Long before Nickelodeon became a massive cash cow and began playing Spongebob Squarepants non-stop every single day, the network was pretty much devoid of cartoons. Sure, there were a lot of live-action shows like You Can't Do That on Television (the Canadian sketch show where Nick's green slime first originated - I'll be devoting a piece of my next article to that one) and Hey Dude, but the animated craze hadn't really taken over yet. That all changed on August 11, 1991 when "Nicktoons" were born. Little did anyone know, they would make pop-culture history and transform the Nickelodeon network into the First Kids' Network. I would say that anyone who was remotely in their "kid-years" in 1991 remembers where they were and what they were doing when it happened - it was bigger than the moon-landing, and there were a lot of great shows that came out of this brilliant animation-Renaissance. I'll be writing about three of them tonight.
First, you had Doug - arguably the second best Nicktoon ever made (you'll find out why in a little bit). It was basically a cartoon about a random kid growing up in a small town (dubbed Bluffington). He was just like me and you, except he wore the same clothes everyday (white tee-shirt, green sweater-vest, brown shorts, and red sneakers), he was best friends with a blue-skinned kid, and he had a dog that could do more than any human being I've ever met in my life. On second though, he wasn't anything like me and you (or at least not me...I don't really know you), but I suppose that's what made him so freaking fun to watch. He was a goofy guy who would trip over his own feet, write love songs for a girl named Patti Mayonnaise, hang out at the local burger joint (that just so happened to be called the "Honker Burger"), and daydream constantly about having super powers or being a secret agent. Maybe the most ground-breaking thing about the show was it's gamble at including racial undertones. All of the characters were different colors. You had Doug, who was white; his best friend Skeeter, who was blue; his secret crush Patti, who was black; his sworn-enemy Roger, who was green; the class jock Chalky, who was yellow; his friend Beebe, who was purple; and a ton of others. Ironically though, all of the characters had typical Caucasian personalities.
So, what ever happened to Doug? Well, Disney bought the rights to the show and created a spinoff that aired on ABC from 1996-1999. Of course, they totally raped what Nick had done, doing everything from changing Doug's wardrobe, to changing his voice, to doing away with all of the other classic elements that made the first version great (they even got rid of the Honker Burger - blaspheme!). Anyway, I think Doug was probably ahead of its time - easily one of the greatest cartoons ever made. I don't know why they aren't still re-running it.
Next, you had the greatest Nicktoon ever aired. I'm talking about Ren and Stimpy - a show about a psychotic Chihuahua and a retarded red cat, respectively. I remember getting weird looks from my mother because of all the booger and fart jokes that went on during pretty much every episode. What I missed entirely until recently when I was checking out some of the original episodes, was the sexual undertones and the gay innuendo that came along with those booger and fart jokes. The show was, simply put, a masterpiece - easily one of the greatest television shows (not just cartoons) in history. Somehow the creators found a way to incorporate classical music, jazzy tunes, and funky hip-hop all into one half-hour spot. Behind the scenes, everything wasn't so "happy-happy-joy-joy" as the cartoon would lead you to believe. There was a big dispute with the creator, Canadian animator John Kricfalusi, and the powers-that-be (I suppose that should read "powers-that-been" by now) at Nickelodeon. The network was generally upset over the show's level of gross humor and violence and often censored and even banned episodes. Aside from constant bickering inside the company and the widespread controversy, Kricfalusi also had a really tough time meeting Nick's strict deadlines and was eventually fired. The show continued though, although it was never the same.
Like Doug, Ren and Stimpy would resurface in later days. The slap-happy duo returned for Spike TV's Ren & Stimpy "Adult Party Cartoon", but the show got really disgusting, even going as far as having the characters engage in raunchy sexual acts. Viewers weren't happy and neither was Spike TV's parent company, Viacom. The show was canned only a year into production.
The last Nicktoon I'm going to be writing about is Rocko's Modern Life. This is the show that forces Doug to settle for a tie at the second place spot. Rocko was basically the Seinfeld of cartoons. It centered around Rocko, a Wallaby who lived in the city of O-town, where he and his best friends Heffer (a steer) and Filburt (a turtle) had all sorts of surreal, off-the-wall adventures (everything from Rocko having a yardsale to raise some money to pay his bills, to Rocko finding out that he's an illegal alien - which results in him having to partake in a gay wedding with Filburt so that he could stay in the country). Like Doug, Rocko had a dog that often controlled entire storylines (although Rocko's dog, Spunky, was virtually brain dead), and one of the major locales was a small, fast food restaurant (called the Chokey Chiken), and like Ren and Stimpy, the show was often filled with a lot of adult-oriented humor that kids wouldn't pick up on. I think this was done to keep adults interested in the show as well as kids (who were happy enough with the goofy plot points and colorful characters). The same kind of thing is done all the time in Disney movies. The best character the show had to offer was Rocko's cynical neighbor, Ed Bighead (man, even typing the name made me crack a smile). He and his wife, Bev, were definitely modeled after toads, and would often find themselves caught up in the antics of Rocko and his friends. Through the episodes, Ed developed something of a catchphrase with the line "I hate my life." He's one of those characters that you love to see abused over and over again, and boy did we ever see that happen. Rocko lasted a solid four years before the show was canceled. The show's director, Stephen Hillenburg, went on to create Spongebob Squarepants (Nick's current goldmine, and the only decent show left on the network).
The Nicktoons explosion lasted into the late 90s, where it died a slow, agonizing death as the shows were replayed ad nauseam until nobody wanted to see them anymore (funny, nowadays those same people are begging for these shows to be released on DVD). After this, Nickelodeon left its Universal Studios headquarters behind, and traveled at breakneck speeds into the world of lame obscurity. As mentioned above, Spongebob Squarepants remains the network's only straight-shooter. The show has been racking up the green for Nick for seven years now - longer than any of the original Nicktoons, but I have a feeling that once it's gone, Nickelodeon will spiral into bankruptcy unless something really spectacular happens and they get another Spongebob-esque phenomenon on their hands. Regardless, I think it can be said for certain, that Nick's glory days are far behind them.
Wow...three articles in one day, and they all had content. I think I've outdone myself this time around. Get used to it - at least on a once-a-week basis. I'll be back with more articles sooner than you might think.
