In this episode of Casual Chats, Patricia and special guests Manic Expression members Jim and Kyle and Re-Open Nickelodeon Studios Facebook page founder Zac discuss about good and bad remakes, reboots, and revivals.
Pass on by where the discussion of movies, TV shows, video games, and everything in between is non-stop.
Showing posts with label The Re-Open Nickelodeon Studios Facebook Page. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Re-Open Nickelodeon Studios Facebook Page. Show all posts
Monday, June 20, 2016
Friday, September 19, 2014
Top 5 Rejected Nickelodeon Shows or Pilots That Should Never Be Made
Last week, I did a top 5 list on the rejected Nickelodeon shows or pilots that I discussed on Nicksmissal with the Re-Open Nickelodeon Studios admins. If you haven't seen it yet, check it out right here. Now it's time to conclude this list with the top 5 shows or pilots that I'm glad never came out.
5. Stewy the Dog Boy
Around the 90's, KaBlam was hugely overshadowed with other Nicktoons at the time and has now gained a cult following with its shorts. One of the shorts, Action League Now!, eventually became a TV series which became absolutely worthless since it was just a rerun of the shorts and no new episodes. You may recall on this on my top 10 worst spinoff series list. Well, KaBlam was planning on releasing another spinoff series around the same time in the form of Stewy the Dog Boy. It was about a dog who disguised himself as a kid so he can attend school. If this plot sounds familiar, it's the same as a Disney Channel program called Teacher's Pet.
Stewy the Dog Boy and Teacher's Pet were made around the same time so Nickelodeon cancelled the series and Teacher's Pet came out around September 2000. Looking at both of the programs, I found both of them to be very underwhelming. Since slice of life cartoons were prominent around the late 90's for both Nickelodeon and the Disney Channel with shows such as Hey Arnold!, Recess, Filmore, Pepper Ann, The Weekenders, and Disney's version of Doug, Stewy the Dog Boy would have just blended with the crowd and probably would have been forgotten. It would have came out in 1999, the same year that SpongeBob SquarePants debuted. I don't think Stewy the Dog Boy would have competed against SpongeBob since KaBlam! was pretty much forgotten after it ended its run around 2000. Nickelodeon was smart for not releasing Stewy the Dog Boy as a series.
To watch the Stewy the Dog Boy pilot, watch the video here. To hear in more details about Stewy the Dog Boy, watch the video here.
4. Flip Flops
Back in 2009, TeenNick vice president Nick Cannon started a new developmental studio called The Chairman's Lab where creators can create new shows. One of the shows that almost came out to TeenNick was a web series called Flip Flops. It was about two girls named Kat and Molly living their everyday lives going to school, hanging out with their friends, and get involved in wacky scenarios. However, The Chairman's Lab was shut down and any programs that were going to made was discontinued. Flip Flops was the only show I found out that actually had episodes. Watching Flip Flops and my opinion on it was that it was okay. Nothing too great, but nothing horrible compared to the current live programs that are in Nickelodeon today. While Flip Flops would have been the first live action show since Just Jordan that doesn't have celebrities, singers, actresses, or anything unrealistic that pretty much all the live action shows have nowadays, the show wouldn't have been special and would've blended with the crowd. Plus, Nickelodeon would later on release other shows based on the internet such as Awesomeness TV and Breadwinners.
To watch Flip Flops, click the link here. To learn more about Flip Flops, click on the video here.
3. Crash Nebula
I mentioned this pilot on my list of the top 10 worst Nickelodeon spinoffs ever, so I won't go too much into detail. Butch Hartman became very popular around the 2000's with shows such as The Fairly Oddparents and Danny Phantom. Around 2004, he made an episode of The Fairly Oddparents that focused on the superhero Crash Nebula's origins as a teenage boy named Sprig Speevak. It would have came out around the same time as Danny Phantom and since the concepts were pretty similar, Crash Nebula would have been redundant. Plus, after T.U.F.F. Puppy debuted, the viewers then realized how tired Hartman was after seeing how lackluster and disappointing the show was. More details about that show another time. So, I'm glad Nickelodeon rejected this spinoff. However, it's a shame that they're still milking Hartman dry. Speaking of which, we'll get to that in the next number.
