Nickelodeon's Live Action

[Kiddington]

I can post half of what aired; unfortunately, I forgot about the time change, and didn't set my DVR in advance. I was also incredibly busy yesterday, and didn't get home until after it had already started, sooooo... yeah; excuses excuses, I know.

...anyway, here's what I did catch:

Angry Beavers -- Up All Night
Salute Your Shorts -- The One With The Bunk Chief Election (or something like that; this is what they were calling it)
Rugrats -- Touchdown Tommy/The Trial

From what I understand, a Legends episode also aired to kick things off. So with that said, the only unaccounted for time I have here is about 12-15 minutes in the Angry Beavers slot, so I assume the other episode there was "Born to be Beavers", but I can't confirm (the DirecTV guide listed the entire 2-hour block as one Legends episodes, so that wasn't much help).

Avaitor, if you were able to get this recorded, could you confirm the first 45 minutes or so? I'm pretty sure I got it, just going off of what other people are saying, but I'm not 100% sure (as, obviously, I missed most of that first hour).

...as for the Stick Stickly angle, if you're wondering, it was pretty cool; he did a lot of "planking" jokes, which is surprisingly appropriate. It was a nice little nostalgic rush seeing him on TV again, and I love that they brought back his original VA. All things considered, it was pretty well done, and definitely great way to spruce up Friday nights.

[Avaitor]

We got a new DVR, and I told my mom to record it for me while I was out. Yep, Legends did in fact air last night.

I'm watching Salute Your Shorts now. I'm liking it all so far. Stick Stickly's a fun enough host. Unfortunately, I don't think I'll get to watch the second half of Rugrats though, since I recorded the 12 AM showing, and they were wrapping up "The Trial" from what I can tell.

Also, what are you voting for this time?

Edit: One more thing- not only is tonight the first night that Hey Dude starts, but it's also when the finale episode of Kenan & Kel airs. Starting tomorrow night, they go back to episode 1.

[Avaitor]

Huh, so The Amanda Show is airing on TeenNick now, in the afternoon. Maybe they're ditching the original plan to have it replace Hey Dude's place in 2 weeks in lieu of something else. They haven't updated the block's schedule past this week, so who knows what will happen to that.

Add this on top of Rocket Power airing in weekday mornings on regular Nick, and it looks like they might be trying to avoid the shows that started at the tail end of the 90's to take up residence on the block, beyond U-Pick. I sure hope that's the case.

Edit: This in from Nick & More

TeenNick revives the spooky Nickelodeon classic Are You Afraid of the Dark? giving viewers the chance to vote for their favorite episodes at http://90sareallthat.teennick.com/ beginning Friday, Oct. 21. Winning episodes will air during "UPick with Stick" on Friday, Oct. 28, at 10:00 p.m. (ET). Additionally, from Monday, Oct. 24 – Monday, Oct. 31, frightening episodes of old-school Nickelodeon shows currently airing in TeenNick's "The '90s Are All That" block will haunt those who dare to watch.

Hey, that's pretty cool. I dig it.

[Kiddington]

YES. Finally, they're going to air some of these long lost Halloween specials that Nick hasn't touched in years. This has been one of my biggest pet peeves about Nicktoons Network for the longest time; every year, they have a supposedly Halloween-themed block, but they don't even air any of the seasonal episodes they have at their disposal. I mean, last year they were airing DBZ Kai marathons around this time; what sense does that make? There's no Halloween-theme to DBZ.

So yeah, I am impressed with this turn of events. Really hope they air the Rocko Halloween episode especially; haven't seen that one in ages, and it always was one of my favorites.

...as for my votes this week, I went with Allen Strange, Space Cases, Wild and Crazy Kids, and Double Dare. Gotta keep it fresh. Not interested in Ren & Stimpy; it's already on DVD, among other things. The rest? Eh... not this time. Rugrats is OK, but I've seen that episode a hundred times already. I'd rather have something "new" to watch this week. I mean, when was the last time any of us here have actually seen an episode of Allen Strange or Space Cases on TV?

[Avaitor]

Heh, I actually recorded that Rocko episode on tape. Regular Nick actually aired that a couple of years ago, like in 2008, and I got to catch it.

Yeah, I don't really need to see the Rugrats and Ren & Stimpy episodes again. Those were my votes too, although watching the Space Cases and Allen Strange clips, they seem a little lame. They're both worth a shot, though.

