The 90s Are All That

[Spark Of Spirit]

I think DP suffered the Inuyasha effect.

Being really popular in its heyday when it was still premiering new episodes, but then dying down in popularity once it ended and people realized it really wasn't anything special, with only diehard fans and nostalgiafags thinking otherwise?

It might even be the same fickle audience!

The shows wouldn't bother me if the fans weren't so rude and spiteful about it.

[Avaitor]

You know, I have this idea for a project, tell me if it sounds crazy.

I want to take a small group of people, consisting of kids that don't have cable and adults/teens who never grew up watching Nickelodeon, and lend them 3 first season sets- Ren & Stimpy, for the sake of the 90's, The Wild Thornberrys, for later 90's/early 0's sake, and Victorious, to round things out for the new regime. And then I want them to watch all of each set and tell us what they think about the shows and which they prefer the most.

And no, I don't want to swap any of these out for better shows like Rocko or Avatar. I want 3 random shows that aren't necessarily the best, but are still popular and liked enough in their own rights to use.

[Spark Of Spirit]

If you want live action, I'd say Pete & Pete and Victorious would be a good comparison. Since they both represent their eras quite well.

Your animated picks are solid.

[Avaitor]

I guess. I really just want one show per specific era. Since no animation from the later era (even though SpongeBob's still on, it's definitely middle, and I'm putting Avatar and DP there as well) is on a season set, that's why I went with Victorious.

I guess I could put make it 4 with Pete & Pete if I wanted to have 2 live action shows.

[Kiddington]

Picked up Season 3 of Rocko yesterday while I was out and about. $15 for 13 episodes, and one lone special feature with Joe Murray that I have yet to dive into... not overloaded with value, but come on, it's Rocko.

This set definitely has the goods, though; Wacky Delly, Fortune Cookie, the one where Rocko goes to France is chased down by the crazy bus driver, and even the ultra-rare Halloween episode that Nick hasn't run in ages, and I myself haven't seen in probably 15 years or so. So yeah, looking forward to breaking into this today.

[Avaitor]

Regular Nick actually did show the Halloween episode a few years ago, I think on 2007. I recorded it when it did.

Man I still need to get season 2. I'll get them both eventually.

[Spark Of Spirit]

I believe the season 3 feature is Joe Murray answering questions about the show on his blog and putting the answers in the feature.

Can't wait to get season 3 then 4 when it hits. I never thought we'd get the chance to see the series released. Especially with Nick's whole "anti-everything not current" stance.

[Kiddington]

Season 3 is pretty good so far. I'm five episodes in, and I think my favorite at this point might either be Old Fogey Froggy, or Schnit-heads (makes you wonder HOW they got away with a title like that on Nick). Of course, it goes without saying that I haven't gotten to Wacky Delly yet, which is probably the best episode of the series.

Oh yeah, and both Halloween episodes were really good too, especially Sugar Frosted Frights. It'd be nice if they played these more often, but I guess since they're on DVD now, that's not really as big a deal as it used to be.

[Avaitor]

Bump. I hope you enjoy my additions and reasonings.

[Rynnec]

I'm suprised you didn't choose one of the half-hour episodes for Invader Zim. Those are widely considered the best in the show. Same goes for Arnold's Christmas for the HA! episode picks.

For your honorable mentions: I really agree with what you said about Jimmy Neutron, the Butch Hartman shows, and Dan Scheneider's output. One thing I liked about Jimmy Neutron was how Jimmy and Cindy's relationship evolved without feeling forced, which is rare for most fictional relationships these days. Also, Hugh and Sheen are the best characters in the show.

The Amanda Show. Yeah, loved it as a kid, doesn't do much for me as an adult. Nothing special about it outside of nostalgia value (though, I was dissapointed that the cliffhanger in Moody's Point was never resolved). Drake & Josh is probably my favorite out of Schneider's output, probably the only show of his that can get a genuine laugh out of me now. iCarly just pisses me off, and that's mostly because how asshole-ish the cast is (mostly Sam), that Fred episode sealed the deal for my hatred of that show.

The behind-the-scenes drama of Danny Phantom has led me to believe that Butch Hartman wants little to no character and plot development in his shows. Both early-to-mid FOP and DP had set up directions for their plots and characters to take, but where quietly shoved off in favor of cheap jokes, and bland plotlines.

[Avaitor]

I didn't really think about any of the Zim half-hour episodes, but  I could've gone with the Halloween one. And I nearly went with Arnold's Christmas ep, but I didn't want 2 from season 1 or 2 double-length ones, and there's no way that I wouldn't list "Helga on the Couch", so I decided to give the edge to "Stoop Kid"

[Spark Of Spirit]

I still enjoy Angry Beavers a lot more than you do, apparently. All of your issues with it, I just plain don't have.

Good reasoning for your choices. And honestly, what drove me crazy with iCarly was Sam. I never really liked the show, but she is is always doing something mean and vindictive to the point where I never feel any sort of sympathy for her when we're supposed to.

[Avaitor]

Yeah, I knew you'd take offensive to my Angry Beavers points, but eh, I kinda just lost interest with Nick around that point. Zim was really the first show during the mid period of my childhood to give me interest in the network again.

And I still really like Sam, although I understand what you mean. I think Jennette plays her well, better than Miranda Cosgrove played Megan, at least. And to be honest, Freddie drives me nuts too, so I do occasionally like it when she attacks him.

On another point, I think one of Schneider's weakest faults is how he writes his straight (wo)men. Carly, Tori and Zoey are the worst kind of main characters, the ones that let everything pass by them, deliver the weakest jokes at the worst possible time, and put everything to a halt when they try to join in with the supporting character's fun. That's one thing I don't like about the earliest episodes of Cheers, when they made Diane the main character and have us see the bar through her eyes. When they made it so that Sam, and later no one, was the main character and cut down on here, it became a lot more fun. Except you can't really do that on shows like iCarly, Victorious or Zoey 101.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Yeah, his main characters are pretty wishy-washy to the point that they're bland. They also seem to have tons of guys after them too. So I guess guys like boring girls? 

[Avaitor]

I could post this in the other thread, but I'll just say it here since we already kinda talked about these shows and I'm always up for more discussion of my efforts.

Ever since I found out that Nick brought back Ned, but at 7 am, I decided to watch a little of it and Drake & Josh again out of boredom and curiosity. My opinions on both shows remain the same.

Ned is still a lot of fun, and even though it has its own shortcomings, I wouldn't be adverse to saying that it holds up more than a great deal of the 90's shows I grew up with. A lto of it is still funny, and there is definitely shades of character development throughout.

D&J can be funny too, but I still think that Megan is too much of a godforsaken bitch to tolerate at any point in the show. I just hate characters who are needlessly vindictive and never get punished for it. I had the same problem with Mandy from grim, but at least she had the excuse of occasionally wanting peace but having to deal with Billy, Grim and Irwin's stupidity a lot of the time. Megan goes out of her way to wreck havoc. And Josh Peck gets on my nerves more often than not. I think it's the emphasis he puts on words. EMPHASIS!

It's nice to have both shows on Netflix though. I wish we got more live-action shows. If we can't get the rest of Clarissa, Pete & Pete and Alex Mack on DVD (Shout has said that Nick won't let them finish their runs, I believe), it'd be great to have them all streaming.