To watch Crash Nebula, click the link here.To learn more details about Crash Nebula, watch the video here.
2. Moody's Point
Again, I mentioned about this spinoff series in my top 10 worst Nickelodeon spinoffs list. But my God, doing more research and learning more facts about this spinoff was very interesting. It was a followup to a skit that featured on The Amanda Show back in 1999 that spoofed off Dawson's Creek. Dan Schneider wanted to make a spinoff of Moody's Point shortly after The Amanda Show was cancelled. However, Nickelodeon rejected it and Schneider instead made Drake & Josh. Had Moody's Point came out instead of Drake & Josh, it would have gone in two ways. It would have succeeded and go in a completely different direction with other shows that spun off Moody's Point and Drake & Josh wouldn't have existed. Or it would have failed miserably and Dan Schneider's career would have been over. Remember, Dan Schneider was known as a producer for All That and Kenan & Kel, so The Amanda Show was his very first creation. Since The Amanda Show was cancelled a few years after it debuted, if he would have released Moody's Point and it would have failed, his career for Nickelodeon would have been most likely over. Moody's Point would have came out at the wrong time since live action shows that featured female protagonists such as Taina and Caitlin's Way were not popular. Nickelodeon were focusing on teenage boys and SNICK was waning down from popularity around the 2000's. However, Drake & Josh came out instead and cemented his status as the current king of live action shows. In fact...
To learn more about Moody's Point, click on the link here. To learn more detail about Moody's Point, watch the video here.
1. Gibby
Oh yeah, you know it. The most recent rejected Nickelodeon show is my #1 program from Nickelodeon that I'm glad never came out. Why? Because as stated in the last number, Dan Schneider is the king of live action shows on Nickelodeon, but he hasn't had a huge hit in over a decade. Sure, you can argue that Zoey 101, iCarly, and Victorious has their fans, but most of the people hate these programs, myself included. You already know how I feel about Schneider and Zoey 101 and iCarly from my reviews. As for Victorious and Sam & Cat, I'll review them in the future. But let's just say, they got progressively worse and worse as time went on. Like Butch Hartman, Dan Schneider has been pumping out shows left and right for Nickelodeon and his humor has really worn off. After iCarly ended its run, Schneider planned on two spinoff shows, one of them which based on the minor character Gibby Gibson.
Long story short, Sam & Cat debuted and Gibby was pushed into the sideline. Sam & Cat has recently been cancelled due to numerous controversial notes and Gibby was cancelled. Nowadays, Dan Schneider has another show called Henry Danger, which that show is already redundant and unnecessary since Nickelodeon already has a superhero program called The Thundermans. Gibby would have been an awful idea since the character was really annoying in iCarly and having a show based on him would have been awful. The plot was about Gibby working at a recreational center teaching 4 loser teenagers to be cool. What?! Gibby was the fat, geeky kid who was known for taking off his shirt, so what does he know about being "cool"? Does that make any sense? Nope! But Nickelodeon is still relying on Dan Schneider making all these uninspired shows with the same rehashed formula that were featured from his previous programs. It's time that Dan Schneider either takes a hiatus or comes up with some new ideas. If not, Nickelodeon will eventually run out of ideas. According to recent news, the live action shows and Nicktoons are having their lowest ratings in a while with each program having 1.5 million viewers. What's the program that has the highest ratings? Steven Universe from Cartoon Network. That's just sad. Nickeodeon, while I'm thankful that you never released these programs, you need new ideas or else you'll be crushed by the competition.
To learn more about Gibby, click on the link here. To learn more details about Gibby, click on the video here.
Which of these pilots or programs from Nickelodeon that you're glad never came out? Post in the comments down below.
Hope to see you around Old School Lane soon. Thanks for reading.
