Is Nickelodeon better now than it was 2000-2004?

[Zelek]

I already did a thread like this on CN, so I thought "Why not do Nick?" Anyway. When people talk about Nick, they'll usually bring up how the 90s were the best era and how it sucks nowadays. However, there is a small group of fans that grew up in the early 2000s era and believe it to be a decent one, though not as good as the 90s. This was the era when most of Nick's 90s shows had been cancelled, although a few of them (such as Hey Arnold!, CatDog, Rocket Power, and Rugrats) were still relevant/making new episodes, and many of them (such as KaBlam, Action League Now, Rocko, Ren and Stimpy, Doug, Animaniacs, Pinky and the Brain, Tiny Toon Adventures, Kenan and Kel, Clarissa Explains it All, The Angry Beavers, Oh Yeah! Cartoons, and Pete and Pete) were still being re-run (although sporadically, but better than nothing) until late 2004. SNICK was also still around, although many fans thought it had gone to shit once Nick Cannon took over and turned into the SNICK House.

Some of the new shows from this era were successful (SpongeBob seasons 1-3, Invader Zim, Danny Phantom, Drake and Josh, My Life as a Teenage Robot, Jimmy Neutron, and Ned's Declassified), while others were not so successful (the new All That, Unfabulous, Yakkity Yak, post-movie Rugrats, and Butt-Ugly Martians). It should be noted that while certain shows like Tania, Pelswick, ChalkZone, The Amanda Show, Cousin Skeeter, The Wild Thornberries, Rocket Power, and As Told By Ginger are fondly remembered by early 00s kids, "true" 90s kids (i.e. born in the 80s) consider them total and utter garbage that killed the channel. What do you think?

Also: I know I'll get mauled for saying this, but I'm too young to remember anything from the 90s, and 2000-2004 is basically "my" era of Nickelodeon. I don't really care about their 90s shows except for the ones that were still playing. I'm not saying they're bad or anything, I just haven't seen most of them and have no intention of doing so. Yes, I've never seen Clarissa Explains It All, Roundhouse, or Double Dare, but I have seen Hey Arnold!, Doug, and even CatDog (sue me). And as much I hate to say it, I'm more familiar with U Pick Live and Friday Night Nicktoons than I am with Stick Stickly.

[Avaitor]

I'm not sure. I was much more of a Cartoon Network fan around this time, but I did watch Nick sporadically, for the older shows that I liked such as Rugrats and Arnold, and for newer ones I got into, like Zim and Ginger. Not that much interested me compared to Cartoon Network, but it was certainly better than Disney Channel at the time.

Nowadays, I might just be too old to get into most of their shows, so I can't speak for their quality. But the schedule definitely isn't better now, since it's at least 75% SpongeBob. Even Scoobymania back on CN wasn't nearly as obnoxious as how Nick has ran the Sponge for the past bunch of years.

[Nameless]

No way. Other than Avatar, can you name one successful Nicktoon made since 2005 that isn't based on a DreamWorks Animation property? (I do mourn El Tigre a little, almost entirely for its art direction more than any sort of writing achievements)

Also, this is probably going to sound trivial, but the 2009 logo change to that hideous thing still irks me. It really is a perfect signifier of how far astray they've gone that they dumped a logo that could take any form imaginable (though by the time they dumped it, they were limiting it almost entirely to splatters). They just seem kind of dead to me.

Like Avaitor, I was more into Cartoon Network back in the early 2000s...

[Avaitor]

No way. Other than Avatar, can you name one successful Nicktoon made since 2005 that isn't based on a DreamWorks Animation property? (I do mourn El Tigre a little, almost entirely for its art direction more than any sort of writing achievements)

TMNT isn't a Nick original, but it isn't Dreamworks, either. I do find it funny that they own the rights to it now though, since that was exactly the kind of show that Geraldine Laybourne was against the network making, and intended for the Niicktoons to be the exact opposite of. But whatever, I hear that the show is actually okay.

I agree about El Tigre, though. It wasn't a great show, but I thought it was okay, and the flash animation was solid. It always looked better than Foster's.

[LumRanmaYasha]

 I'd say Nick is definitely not as good now as it was in the 2000-2004 period. The schedule is more repetitive and it's original animated output is much more of a mixed bag in quality, leaning towards the negative moreso than the '00-'04 stuff (but I think the non-originals are much better for the most part). I'd say the live-action output is mostly around the same quality as the '00-'04 stuff though.

[gunswordfist]

I haven't watched Nick in forever so I can't comment on the current era but now I'm wondering what my favorite era is. The only show that I think I still like are Spongebob pre-movie, Invader Zim, Doug, Hey Arnold! and Rocko's Modern Life. I can only confirm still liking Hey Arnold! and Spongebob since I saw some episodes about 2 years ago. Everything else even longer ago than that. I haven't Rocko in over 10 years.

[talonmalon333]

2000-2004 was the golden era of SpongeBob, therefore it's not as good now as it was back then.

[Daikun]

For me, Nickelodeon crashed and burned in 1998. Outside of Invader Zim, I didn't watch much Nickelodeon during this time period since I was mainly on-board the CN train.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Unquestionably worse whether speaking of animation or live action. They've got next to nothing and repeat the same three shows into the ground. TMNT is alright, but they don't really have anything else.

They've got almost nothing.

[RacattackForce]

I want to say better, but that might just be because of nostalgia. I still enjoy watching episodes of Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide, Invader Zim, and Rugrats...but I also enjoy watching Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness, as well as receive some guilty pleasure from Dan Schneider Show #542. Overall, I think Nickelodeon is the same in terms of overall quality. Some fun shows mixed in with some garbage that you wonder why kids watch but know for a fact you'd be watching yourself if you were a decade or so younger.