But in this blog, I will concentrate on only one thing from my childhood that is no longer the way it was. This subject is the home, er, former home of the orange splat: Nickelodeon.
As you can see in the picture, Nickelodeon is no longer at that famous studio in Orlando, Florida. They moved to LA. And their old building at Universal Studios Orlando (aka Universal Studios Florida) is now a permanent stage for the Blue Man Group. It's heartbreaking to me a kid of the 90s to see a once great studio where shows such as Kenan & Kel, Double Dare, Double Dare 2000, Slime Time (Live), Clarissa Explains it All, Figure It Out, etc. filmed turned from the house of slime to the house of Blue (no pun intended and no disrespect intended to the Blue Man Group).
And it's not just the location change, the programming has gone down hill as well. Shows like Hey Arnold! were replaced with Naked Brothers Band. Shows like Rugrats were replaced with Fanboy and Chum Chum. Don't get me wrong, I may be a simple minority, but some shows they have are still decent, some even classic Nick. Shows like Avatar and SpongeBob SquarePants. Nickelodeon has also gone from this great channel where you celebrated kids to celebrating tween celebrities. The Kids Choice Awards has become nothing more than a popularity contest based on looks.
The argument could and probably should be made that I've simple outgrown them and they haven't changed. I disagree. I still feel like a child at heart, and can still watch Nickelodeon regularly when the few good shows are on. These days I spend my time on Nickelodeon's sister channel Nicktoons where the classics are still played like Rugrats and Rocko's Modern Life. But They only do the Nicktoons. What about my classic Nick game shows like Legends of the Hidden Temple or Double Dare? Well Nick GAS where those shows were shown was dissolved and transformed to The N which is today known as TeenNick or as I like to call it "The DeGrassi Channel" as 90% of the programming is DeGrassi. (On a side note, I've watched a few minutes of this show and I don't know how this is considered teen friendly.)
But what of shows like Clarissa Explains it All and All That? Those shows are sitting quietly dormant with no air time.
Finally, in September 2009, Nickelodeon committed what many kids of the 80s and 90s are calling the "ultimate cardinal sin": they changed their famous splat logo. The splat is dead and with it another piece of my childhood is gone. What are they gonna get rid of next? The orange? The Slime?
I just don't know but things on nickelodeon either keep disappearing or getting worse. I've said it many times and will say it again. They need a Nick Classic channel that can serve kinda like the TV Land of Nickelodeon.
I must ask this though. Why? Why, Nickelodeon, are you killing my childhood memories?