-Patricia
5. Stewy the Dog Boy
Around the 90's, KaBlam was hugely overshadowed with other Nicktoons at the time and has now gained a cult following with its shorts. One of the shorts, Action League Now!, eventually became a TV series which became absolutely worthless since it was just a rerun of the shorts and no new episodes. You may recall on this on my top 10 worst spinoff series list. Well, KaBlam was planning on releasing another spinoff series around the same time in the form of Stewy the Dog Boy. It was about a dog who disguised himself as a kid so he can attend school. If this plot sounds familiar, it's the same as a Disney Channel program called Teacher's Pet.
Stewy the Dog Boy and Teacher's Pet were made around the same time so Nickelodeon cancelled the series and Teacher's Pet came out around September 2000. Looking at both of the programs, I found both of them to be very underwhelming. Since slice of life cartoons were prominent around the late 90's for both Nickelodeon and the Disney Channel with shows such as Hey Arnold!, Recess, Filmore, Pepper Ann, The Weekenders, and Disney's version of Doug, Stewy the Dog Boy would have just blended with the crowd and probably would have been forgotten. It would have came out in 1999, the same year that SpongeBob SquarePants debuted. I don't think Stewy the Dog Boy would have competed against SpongeBob since KaBlam! was pretty much forgotten after it ended its run around 2000. Nickelodeon was smart for not releasing Stewy the Dog Boy as a series.
To watch the Stewy the Dog Boy pilot, watch the video here. To hear in more details about Stewy the Dog Boy, watch the video here.
4. Flip Flops
Back in 2009, TeenNick vice president Nick Cannon started a new developmental studio called The Chairman's Lab where creators can create new shows. One of the shows that almost came out to TeenNick was a web series called Flip Flops. It was about two girls named Kat and Molly living their everyday lives going to school, hanging out with their friends, and get involved in wacky scenarios. However, The Chairman's Lab was shut down and any programs that were going to made was discontinued. Flip Flops was the only show I found out that actually had episodes. Watching Flip Flops and my opinion on it was that it was okay. Nothing too great, but nothing horrible compared to the current live programs that are in Nickelodeon today. While Flip Flops would have been the first live action show since Just Jordan that doesn't have celebrities, singers, actresses, or anything unrealistic that pretty much all the live action shows have nowadays, the show wouldn't have been special and would've blended with the crowd. Plus, Nickelodeon would later on release other shows based on the internet such as Awesomeness TV and Breadwinners.
To watch Flip Flops, click the link here. To learn more about Flip Flops, click on the video here.
3. Crash Nebula
I mentioned this pilot on my list of the top 10 worst Nickelodeon spinoffs ever, so I won't go too much into detail. Butch Hartman became very popular around the 2000's with shows such as The Fairly Oddparents and Danny Phantom. Around 2004, he made an episode of The Fairly Oddparents that focused on the superhero Crash Nebula's origins as a teenage boy named Sprig Speevak. It would have came out around the same time as Danny Phantom and since the concepts were pretty similar, Crash Nebula would have been redundant. Plus, after T.U.F.F. Puppy debuted, the viewers then realized how tired Hartman was after seeing how lackluster and disappointing the show was. More details about that show another time. So, I'm glad Nickelodeon rejected this spinoff. However, it's a shame that they're still milking Hartman dry. Speaking of which, we'll get to that in the next number.
To watch Crash Nebula, click the link here.To learn more details about Crash Nebula, watch the video here.
2. Moody's Point
Again, I mentioned about this spinoff series in my top 10 worst Nickelodeon spinoffs list. But my God, doing more research and learning more facts about this spinoff was very interesting. It was a followup to a skit that featured on The Amanda Show back in 1999 that spoofed off Dawson's Creek. Dan Schneider wanted to make a spinoff of Moody's Point shortly after The Amanda Show was cancelled. However, Nickelodeon rejected it and Schneider instead made Drake & Josh. Had Moody's Point came out instead of Drake & Josh, it would have gone in two ways. It would have succeeded and go in a completely different direction with other shows that spun off Moody's Point and Drake & Josh wouldn't have existed. Or it would have failed miserably and Dan Schneider's career would have been over. Remember, Dan Schneider was known as a producer for All That and Kenan & Kel, so The Amanda Show was his very first creation. Since The Amanda Show was cancelled a few years after it debuted, if he would have released Moody's Point and it would have failed, his career for Nickelodeon would have been most likely over. Moody's Point would have came out at the wrong time since live action shows that featured female protagonists such as Taina and Caitlin's Way were not popular. Nickelodeon were focusing on teenage boys and SNICK was waning down from popularity around the 2000's. However, Drake & Josh came out instead and cemented his status as the current king of live action shows. In fact...
