90's Nickelodeon

Hi, man. Hi, Hayden, how are you doing? Yeah, pretty good. Hey, I've got a bit of a bone to pick with you. I don't know. It's been a while since we spoke and it's been kind of bestering for me. A little while ago, you were angry at Steven Bilba, and no issues from me there. Like, I'm not defending Steven Bilba or anything like this, but you called him something like an evil big forehead motherfucker or something. And I just think, are you in really any position to be criticising other people about their forehead size? I'm wondering, Hayden, look, I hear you and I see you. I'm not defending Steven Miller. I'm just saying, like, and I'm not in a position myself. Like, I have a big forehead, but I feel I can't help but think this is a bit of an attack on me, and I wonder if it has something to do with the fact that Roosevelt got a standalone episode of this podcast and you didn't. So you was trying to say that I'm acting out in some way. No, I'm just concerned. I'm just expressing a genuine concern. I'm not upset at all that Roosevelt got her own episode, got a whole hour to speak. On to today's episode, we are looking at Nickelodeon, the American TV network that is birthed. Many different shows that are very big here in the United States. Some of those shows travel to New Zealand, but Nickelodeon was certainly not a big deal in New Zealand growing up like it was for many Americans. I'm wondering when I say Nickelodeon, Hayden, what feelings, emotions, thoughts, stir it up within you? I think there's like cartoons. Of course, the other thing as I speak to you now, I think sliming people was a big part of Nickelodeon like dumping slime on kids. I feel like that was a Nickelodeon thing. Oh, the slime. So we had a big adaption of slime here with what now. And our slime was called gun. So we were gun people. I think that's a real cultural difference. And we used to put them in a tube and guns. You should be gunged. You big boyhead motherfucker. I'm David Farrier in New Zealand, accidentally ruined in America. And I want to figure out what makes this country tick. Now occasionally on this podcast, we come across topics that are so deeply American and so vast that my tiny New Zealand brain doesn't know where to begin. We last encountered this in the first emo episode where Rob delivered me a slideshow presentation, so vast and so specific. It went on to become one of the most listened to flight that's brought episodes of all time, quite annoying for me. He likes to think he's the star of the show today. We have reached another such juncture. Nickelodeon, the American TV channel launched on April 1st, 1979, and now it's just three years old. There's no April fools joke. Do you get that? Cause it's launched April 1st. Nickelodeon gave us SpongeBob SquarePants, Dora the Explorer and Rugrats. And frankly, a bunch of shows that I know absolutely nothing about shows according to Wikipedia, Big Time Rush, I callie, Keenan and Cal, Drake and Josh and the Amanda show, all mysteries to me. I suppose my point is when I grew up in New Zealand, some shows made it to New Zealand, but not the channel, the brand and the phenomenon of Nickelodeon. So prepare for some big doses of nostalgia. And for me, finally, hopefully, to wrap my head around what the hell Nickelodeon means to the sanctity and unity of the United States of America, because this, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, is the Nickelodeon episode. I'm trying to get more theatrical with my intros. Also, it's later at night, and I feel like when we're recording later, I feel looser. You're a little more delirious. My crocs are off. I'm feeling a bit more out there. You know, so be careful. It's gonna be a while, man. How's it going? It's going good. It is, as we record Wednesday, February 11, we are both post super bowl post half time. We survived that super bowl show, even though it wasn't in English. So confusing. I'm still, I mean, oh my god. It's like, I can't believe it. I've really enjoyed all the commentary out of that. Mainly the beautiful people dresses trees. Yes. It's grass. Loved it. We, the only thing I want to say on that, I on my phone had the alternative half time show going, are you are contributing to the streamer? I had a VPN, but I think like probably ultimately it was a contribution of one viewer. That was the only reason. Well, I know what you mean. I was curious enough to see how terrible it was going to be that I, I would have maybe put it on my phone, but then I was like, I don't want this to be seen as another viewer supporting the right decision. It was a fascinating watch just in how I mean, I imagine everyone listening to this will kind of know it's been discussed in the sea. But it was just the juxtaposition between the two, like the joy of the half time show. Yeah. I'm not like, I'm, I'm one of these people that like, I'm learning about it all. I'm not a bad bunny fan. I watched this thing. Holy shit, huge, amazing, joyous. Me too. I, I didn't know any of the songs. Yeah. But like, that was a great half time show. It was really going to have better songs that I've seen. And on my phone, I had the alternative going and it was, it was the prerecorded alternative to it turns out with that was like, I didn't even know now. Yep. And this has been going around already. But the, the fact that like the biggest complaint about the bad bunny was that it wasn't in English at all. But then like kid rocks singing ball with the ball. That's not that's gibberish. Absolute gibberish. And he's not even singing it. He's like, yeah. Also, of course, lyrics emerge from his earlier work about wanting to get with underage woman that being a, I mean, it's all, I guess my main point is watching that on my phone while the main show is going on. It was such a comical juxtaposition. It was like very hard to know that this was the reality that we're in. Yeah. If it wasn't not funny, it would be very funny. And like the outrage from it was just so absurd. Did you see though, they also, there was footage from Trump Super Bowl party. And they had, they had bad bunny playing like they weren't even playing the show. It's really incredible. You were happy with the game that took place. Yeah. It was fun. It was a game. We have some big news. We have some live shows coming up. We're being making, doing the show live is one of our favorite things. The difficulty is getting Robin out of both have free time at the same time. But we've sorted out three live shows. They're going to be Sunday, March 29th in Salt Lake City at the Depot Thursday, April 2nd in Austin at emails, iconic venue in Austin, and pretty fitting for the show. Kind of incredible. Will we doing an emo part three episode there? We won. We won. And Saturday, April 4th in Dallas at the Texas theater. So we're doing a pre-sale for Patrons right now when you're listening to this episode, Tuesday, February 17th. Tomorrow, Wednesday, February 18th will be everybody else. Yeah. So if you're a patron, jump on that pre-sale, get the tickets, get in there. Yeah. And tickets go on sale at 10 a.m. Central time. I believe for all of these. Very excited to do this. I always should have been excited about this for a while. So I already have a few things locked in. But if you're in any of those cities and you are like, oh my God, you must cover this. As always, flight this boat [email protected]. Robin, I come into each city a couple of days before and we want to kind of feel the city out. So if even if you have any recommendations on it. Yeah, inside a knowledge touristy things to do. It's almost like just like inside a thing that not like not what we get in like lonely planet, but the things that you find special about your city. Yeah, if it's emblematic of the city, that's what we want. If you're in Utah, just a personal request. If you are in charge of the factory that makes the Magic Underpants for Mormons, I want to visit that factory. Flight this boat [email protected]. So again, March 29th, Salt Lake City, April 2nd, Austin, April 4th, Dallas. Yeah, come on out and hang out this deeply excited about this. Another thing I wanted to mention before we get into Nickelodeon, James Van Der Beek passed away, which I find I'm curious like how you resonated. I'm 43. Dawson's Creek was a watch TV episode. I was big into that show when it was out. For me, the character of Dawson was like, just I think because he was like this aspiring film director, I wanted to be that. He had a Jurassic Park poster on the wall. That was his character, what his character was into. Yeah, deeply into like he wanted to be a director. And from what Little I know about his later life, he seemed to have like a very, I think he was a Christian. He was very like very sane. And as he got his cancer diagnosis, I believe it was Colin Cancer. He just had a [BLANK_AUDIO] amazing outlook on life that he kind of demonstrated on his social media that I just admired. Yeah. There was also kind of the double tragic thing of the fact that I believe friends ran some GoFundMe's for him as he was diagnosed