I’m sifting through Twitter, reading all the tweets, looking to see what’s trending–then it caught my eye. Not a picture or a specific tweet–but a hashtag that read #NickelodeonClassics. I couldn’t believe it. I read as people were talking about their favorite Nickelodeon shows. It made me sit back and think, “What were my favorite Nickelodeon shows?” This is my top five list.
1. Legends of the Hidden Temple
What a great show! I remember being scared of the temple guards when I was younger. Who didn’t want to go through Olmec’s temple? He had everything you could think of. Swings, ladders, observatory, etc. My favorite room in the temple–the ledges. I’d always laugh when a team chose to start through the ledges. A temple guard would always pop out, and they were down a pendant of life right off the bat. My favorite team–Purple Parrots. This is when I really rooted for underdogs. I only saw the Parrots’ make it to the temple one time–guess what? They won! It was educational, but most of all, fun to watch.
2. Wild and Crazy Kids
Wow! This is a close second. I remember spending hours watching the no. 1 show along with this one. Wild and Crazy Kids had some of the funnest games imaginable. Do you remember bumperball? What about Raging Waters episode? How about rolling a house in toilet paper? Or when they took over Universal Studios Hollywood? They were on the movie sets for all their games. Only on this show could kids go all out with their imagination. One other thing–Omar Gooding Jr. Hard to believe he was a host on this show–especially with the movies he’s been in.
3. Are You Afraid of the Dark?
This show was part of the Nick’s Saturday night lineup. I always felt the show didn’t get the credit it deserved. Coming on after All That must have been tough (not on my list though). It always made me think something scary will happen. The ending–no one wanted to be the last person around the open campfire–because they’d have pour the water out over it, and no one else would stick around to help them. Where did they come up with some of these stories? For a little kid, the show did its’ job. It left an impression
4. Guts (all versions)
“Do You Have it?” A memorable slogan from the show. Mike O’Malley–main character of the popular show, Yes Dear–hosted Guts. All the players competed for a glowing piece of aggro rock. The Aggro Crag was a beast towards the end of the show. I liked the fact they used many different sports during the show. Strong show, lots of love–but it didn’t crack my top three. However, it did have to the coolest arena name–Extreme Arena.
5. What Would You Do?
No–this is not the show hosted by John Quinones–this was hosted by Marc Summers. The show feautured different things, like the pie pod, the pie wash, pie coaster, etc. Who can forget the Wall O’Stuff? I know I can’t. I’d laugh when people would get a pie to the face, or the pie sprayer would soak them. They would present their token with a big smile–then the smile went away (in most cases). How many laughs this show gave me, I’ll never know the answer to that.
This list could not have been possible without our honorable mention list: Salute Your Shorts, Double Dare, Figure It Out, Kenan and Kel, Nick Arcade and Hey Dude. Now, I know there weren’t any cartoons, but that’s to come at a later date. We’re going to have a whole other debate for Nickelodeon cartoon supremacy.
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