To learn more about Moody's Point, click on the link here. To learn more detail about Moody's Point, watch the video here.
1. Gibby
Oh yeah, you know it. The most recent rejected Nickelodeon show is my #1 program from Nickelodeon that I'm glad never came out. Why? Because as stated in the last number, Dan Schneider is the king of live action shows on Nickelodeon, but he hasn't had a huge hit in over a decade. Sure, you can argue that Zoey 101, iCarly, and Victorious has their fans, but most of the people hate these programs, myself included. You already know how I feel about Schneider and Zoey 101 and iCarly from my reviews. As for Victorious and Sam & Cat, I'll review them in the future. But let's just say, they got progressively worse and worse as time went on. Like Butch Hartman, Dan Schneider has been pumping out shows left and right for Nickelodeon and his humor has really worn off. After iCarly ended its run, Schneider planned on two spinoff shows, one of them which based on the minor character Gibby Gibson.
Long story short, Sam & Cat debuted and Gibby was pushed into the sideline. Sam & Cat has recently been cancelled due to numerous controversial notes and Gibby was cancelled. Nowadays, Dan Schneider has another show called Henry Danger, which that show is already redundant and unnecessary since Nickelodeon already has a superhero program called The Thundermans. Gibby would have been an awful idea since the character was really annoying in iCarly and having a show based on him would have been awful. The plot was about Gibby working at a recreational center teaching 4 loser teenagers to be cool. What?! Gibby was the fat, geeky kid who was known for taking off his shirt, so what does he know about being "cool"? Does that make any sense? Nope! But Nickelodeon is still relying on Dan Schneider making all these uninspired shows with the same rehashed formula that were featured from his previous programs. It's time that Dan Schneider either takes a hiatus or comes up with some new ideas. If not, Nickelodeon will eventually run out of ideas. According to recent news, the live action shows and Nicktoons are having their lowest ratings in a while with each program having 1.5 million viewers. What's the program that has the highest ratings? Steven Universe from Cartoon Network. That's just sad. Nickeodeon, while I'm thankful that you never released these programs, you need new ideas or else you'll be crushed by the competition.
To learn more about Gibby, click on the link here. To learn more details about Gibby, click on the video here.
Which of these pilots or programs from Nickelodeon that you're glad never came out? Post in the comments down below.
Hope to see you around Old School Lane soon. Thanks for reading.
-Patricia
Friday, September 5, 2014
Top 5 Rejected Nickelodeon Shows or Pilots That Should Have Been Made
For the past 13 weeks, the admins at the Re-Open Nickelodeon Studios in Orlando, FL Facebook page and I did a podcast miniseries called Nicksmissal. In it, we discussed about the Nickelodeon shows or pilots that were eventually rejected or scrapped completely. There were some pilots or shows that I would have absolutely loved to have seen on the network and there were some others that I'm glad never came out. So I decided to make my top 5 shows that, in my opinion, should and shouldn't have been made. Let's start with the shows I wanted to see come out.
5. Morph Sports and Slime Survivor
Around the late 80's and early 90's, game shows at Nickelodeon were fun, creative, and epic. It was either slimy and messy like Double Dare or Wild & Crazy Kids or action packed like Nickelodeon GUTS and Legends of the Hidden Temple. Around the late 90's, game shows became lackluster with Figure it Out and You're On! and pretty much died out around 2000 when game shows were mostly revivals. With that said, there was a video that Universal Studios did from 1996-2000 showcasing the programs that were featured at the time and pilots to upcoming shows. There were 4 game shows that featured in that video; Morph Sports, Tooned In, Who Knew?, and Slime Survivor. The ones that stood out to me were Morph Sports and Slime Survivor. Morph Sports would have came out in 1996 and looked like a mixture of Nickelodeon GUTS mixed with Double Dare featuring kids playing giant versions of sports games. Slime Survivor would have came out in 2000 and had 100 kids participating in things from slimy games, obstacles, and trivia until 1 was left standing. In my opinion, it would have been great if these would have came out. Maybe game shows wouldn't be as dead as they are now.
