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The 90s were an incredible time for children’s television, and there was nothing better than throwing on Nickelodeon after school and being whisked away on the winds of entertainment made just for you. From SNICK to the weirdness of Ren & Stimpy, and the surreal heartwarming tales spun by The Adventures of Pete and Pete, the shows that aired during the golden age of Nickelodeon completely changed children’s television – and warped our minds – forever.
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It’s Saturday night after a long week full of the drudgery of fourth grade and it’s time to get lit. And by “get lit” we mean throw on SNICK (Saturday Night Nickelodeon) the only place to tune into for shows like Are You Afraid of the Dark? and All That. Similar to Must-See TV on Thursday nights, SNICK was essentially prime time for kids. For many young people SNICK was the first taste of autonomy.
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Ren & Stimpy pioneered super weird and edgy animation. The show pushed the boundaries of children’s TV in more ways than its animation. The series was gross, its characters were unlikable, and the stories were straight up bizarre. Ren & Stimpy was the demarcation line between adults and kids. Parents didn’t get it, and children didn’t need to. It just made sense.
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There was no one cooler in the 90s than Clarissa Darling. She had style, her own bedroom, and she could break the fourth wall like nobody’s business. Clarissia Explains It All literally spoke to its audience by allowing the show’s lead, Clarissa, look into the camera and discuss the themes of that week’s episode. This wasn’t done in a Mr. Rogers Neighborhood kind of way, it was much more natural which made the whole thing all the more surreal. At the time this kind of thing just wasn’t done on TV.
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How can we be nostalgic for a moment that’s just passed? What does it mean to barely be in your teens and long for times gone by. This is the central question posed by The Adventures of Pete & Pete, a series that captures the strange magic of suburban childhood by blending quirky storylines and characters with heartfelt moments. Out of all the shows on Nickelodeon in the 90s, The Adventures of Pete & Pete continues to resonate with younger generations.
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No discussion of Nickelodeon in the 90s would be complete without at least a mention of the ludicrous game shows Double Dare and Legends of the Hidden Temple. These shows promised prizes, trips to sunny Orlando, Florida (a magical land that held sway over our dreams in this era), and straight up insane set design that must have been more fun to look at the traverse. Neither of these were our favorite shows on Nickelodeon, but there was something cool about picking up a piece of the Aggrocrag that we can’t shake.
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When Nicktoons launched in the early 90s there’s no way that execs at the channel believed that they had legit classics on their hands. Shows like Doug, Rugrats, and Hey Arnold! all put the magic of childhood on display in a way that felt modern. Each of the shows in question speaks to a different type of child (Rugrats for younger viewers, Doug for the suburban dreamers, and Hey Arnold! for all the city kids out there), but everyone can watch these shows and immediately get it. These shows were all for kids but they didn’t speak down to anyone, which is why they still hit.
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There’s been a lot of talk around the genuinely dark process that went into making All That, which makes the success of the show all the more fascinating. Before Kenan & Kel, before The Amanda Show, All That held the top spot on Nickelodeon with its promise of its SNL-style sketch show made for kids and kids alone. All That put everyone who watched on the same playing field. Suddenly, kids from Denver could joke around with kids from New York City or Portland, Oregon and it’s all thanks to this one silly show.
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This short-lived yet beloved series about a group of misfit campers came out a little earlier than a lot of the shows on SNICK. Revolving around the day to day lives of young people put in charge of running a summer camp, it set the template for many of the scripted live-action shows that followed. Basically The Breakfast Club but set in the outdoors (and without the serious drama), this is the show that made audiences want to go to sleepaway camp.
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Nothing was as terrifying as the opening credits of Are You Afraid of the Dark?, with its eerie emptiness, and that creaking swing, you knew you were in for serious bumps in the night when this show’s music hit. This long-running anthology series definitely had “baby’s first horror movie vibes,” which is probably why SO MANY 90s kids are obsessed with horror movies. Some of the episodes of the series don’t really hold up today, but at the time watching this show felt like you were walking through the doors of your personal haunted house.
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Why did every kid on the block want to go to Orlando? It’s probably because we were inundated with ads and references to Nickelodeon Studios, located in Orlando, Florida. This place was the dream destination for 90s kids. It not only offered a behind the scenes look at where all the slime-filled action actually happened, but there was the possibility of actually being on camera if your parents were cool enough to pony up the dough to take you down to Florida. In hindsight, the Orlando location was likely due to the inexpensive real estate but at the time that was the farthest thing from our minds.