small group of fans grew into many. There have been three cast reunions as of this year and every single one of them were sold out! One of them sold out their tickets in less than 5 minutes! That’s how much the show meant to a lot of people.

Then afterwards came out KaBlam!, a very unique variety show filled with memorable characters, funny shorts, and different animation to present it. It was the last animated variety show to come out of Nickelodeon and it’s one of the top 10 Nickelodeon shows that I want to see being remade. It’s that good! Unfortunately, they’re not higher on the list because of one thing: Snow Day! Need I say more?

9. Tommy Pickles from Rugrats

 

One of the first cartoon characters that we remember from Nickelodeon has got to be on this list! Sure, he may be a one-year-old, but he’s certainly wise beyond his years. He has a great imagination, he’s brave, he’s a born leader, he’s not afraid to explore around into new places, and he’s very nice and supportive to his friends. Plus Tommy’s voice was done by E.G. Daily, a wonderful actress known for movies such as Valley Girl and Pee-wee’s Big Adventure, did her first job in voice acting on Rugrats. That is a great start and Tommy has cemented himself as one of the most iconic characters in animation history.

However, it couldn’t have been done without our next contender.

8. Gabor Csupo

Csupo was truly the Craig McCracken of the 90’s. Alongside his now former wife Arlene Klasky, they created the most iconic Nicktoons of all time. One of the first Nicktoons that ever came out was Rugrats. Then afterwards, he co-created Aaahh!!! Real Monsters, Rocket Power, The Wild Thornberrys, and All Grown Up. He had a unique European style that was never before seen in an American cartoon and he helped push the envelope that cartoons can be for both kids and adults.  However, time has not been so kind for some of them. Rocket Power screams early to late 90’s with their concept of kids playing extreme sports, The Wild Thornberrys is, in my opinion, underwhelming and overrated, and a lot of people hated All Grown Up because it strayed away from why we loved the characters on Rugrats in the first place. Nonetheless, you can’t deny that he created a legacy that shouldn’t be forgotten.

7. Steve Burns

While it is true that there were other pre-school shows like Pinwheel, Eureeka’s Castle, Allegra’s Window, and Gullah Gullah Island, let’s be honest. Blue’s Clues put Nick Jr. on the map! The host of the show, Steve Burns, is one of the best kids’ show host of all time. He’s very optimistic, happy, kind, interactive, and compliments kids for being smart. With his green striped shirt, beige pants, brown shoes, and handy dandy notebook, Steve and the viewing audience would look around for his puppy Blue’s clues to figure out what she wants. It was a fantastic pre-school show that was groundbreaking and refreshing for its time and has now turned into a timeless classic. Steve was the Mr. Rogers, Captain Kangaroo, Soupy Sales, and Pee-wee Herman of his time.

Nowadays, he’s an indie rock singer who is beyond talented! If you haven’t heard any of his music, check it out right over here! 

Also, if you haven’t seen the most recent interview he did in 2010 talking about fame, check it out here!

6. Rob Paulsen

He’s one of my favorite voice actors of all time.  He started out voicing the character of Snowjob in G.I. Joe and has continued to voice over hundreds of characters today. In Nickelodeon, he was the voice of Carl Wheezer in Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius and The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Doppy in Planet Sheen, Peck in Barnyard and Back in the Barnyard, King Grippilon and Mark Chang in The Fairly Odd Parents, Jack Fenton and The Box Ghost in Danny Phantom, Gordon in Catscratch, Bird Brain in T.U.F.F. Puppy, and Donatello in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

He is very dedicated to his fans, has a great weekly podcast named Talkin’ Toons in which every week, he interviews a voice actor, and he’s mostly answers questions, comments, and compliments on Twitter and Facebook. He has been the voice of many of our favorite cartoon characters for over 30 years and is still going strong. 

5. Joe Murray

Around the early 90’s, he created the cult classic Rocko’s Modern Life. It had funny, memorable characters and very subtle, subversive humor. It’s the kind of show you can watch as a kid and an adult: mostly an adult. There were so many sexual innuendos that I caught recently when seeing it that I couldn’t believe that they got away with so many of the jokes they present it. Not to mention that many of the people who worked on the show such as Carlos, Tom Kenny, Mr. Lawrence, Charlie Adler, Stephen Hillenberg, Dan Povenmire, Jeff “Swampy” Marsh, and more. So yeah, you can say that without Murray, there would be no SpongeBob SquarePants, Camp Lazlo, and Phineas and Ferb.