and now since he's passed away his family is running some GoFundMe's to cover certain things about the whole past medical bills, future wellness for them. And I just think it speaks, I don't I feel like I'm preaching when I say this, but it's like it's like this being hit over the head with how you can be a, you know, I'm a New Zealand watching this giant show. Yeah. You can be incredibly successful and yet you're still not necessarily looked after with the healthcare system here, which I just think is such a, I mean, this has been said before, but I just I find that really insane. But for me honestly, I was watching some of his Instagrams today, just talking about his faith and the way he viewed things. And I know I rag on Christianity a lot, but listening to him talk about his faith was like, holy shit, this is a Christian. Yeah. Like this is how you can view things. I wasn't trying to convert me. Yeah. And one of his posts, he was even like, if me saying God is annoying you, just like substitute it for something else, but like this is my thing. Yeah. I just think he's a, he was a fucking lovely human died way too young. Yeah. And I'm just sad because I love that show. Like I grew up with that guy. Yeah. And I think even after the show, he had like a fun, he played, he didn't take himself too seriously. No, beyond that. I had a T shirt that I wore for a while, which was, it was like a jiff of him like crying, but it was like printed on the shirt. It's like a very iconic shot of him endorses Creek having a meltdown. Yeah. And like he had a sense of humor about all that stuff. Just seemed like a really a quality human. And that kind of hit me weirdly hard. Is that thing where a celebrity life isn't worth any more than anyone else's life, but like occasionally someone will pass away and you're just like, oh, God, horrific. And then you think you don't want to wait for your lives to be over. There's that. I see what you're doing. I took a while. Great soundtrack. The school for Dawson's Creek. So good. I have a segue into Nickelodeon. You do. Which is very, a very podcast thing to do. It ends up being scented, very on me. But look, I was allergic to this a little while ago. Goose bumps. Oh, yes. I am a huge R Rstein fan. I grew up with R Rstein. American horror author for kids. I've read all of his shit. And as a fact, I don't call his stuff shit. Good shit. So as far as Nickelodeon goes, he was the head writer for a show called Eureka's Castle, which was on Nickelodeon. It premiered as part of the Nick Jr. Programming in '89, a while back now. And he also was the first ever editor of Nickelodeon magazine. But why am I talking about it? 10 years ago. It's the 10 year anniversary of Tickled, my documentary this year that I made of my friend Dylan Reeve. And there's a new Goose bumps book called They Call Me the Night Huller. And in it. When did this come out? Last year. Last year. Okay. I've just learned about it. In it, there is a short sequence that I would argue reference is Tickled. It might be something else. I think it's Tickled. George laughed. He dove at Mickey, grabbed him from behind, reached around and started tickling his belly with both hands. Die mutant. Die. He screamed. Laughing. Mickey scrimmed free. Did you know there are these guys who tickled each other? It's like a sport. There are tickling teams and they see who can take it the longest. That's stupid, I said. No, it's a thing Mickey insisted. I saw it on Netflix. Look, there might be other tickling documentaries or films on Netflix. I'm pretty confident it's Tickled. And for me, if you could tell me when I was 10 that a future Goose bumps book would like reference that shit legitimately blows my mind. And I feel grateful and insane. And I just am very excited about that. You'll have to find a way to find out if that's if he has seen Tickled. That's the exact thought process now. I'm like I need to get in touch with him. We're in America. So I'm I'm going to work on that. He's like he's a very prolific writer too. Like he turns like the fact that he's still writing Goose bumps books. His my favorite thing about him is I ridden to view with him a while back and people were like like what are you trying to like do that? What are you trying to say with your books? He's just like I'm trying to say nothing. Like these are the most pure entertainment for kids ever. There's no message. There's nothing. I just want kids to be entertained and get into reading. And I saw that was great. He's not trying to pretend that there's like a meaning under this. Just like no, I just want to make books that kids will read. And in New Zealand, like my nieces, my youngest niece Sophie is reading all of this now. It's so cool. Anyway, he was involved in editing the Nickelodeon magazine and he made a show for Nickelodeon in 89. And so that segues us perfectly into 90s Nickelodeon. Into 90s Nickelodeon. What do you know about Nickelodeon? Honestly, I literally when we were setting up the graphics for the show today, I saw the logo and I was like oh fuck me, it's slime. Like the Nickelodeon logo is slime. So about Nickelodeon, I know that they have all the slime stuff because we've done a slime episode of this podcast and we talked about Nickelodeon and the cultural context of slime in America. I know that that made massive shows. Did you watch any of the shows? Do you know any of the shows? Rugrats. Rugrats. You watch Rugrats. Which was a weird, like Rugrats was my memory of it is so weird because it felt like a cartoon kind of for adults. Yeah, we'll get in. We'll get into it. Okay. So I know Rugrats. Yeah. I believe Dora the Explorer is an Nickelodeon show, which I never watched, but I know of. I miss the whole phenomenon of what this rep was into. You didn't have the station in New Zealand. Not right. So a New Zealand growing up, we had three TV stations. That was it. Well, there wasn't streamers like you weren't, you didn't, your antenna wasn't picking up the Nickelodeon channel. And I guess my first question to you before you kind of take over is growing up like when would you watch this? Because in New Zealand, we'd get home from school. Yeah. And we'd want to turn on the TV immediately at 330 and like watch kids programming. Is that kind of what this was for you growing up? Yeah, absolutely. Like maybe the morning a little bit in weekends, but it was like after school. Right. You throw on the TV. Strap it. This is it. But like 90s was my childhood. And there was like Nickelodeon. That was prime Nickelodeon. What were your alternatives? Was it like a Disney issue? There was a Disney, yes, Disney channel. Yeah. ABC had like TGIF on Fridays. I remember being a big thing. Where it was like Boy Meets World. Oh my God. Which I think eventually went to Disney. I have weird like when you said Boy Meets World, I got weird like puberty fit. That was like puberty Boy Meets World. Yeah. I love that. I loved Boy Meets World. Yeah. Sean. Yeah. No, it's all coming back. Well, yeah. Well, that'll be a whole separate thing. Yeah. All right. So much like the email episode to get their presentation for you. I love nothing more than your presentations and I'm ready. So I thought the best way to introduce you to Nickelodeon was to go through 90s shows a bit and I broke them into a couple categories. Is this so this is kind of reflective of your childhood experience? Yes. These are these are all shows that I watched as a kid. Okay. So first category, we're going to go into cartoons. Okay. All right. So like you mentioned Rugrats from 91 to 2003, 174 episodes of it. My God. They made some movies too. I had no idea. So Rugrats follows the imaginative adventures of a group of babies. Tommy, Chucky, Angelica, Susie and twins Phil and Lil. Uh-huh. They explore the world from their pint size point of view using their wild imaginations ordinary experiences become grand quests and discoveries while adults remain mostly unaware of the epic adventures that they're having. So I did watch a bit of this. I didn't watch it obsessively, but looking back at it, I feel like it was like quite a weird like even the animation style is feels sort of targeted a bit at older people as well. Like it's very neat. It's like a very like hipster cartoon. Yeah. I mean, now it is, but I think that's just nostalgia. Like, uh it was like the babies could talk to each other, but they couldn't talk to adults. Right. Right. Except Angelica, they could talk to Angelica and she could talk to the adults like she was the bridge, but she was also like the mean cousin. Right. And so like for some of these, I picked out some like key episodes episodes that I remember. You're a psychopath. Just like, just like. Yeah, I like that. Cause this is an insight into your brain, which I love. The understanding Nickelodeon, I think is partly understanding you. Yeah. Well, in the parents were like wacky and weird. Like his dad, so Tommy was the main character in his dad, stew pickles, his Tommy pickles. It's too pickle. Uh-huh. He was just like a fun dad. It was like kind of bluey vibes where it