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10 Essential Live-Action Nickelododeon Shows From The 90s That Shaped Our Generation

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Truth be told, there wasn’t a better time to grow up than in the 90s’, and if like me were lucky enough to be born in the early 80s’, experiencing both decades coherently before the big tech boom is one hell of a privilege that you’re proud to have been apart of. As a little kid, we had the pleasure of experiencing Saturday Morning cartoons, drinking from the water hose with no regrets or fear, and many of the other now cliche tropes you see on the interwebs of 80s kids’ lives. However, in this little sliver of an era that we lived in throughout humanity’s existence, how privileged are we to have experienced an afternoon block of what was to our generation, our very own Mona Lisa of television shows that spoke to OUR generation only.

The golden age of Nickelodeon started something that we, the older kids and young teens, wanted to see and tackled real issues in both a humorous and slick way that we could understand and relate to. Before 1990 hit, the Canadian slime-bastic show “You Can’t Do That On Television” which was one of the channel’s first syndicated programs that ran up until 1990, really paved the way and ushered in the rest of the Nick legacy after picking the show up and becoming production partners in 1982. It also introduced to us to that green slime that became the channel’s iconic callback.

Why green slime? Hell, I don’t know…

SHIT.

ANYWAYS. I HAVE NO CLUE, but who cares? It was gloriously disgusting and we were here for it.

There was so much great content that Nickelodeon put out throughout the decade that honestly, it was hard to cipher it down to just ten; but for everyone’s sake of their sanity and eyeballs, I gotta keep it tight here. Worth noting also that I’m just giving my own opinions here on a few live-action programs that not only stuck out of the nostalgic deep well of the 90s Nick era programming but ones that also I have a major soft spot for that truly spoke to us adolescents of a time when the internet was only something rich people could afford.

So, let’s dive deep into the 90s nostalgia of live-action Nick shows that ruled. But first…

WATER PLEASE!

10. Nick Arcade

I friggin’LOVED Nick Arcade and when video games were as hot as ever, Nickelodeon hopped on that train with a game show where kids played video game trivia and challenges to win prizes. Holy balls I wanted to be on this show so bad.

The challenges were comprised of the “Four P’s”, if that jolts your memory, of points, puzzles, pop quizzes, and prizes, and moving the video game mascot Mikey around different areas in a variety of worlds that would rotate in every episode landing on one of these four P’s depending on which direction the player wanted to go. But let’s face it-everyone was just waiting for those video game challenges and the Video Zone that led up to the Wizard Level for the winning team to face. That show was our muse to step up our game in Battletoads if we ever ended up in Orlando and wanted a shot at being a contestant.

Now to double those nostalgic senses, here’s a full episode featuring the Salute Your Shorts cast!

9. Hey Dude!

Hey Dude just barely inches in as the series started in 1989 and only lasted until 1991 but made an impactful memory to all those who caught it during its two-season run. Though it wasn’t because it wasn’t popular or anything, but because Nickelodeon studios opened up in Orlando and just didn’t want to shell out the extra cash of filming in Arizona.

Hey Dude set itself apart from the teenage Summer camp tropes and moved into a Dude Ranch in the Southwest which was interesting and different, to say the least. It involves real teenage problems including friendships, love interests, and even taking on topics of sexism in the workplace. Unlike a lot of kid-focused tv shows, this one had some terrific acting; cue Christine Taylor anyone? It was a fun show to relax and unwind with after a long day at school and the theme song was pretty catchy.

Bet you get this stuck in your head for at least 4 days.

8. Wild and Crazy Kids

Hosted by Omar Gooding, Annette Chavez ( Jessica Gaynes for the second season), and Donnie Jeffcoat, Wild and Crazy Kids was another popular game show that was bonkers as shit but would we really want it any other way?! The chaotic game consisted of three large groups of kids battling against each other via simple recess games like tug of war or Simon Says and then traveling into really fun challenges like Slime by Numbers where kids basically got to slime their own parents. That was definitely my favorite by far. I’m just really proud we lived in a time when green slime was all the rage and it was perfectly acceptable to do this to anyone in your family.

