The past is an island unto
itself and never was there a truer statement, especially when it comes to
Nickelodeon’s past. In the beginning The First Network for Kids was primarily a
learning channel with shows like Vegetable Soup, Today’s Special, Pinwheel and Science
International (What will they think of next?). But the network also had an adventurous
side with shows like The Tomorrow People.
We learned about the importance
of family as Matt and Jenny searched for their family along with their guardians
Kit and Mr. Cardston. Black Beauty also taught us about family along with being
kind to animals, helping our neighbors, being honest no matter what the consequences
and we also learned how to respect our elders. – Qualities I’m sorry to say are
lost on today’s children and not likely to come back any time soon.
Kids, literally, laughed out
loud when someone got slimed on You Can’t Do That On Television while Fred
Newman helped us learn about the world around us from a kid’s perspective on
Livewire.
For as much as I hear ‘90’s
kids, and younger, bash ‘80’s Nickelodeon for doing so many things wrong I have
to say, they must have done SOMETHING right they would have gone off the air
after that first decade. Sadly, today’s Nickelodeon is not even a hollow shell
of what it once was and it’s a very, very sad thing to have to witness. My
Nickelodeon may have beenthe “green
vegetable” days but as I’ve often said, you can not feed a child pure raw sugar
and expect them to grow up strong and healthy and that is exactly what Nickelodeon
has become, pure raw sugar which is why my Nickelodeon tribute is so very
different from many of those out there making Nick at 40 videos. Sure, I could
some on and give my analysis of those early years like everyone else and bash
them for doing this and this and this wrong but I’m not going to do that. I
REFUSE TO DO THAT! So, that being said…
Welcome to my Generation’s
version of Nickelodeon! Today I have done my best to recreate “A Day In The
Life Of ‘80’s Nickelodeon.” This is a sample of what we were watching in the
1980’s and a very special thank you to everyone who posted these videos to
their channels on youtube. So, grab your popcorn and sit back and enjoy My Nickelodeon!
Happy 40th
Anniversary Nickelodeon!
Video Comics
Pop Clips
America Goes Bananaz
Pinwheel – 1977
Pinwheel – 1980’s
Dusty’s
Treehouse
Today’s
Special – Fun
Matt and Jenny – The Bellinis
Adventures in Rainbow Country – The Tower
Spread
Your Wings– Stallions of Lipica, Yugoslavia
Studio See – Rick Baker Segment (Yes it's watchable.)
Vegetable Soup
First Row Features – Mr. Horatio Knibbles
**This was the very first show I watched on the Pinwheel Channel.**
What Will They Think Of Next?
Kids’ Writes
Adventures of Black Beauty – Runaway
The Tomorrow People – Worlds Away
You
Can’t Do That On Television – Back to School
Double
Dare
The
Monkees – Royal Flush
Against
The Odds
Standby... Lights! Camera! Action! – Revenge
of the Jedi
Belle & Sebastian
Dangermouse – Custard
Bananaman
– The Complete Series 1 (1 Hour)
Special Delivery – UFO Kidnapped
Out Of Control - Special Guest Fred Newman
Nick Rocks: Video To Go
Mr. Wizard's World
Nick Bumper – Silver Ball
The Third Eye – Under the Mountain –
Ep. 1 – Maar
Whatever
Turns You On – Pilot
Turkey
Television
Star
Trek Cartoon–
Beyond the Farthest Star
Adventures
of the Little Prince – Somewhere in
Space
Livewire – 1980
Nickelodeon
sign off (1984) into Arts & Entertainment Network
This week’s Classic
Nickelodeon Wednesday is an email from Bear to the “A New Beginning for Classic
Nickelodeon” Yahoo group. Thank you for being my inspiration this week Bear. I
know I don’t post weekly like I use too but I HAVE to get through this course.
For those of you who don’t know I’m taking a writing course with The Institute
of Children’s Literature and I’m about half way through. Anyway on to the
email!
Thank you for sharing this
article with us. Your question to me was: “How many shows can you name from the
list?” The easiest way for me to answer this question is to comment on each
show individually.
1. Out of Control
While I don’t remember watching this apparently I did b/c
the first time I saw Dave Coulier do, “cut-it-out” on Full House my first reaction
was, “Hey that’s the guy from Nickelodeon!”
2. Eureeka’s Castle, 3. Adventures of the Little Koala,
4. Count Duckula & 5. Don’t Just Sit There
These were “after my time”, I stopped watching
Nickelodeon after I graduated high school in 1987.
6. Standby: Lights, Camera, Action!
Loved this show then and love it now and I wish it was
still on the air especially now that I want to get into filmmaking. I can remember
watching several episodes of this with my brother and I still remember when Leonard
Nimoy showed us how to create a haunted house using double sided tape, a roll
of cotton and Epsom salt. Yea, talk about cool!
7. Kids' Court
This was another one that was “after my time”.
8. PopClips
This was on for such a short time that I have no memory
of it but I did watch Nick Rocks: Video To Go.
9. Think Fast!
“After my time.”
10. Turkey Television
I don’t really remember if I watched this or not but I
probably did.
11. Hey, Dude
“After my time.”
So those are my answers for the
shows they listed and now I’m going to list a few of my own (in alphabetical
order). I may have written about some of these shows in the past but they’re
still worth mentioning here.
The Adventures of Black Beauty
This family classic is just
that, a classic show. Centered on the adventures of a “very beautiful” black
horse. Black Beauty is a program that has truly endured the test of time; not
only is the original 1970’s version on DVD it has also been added to Hulu.
Hocus Focus
Puppeteer Brad
Williams stared as “Krispan” who journeyed into the future to learn about our
world by watching short films.
Matt & Jenny On The Wilderness Trail
1850
After their parents die
Matt (Derrick Jones) and his sister Jenny (Megan Follows) must search for the
rest of their family. With the help of friends Kit (Duncan Regehr) and Mr. Cardston
(Neil Dainard) life on the trail one big adventure.
Nick Rocks Video to Go
Pretty self-descriptive,
this was a show that featured 80’s videos. I can remember watching videos on
there that I never saw anywhere else like Luis Cardenas - Runaway and Like A
Cannonball by Menudo.
Kids’ Writes
Young people wrote in
and a talented cast of actors acted out the stories, poems and songs.
Spread Your Wings
If you ever wanted to
travel then Spread Your Wings was the show for you. This program was featured
kids from around the world in their everyday lives.
Studio See
I don’t remember a
lot about this show but I wish I did, all I know is that I’d love to see it
again.
Today's Special
How can anyone not
remember Jeff, Jody, Sam and Muffy?
The Third Eye – Collectively
Check my blog during
the month of October for a full description of each of the four programs.
The Tomorrow People
This is NOT the CW’s
version of the show, I’m talking about the original 1970’s version. They were
NOT “paranormal” as the new series suggests, they were, and still are, the next
stage in human development. Their main powers are “the 3 Ts”, telepathy, telekinesis
and teleportation (jaunting).
