Nickelodeon's Live Action

[Kiddington]

Wait, so... they're actually saying that MORE people are watching and the block gets better ratings when the lineup consists of LESS variety? Am I interpreting this wrong, or is that really what they're saying? Because if that's the case, well...

[Avaitor]

I find it hard to believe myself. Do people seriously want to watch the same 30 or so eps of All That over and over again opposed to... anything else they can pull out? And they also knew that last Friday got better ratings than usual before it aired? Because they put the eligible shows up a couple of hours before the block airs, and that's when we found out that episodes from the same 4 shows are up again.

A lot of people believe that the U-Pick block is rigged, and I'm starting to really agree. If you pay attention to previous weeks, they all go by similar patterns (2 live-action shows and 2 NickToons for "new" picks, and a Kenan & Kel, both All That's, and a Doug for regulars). If this week's block is similar to last week's, then I'll be sure that it is.

Edit: Well, if my guide is any indication, they're airing both All That and Doug eps this week for a change. Hmm, I missed the Hamburger Boy ep when it aired for whatever reason, so I'd like to get a chance to see that.

[Avaitor]

I don't think we're getting a U-Pick block next week. We will be getting marathons of the following shows though according to Twitter:

M: Salute Your Shorts
T: Rugrats
W: Kenan
Th: All That
F: Hey Arnold!

Yay variety! Plus they're airing the Thanksgiving episode of K&K, which hasn't aired yet. I don't know about you, but my interest is up for at least another week.

Edit: And damn, they're 4-hour marathons, too. Nice.

Well, for the most part. 3 of the SYS eps have already aired on the block, and they're finishing the marathon with a Doug episode for whatever reason. Even then, I can't complain too much.

[Daxdiv]

That's what I'm talking about. I can deal with watching a marathon of different shows for a week. . I noticed 1-2 other people on my friend list over on FB voted on this, one voted for Rugrats while Kiddington voted for Alex Mack and I voted for Hey Arnold. Shame that Alex Mack didn't get in, but at least we have 3 other shows that haven't gotten major love yet.

[Kiddington]

All That does nothing for me (unless they start airing new episodes, though I seriously doubt they will) but the rest of it looks good. Glad to see Salute Your Shorts especially, even if the episode selections are a little half-assed.

See, this is what they should have been doing all along; pick one new show a night for each night on M-T, while keeping Friday's U-Pick block intact. Easy. Given the vast library of Nicktoons/live-action properties at their disposal, there is absolutely no reason in the world why this block should already be as stale as it is.

[Avaitor]

I think that would work a lot better too. This way they can air the shorter-lasting shows and have something for everyone at least once a week.

And we're not alone in thinking that the block is getting stale. Checking the comments in the FB's page most recent post, a lot of people are getting sick of its lack of variety. A fair amount stopped watching after most of the shows went into cycles and others are threatening to give up on the block if they don't change soon. There are some people who are defending the block by saying that we should be thankful for what we have in the first place (which is a legit point, but we still have the right to complain, considering Nick's rich library of shows from that era), but no one's saying "Oh, yay! More All That and Doug!". Hopefully the people monitoring the site will take note soon.

Speaking of shorter shows, I kind of hope that Salute Your Shorts doesn't air regularly on the block now. I still think it's a good show (it's like a good version of Hey Dude, IMO), but by Monday night, the block would have aired a good amount of the episodes made, some of them more than once. A decent amount of the run wouldn't feel as fresh, and considering their lack of innovation, they'd probably go through a couple of runs of the show before changing it up.

At least if they bring back Arnold or put Rugrats on, they have plenty of episodes to plow through before they end up repeating itself. SYS would be done in not even a month's time.

[Avaitor]

More Kenan & Kel and All That marathons in the weekend, plus the HA! marathon is full of season 1 episodes, aside from the Thanksgiving special.

Eh, better than nothing I guess.

[Kiddington]

Lame. They really couldn't think of anything better for a holiday weekend than MORE All That and K&K? Jesus Christ... all those shows, all that variety at their disposal, and this is the best they come up with. /smh

I've also noticed the fair amount of bitching on both Facebook and Twitter lately regarding the staleness of the block; seems to me that they simply do not give a shit, though. We've been treading on the same cycle of mediocrity for months, with no end in sight. I mean, even when they actually do try to change things up (in their own half-assed manner), it just ends up being more of the same. Whenever SYS and Arnold actually air, it always ends up being all of the same episodes they've already played. I know late-run Arnold isn't really that good, but for variety's sake, play something beyond Season 1.

Truth be told, I'm about ready to give up. Really, as far as I'm concerned, they're not even trying anymore. If they can't at least be bothered to get the rights to "new" episodes of All That, and are happy just bulldozing the same two seasons over and over again, it shows me that nobody really cares. 'Tis a shame, but I guess we had a good run.

[Lord Dalek]

HO-LEY CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP.