was modeling a good family. Yes. Situation. I think I remember it. Rugrats was like the way that was animated. The parents are so big that you were down on the floor with the kids. And so when adults came in, it was like a giant was entering the room. Exactly. And I thought that was something that was like, is the child experience? Yes. And then there was a character Reptar, which was like the big dinosaur that they loved. I just - I do remember the episode Reptar on ice, where they found this little lizard in the backyard. - Yeah. - And their parents take them to go see Reptar on ice, they bring the lizard 'cause they think it's Reptar's kid. - Okay. - And they're trying to give the lizard back to Reptar. They end up like backstage giving it to him and the lizard gets in the suit and-- - This is a cool memory. - Yeah. - Reptar. - Yeah. - It was one of the first spin-offs I think I ever knew about as a kid 'cause they did all grown up where it was like them as teenagers, which was cool. - That was a standalone episode or spin-off. - No, I think they did a whole series. - I don't like that. I don't like the idea of seeing those little kids as adults. That's weird. - Not adults, they were like teenagers. - Okay. - And it was just like, here's them a little older. - That's so cool. - I think it only lasted like a season or two. - No one wants that. - No. - You want your regrets for these little kids, not the teen versions, very funny concept. - All right, so then, do you know about Hey Arnold? - I know it, but I know nothing. I recognize the character. - Never watched it. - So '96 to 2004, they did a hundred episodes of it and I believe they've also done movies. He has a football-shaped head. - Yeah, that was-- - That was-- - Is thing? - Not a big forehead, a small forehead. - Hey Arnold follows a football-headed fourth grader, Arnold, who lives with his offbeat grandparents in a boarding house full of eclectic neighbors in the big city of Hillwood. His best friend, Jorold, at his side, he navigates school, program bullies, crushes, family dynamics, everyday urban life. I remember he had this amazing bedroom at the house that his grandparents lived. He had the top floor that had the skylight that would overlook the city. - Also, aside the dream kid. - Yes. - It's that way every kid dreams of. - Yes. - Big space. - Key episodes of this, they did a really amazing job. There was a Christmas episode. The grandparents have all these people that live with them. - They're like friends at what? - No, they're like tenants that live in this real living situation. - Yes. And there's this like grumpy Vietnamese guy that lives there. And they did a Christmas episode where you find out he had been separated from his daughter during Vietnam War, and has not seen her. So Arnold goes on this journey to reunite him with his daughter. So like your kid emotionally intense. - Yeah, yeah, it had like, this show had a lot of heart. - Yeah, so what is, are they kind of running, is grandparents kind of like slum lords? Are they running for it? - No, they're great. They're good people. - They're good people. They're helping people have this room. You need some way to stay. - Yes. - Okay, just chicken. - Yeah, they're like kind of like hippie grandparents. - Okay, we like them. - All these Nickelodeon shows. They're modeling like, they're modeling family values. - Yeah, I like this. - And then there was another episode about stoop kid. - Okay. - Where there was this kid that would knock it off the stoop. - As you say stoop kid, other people listen to this being like, "Oh my God, stoop kid." - Yeah, they know about stoop kid. And then Arnold helps stoop kid get off the stoop. (laughing) - He's never got a room. - My grandparents got his mess of house, come and live here. - Well, he was this like grumpy kid that would like harass people from his stoop. - Right. - But he wouldn't leave his stoop. - Wait, is a stoop the stairs? - The front stairs? - Yeah, I'm just saying I know what a stoop kid wouldn't leave his stoop. - Okay. - Arnold helps him get over his fear of leaving the stoop. - I feel like the more you say stoop, the more crazy that word seems. - Yeah, yeah. - Okay. - And then spoiler, he helps him get off the stoop and it just allows him to harass people beyond his stoop. - So he still stays. His cool personality traits stay. - Yeah, there's like a bully guy that goes to mess with him and then he acts like he doesn't leave the stoop and then he just like, hightells it after him. (laughing) - Okay. - That was hey Arnold. - Okay. - Doug. - Doug. - I know Doug. - Doug and Patti. - Doug and Patti. - Just see mayonnaise. - Patti mayonnaise. - Doug funny. - See, this is what's funny to me about this is I'm realizing New Zealand got these shows, but they were just like, some of these were just like splatted on different places. - Yeah, that makes sense. - Doug. - 91 to 96, which is, was that the guy? - Skeeter. - Skeeter? - Okay, so Doug is imaginative thoughtful kid just trying to find his way in his hometown of Bluffington between enduring bad haircuts, avoiding bully Roger Klotz and desperately hoping to impress his crush Patti mayonnaise. Doug's got plenty to be anxious about. No matter how it turns out, Doug can always turn to his best friend Skeeter. - Skeeter. - His dog pork chop. - Pork chop. - And of course, his fantasy life in journals. So he would always be writing and drawing in his journal and it would like come to life. - Okay, and that would take him off on different avenges. - Yes. And he had like quail man was his like super hero persona. - Uh-huh. - Which I think was just like a belt on his head. - Right, right, right. - I do remember there was this band The Beats that they love. - I remember this. - Which was kind of like The Beatles meets. - Uh-huh. - I don't even know, but there's an episode where he lies and tries to go to the concert and they're trying to win tickets on the radio, I think too, and K-Arson's. - I have, of all the things you've done so far, I have like good feelings towards Doug. And you know, I don't remember core elements. Like I don't remember having like a fantasy land in his journal that it go off and do. - Yeah, yeah. - But I definitely remember his overall vibe. - Yeah, I love Doug, as well. - So far, like what is your favorite one so far that you most resonate with? - Doug is the one that I have the most like core memories from? - Same. - That's a trip. I grew up in New Zealand. - Yeah. - We both have like a love of Doug. - Yeah, Doug funny. - That's a fucking trip. - Stay tuned for more Flightless Bird. We'll be right back after a word from our sponsors. - Support for Flightless Bird comes from Grow Therapy. Was this month supposed to be your big fresh start to the year? Sometimes the pressure affects everything at once. It can just leave you feeling entirely stuck. And with Grow Therapy, it makes it easier to reset your own pace with therapy that's covered by insurance and built around your specific life. - People assume therapies to expensive, but what if we said it didn't have to be? 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One purchased, one donated, with over 150 million donations in county. - So we head over to bombahs.com/bird and use code Bird for 20% off your first purchase. That's B-O-M-B-A-S.com/bird. Code Bird, check out. (upbeat music) - All right, Rocco's modern life. Do you know about Rocco? - I've never heard of this in my life. - Okay, this is more what I was hoping for. It's just to be like very foreign weird. 'Cause some of these I think are pretty niche. - Yeah, no, I don't know anything. It's a weird dog and it's dog. - Wallaby? - It's a wallaby. - He's a wallaby. - 93.96, 52 episodes of Rocco's modern life. Rocco's a wallaby is moved from his native Australia to the United States. - I can't create him, I can't create him. - But modern life isn't as easy as he expected. Living in the fictional city of O-town, he navigates everyday challenges, odd jobs, neighborhood annoyances and quirky mishaps while trying to make the most of his life in his new home. Along the way, Rocco was joined by his loyal dog, Spunky, his friendly but dimwitted pal, Heffer, and his neurotic buddy Philbert, who's that turtle guy on the right. A little turtle, as they encountered all kinds of bizarre situations and strange characters. Did Rocco have an Australian accent? I think he was American. I mean, I think he had a cartoon character voice. And the animation style from the screenshots, it looks like very comical and quite funny and absurd. Yeah, I, this, not the other. And the next one, Ren and Stimpy. I think had kind of similar vibes where it was like a little gross. Rocco's was like a slightly tamer version of Ren and Stimpy. I feel like where there's like maggots and bugs and stuff that are part of it. But Ren and Stimpy, I do remember being like totally disgusting. Like, I don't think my mom liked me watching Ren and Stimpy. Yeah, we had Ren and Stimpy and my mom was exactly the same. Yeah, it's like this isn't doing any good fuel brain. No, and