Also, this Tuesday, the finale of Doug is airing, so we'll be back to episode 1 for that as well. Now I'm back to watching just one show.

[Avaitor]

We still have a little while before the U-Pick block starts up, but the next selection is available:

Hey Dude- "Miss Tucson"
Kenan & Kel- "Futurama"
All That- Not 100% sure, but I think it might be episode 4 for season 2 (don't ask me how I could figure that out, though; I'm still not sure )
Doug- "Doug is Quailman/Doug Out on Left Field"
Hey Dude- "Lost in the Desert"
All That- "Good Burger Special"
Doug- "Doug Throws a Party/Doug Way Out West"

What the fuck, really? They pick episodes from shows we can already watch every other day on the block? Ugh.

Well, I'm voting for the Hey Dude eps, since I doubt we'll go that far in the show's run (one comes from season 4, and the other is the S5 premiere), and the Good Burger ep of All That just cause (it's the season 2 finale, but they haven't ran it yet- even though it's mostly repeats, this might be the only chance we get to see S1 footage for a while). But only once, instead of multiple times like I do for the others.

[Avaitor]

As for now, tonight's lineup was

Family Double Dare
Rocket Power- "Shark Bait/A Shot in the Park"
Space Cases- "It's My Birthday, Too (Yeah!)"
Rugrats- "Naked Tommy/Tommy and the Secret Club"

So yeah, Rocket Power remains as inane and unfunny as ever. I think it might be the only show I'll outright skip if it airs full-time on the block.

Meanwhile, Space Cases fared a lot better for me. I think the concept itself is pretty cool (Star Trek for kids- hey, it could work), and it was fairly interesting. The only thing that I wasn't crazy on was the acting. It's a little cheesy, especially the android. I'd give it a shot if they aired it regularly though.

Also, they got the schedule confused a little. Stick announced that Space Cases was airing second, but Rocket Power aired instead. Stupid.

[Kiddington]

Rocket Power is awful, and holds the distinction of having absolutely no redeemable qualities whatsoever. Even the most forgettable of the late 90's/early 00's Nickelodeon outputs had something going for them; Thornberrys had Nigel, ChalkZone had Skrawl... hell, even CatDog was funnier than this. It truly boggles my mind how many people continue to look back on this show through rose-colored nostalgia glasses (look no further than a Youtube comments section for evidence). I don't get it; there's just nothing here. This show is just so bad, in every conceivable way; the writing, the horrendously unlikeable characters, the over-the-top "LOL EXTREEEEEME" attitude they're trying to go for. I just... I don't see what other people apparently see in it. I hated it as a kid, and watching it again tonight, I hate it even more now. Quite possibly the worst animated production Nick has ever burned money on, IMO.

The rest of the block was OK tonight. Space Cases was actually more fun than I thought it'd be, but you're right; the acting is kinda lame. I loved Double Dare though, even if we did get the slightly less entertaining "Family" variation, for whatever reason. There's just something magical about these 90's Nick game shows; no matter how many times I watch 'em, they never get old to me. Rugrats was decent.

Really disappointing selections for next week, though. I don't think I'll even be inclined to vote for any of these, to be honest. Hey Dude just doesn't do it for me, and pretty much all of these other episodes I've seen recently enough that I don't care about going out of my way to make sure I see them again. I cannot comprehend their line of thinking here; the whole point of this voting deal, as far as I understand it, is to showcase some of the 90's Nick "rarities" that will probably never have a full-time spot on the everyday lineup. Going back to the well with All That, Doug, and the like just screams of redundancy, and I'd hate to think that, by Week 3, Stick already has to subject himself to a batch of stale reruns.

They have a lot to work with here. Among other things, Real Monsters hasn't aired on the block yet at all, despite being in nearly every promo for it since July. There's no excuse why they couldn't have come up with something better than this. Sheer laziness has already gotten the better of them with the stale state of the first hour since All That went back into perpetual Season 2 reruns, and now this too. I really do hope they come up with something a bit more original for next week. We will be getting closer to Halloween by that point, so hopefully, the seasonal episodes will start by then.

[Avaitor]

Well, we know that next week's poll is going to be the all AYAOTD edition, so at least there's that to look forward to.