To watch the video from Universal Studios, check out the video here. To know a little bit more about our opinions of these rejected game shows, check out the video here.
4. Ned's Declassified High School Survival Guide
Around the 2000's, Dan Schneider was the king of live action shows with Drake & Josh, Zoey 101, and iCarly. Pretty much all the live action shows that weren't made by Schneider were either mediocre, overshadowed and forgotten, or abhorrent. That is except for Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide created by Weinerville actor and The Fairly OddParents writer Scott Fellows. The show became very popular. After Ned's Declassified ended its run, Fellows planned on doing a spinoff series that had the characters of Ned, Cookie, and Moze going to high school. However, due to budget issues and numerous delays, the show never came out. This makes me so mad since I absolutely loved Ned's Declassified and found it to be creative and funny and, in my opinion, was better than Drake & Josh. It was essentially The Adventures of Pete & Pete of the 2000's. Unfortunately, after Ned's Declassified ended its run, no other show that wasn't created by Schneider was able to become successful which eventually had Nickelodeon relying on Schneider shows that brings up ratings. Oh, don't worry. We'll get back to Schneider.
To learn more about Ned's Declassified High School Survival Guide, click here. To know a little bit more about our opinions of Ned's Declassified High School Survival Guide, check out the video here.
3. The Pataki's
Hey Arnold! is not only one of the greatest Nicktoons ever made, but one of the best cartoons of all time. It's unfortunate that Nickelodeon didn't treat with the respect it deserved. I'm sure that many people already know about The Jungle Movie, but before that Craig Bartlett tried to make a spinoff series for Nick-at-Nite that focused on the Pataki family. It took place 5 years later with 13-year-old Helga being depressed all the time due to Arnold moving away to a new city with his family. Nickelodeon rejected it because they felt that it was too dark and depressing for children. While I can somewhat understand their conclusion, I still want to see this come out. It would showcase the inner struggles of Helga trying to cope with depression of a lost love which would relate to a lot of teenagers going through similar situations. Also, knowing Craig Bartlett, he would have had lighter, funny moments to off set the depressing moments since Hey Arnold! brought in so much variety in the story telling and character development. With Hey Arnold! growing in popularity ever since The 90's Are All That featured the reruns, the Hey Arnold! complete series released on DVD being sold out on my Wal-Mart, and Craig Bartlett returning to Nickelodeon to create a new show, it would be smart if Nickelodeon would let him release The Pataki's. Also The Jungle Movie as well.
To learn more about The Pataki's, click here. To know a little bit more about our opinions of The Pataki's, check out the video here.
2. Constant Payne
Anime became a huge hit in America around the late 90's with shows such as Sailor Moon, DragonBall Z, Cowboy Bebop, and Pokemon. Cartoon Network created a lineup to showcase anime called Toonami and it became hugely popular. Nickelodeon decided to cash in on the popularity with Constant Payne created by The Angry Beavers writer Micah Wright. However, there were many issues that occured. One of them included a scene in which a blimp went between 2 towers and it almost crashed that. That scene would have reminded people of the attacks of the World Trade Center of 9/11 despite the pilot being made on March 2001. But the biggest reason why it was scrapped was because Nickelodeon wasn't paying the animators and writers at Nickelodeon Animation Studios enough money and Wright decided to help unionize them. Nickelodeon dismissed the idea, cancelled Constant Payne, and fired him. It's such a shame that this never came out because it was the very first Americanized anime to have ever came out and had many things that no Nicktoon had at the time such as action, fighting scenes, and a witty style of humor. It was way ahead of its time and it would have definitely been a huge game changer for not only Nickelodeon, but for animation in general. It would have giving another reason for people to tune in to Nickelodeon since it was a fresh, new idea way different than anything they would had or have done. Anime is still popular to this day and Cartoon Network is smart enough to bring Toonami back when they did their April Fool's joke. Nickelodeon is still not.