they were, what the fuck were they? What are Ren and Stimpy? So Ren and Stimpy falls bizarre off the wall, misadventures of two unlikely roommates. Ren and emotionally unstable Chihuahua. And Stimpy, a cheerful but dim-witted cat is a navigate strange scenarios of real humor and slaps a chaos in a wildly exaggerated cartoon world. I didn't know he was a cat. I wouldn't look at him and think cat. Yeah, I don't Chihuahua and cat. I see the Chihuahua. Like Chihuahua is the most disgusting, troubled, haeless thing. Yeah, I do not see cat or something. He looks more like a dog to me than a cat. I agree, ho, hardly. But yeah, this was like gross or weird cartoons. And I just remember their faces being like incredibly warped and like lots of like crazy expressions. Yeah, and like kind of like acid drippy. Yeah, very acid-y. Yeah. All right, so we're gonna exit cartoons. Okay, so I think live action, this is where it's going to get weird for me. I think so too. And thinking about this, I think it's because like cartoons translate to other countries because like kids like colorful illustrations, whereas like relating to American kids is a little bit different as I could kiwi. Yeah, these are more like cultural slice of life type shows. Deeply curious about this. So are you afraid of the dark? Do you know about this? No. This was from 1990 to 2000 and did 90 episodes of this. This feels scary. This was scary. Are you afraid of the dark? Is a spine tingling anthology series that invites young viewers into the eerie world of the midnight society? So every episode would start with them gathering behind the fire to tell a scary story. Okay. So it was this like story telling and then it would end with them being like freaked out around the fire and. Okay, so that was not the unifying thing. Was the amgathering to like. Yeah. They would like throw this powder into the fire and like this is the tale. Great format. Of the doll maker. Yeah, okay. And like that was one of the episodes I remember. There was like a friend that went missing and she like ended up in an attic that had all these creepy vintage dolls. Terrific. And her friend was trapped in one of the doll bodies. It's like as a kid was just one of the like first kind of horror-esque. Yeah, absolutely. It's a media. So there's an episode, The Tale of the Deadman's Float, which I still think about. Yeah, okay. Uh, it was a pool. It was like a closed pool at school, I believe. Already scary. A student had drowned. At one point in the pool. Oh, full. Which, it's also kind of crazy that this was like kids' shows. Completely. 90s, I was two to 12. Mm-hmm. Yeah, so like. Pretty formative. Yeah, he is. But I just remember they would like. They snuck into the pool and there was this creature. That creature, that skull. I hate that. flashy creature, that would emerge from the water and like pull them under. From fuck that. Yeah, so like the deep end. That's why I like. Oh. I don't love a pool where. Yeah. Yeah, there's a. No, no, no, no. This is the last deep end. Because I think of this episode of this show still. I mean, I have. I don't know why, but I have problems with pools with the filters. Like, you know, like with the water. I love it. There you go. Well, I do laps. I don't want to be on the outside lane where I can see all the water surping off to the side. Yeah, so pools are scary. That's a psychotic thing to gear up for kids. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like something that drags you down from the deep end. Yeah. Especially in a world where like you're trying to teach kids to swim and to be safe in the water. Yes. To freak them out. Yes. It's like showing kids' jaws. There was like a movie recently that had a similar premise to that episode and I was like, I'm not going to watch this. I'm not going to, because I don't need to revisit the trauma of this episode. You know, I hate this. Get terrified of pools. And also wait, just when this was airing. Was this after school stuff as well? Was this later at night on Nickelodeon? I think it was still like because Nickelodeon also had nick at night. Okay. Which they would play like old. Yeah. Yeah. I like Laverne and Shirley. Happy days. Okay. Do you know about these? I know. Happy days. I don't know the other way. Linn and Shirley. Laverne and Shirley. Okay. Yeah. Cool TV. But my point being, this shit was marketed for kids. Yeah. Look at that clown. That's a hate out of a Twilight Zone. Hate it a lot. Yeah. I don't like this at all. All right. Moving on, we've got Cloris explains it all. Yeah. Okay. Never heard of it. So this is Melissa Joan Hart. You know, do you know? I do. Melissa. That was her show. And she was. So 91 to 94. 65 episodes. We're still so like 65 episodes. So much of it. Yes. We're so compared to what she is now. Completely. They're making so many episodes. Yeah. So Cloris explains it all. It was a teen sitcom. Mm-hmm. And around Cloris Adarling. Starts sarcastic, creative young teenager. Navigating ups and downs of adolescent life. She would break the fourth wall and talk to the audience. That's a hit of its time. Which, yeah. Was pretty innovative. Uh-huh. Yeah. This was more like my sisters would watch this show. So for a female, more like a female-based audience. I think so. Identifying with that character. Yeah. Okay. It was salute you short. Oh my God. I thought this is weird, man. This is kidding, really weird. Looking an image of like, like. Lendering a camp. Yeah. Like running some like underwear up a flagpole. It's like a joke or something. So no. Yeah. There's no one 92 to 26 episodes. I still remember the song. Only 26. Right along that one. Camp on a wana. We hold you in our hearts and when we think about you, it makes us want to fart. So it was, it was a bunch of young campers at a fictional summer camp camp on a wana. Cabin's campfires in the woods. Right. Sitting for like, adventures. Yeah. Campers, breaks. Rumbleries, crushes, misadventures with a bumbling camp counselor. This. Did you like fun? Yeah. I like this one a lot. It was short though. So 91 to 92 was like, that would have been three and four years old. So yeah, you were a kid. When I found it, it was after it and re-run away a bit. Yeah. Yeah, re-run it. The adventures of Pete and Pete. No. No. No. I was saying like a couple of like white ginger kids who were like, hugging? Like, what is this vibe? Brothers? Yes, they are brothers. Okay. Just, sorry. Just tell me. So 92 to 96. 39 episodes. Um, there's the Pete and Pete. There's quirky off. He said come about surreal humorous lives of two brothers who share the same name, Big Pete and Little Pete. That's what they based the song. Yeah. Little Pete Riggly. They grew up together in Wellsville. Uh-huh. I got this on DVD and Calvin and I have watched this and it is still great. Um, incredible. Like Little Pete has a tattoo on his forearm of, like, of Petunia. What does it explain why he has a tattoo? Not really. It's just this thing and he could like make a dance when he like flexes his arm. Okay. There's an episode called What We Did on Summer Vacation, uh-huh, where they become obsessed with befriending the local ice cream man, Mr. Tasty. And I, yeah, which is like, okay, it's a nice thing for a kid to get me such like warm. Yeah. Like thinking about that episode and then yeah, like he, he wears this big ice cream thing on his head. He's like a mascot for, for Mr. Tasty. Uh-huh. And I'm trying to find him, he's lonely. We need to be friends with him. He's just the mysterious ice cream man that every, yeah, everyone gets ice cream thrown over the summer and then he goes away and which is funny because I feel like I'm like ice cream men are now tropes of like abductors and like murderers. Yeah. So I guess maybe that was before that was a thing and an idea. Like ice cream men were like friendly and fun and we should like look after them as opposed to like keep away from the ice cream truck. They're gonna abduct you. What a weird concept. This is so weird, man. Also like, I guess when you've got like a network, pitching is easier, but like pitching these shows, like it's a weird pitch, like we've got these two kids, they've got the same name. Yeah. Like, I go in adventures. Honestly, I was making this and I was like, they don't make TV like this anymore. - No, and like, these are incredible shows. And I don't know if that's just 'cause I grew up watching them and I have like a fondness for them. - Do your kids, do they appreciate this? - Yeah, do they get in love with this? - So translate, and he's watched Hey Arnold before and wasn't the day. - I mean, if this is, so this is made in like 92 to 96 and it stood that much time with your like kids, that sees a lot. - Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's has like, this show had like kind of wonder years vibes when about wonder years. - Okay. - I'm nodding, but I don't really want to be. I know it's like, I don't know. - And I do, so there was another episode. So Little Pete was just kind of this troublemaker, defiant. - Rascal. - Yes. - 'Cause I know it's like