[Avaitor]

HO-LEY CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP.

Oh wow.

Also, last night was glorious. I watched "Zeke the Plumber" again, but skipped the other 2 eps that've already aired, as well as the Doug, and caught the rest. I sincerely think that SYS is Hey Dude done right. Better characters, sharper writing, and actual proof of effort, it's more enjoyable in every conceivable way.

[Avaitor]

Huh, here's the next U-Pick.

Hey Arnold!- "Longest Monday/Eugene's Pet"
Kenan & Kel- "Clowning Around"
Hey Arnold!- "Door #16/Arnold as Cupid"
Hey Arnold- "Best Man/Cool Party"
Kenan & Kel- "The Taming of the Screw"
Hey Arnold!- "Grudge Match/Polishing Rhonda"

Apparently it's a "vote for the show that you want to take over the line-up" set. I'm voting for the 2 Arnold eps that aren't on DVD and haven't aired on the block yet.

[Avaitor]

Interesting. Tonight they're replacing the second hour with an hour of Rugrats. According to the TeenNick schedule, they're doing the same thing with Arnold tomorrow too (although they're airing the first 2 eps of season 1... again. Ugh, skipping if true). I can't look up the rest of the schedule for the week, so I don't know what all they're doing.

I think it's cool, but I do wish they'd replace the first hour. Hey Dude isn't any good, but at least let the one show with episodes left to air still show them, and let All That and Kenan & Kel take a much-needed break. But eh, it's better than nothing I guess.

Edit: Apparently it's going to look like this

Mon and Thur- Rugrats
Tue and Sat- Arnold
Wed and Sun- Doug

Uh... Okay. Yay for Rugrats, undecided about HA!, boo at Doug.

[Kiddington]

Any change is a good change, I guess.

They're still going about this in an incredibly lame and unoriginal manner, though. For starters, and just on the animation side, what have they got Aaahh Real Monsters? Have they even aired it at all yet? Give Doug a rest already, kthx. It's overplayed and, quite frankly, not very good.

On the live-action end, the game shows are really getting the shaft, and it's kinda pissing me off. I love Legends, yet they've only aired it once. Double Dare? Guts? Nothin'. I really should start complaining on their Facebook page, but I'm hardly ever on Facebook, for one thing... and besides, it's not like it'll even make a difference anyway; I've seen people complaining about this numerous times already, and the block is still as moldy and stale as it was two months ago.

...but, enough of my bitching. I've been doing an awful lot of that lately, so in going the opposite road and looking for positives, I'm quite glad that they're finally giving Rugrats a fair shake. Did anyone happen to catch the marathon last week? The first few seasons of this show are absolutely brilliant, IMO. I love how wonky and old-looking the animation is during the early years (much more subdued in comparison to the final few seasons), and the writing is surprisingly smart and enjoyable (namely when the adults are talking; have I mentioned how awesome Stu is?).

These early episodes are great, and I dare to even go as far as calling them timeless. Rugrats truly is one of Nick's best... you know, before it became all stale and watered down after the first movie. I quite enjoyed catching up with this show again, and it further cements why I've been clamoring for a real DVD set all these years later. Without a doubt, this is a show worth owning.

[Avaitor]

For starters, and just on the animation side, what have they got Aaahh Real Monsters? Have they even aired it at all yet?

They played "The Switching Hour" during Halloween weekend. Besides that, nada.

If there's any Nicktoon they should give more love to though, it's Kablam! Besides Ren & Stimpy and CatDog, it's one of the only 90's Nicktoons to not have aired on the block at all so far, and unlike those two, there is no legal option to view any of the show at all. They've shown a clip or two of it in the U-Pick promos, so it's not like Nick has forgotten the show's existence, so I'd like to see it at least be considered at some point

They've also aired Double Dare once. I do agree that the game shows deserve more love, however.

And yeah, I still really enjoy the original Rugrats. I can understand why they haven't given it a full spot on the block, though. It's insane popularity and huge episode count means that it could stay on for a long time and not give other shows a fair chance to air.

Well, that makes sense in theory. They won't drop the Kenan Thompson shows, so I don't think overplaying is an issue to them at all. And hell, having plenty of episodes is a good thing. That means they can keep it on as long as they want and they won't have to worry about going back to square one for a long ass time. Hell, it has more eps than Kenan & Kel and Doug combined, and I think that's true even if you just count the episodes that aired in the 90's.

I mean, I think at this point I'd take just about any other eligible show over Kenan & Kel, Doug and seasons 2 and 3 of All That sticking around. Including CatDog, but excluding Rocket Power.

[Rynnec]

Kablam! would make a great opener for the block, since they apparently can't air seasons 4+ of All That. AT can replace K&K until they're able to air season 4, where it would switch timeslots with Kablam. Hey Dude can finish it's run in its current timeslot and then be replaced by another show, and Rugrats can replace Doug.