2008 Woodie Awards
Classic Nicktoons bring nostalgia
Joey LeMay
Issue date: 7/14/08 Section: Intermission
There exists a demographic of people who, before they may have developed a decent enough lexicon of words to carry on a conversation, saw a neurotic, animated Chihuahua named Ren fall into an abyss of psychosis and violently assault his feline counterpart, Stimpy.
While this specific demographic witnessed that, there is a chance some might have been preoccupied firing around ideas in their heads about what a nematode actually was. Perhaps because they saw the gullible protagonist of "Doug" try to bag one.
There is a chance some readers may be lost, so perhaps this needs further explanation.
The year was 1979 and "My Sharona" by The Knack was at the top of the music charts. In an attempt to construct a TV network solely for kids, Viacom International (which also created and owns MTV and VH1) introduced Nickelodeon - a channel that "gave kids a place on television just for them."
Under the assumption of knowing what kids want to see when they are hunkered down inside the house, Nickelodeon aired Video Comic Books, essentially outsourced cartoons from other countries to fill the time slots.
They would then debut the show "Pinwheel," - the channel's first show to use a live human in the lead role; albeit the live human was surrounded by Sesame Street-like puppets.
It was not until 1982 that Nickelodeon would inherit the trademark green slime that would launch its game show genre to new heights.
With green goo being the channel's biggest attraction, the game show "Double Dare" would launch and within one month another game show featuring kid-driven trivia, obstacle courses and slime quadrupled the network's ratings.
While the human element of Nickelodeon allowed kids to see other children their own age compete in a game show, the channel lacked what kids in the target age range of 2-11 really loved about TV - cartoons.
That is, until 1991.
"Doug"
Sitting at a desk, writing in a journal dimly lit by a lamp, Nickelodeon introduced Nicktoons with a shy boy named Doug.
While this specific demographic witnessed that, there is a chance some might have been preoccupied firing around ideas in their heads about what a nematode actually was. Perhaps because they saw the gullible protagonist of "Doug" try to bag one.
There is a chance some readers may be lost, so perhaps this needs further explanation.
The year was 1979 and "My Sharona" by The Knack was at the top of the music charts. In an attempt to construct a TV network solely for kids, Viacom International (which also created and owns MTV and VH1) introduced Nickelodeon - a channel that "gave kids a place on television just for them."
Under the assumption of knowing what kids want to see when they are hunkered down inside the house, Nickelodeon aired Video Comic Books, essentially outsourced cartoons from other countries to fill the time slots.
They would then debut the show "Pinwheel," - the channel's first show to use a live human in the lead role; albeit the live human was surrounded by Sesame Street-like puppets.
It was not until 1982 that Nickelodeon would inherit the trademark green slime that would launch its game show genre to new heights.
With green goo being the channel's biggest attraction, the game show "Double Dare" would launch and within one month another game show featuring kid-driven trivia, obstacle courses and slime quadrupled the network's ratings.
While the human element of Nickelodeon allowed kids to see other children their own age compete in a game show, the channel lacked what kids in the target age range of 2-11 really loved about TV - cartoons.
That is, until 1991.
"Doug"
Sitting at a desk, writing in a journal dimly lit by a lamp, Nickelodeon introduced Nicktoons with a shy boy named Doug.