you. - An episode called The Night Crawlers, where he becomes determined to defy the international adult conspiracy by staying up for 11 days straight. Okay, doesn't want to go to bed. - Yes. - He believes adults or conspires, conspiring to cut childhood short. - Okay, that's fun. I like that, 'cause no kid wants to go to bed. No one wants that. - So yeah. (laughs) - Deeply weird, but I look. I'm, who's this guy in the middle that adult on the phone? Do you know who that is? - I think that guy's in prison on that shot. - Okay, what the cat is sitting somewhere in prison? - I think that's Arnie. - Who's Arnie? - Arnie is the world's strongest man that is Little Pete's like best friend. - Okay, and he at one point goes to prison? - I don't remember, yeah, Arnie, sorry. - Arnie, okay. - That's Arnie, which Arnie's played by Toby Huss, who is like, he was in Holt and Catch Fire in King of the Hill. - Right. - Arnie was known as the strongest man in the world, and he's the mentor and protector for Little Pete. - Okay. - So he would help him solve his issues, but I think a few screws were maybe loose. You'd always like flex and-- - Okay, a bit of a nut. - Yeah. - Okay, no more stuff. - The secret world of Alex Mack, which I think you would probably love this show. - Okay. - From '94 to '98. - Seven episodes. - Seven episodes? - Okay. - It's a live action sci-fi teen drama about an ordinary girl who changes in an extraordinary way. She's accidentally drenched with a top secret experimental chemical. She discovers she's got powers from us. Telekinesis, she's electricity from her fingertips, and she would morph into a puddle of liquid. - Right. - So that's the worst of it all the time. - That's so weird, dude. Is this like tying back into like the whole slime - A little bit of like feeling of Nickelodeon? - This is like the worst special ability ever. Well, I don't want that. - I do remember having the biggest crush on Alex Mack, as a kid. - Yeah. - She was like cool. And she was the actress that was in later in 10 Things I Hate About You. - Okay. - And she plays Julie Stiles' sister in it that Joseph Gore-Leavitt, I think his character, was romantically in line with. - I think I know who you're talking about. - Yeah. - Great film. - Was this marketed at any particular like Jinda, or was it like a. - I think this was probably more female-based, but the like sci-fi puddling. - Oh, I mean, how often would she go back to a puddle? - That's mostly a number from the show. - What? - She would morph into a puddle and like go through doors. - Oh, so the puddle would move. - The puddle would move. - Yeah. - She's not just stuck in a puddle. - Yeah, she would be a puddle and she'd be able to go move around. And it's fucked up. - It's really bizarre, man. It's a really weird gimmick. - Yeah. - I'm a bit good on there, I guess. Okay. - All that. - Do you know about all that? - No. - Okay, so this was kind of. - These are older kids, maybe? - So this was like a kid's version of SNL. - Oh my god. - Okay. - So Kenan, Thompson, who's not a SNL. - We know what SNL came from this. - Uh-huh. - Kell, Amanda Bines. So it's a sketch comedy, original short comedic sketches, reoccurring characters, their musical guests. - Kids, they say no. - Pretty much. So they had a sketch good burger, which I think they eventually made that into a movie as well. Like Nickelodeon would make movies. Just like Lauren Michaels does. - Like these would spin off. It was. - Boy, if people like-- - Very much. - Good to see you. - It was very much SNL for kids. - Okay. - Kell would play a guy that worked at Good Burger. - Okay. - And it was welcome to Good Burger, home of the Good Burger. - Uh-huh. - Can I take your order? - That was like a good blind. - He was just like a dumb, yeah. - And then Super Dude was Kenan. He played the superhero that would crash into walls and sloppily, try to save people and was bad at it. - So wait, just fast food for a second. Kenan and Kell, what did they turn into? 'Cause I know that that's fun off into another show, Kenan and Kell. - That came from all that. - Okay. - And then Amanda Binds also had a spin off, which it's later. Yeah, okay. - Sorry, wait a minute. - Kenan and Kell are having fun. - Kenan had. And then they had this lady, Lori Beth Denberg. She would do like a weekend update. - Type things too, where she would have facts and jokes from a classroom. And then kind of like cool for like a talent mining, kind of like bringing people into this and giving them an area to play and to figure out who was good at this stuff. - Like, I mean, there's Sinbad on it. - Holy shit. - Yeah. - And yeah, I think, I mean, Kenan's still on a smell. - So just quickly 218 episodes. - Yeah, they, I think they've brought it back a few times. - Yeah, right. - But she also had the loud librarian. - Uh-huh. - Where there was a sketch where she would be telling people to be quiet in the library, but she would do it very loudly. - That's funny. - That's funny. - I like that. - Yeah. - I like this gang. - And you like this particular? - I do like this show a lot, yes. - Yeah, yeah, yeah. - But okay, so then Kenan and Kell spun off of this. Kenan Rockmore, played by Kenan Thompson, and his best friend, Kell Kimball, played by Kell Mitchell. He's in the village, changed their last names. This took place in Chicago to mischievous high school buddies getting into all kinds of file hijinks, cookie schemes, and unforgettable adventures. They worked at like a convenience store together. That's the picture of them with their boss. Kell loved Orange Soda. - That was the guy. - That was like, that was his thing. - A thing. He just really loved Orange Soda. - Do you call that Fanta in America, or is that unusual? - I mean, we have Fanta too, but Orange Soda was its own. - I think they also just had a generic brand Orange Soda because I remember an episode of this where Kell somehow gets locked in like a freezer and the handle comes off. - Terrifying. - Everyone comes looking for him and they just also keep getting stuck in the freezer with him. Somehow the door keeps shutting. - Freeze gets more and more full of people. - Yes, and comedy and soos. - Exactly. - Okay, I like this. - Also like, I feel until now a lot of these shows have been that quite white as well. - Yeah. - And here I've got like two black kids in a show. - Yeah, I mean, they-- - Or was it pretty diverse throughout? - I will say, just like rolling back, they do have, all that has some diversity 'cause they came from that. - Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. - Alex Mack has a black friend. - No, no, totally. No, so it's not just white central. - Yeah, I mean, as most TV was, are you afraid of the dark? I do feel like Nickelodeon did an okay job of-- - Yeah, it had some. - They had some. - Yeah, yeah. - Yes. - No, cool. No, no, I'm curious. I hadn't really like clocked what was going on there. (upbeat music) - Stay tuned for more Flightless Bird. - Support for Flightless Bird comes from Shopify. Now, when we started this podcast, we had to figure out everything pretty much from scratch. What the show is gonna be, what the logo is gonna do, what our promo's would be, what the entire thing would be about. It was very overwhelming. We got there, obviously. But our point is-- - With that list growing every day and new tasks, that list can easily start taking over your life and finding the right tool that not only helps you out, but simplifies everything, can be a game changer. And for us, that tool has been Shopify. Shopify is the commerce platform behind millions of businesses around the world and 10% of all e-commerce in the United States. From household names like all birds to brands just getting started. - Get started with your own design studio with hundreds of ready-to-go templates. 