4. John Kricfalusi

Whether you like or hate The Ren & Stimpy Show, you cannot deny what a huge impact that the show did for animated shows for the last 20 years. Almost every single animated show from the 90’s tried to copy off its gross, disgusting, adult humor. Many have tried, few have succeeded. Influenced by Bob Clampett, John K. created what looks like a cartoon from the 50’s but with a huge sugar rush. There are so many memorable moments and iconic episodes that people can recall: The Happy Happy Joy Joy song, the Happy Helmet, The History Eraser Button, that crazy fireman, George Liquor, Mr. Horse, The Canadian Yaksmen, The House of Next Tuesday, Log, Powdered Toast Man, and so much more. This show holds up very well to this very day and is highly recommended to check out.

3. Arnold Shortman

Arnold is my absolute favorite male Nicktoon character. Out of all the Nicktoon characters I saw, Arnold was the first one I saw. Not in Nickelodeon, but in Sesame Street as claymation shorts. Arnold portrays himself as a very smart, bright, optimistic kid who looks in the bright side and helps his friends with their problems. But he has some problems as well with not knowing about his parents’ whereabouts after they disappeared. Arnold is the pinnacle for a great role model for kids and is a fantastic, well developed character to boot.

2. Marc Summers

For many people who grew up with Nickelodeon, he is one of the most iconic game show hosts of all time. Double Dare was one of the Nickelodeon shows that put the network on the map. Every kid in the late 80's and early 90's knew who Marc Summers was. Whether it was from Double Dare or What Would You Do?, Marc was the face of everyone's childhoods. 

But then he gained even more respect and admiration when he announced that he had obsessive compulsive disorder. He was able to connect with a lot of people who have OCD and talked about his experiences in his autobiography Everything is in its Place: My Trials and Triumphs with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.  



Still to this very day, he's the greatest game show host that Nickelodeon has ever had and a man that Kevin and I respect. We respected him even more when I had the opportunity to interview him over the phone for 30 minutes and the autograph picture he sent me afterwards. I am forever grateful that a man that I watched as a kid was able to take the time to talk to me. He is one of the most nicest, humblest men I've ever talked to. Such a great guy!



You probably expected Marc to be #1, right? I mean, who else is there? Well, there's someone else that I respect and admire a tad bit more. Who is it?

1. Fred Seibert and Alan Goodman



Unless you're a huge Nickelodeon fan or have been following the tribute, you probably don't know who these two men are. Well, if it wasn't for the leadership of these men, Nickelodeon wouldn't exist. Around the early 80's, Nickelodeon was over millions of dollars in debt and was ranked as the worst network on television. They came along, went back to square 1, and re-broadened the network more mainstream with new advertisements, new shows, a new oldies program called Nick at Nite, and a new logo.



When they went their separate ways, they still continued to create Nickelodeon shows. Goodman went on to create The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo, the very first Nickelodeon mystery series starring an Asian protagonist. Seibert created Oh Yeah! Cartoons!, a variety program showcasing 7 minutes of animated shorts introducing upcoming animators to the mainstream. Eventually, Goodman left Nickelodeon and is currently an independent producer. Fred Seibert created his own independent studio called Frederator Studios where he is the executive producer of many of the shows that are currently showing on Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network. It was because of Seibert that we have animators such as Butch Hartman, Craig McCracken, Genndy Tartatovsky, Pendelton Ward, Seth MacFarlane, Van Partible, Rob Renzetti, Bill Burnett, Larry Huber, and many more. Without these men who influenced the network, Nickelodeon would not be what it is today. It was the biggest honor for Kevin and I to interview Fred Seibert. It was one of our favorite interviews ever. He was such a nice and humble guy! 

Those are my top 10 Nickelodeon male role models. Who are your male role models in Nickelodeon? Post it in the comments below. Tune in next time as we talk about my top 20 female Nickelodeon role models.

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

-Patricia

Old School Lane's Top 20-11 Nickelodeon Male Role Models

Hey guys, it's time for another countdown before I focus on holiday themed episodes and specials on Nickelodeon. Looking back throughout this tribute, I have seen many people who work hard on creating, producing, acting, voicing, and portraying in all these shows. I have the highest respect for a lot of them and that's why I decided to dedicate this week to talk about my male role models in Nickelodeon, my female role models in Nickelodeon, and my least favorite.