7. Legends Of The Hidden Temple

BLUE BARRACUDAS FOR LIFE. Legends of the Hidden Temple was a mix of Jeopardy and Indiana Jones game of mental and physical challenges for kids and it was an absolute blast to watch mostly because production really went balls to the wall with set designs for this. The arena is a giant fictitious Mayan temple with an animatronic stone head named Olmec who “knows the secrets behind each of the treasures in his temple. Teams of two separated by cool names and colors compete to snag a historical artifact by doing physical challenges and answering questions asked by the giant head on history, geography, and mythology. So you not only needed to fit as fuck, but hopefully, you paid attention in school or the shrine of the silver monkey was out of reach for you bud. Legends was a pretty big deal and talked about daily in the schoolyards around here because there really was nothing quite like it. I suppose it was a product of its time though as the 2021 revival didn’t catch that same magic. But then again, when you replace the kids with adults, it really does lose a lot of its appeal.

6. Clarissa Explains It All

Clarissa not only explained it, but had IT all and was pre-teen goals for all girls that watched this show. Her outfits were on point, her room was a teenage dream, and she just seemed to have like the perfect damn life with the exception of a few basic bumps along the way. Some of which yield positive learning experiences with wholesome morals about friendship, trust, and honesty. The show was an anomaly during its original run because it cast a close boy/girl friendship that wasn’t hampered by sexual attraction, which offered society the opportunity to talk about social dynamics between platonic friendships and dating. It also made Sam’s ladder seem a little less creepy and sort of adorable as he was the one friend Clarissa could always count on. It really was groundbreaking for its time and although it seems a bit dated now, this show was affluent with resonation for us kids in the 90s.

5. All That

The groundbreaking kid-starring sketch comedy show All That premiered in April of 1994 and was an instant hit with us. Part SNL, and Mad TV for a PG audience, the show tackled real-time topics with hilarious sketches along with musical guests performing in-between segments. Not to mention, the show birthed the infamous Good Burger skit with cast members Kenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell. The tidbit of burger employees and faux burger joint became a popular segment and launched their own movie in 1997. I mean, if you weren’t quoting Good Burger at least once a day in the 90s, who the hell even were you?

4. Double Dare

Marc Summers making kids pick giant noses on Double Dare for a walkman radio might just be one of most ingenious and insane things Nickolean put out and by the gods of giant bowls of dog food, we bought into it and were all in for this game show. With a team of two kids competing for a chance at the Double Dare obstacle course with both trivia questions and usually messy challenges, it was a joy to watch these kids get douched with whip cream, slime, and mud. Even better was Super Sloppy Double Dare if you remember that spin-off that was basically the same show but even messier. Double Dare is the reason a lot of these other game shows came into existence and why a lot of kids tuned in to the network and discovered a lot of these other shows. As stated before, I’m just really hyped we were a kid during this glorious golden age of excellent nose-picking programming.

3. Salute Your Shorts

Salute Your Shorts was the ultimate kids’ live-action show full of campy (ironically) farts, humor, and witty insults, with a sprinkle of kids facing everyday problems. In between the group torturing the head camp counselor Ug and then him getting revenge on the little farts as Zeke the Plumber, Salute Your Shorts became something really special for our generation. At only 26 episodes, the series feels like so much more thanks to the creative writing built around each character on the show. Each kid had identifiable personalities we could all resonate with. We all knew a Donkeylips or a Dina in our neighborhoods and thanks to Budnick, we had a healthy new prank or insult to pull every week on other friends. Or at the very least, we screamed sang this song when we really wanted to annoy everyone around us. That, did indeed, make me want to fart to really bring that song to another level of irksomeness.

2. The Adventures of Pete and Pete

Hey smiling strange, you’re looking happily deranged! Pete and Pete were PEAK 90s material and embodies everything that is nostalgic of the decade. The essence of the grudge era is felt beautifully in the story about these two brothers named Pete Wrigley. It’s never really explained why siblings share the same name, but it might have something to do with Mom’s metal plate in her head. The oddball show wasn’t really about anything other than their random misadventures with really cool recurring characters like Artie, the world’s strongest man, and the ice cream man Mr. Tastee who never showed his real face behind his mascot costume. And we can’t forget little Pete’s tattoo which was beyond taboo at the time but somehow, made it seem so wholesome, which also got its own cast credit in the intro. This show was just pure 90s bonkers with a fire intro that I still sing randomly in 2023. Long live Petunia!

1. Are You Afraid Of The Dark

    Submitted for the approval of the Midnight Society, this sits at the top as the greatest Nick show of the 90s. Serving as sort of a Twilight Zone for 90s kids, Are You Afraid of the Dark‘s ghost stories told around a campfire dared us to venture out of our comfort zone into a true gateway of horror with nightmare fuel icons of childhood horror like the Ghastly Grinner and Zeebo the Clown. These kids were the young horror fans that we were growing up and it was nice to see other horror nerds like us on TV taking their horror duties very seriously. They didn’t fuck around with rules and membership. You could only join if everyone voted that your tales were worthy enough.