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This one action-adventure show, teams of kids compete. I mean, this looks amazing. Hosted by Kirk Fog with the disembodied voice of all my kids. Stonehead. So he was narrating Big Stone that mouth would move. This is incredible to me. This is trippy as well. Teams of two problem solving skills. They go through obstacle courses, temple rooms to retrieve hidden artifacts to win prizes. And the prizes were always like what you would imagine if you went to like a Toys R Us and could buy whatever you want. So there's a kid you're like, oh my god. Yeah, I want the set. Yeah, this is like the sets look amazing. This was one of my favorite game shows. Yeah, there's a kid in New Zealand. I wasn't served game shows like this. When you would just fantasize about like being able to go on these shows. Of course. I could dream. In New Zealand, we had Hayden mentioned it at the start of the episode. We had a show called What Now. And I think from what I can tell of what you're doing here, like What Now Absorbed, What Nickelodeon was doing and tried to do its own thing. So they had like little game elements. Yeah. And they had like segments. But nothing like this. They had figured out looks like it came back. So 97 and 99 and then again in 2012, 227 episodes. So this show would have a panel of other Nickelodeon people. So there's like Keenan, you would get slimed. There was like tubes above each of the panels. And at some point like slime would happen. But the way this one would work is it was someone would come on with a hidden talent. And the panel would try to guess the words like it was a bunch of blanks. Okay. And you would uncover words. What does this person do? What's the talent? It was always like weird. You know, I'm a trainer or something. Yeah. Okay. Okay. And they would ask them questions. And if the words got uncovered. And yeah, we had wild and crazy kids. Okay. 41 episodes 1990. It started again. Just more physical challenges. Oversized playgrounds, outdoor optical courses. A lot of these were like slime and goo and gross things that most slime was coming to it. Got messy by the end of it. What would you do? Similar. Mark Summers hosted this where studio audiences are shown unusual funny situation. The moment kids and families that ask you about on what you would do before the outcome is revealed between these. What would you do segments? Special guests and audience members are selected perform silly messy or outrageous stunts. Often involving whipped cream pies or other comedic challenges. When you are watching the stuff after school, we are siblings with you. Like, what was the situation we are watching this stuff? Yeah. We're often all watching. And with you, we are mom and dad like coming out with the housework. We're getting dinner. You're like, we want to watch more. Was it was any kind of like fighting over how much you could watch? I don't remember there being that my mom was to stay at home mom until we were older. My dad was always off. He worked till like six. He would come home at six from the city from working. So I think it was pretty much like whatever will occupy these four kids. Yeah, totally. Take this. We would do that. I mean, there was a point where we would there's a lot more outdoor play and around the neighborhoods. And my mom had this bell. What do you see? This is what I was angling for. Some like little weird family thing. She had a bell. She had a bell. And when it was like dinner time, she would ring it from the back. And we would know. And you'd hear it. We would know. And you would around the neighborhood like flood back in. Be with and bell ring. I mean that into itself is like in the Colisean show. It doesn't seem real. Yeah. It's really good. Um, guts. This was another one of my favorites. Okay. So 92 to 95 160 episodes. So this was more action sports competition. Oh, so there's like do you have the guts to do this? Yes. Crazy thing. obstacle course. All of these have obstacle course. Well, they're fun. Yeah. Yeah. But I remember like big pools and basketball games. And then at the end, there was this like towering mountain that they'd have to climb up. And the winner would get a giant guts. Get to the top. Did you ever have anyone in your class or anyone in your world that we ever got on to one of these shows? Yes. There was one kid that did. I think it was guts. Someone from your school. Someone from our school. Yeah. And I was curious because it's like there's a lot of like millions of kids. Yeah. And then double dare. Okay. I mean, all of these are kind of a bit of an urge in my brain. Yeah, completely. This one, there was a lot of like going up noses and there'd be like fake boogers and slime. So more like gross out kind of slime orientated. But this was like teams of and it was normally families. I think they had like family double dare probably to where you would compete with your family and do these like gross obstacles. But all much of a matchness slime being a common theme coming through. All right. So then I'm going late 90s. These were how old were you at this at this kind of point late 90s. This was when I'm like 12 13. Okay. So I miss some of these shows, but these were still like pretty core Nickelodeon shows that I thought were worth telling you about cat dog. Do you know about cat dog? I feel like we had this. I never watched it. Yes. The cat dog was in 98 2005. I see a dog in a cat that's kind of fused into the one body. Yep. So they were enjoying brothers. One clever but uptight cat and the other was a fun loving dumb dog. Did they explain why they were fused? Or it was just the state that probably, but yeah, they shared one body living in a fictional town of nearby. It's a very funny idea. Yeah. We like to have like these two opposed creatures fused together. Yeah. It's funny. The wild thornberries. Never heard of it. This 98 2004. I believe they also made a movie or two of this. It's an adventure series. It follows a thornberry family and a nomadic group of wildlife documentary filmmakers who travel the world and capture nature and it's wild glory. So Eliza. The main character can talk to animals. I love this. So the doctor doodle do little isk. Yes. And she's got a pet chimp named Darwin. That is like very smart. And then her brother is like maybe part monkey. He's like really wild and a bit like sort of thorough. Yes. Like he's off with the creatures. Yes. Yeah. Okay. I can hear his voice. Right. Just yeah. Yeah. So he's a little wild kid growing up. Yeah. I think he was just meant to be a kid that didn't talk yet and was just like this little maniac. I like this. I mean, what I like about this show is that it has like a really like it's a premise. I feel like you can really get a lot out of it. Like a lot of these shows and I guess it's the same with a lot of kid shows. It's literally one concept. Let's get a cat and a dog and they've got one body. Like that's kind of all you need. Whereas this is like a whole world. The documentary filmmakers is family. They're out and like out with animals all the time. Yeah. And I think this was very educational. You're learning about animals and yeah, in Africa. And they're like this. I think I would like to show I think you would too. Maybe maybe check it out. I'm like into it. I need something you to watch. The angry Beavers. They were at the 97 to 2001. This was Norbert and Daggett Beaver. Two North American Beavers brothers who move out of their parents home and become bachelors in the forest near way out of town Oregon. Very funny. Daggett is excitable and hyperactive while Norbert is laid back and clever. So that was always it seems like a trope in a lot of these where you have the like yeah serious smart one and then the like goofy wacky dumb one. Because then literally every episode no matter what's happening, you've got built-in conflict and hijinks and off you go, which is plenty of goofy conflicts. Did you identify with one particular beaver? I didn't watch this one a ton. I do remember the show quite a bit though. 64 episodes. Yeah, it's so much. You'll know this. This is still out. SpongeBob Squarepants, Nickelodeon. I hear it's a big show. 1999. I have watched, yeah, watch bits of it. Watch one of the movies. They had David Hasselhoff in it. Iconic. Can you work a crusty crab, Patrick? Your kids watch this? No, they get into it a little bit. I think they saw the movie. I feel like some of these shows this being one of them did crossover into adults who are watching it and liking it. Like SpongeBob, I feel it's like beloved by adults is much as kids and not just because they grew up with it. Well, I was going to say I think a lot of what SpongeBob is is it just stayed on and people? Well, literally people that loved it as a kid are now introducing it to their children. Right, so it's just because it's been off for so long. I think I mean, I do think it does play with like some adult humor that kids it goes over kids heads and which a lot of these shows did that. I feel like when I think of SpongeBob, it's in the same category to me as like Ren and Stimpy, where some of it almost taps into like a slightly drugged out height and state that seems to kind of go hand in hand with those states of mind, maybe. I do think it's pulled back a bit from Ren and Stimpy. Like Ren and Stimpy was. Ren and Stimpy was fucked up. It was really fucking weird. Yes. Yeah. And extreme. Like a total acid trip. Yeah. Yeah. Which I mean, maybe though like that, - That was my interpretation of it when I was a kid. - Yeah. - I wonder if I would were to watch it now if it would have that same as a elevation. - Yeah. - I mean, this sponge roll was pretty trippy. I mean, a little creatures like a sponge. - Yeah. - Living out of the ocean. - In his pet snail Gary, like, just really goofy and silly. - 348 episodes, rocket power. - Never heard of it. - It was 90, I did like this a lot. - They look like the Rugrats people. - A bit. - Same style. - Same style. - This was auto rocket. His town boy sister Reggie Rocket. And their pals, Twister Rodriguez and Sam Squid, who live in Southern California. So this was like, they were like extreme sport kids. - Okay. - They were like skateboarding, surfing. - Sort of aspirational. You're kind of like, these guys are cool. - Yeah, they were like the super cool cartoon kids. - And then the Amanda show. So this, okay, what is this? - Amanda Bind. - I don't like these promo images. Like, they look like deranged. - So Amanda came from all that. - Not knocking any of these kids. - Well, Amanda came from all that. This was just like another version of a sketch comedy show, which Josh and Drake, I believe also spun off from this show. Like, there's lots of spin-offs happening. - Yeah. - And I do think Amanda has had some mental health issues. Stemming from the crazy world of like being in this as like a kid. - Yeah, and yeah. 