To learn more about Constant Payne, watch the pilot here. To know a little bit more about our opinions of The Pataki's, check out the video here.
1. The Modifyers
Back in 2007, Nickelodeon was going through their slump of releasing mediocre or awful animated and live action shows. They needed something fresh and new to bring them back on top. With that, The Ren & Stimpy Show animators and writers Chris Reccardi and Lynne Naylor created The Modifyers which featured a secret agent named Agent Xero who disguised herself as one of the villian's henchmen to steal back an artifact named The All Seeing Eye while keeping her identity a secret. However, it was rejected because it had a female protagonist and Nickelodeon didn't want any more female protagonists since none of their programs that featured them became huge hits compared to shows that had male protagonists. That's just ridiculous. Even to this day, especially Cartoon Network, shows are rarely showcasing female protagonists due to toy sales. With the huge success of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, this mindset is outdated and irrelevant. A show can be very successful, be it male or female characters, as long as you have great writing, memorable characters, and a good story. I felt that The Modifyers would have picked up Nickelodeon from its downfall and would have probably got them back on track. Instead, they picked up The Mighty B! instead and Nickelodeon is still in their slump.
To learn more about The Modifyers, watch the pilot here. To know a little bit more about our opinions of The Modifyers, check out the video here.
5. Morph Sports and Slime Survivor
Around the late 80's and early 90's, game shows at Nickelodeon were fun, creative, and epic. It was either slimy and messy like Double Dare or Wild & Crazy Kids or action packed like Nickelodeon GUTS and Legends of the Hidden Temple. Around the late 90's, game shows became lackluster with Figure it Out and You're On! and pretty much died out around 2000 when game shows were mostly revivals. With that said, there was a video that Universal Studios did from 1996-2000 showcasing the programs that were featured at the time and pilots to upcoming shows. There were 4 game shows that featured in that video; Morph Sports, Tooned In, Who Knew?, and Slime Survivor. The ones that stood out to me were Morph Sports and Slime Survivor. Morph Sports would have came out in 1996 and looked like a mixture of Nickelodeon GUTS mixed with Double Dare featuring kids playing giant versions of sports games. Slime Survivor would have came out in 2000 and had 100 kids participating in things from slimy games, obstacles, and trivia until 1 was left standing. In my opinion, it would have been great if these would have came out. Maybe game shows wouldn't be as dead as they are now.
To watch the video from Universal Studios, check out the video here. To know a little bit more about our opinions of these rejected game shows, check out the video here.
4. Ned's Declassified High School Survival Guide
Around the 2000's, Dan Schneider was the king of live action shows with Drake & Josh, Zoey 101, and iCarly. Pretty much all the live action shows that weren't made by Schneider were either mediocre, overshadowed and forgotten, or abhorrent. That is except for Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide created by Weinerville actor and The Fairly OddParents writer Scott Fellows. The show became very popular. After Ned's Declassified ended its run, Fellows planned on doing a spinoff series that had the characters of Ned, Cookie, and Moze going to high school. However, due to budget issues and numerous delays, the show never came out. This makes me so mad since I absolutely loved Ned's Declassified and found it to be creative and funny and, in my opinion, was better than Drake & Josh. It was essentially The Adventures of Pete & Pete of the 2000's. Unfortunately, after Ned's Declassified ended its run, no other show that wasn't created by Schneider was able to become successful which eventually had Nickelodeon relying on Schneider shows that brings up ratings. Oh, don't worry. We'll get back to Schneider.
To learn more about Ned's Declassified High School Survival Guide, click here. To know a little bit more about our opinions of Ned's Declassified High School Survival Guide, check out the video here.