How this list works is that only the exclusive Nickelodeon shows count on this list. To do a quick recap on what makes it exclusive of our tribute is this: If a show was released exclusively on Nickelodeon: then it counts. If a show was shown in another country such as Canada or the U.K. and it was acquired by Nickelodeon first, then it counts. If a show was acquired by a country and shown of a different network like CBS, then shown on Nickelodeon second, that doesn't count. Other than that, let's get started! 

20. Jeff Sutphen



For many kids who grew up in the 2000's, he was Pick Boy in U Pick Live and the biggest highlight in that program. Brett and Candice, the hosts of U Pick Live, were beyond forgettable! Everyone remembered Pick Boy! But I'm not going to talk about him as Pick Boy, I'm going to talk about him as a game show host. He currently hosts two Nickelodeon game shows: Brainsurge and the reboot of Figure it Out! 

In my opinion, he is truly one of the best game show hosts that Nickelodeon has ever had in a very long time. During the 2000's, the only game shows that came out were reboots of old ones such as Double Dare 2000 and Wild & Crazy Kids. Then afterwards Scaredy Camp and Robot Wars came out to capture the popularity of shows and fads such as reality shows that scared the shit out of you like Scare Tactics and failed miserably. Afterwards, no Nickelodeon game shows for 6 years. Then Brainsurge comes along and brought game shows for kids back! For some reason or another, no one talks aboutBrainsurge as fondly as say Double Dare or Legends of the Hidden Temple. Let me be the first to say it: Brainsurge is the best Nickelodeon game show that came out in the last decade, hands down. In fact, it's really underrated. Why? Well, besides doing something completely new and original besides being a reboot of a game show that we grew up with, Jeff is a huge part of it. Unlike most of the Nickelodeon game show hosts before him, Jeff actually has had experiences being around with kids and interacting with them as Pick Boy. The only person who can also say that advantage of being around with kids before becoming a game show host is...well, Marc Summers. Now I'm not saying that he is the next Marc Summers, but he sure is very close. He's funny, interactive, and not dull, boring, or incredibly goofy or forgettable like the majority of the game show hosts that Nickelodeon had in years. Truly someone I can appreciate.



19. Carl Foutley from As Told by Ginger



Call him what you want: annoying, gross, a smart ass. But that's who he is and he's not going to change it for anyone. Carl is extremely smart, articulate, and sneaky for a boy his age dispite having a secret clubhouse in his former dog's house, having a petrified eyeball, trying to start a lice circus, befriending and falling in love with a very old woman, and scamming the rich kid Blake Gripling. However, he isn't your stereotypical troubled kid. He has some trust issues: he only gives his deepest, darkest secrets to very few people like his best friend Hoodsey, the old woman Maude, and his on-and-off again girlfriend Noelle Sussman. When it comes to his estranged relationship with his father, there's times in which you feel sorry for him. He's had a tough life without a father and he doesn't want to be around him anymore because he felt abandoned after he left the family. 

He knows who he is and is proud to show it to everyone!

18. Noel MacNeal 



Talk about a very talented puppeteer. In Eureeka's Castle, he was Magellan the lovable dragon. Magellan was one of my favorite characters in that show and one of the highlights when I would watch it. He was sort of like Big Bird in the way he was curious, happy, optimistic, curious, and lovable. He took those same elements and performed them well when he did Bear in Bear in the Big Blue House. Also, he was one of the many people that Kevin and I interviewed for our tribute. You can't beat that!

17. Marc Weiner



The man responsible for creating one of the most unique, original, and kooky variety shows ever on Nickelodeon has to be on this list. Marc Weiner's talents of puppeteering date back to the 70's and 80's before he would host the show Weinerville. In that show, Marc and his half-human half-puppets Dottie, Socko, Boney, and more would entertain many children with their jokes, skits, cartoons, and taking two kids from the audience to have them Weinerized. Also, he's the voice of Swiper and Map on Dora the Explorer for some of you younger kids. Marc is another man we interviewed for our tribute and we couldn't have been more excited. Kevin and I grew up on Weinerville so having him take the time to interview us was amazing!