It is starting to seem like Nick Cannon is putting the block on autopliot for the most part. From what I understand, ratings for All That have been slipping since going back to season 2, I'm sure Kenan & Kel also has had a drop in the past week, and expect one from Doug soon. I mean, I love these shows, but my thing is that I don't want them to get too overly familiar today, or I might get tired of them. Doug I've already been calling the problems out on for a while and Hey Dude does little for me, but even by the end of K&K's run, Kel was really getting on my nerves.

They have a vast library of shows they can be airing, but they don't seem interested in putting on most of them. They could at least bring Clarissa, Rocko, and Hey Arnold! back on. Maybe even, as much as we would hate to admit it, Rocket Power would be a better option than the eternal repeats.

[Avaitor]

1- Are You Afraid of the Dark? is going to air on the block starting next week, but I can't find out when, exactly.
2- They're going back to the old time frame, as in 12-4 instead of 10-2, due to low ratings for the first 2 hours. As someone who only recorded the later sets when they changed, this doesn't really affect me all that much.
3- Next week's set is all up, and they're all Halloween related-

Clarissa Explains It All- "Haunted House"
AAAHH!!! Real Monsters- "The Switching Hour"
Kenan & Kel- "Two Heads Are Better Than None"
CatDog- "CatDogula"
Salute Your Shorts- "Zeke the Plumber"
Hey Arnold!- "Arnold's Halloween"
The Secret World of Alex Mack- "The Secret"
Doug- "Doug's Halloween Adventure"

I voted for SYS, since everyone needs to see that episode in their lives, and Alex Mack, to give it some love. But I'd also like for Doug and Arnold to win. Maybe K&K too, but that would probably take up the whole block.

[Rynnec]

Much as I like Two Heads Are Better Than None, I feel that it should have aired on the block normally, and not as a part of the U-Pick weekly. Hell, I think they skipped a few episodes of K&K anyway. I loved the HA! episode, so I may vote for that.

Kinda dissapointed they're going back to the old schedule.

[Daxdiv]

I voted for the Hey Arnold, Real Monsters, and Clarissa. Really, I kind of expect the block to air the holiday specials of Kenan and Kel and Doug on Halloween, which is should since it's on a Monday this year. Well, really kind of a shame to see the 10-12 slot going back. I kind of liked watching the shows at that time. Also, was wondering when AYAOTD would air. Felt like it should have aired earlier in the month. However, since this is a new block, I give it an excuse.

[Avaitor]

I think with the K&K movie, it would be better if they used the block's four hours to air that and any other four episodes here, or air it on another night in lieu of the main lineup. I forget if it's an hour and a half long or two hours, but if it wins, then the chances of us getting to see any more of these choices is slim. Plus, that could have given the awesome Angry Beavers Halloween episode a chance to make it on.

And yeah, they've skipped a couple of episodes. The two-parter where they went to Hollywood was ignored for one, since they typically air that as an hour-long special. They also skipped the series finale, which admittedly is a clip show, but does have a good enough ending to excuse that (in case you forget, Kel gives Kenan every odd item he asked for over the course of the show; fucking awesome, right?). There's also one early episode, "Baggin' Saggin' Kel", which they passed over for whatever reason, yet put it on the block's streaming site a couple of weeks after it should have aired.

I think there's more that they skipped, but those are the most notable exclusions that come to mind.

And as per usual, I'll reveal what won tonight, even if the choices are mostly repeats.

[Avaitor]

Tonight's show:

Kenan & Kel- "Futurama"
All That- "Good Burger Special"
All That- "211"
Doug- "Doug Throws a Party/Doug Way Out West"

I only watched the All That eps myself. I fast-forwarded through the Kenan & Kel ep since it's easily one of the worst episodes of the show (seriously, all it was is a half-hour of lame future puns; not that fun), and stopped right after finding out which Doug it was, since that one aired a couple of nights ago. Pretty disappointing haul this time, IMO.

[Daxdiv]

I'll admit that I did like that it was the Good Burger special that aired this go around, if only for Good Burger being one of my favorite sketches in All That history, so that was kind of a bonus in my eyes. The future episode was sort of meh and I do remember when that first aired on TV surprisingly. As for Doug, I did question why the Doug episode was one that aired the week before. Really, we couldn't get another episode?