3. The Pataki's
Hey Arnold! is not only one of the greatest Nicktoons ever made, but one of the best cartoons of all time. It's unfortunate that Nickelodeon didn't treat with the respect it deserved. I'm sure that many people already know about The Jungle Movie, but before that Craig Bartlett tried to make a spinoff series for Nick-at-Nite that focused on the Pataki family. It took place 5 years later with 13-year-old Helga being depressed all the time due to Arnold moving away to a new city with his family. Nickelodeon rejected it because they felt that it was too dark and depressing for children. While I can somewhat understand their conclusion, I still want to see this come out. It would showcase the inner struggles of Helga trying to cope with depression of a lost love which would relate to a lot of teenagers going through similar situations. Also, knowing Craig Bartlett, he would have had lighter, funny moments to off set the depressing moments since Hey Arnold! brought in so much variety in the story telling and character development. With Hey Arnold! growing in popularity ever since The 90's Are All That featured the reruns, the Hey Arnold! complete series released on DVD being sold out on my Wal-Mart, and Craig Bartlett returning to Nickelodeon to create a new show, it would be smart if Nickelodeon would let him release The Pataki's. Also The Jungle Movie as well.
To learn more about The Pataki's, click here. To know a little bit more about our opinions of The Pataki's, check out the video here.
2. Constant Payne
Anime became a huge hit in America around the late 90's with shows such as Sailor Moon, DragonBall Z, Cowboy Bebop, and Pokemon. Cartoon Network created a lineup to showcase anime called Toonami and it became hugely popular. Nickelodeon decided to cash in on the popularity with Constant Payne created by The Angry Beavers writer Micah Wright. However, there were many issues that occured. One of them included a scene in which a blimp went between 2 towers and it almost crashed that. That scene would have reminded people of the attacks of the World Trade Center of 9/11 despite the pilot being made on March 2001. But the biggest reason why it was scrapped was because Nickelodeon wasn't paying the animators and writers at Nickelodeon Animation Studios enough money and Wright decided to help unionize them. Nickelodeon dismissed the idea, cancelled Constant Payne, and fired him. It's such a shame that this never came out because it was the very first Americanized anime to have ever came out and had many things that no Nicktoon had at the time such as action, fighting scenes, and a witty style of humor. It was way ahead of its time and it would have definitely been a huge game changer for not only Nickelodeon, but for animation in general. It would have giving another reason for people to tune in to Nickelodeon since it was a fresh, new idea way different than anything they would had or have done. Anime is still popular to this day and Cartoon Network is smart enough to bring Toonami back when they did their April Fool's joke. Nickelodeon is still not.
To learn more about Constant Payne, watch the pilot here. To know a little bit more about our opinions of The Pataki's, check out the video here.
Back in 2007, Nickelodeon was going through their slump of releasing mediocre or awful animated and live action shows. They needed something fresh and new to bring them back on top. With that, The Ren & Stimpy Show animators and writers Chris Reccardi and Lynne Naylor created The Modifyers which featured a secret agent named Agent Xero who disguised herself as one of the villian's henchmen to steal back an artifact named The All Seeing Eye while keeping her identity a secret. However, it was rejected because it had a female protagonist and Nickelodeon didn't want any more female protagonists since none of their programs that featured them became huge hits compared to shows that had male protagonists. That's just ridiculous. Even to this day, especially Cartoon Network, shows are rarely showcasing female protagonists due to toy sales. With the huge success of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, this mindset is outdated and irrelevant. A show can be very successful, be it male or female characters, as long as you have great writing, memorable characters, and a good story. I felt that The Modifyers would have picked up Nickelodeon from its downfall and would have probably got them back on track. Instead, they picked up The Mighty B! instead and Nickelodeon is still in their slump.
To learn more about The Modifyers, watch the pilot here. To know a little bit more about our opinions of The Modifyers, check out the video here.
That's my top 5 list. Which of these rejected Nickelodeon shows or pilots would you have loved to have seen come out? Post in the comments down below. Tune in next time as I continue with the top 5 rejected Nickelodeon shows or pilots that I'm glad never came out.
Hope to see you around Old School Lane soon. Thanks for reading.
-Patricia
Friday, May 23, 2014
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
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
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