Classic Nick Online"Reliving your childhood.... One show at a time!" |
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The Shows: Adventures of the Little Koala Sharon, Lois & Bram's Elephant Show Spartakus & the Sun Beneath the Sea Star Trek: The Animated Series You Can't Do That on Television
Other Nick Gems - Misc. shorts, claymation, etc.
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The Legacy of Nick
Around December, 1977, a Pay-Per-View style channel named "Nick's Flicks" took to the airwaves on a small, local station in Columbus, Ohio. This small channel was the main inspiration for Nickelodeon. A little over a year later, on April 1st 1979 a network known as The Pinwheel Network debuted on Warner-Amex's QUBE cable system. There are varied reports as to the availability of this network. Some accounts place it on the air in Columbus, OH and Buffalo, NY only. I have also been toldthat it was available nationwide. I was not yet born in 1979, so obviously I don't remember. Perhaps someone can shed some light on this. The Pinwheel Network ran it's flagship program Pinwheel 3-5 hours in the morning each day. The rest of what was shown on this network was mostly forgettable "filler." A number of old cartoons graced the airwaves, most of which had little appeal to children of the day. The employees of this network referred to at as a "green vegetable network" because, beyond Pinwheel, it had all the kid appeal of spinach. In the Nielson ratings, only a couple shows even got numbers! Fortunately, better days were ahead. In 1981, The Pinwheel Network was renamed Nickelodeon and became available nationwide, if it was not already (varied accounts). It featured no commercials at first and showed mostly reruns of old cartoons, children's shows, special reports, and of course Pinwheel. In 1982 Nick won it's first Peabody award, and also picks up the U.S. rights to You Can't Do That On Television, which was a popular sketch comedy in Canada. YCDToTV, along with Pinwheel, helped put Nick on the map. Nick used many foreign shows to fill its schedule. Shows from Britain, other parts of Europe, Canada, and Japan were Nick mainstays. In the early years, Nick ran the likes of the aforementioned Pinwheel and You Can't in addition to Mr. Wizard's World, Livewire, Teacher to Teacher (hosted by "Mr. Wizard" Don Herbert, a science program for teachers), Standby... Lights! Camera! Action!, Sharon, Lois, and Bram's Elephant Show, and Today's Special, among others. They also aired reruns of 1950s and 1960s classics Lassie and Dennis the Menace. Around 1985 is where my earliest memories of Nick began. I was four years old then, so I have a few vague memories even before that, but they are only bits and pieces and hard to understand. I remember all my old favorites: Pinwheel, Today's Special, Double Dare, Danger Mouse, The Noozles, The Adventure of the Little Koala, Mr. Wizard's World, Mapletown, Sparticus, Maya the Bee, Inspector Gadget, Mysterious Cities of Gold, and many others. In 1985 Nick jumps from next-to-last to second place in ratings, and also launches Nick-At-Nite, which as we all know, shows classic TV shows such as Mister Ed (always a favorite of mine), Get Smart, and Car 54. When I was a very young child, in the mid-1980s, some of my fondest memories where of watching Nick and Nick Jr. at my grandparents' house. We didn't get cable until about 1986, so I couldn't watch Nick at home. But I made the most of my time there. There were many great shows.. Pinwheel, Today's Special, The Little Prince, David the Gnome, reruns of Lassie and Dennis the Menace, Bill Cosby's Picture Pages, Maple Town, The Adventure's of the Little Koala, Noozles, Maya the Bee, Mysterious Cities of Gold, Dr. Snuggles, You Can't Do That on Television to name a few. I have been fortunate to acquire a Nickelodeon Schedule. This was Mon-Fri, from 5/4/87-Aug 1987, the typical time period I was watching Nick. I was six at this time.
Thanks to Kenneth for the image. To view it full size, click here. In 1989, Pinwheel was cancelled after a decade long run on the network. The network had already whittled down the amount of time it aired daily. The cancellation of Pinwheel was indeed the end of an era, and has left many fans longing for its return ever since. Even after the departure of Pinwheel however, Nick continued to have quality shows. They began to produce their own shows, like Hey Dude and Salute Your Shorts, both of whom deserve spots in the Nickelodeon Hall of Fame (should there ever be one). Then it happened. The Nicktoons came, which brings us to.... Nick Today Since 1990, Nick has, at least in my opinion, took a severe downswereve in quality. It is somewhat difficult to place blame on the original Nicktoons (Doug, Rugrats, and Ren and Stimpy), because they were quality, enjoyable programs. But after they debuted, more followed, each one worse than the one before. The shows today just don't measure up to the old classics. Cat-Dog and Butt Ugly Martians are just stupid. They lack any kind of intelligence and creativity. I don't know what ever became of all the great executives that ran Nick during the 1980s, but I sincerely wish they would come back, and restore the glory that once was Nickelodeon. This site Classic Nick Online was first launched on December 1, 2000. It was then a small, simple site on Hometown AOL. It soon outgrew that location, and was moved to Angelfire. Later, it moved again to johnsrealmonline.com, but when that site closed in June 2004, CNO found a new home here. Over the past four years, Classic Nick has received hundreds of thousands of hits, and thousands of e-mails have been sent regarding it. That this site has been such a success still amazes me, and I am very grateful to everyone who has visited!
If you have any questions, comments, etc. please feel free to contact me. |
Misc Fun:
People have visited this site since December 10, 2000
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