'Cause of course, that's the other thing. Like, all the kids in these shows were like, little mini celebs. Like they were like living like quite a weird life, I imagine. - And that's, that's it for my Nickelodeon. - I feel like you grew up in a world that was just so all encompassing that I got little flashes of it. And like, when I recognized like football head guy. - Yeah. - Yeah, like that existed in New Zealand, but it wasn't like, we weren't hit over the head with it. Whereas I feel all of this stuff is just like, deep in your bones. - Yeah, yeah. - All the time. - I mean, going through and making this. - For years. - Was a fun exercise. - Yeah. - Just like how great TV, like that era of TV. - Like I'm curious, like say like we fast-forward like 30 years. Your kids doing a podcast, they're doing like, this is what I grew up with. I wonder if they would have the same level of like, feeling and ownership of this stuff. Or if it's more like they're into a thing for a week or a month. And then the stuff doesn't last and they move on. - I feel like that's more, that's my, like they go through phases so much quicker. - There's a feeling I get where is this stuff stuck around? Like we're talking like 350 episodes. - Yeah. - You grow up with the stuff and you grow up with the characters. - And like, there was limited, there was two kids stations that you were watching. You were watching Disney or Nickelodeon. It was channel 46 in 54 that we would flip it really. - Yeah, yeah, yeah. - And then you had like cartoon network was 47. - Yeah. - That you would sometimes jump up to. - Would you fight with your siblings about like what you're watching? Was it like racing for the remote and shit? Or was it pretty chill? - I don't remember a ton of that. I mean, I think how many? - No, I doubt it was harmony. - Yeah. - And we had two TVs. - Your mom would, if you got too crazy, she'd get the bell. - We had, yeah. - Start ringing. - Like a TV in the basement. I don't know. I don't remember there being a ton of fighting over it, but I was also like outside playing with neighbors. - You'd go out. - Until the bell rang. - Sometimes when the bell rang, would some of you like be like, you wouldn't come back, you'd be like a bit naughty and like, stay out. - Yeah. - Yeah. - And what would happen then? What would your mom do? - You get grounded. - You get grounded. - What was a typical grounding, just like Nickelodeon for a week or something? - Yeah, you just were stuck at home. - Areble. - Yeah, kind of. - Areble out. - With your mom's cooking. (laughing) I don't know why it's being mean to your mom just saying. - It's great. - I just keep thinking of like you has a singer, pie making ability. - Now, I love that, thank you. - Looking at all of these shows. - Which ones would you watch? - What I feel I really missed out on was that live action stuff. - Yeah. - 'Cause I, when you mentioned, I know it's different network. When you mentioned Boy Meets Worlds, I just remember being a kid and seeing other kids on screen was such a big thing. - Yeah. - And I missed out on all those massive live action things. I would have loved the game shows as well, but I just think kids being in outrageous situations, I would have been very into. - Like Ken and Kyle, we had that, but it wasn't like a big, big thing. And I feel like I would have loved to have had more of that in my life. - I think you should watch the Adventures of Pean Peat. - Okay. - I think you're fave. - I think you're going to be like Zany enough that I think it would still check out. - Okay, all right. He's got a tattoo that could sort of-- - Tony, I have a friend, I think he got a matching. I think he got that matching tattoo. - I want that, that's incredible. - He loved that show. - When I saw the poster, when that came up, I did not think this would be the show that stuck with you. Looked really weird. And again, it's that central premise of the whole show is based around, they've got the same name. - I know. - And there's builds on that. - And there's brothers. - So you're calling the guy that's got the tattoo? - I know he loved it. I'll see if he answers. - Who's the NLA? - Chicago. - Later. It's midnight there. (laughing) - He's just like, yeah, he answered, he's good. - Me just Googled the tattoo though. - That was, oh, it's quite like, yeah. - What an unusual thing to be part of that show. - Yeah, it was like, it's really weird. And they never explained how he had that show. - It was like a magical tattoo. - Yeah, it was part of the intro. This is my brother Pete and this is his tattoo, Petunia. (laughing) - I mean, that's a funny gag, just a kid having a tattoo with like, with no particular reason. - And I do remember the intro to that was a band playing this theme song, like, live, like in the front yard of their house. - This show sounds great, yeah. - Would they still be alive today? Do we know what Pete and Petunia are? They are, they are. I think Little Pete was in like a band. - Yeah. - Yeah, I'm sure. - Big Pete, I'm not sure. Yeah, they're either like, still acting or they completely got out of the game. - Completely out, cashed out. - Living a more mellow life. - Yeah. - Obviously, a part of this world as well, which I feel we can touch on in a future episode is some of the weirdest side of it. Like it did, there was dicing-ness within the world of Nickelodeon. - I mean, there was that documentary. - Entire documentary based on Nickelodeon. So that was also why I wanted to just stick to 90s nostalgia in talking about these shows. - Let's make this pure, beautiful, good moments. - Like our Christian music thing, where we can. - We'll do a part two where we delve into the a key side, beyond the key side of Nickelodeon. - But as a kid, I love that you had a good time. - With the show. - Yeah, yeah, yeah. It was nothing but fond memories watching Nickelodeon. - It's also the thing of when you're a kid, there's no cynicism, you're not jaded, and everything feels so big. So watching things is the best possible time to be amazed and involved in a story. - And it just opened all these different worlds and showed you these different perspectives. - If one of those shows could survive and all the other set to go, would it be Pete and Pete that stays? Or would you have like a Doug? - Doug, I think is up there. - It's mayonnaise. - It's still gotta be the live action ones, I think. - Yeah. - Like the cartoons feel very time capsuleed in an era. - Yeah. - I don't know that I would have the same fondness for it coming back. - Yeah. - Like I don't know that my boys would get the magic of it. - Yeah. - Which is like trying to watch the wire now. Like I didn't watch the wire when it came out. I know people love it. - Some of our similarities are quite weird 'cause I'm the same. I haven't watched it. - I haven't watched it. I've tried, and when I tried, it's been ripped off so much that it was, it made it feel like a reparity. - It's a little bit like when you watch the matrix today. - Yeah. - It's very hard to take seriously 'cause bullet time has been done in parity so much. - Yeah. - You forget that's the original thing. I know. I'm the same. I miss the wire at the time. I love everything about it. I should love it. - Yeah. - I have the same problem. - Listen being when something is out. Just watch it when it's out. Don't come back later. - Yeah, I think adventure is a bean bean. - You got it on DVD. - Got it on DVD. - Where'd you get it from? - I think eBay. - It's so funny. - The problem was we also didn't have a DVD player. So when I got him it for Christmas one year. - I got him for Christmas one year and he was so confused. It was just like, what is this? - What is this thing? - And then I had to find a DVD player and we'd watch in the garage and he got like really excited about going to watch it. - Pretty cute. - That's the thing. You have like a PlayStation 5 or something now. Doesn't play DVDs. It's like an issue. - Yeah. - I grew up with physical media. So it's really odd when you run into those kind of problems. And must be so weird having a kid who's just obviously normal but weird being like, what is this thing? - Well, he did not, he could not grasp like why can't we watch this? And I was like, well, it's on this disc and we don't have anything that can be played. And he's like, well, you bought it. Why can't you get this on the TV? - Yeah. - And he was a little younger when this happened. This was a few years ago. And yeah, he could not grasp. The we had to wait a couple