16. Thomas W. Lynch



Yes, yes. I know that I pretty much ragged on him on my top 10 Nickelodeon shows that need to be remade, but hear me out. While most of the shows didn't live up to their full expectations, at least he tried to do something different and down-to-earth. His perspective views were really fantastic concepts and his relatable characters and realistic situations that his characters were going through were great.

While The Secret World of Alex Mack is a bit underwhelming, outdated, and didn't utilize of what it could've been, it was a fantastic idea to make a teen series out of as oppose to creating a Saved by the Bell ripoff. I'm looking at you, Welcome Freshmen. The Journey of Allen Strange would've have been stronger if they omitted the goofy humor and the alien concept and focused more on the The Stevensons struggling to stay as a family after the mother leaves. But I forgive Lynch for all that crap because of one show: Caitlin's Way.What a truly great show that show's Lynch's true colors and is fully realized of what he was trying to present. It's such a shame that not a lot of people remember it. It's really an underrated gem!

However, he's not higher on the list because the last show he created on Nickelodeon was Romeo! Ugh! We'll talk about that another time.



15. Fred Newman



Most people only know him as the "sound effects" guy on A Prarie Home Companion, but 30 years ago, he was the host of Nickelodeon's talk show Livewire. Livewire was one of the most popular shows that aired on Nickelodeon during the early 80's and Fred Newman was responsible for that. He brought a show that was originally hosted by Michael Cordray, a very boring host, and bursted life into it. Fun celebrity guests, games, relatable topics, and his iconic funny noises made Livewire last for 5 years. In the 90's, he provided the voices of Skeeter Valentine and Mr. Dink in Doug. So you know how amazingly talented he still is to this day!

14. Butch Hartman



He's been the most consistent as of now when it comes to creating good Nicktoons. The Fairly Oddparents, Danny Phantom, and T.U.F.F. Puppy have had high ratings, funny humor, memorable characters, and very unique concepts. He's very passionate about his animated shows and it shows. His shows are witty, quick, smartly written, and hilarious. I really appreciate the hard work he does to craft every single shows he's done.

13. Jhonen Vasquez



Whether you love or hate Invader Zim, you cannot deny on how ahead of the time he was when that Nicktoon aired in 2001. A show that dark and creepy would've easily been shown on Adult Swim and MTV, but it showed on Nickelodeon. Called The Ren & Stimpy Show of the 2000's, Invader Zim changed everything! It showcased that a show filled with strange animation and adult themed humor can be presented in the media. At the time, it wasn't revered by the Nickelodeon executives and was eventually cancelled. Invader Zimis a huge cult classic and one of the many shows I've seen on top 10 lists on wanting to be brought back on TV with new episodes with the same characters. Unfortunately, Vasquez has the reputation of starting really good graphic novels and never finishing them. So seeing a reboot of Invader Zim will most likely not happen. However, unlike John Callahan when he created Pelswick, when you see Invader Zim, that is Jhonen's style. And I love it!

12. Prince Zuko from Avatar: The Last Airbender



Around the first season, he was a real asshole! His whole purpose was to capture the Avatar and restore his proper place on the throne as the future Fire Lord of the Fire Nation. But then around seasons two and three, he became a much more developed and interesting character. He was overshadowed by his perfect prodigy of a sister Azula, his lovable mother became banished in order for him to stay alive, half of his face was burned off by his own father, and all he wants is Fire Lord Ozai's love and approval. That is very sad and we feel compassion for this character. He's one of my favorite characters of the show and I'm hoping that Mako will develop into a more better character in Legend of Korra. 

11. Don Herbert



One of the most innovated kids' host of all time, Don "Mr. Wizard" Herbert had created two timeless science programs: Watch Mr. Wizard and Mr. Wizard's World. The latter was one of the most popular programs that aired on Nickelodeon during the early 80's and has stood the test of time as an iconic, groundbreaking kids' show that influenced many other shows such as Beakman's World and Bill Nye: The Science Guy. He was such a great man who raised two generations of kids with a love for science: something that you wouldn't see in today's time. He passed away a few years ago, but he's truly a man that will never be forgotten. 

Those are my top 20-11 Nickelodeon male role models. Tune in next time as we talk about my top 10 role models. Who are your male role models in Nickelodeon? Post it in the comments below.

Hope to see you around Old School Lane soon. Take care.

-Patricia