days, because it is weird, isn't it? Yeah, right here, let's go put this on the TV. Yeah, no, we're daddy doesn't have the thing that couldn't read the machine that does this. Oh, man, thank you, Rob, how many slides was that? I think 56 slides. Really good one. Thank you, Rob. You got it. I appreciate learning from you. If you have any feedback, as always, fly to the spread [email protected]. Or your favorites, ones that I missed, I didn't get every Nickelodeon show. I mean, if you did, we'd be here for literal hours, and no one needs that. The fly to the spread [email protected] would love to know your recollections of Nickelodeon. And if you have any particular relationship to it beyond just watching, maybe you're in one of the shows. Maybe you voiced Penny mayonnaise, right in. It's weird, isn't it? When you're a kid and there's romance on screen and stuff, like all that early stuff, when you don't even really know what that is, but it's exciting and interesting. I had a crush on Penny mayonnaise, and she was a cartoon, saying, yeah, that's weird. Yeah. Okay. Feedback. Which way? Yeah. The voice of Penny mayonnaise, I think, is the actress in Orange is a new black. One of Netflix's first big prestige shows, along with House of Cards. Early stages of like, bingeable quality series. Yeah. Constance Shulman. Get out. Penny mayonnaise. Penny mayonnaise. And she still, like, has that voice. I remember one orange as the new black came on. I could tell the voice. I like, I know that voice. I mean, it's Penny mayonnaise. Really, really good. Listening, email us, like the spread [email protected]. Feedback. Would you like to hear some Rob? Yeah. So let's hear some feedback. A lot of feedback to Hooters. I think you texted me this Rob, one of my favorite comments that I think sums up the whole vibe perfectly. Elise, this episode is two of the most respectful and feminist men face with their biggest fear, which is being at risk of disrespecting woman. I thought that was just chef's kiss in every conceivable way, perfectly, perfectly stated. Thank you, Elise. Over on our Patreon, some feedback, Hooters reached here in Australia. And it was great. Had my 30th birthday. Oh, hooters, both my wife and I went there often. And when we're in Las Vegas, my wife got a tattoo at the Hooters Casino. I was unaware there was a Hooters Casino. Me too. It should be unsurprising probably. Also someone else in our Patreon mentioned, the outfit checks is more widespread than you would think. It's not just Hooters. As a teen, I worked at Abercrombie and we had to wear the clothes, had to wear their clothes fair enough. So before the store opened, we tried on jeans and the managers decided on fit. I was wearing a pair that fits perfectly and she was like, go down a size. My pelvic bones literally hurt by the end of the day because of how tight these jeans were. So the outfit checks, I guess, obviously beyond Hooters. Do you know about Abercrombie and Finch? I know it's like a fancy kind of, is it full light? It's like preppy. Preppy. But so the, it feels like the cost, same world as that little alligator logo. But the lore, I remember most about Abercrombie, aside from the LFO song, which was like a boy band. Which I don't know. They would pump their cologne and their scent out of the air ducts on the store. So you'd be at the mall. You could smell when you're walking by. You could smell Abercrombie and Finch. It was like a very strong smell. And when you were like walking by the idea, it's like this smell wouldn't entice you. Like I remember me in high school, that was the cologne I wanted. It was always too expensive of a store for us. But it was like aspirational, you like this is, and the cologne just like pumped out of the man horrific. Yeah. There was a cookie store in New Zealand, and they would spray out cookie smell under the streets. Chris, could not stop laughing during the Hooters episode, growing up, my dad would take me to who's often, he wasn't the best dad in the world. And in hindsight, he was just using the guys of taking me out for dinner to go to Hooters, and not for the food. It wasn't every week, but it was often enough that some of the workers knew me, and it would sit with me in color while I ate, and it's actually quite, I don't mean to laugh, kind of sad. And my dad sat at the bar and did, who knows what. So I had a laugh at the family friendly mention. Chris, you've got great perspective on your childhood and sounded not necessarily fun. I do, I will say. My coloring, my memories of going to Hooters when I was younger, was much more like dark bar, carpet, not dive bar, but like 90s restaurant, like not brand sports bar, not like the one we went to is pretty much Buffalo Wild Wings, but it was much more like, yeah, old, old 90s restaurant, like, you know, I didn't even think of like the day code. We're changing over time, early out of the bases, quite a bit. Skylar, said I moved to northern Kentucky last year and started working near the Floating Hooters, which I googled, there's a Hooters on a river, there you go. Natasha said, my ex-husband used to frequent Hooters on an almost daily basis. I find that I feel like I'm very like driving mode, it's just very funny since my ex-husband used to frequent Hooters on an almost daily basis, just a very funny sentence. He knew all the service and one of his friends married the manager at the time. I would tag along sometimes specifically for game days. I live in Calgary, Alberta and every home game for the Calgary Flames, Hooters had special tickets that included a meal and a bass ride on the Hooters Scooter to the game. The bass was painted bright purple and had an amazing sound system. Loud music was played too and from the game. And it was a great time. Who do you know who the Calgary Flames are? They're a sports team. Do you know what sports? I can't even think about this. Calgary Flames. Calgary Flames feels like basketball because when you jump and dunk, you think of like Flames. You think of like Flames coming out NBA jam. Calgary is in Canada though. Hockey. Fuck. Okay. I didn't even know what Calgary was. Jessica, I'm an American immigrant in Switzerland here. Zurich used to have a Hooters. It tried to have a Hooters. I'd been raised with Hooters near airports, but in Zurich it's at the heart of the red light district. Wings were scannily clad woman didn't flourish because mere meters were brothels and it closed after three years. Basically, Hooters there brushed up too closely. It was too team. I thought that was very funny. She signed off with Uff Wittelooge. I don't know what that is. I hope I haven't seen anything terrible. Okay. Barbara wrote in in regards to our white chocolate. Hershey's episode, Barbara said the Milky Bar is not real white chocolate. The Milky Bar being a Nestle product, which we sold and New Zealand Milky Bar could front of it. Okay. The Milky Bar is milk powder with oil, vegetable fat and must taste like wax. Real white chocolate is made with cocoa butter, which is white and probably real cream. Milky Bar is a Nestle product, which is just as fake as Hershey's. Probably real cream. Really good. Really liked that. Slammed down at the end. As always, thank you for all your feedback. Please let us know your own Nickelodeon memories or maybe like current shows they're doing that blow your mind. Maybe they're doing new shit that you want us to know about. And don't forget, tickets are going on sale this week, Sunday March 29th in Salt Lake City, Thursday, April 2nd in Austin and Saturday, April 4th in Dallas. If you are on our Patreon, we have the pre-sell code up there for you now. Get over there. And yeah, we'll see you next week. As always, fly to [email protected] with any feedback. Thank you for educating me Rob. Thank you for being open and coming along for the Nickelodeon ride. Any time you do a slideshow presentation, I'm fucking here for it and I'm not joking. See you next week. See you next week. Before we go, here's a preview of our latest bonus episode on Patreon. You can sign up at patreon.com/futlessbird. Hoot, hoot. Thanks for being here. We're going to do a Q&A. You're welcome as always to drop any questions for future ones of these and a Q&A chat over on Patreon. We thought we'd sort of read each of these out in an American accent, assuming where the person is from. What's y'all's biggest fear? Only his other accent because he said y'all. It's really good. You're accent. You're up. David, as a documentarian, it's the short-of-form approach of the podcast is creatively satisfying as you're along a form stuff. Rob. Let us be coming to Kyle House and me and more front facing taught you as a producer. - Also, brave and unrobbed. One of the worst injuries each of you has ever sustained. - I shit myself in a night gallery once. (laughing) - I apologize if you've said and I missed it, but you mentioned a band you'd do it and lived with. Which band, thanks buddy. - I think these are just all Southern accents. - It's the only accent we can do. (laughing) - It's just awful. (upbeat music) (upbeat music)