    Thus, kids were both the tellers and subjects of the stories, uniquely grounding Are You Afraid of the Dark in teen perspectives at an important time in their young lives. It’s had such a lasting impact on our generation that almost anyone who lived through the 90s knows about this show. This Canadian-born program gave the power of storytelling to kids, helping them confront the real horrors of teen life with its ghost tale plots, villains, and moral resolutions. At its heart, Are You Afraid of the Dark was about the Midnight Society gathering around a campfire to collectively hash out the nightmares of watching childhood fade away into something more uncertain and sinister. There’s always that truly one-of-a-kind show you only get to see once in a generation and AYAOTD was it. Because there ain’t nothing scarier than having to grow up and pay a mortgage fellas.

    What was YOUR favorite live-action Nick show? Sound off in the comments, and remember…

    Lists

    Top 10 Horror Movies Of 1983!

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    Well, here we are again nostalgic nuggets! Another year has passed and that means another round of classic horror masterpieces turn a healthy 40. The year is 1983. A little game called Super Mario Bros first appeared in Japan. The first Cabbage Patch Kids dolls are sold in stores and nearly got people killed. And the very first cell phones were introduced to the public via Motorola.

    It’s also the year where we got to see a little Felissa Rose sport a mighty prosthetic dong to horror audiences everywhere.

    What a year, eh?! So let’s pop right into it. As per usual, these are just my personal opinions and only an official ranking if you see my dumb opinion as some sort of value. So take it as you will and let’s talk some 1983 horror!

    10. Twilight Zone: The Movie

    I initially struggled with the concept of even including the Twilight Zone Movie here; obviously because of the tragedy that befell on the set that involved the death of three people-two of them children. For that reason alone I can’t ever watch the movie anymore without getting upset. But, before that knowledge as a child, I did enjoy it and it is rather decent-not at the expense of three lives but I’d feel like shit as to not at least give this a mention because it shouldn’t be forgotten. So trying to insert some professionalism here with this movie landing at #10.

    The film is constructed by modern filmmakers into an anthology borrowing from the brilliant mind of Rod Serling in recreating segments from the original program. Scatman Crothers is phenomenal. Lord Farquaad having a panic attack on a plane is probably my favorite entry- and those two reasons alone are why it’s ranked this high. But in all seriousness, fuck John Landis.

    9. House On Sorority Row

    A classic tale of a prank gone wrong and sorority sisters who don’t know how to use a bra! I remember seeing the “head in the toilet” on the back of the VHS box as a kid and being sold based on that alone. The power of VHS art fellas.  Sorority Row takes place around a sorority house at a Maryland university. A group of sister seniors are fed up with their mistreatment via house mother Mrs. Slater. So they throw a party at the house, and the girls come up with an initially harmless-sounding prank on their house mother that later turns deadly.

    It’s got everything for that classic 80s horror slasher flick. Blood. Gore. Nudity. AND a creepy Jester! Just a little something different that I admire.

    8. Deadly Spawn

    Deadly Spawn is a horror movie barely even mentioned by the big boys so let’s give this passion project and underrated gem a little love.

    This movie is horror-fan service at some of its finest and has a genuine charm that ANY fan of the genre would love and embrace. A band of worm-like mutant aliens with thousands of teeth comes to play on Earth and hilarity ensues with horrendous acting and the kind of practical effects that one truly appreciates in the genre. For low-budget, the effects are something that every fan craves from an 80s genre film such as this, and honestly, I don’t know how anyone could hate this movie. If you do, I don’t think we can be friends, man.

    7. The Keep

    Michael Mann comes in balls swinging with the mind-fuck that is THE KEEP. Taking place during the Nazi regime, this supernatural fantasy of fairy-tale horror where bitch nazis get their asses kicked by Satan is almost impossible to keep up with coherently as the studios really butchered this one down. It’s a shame really. But, the Tangerine Dream score is sweetly undeniable and the effort put forth is there for us to take in all its solid yet weird glory. Somewhere in Paramount Studios lies an untainted director’s cut containing an extra hour and 30 minutes of this film, and by Goddess release already you cowards!

    6. The Dead Zone

    The first of several Stephen King adaptations here comes courtesy of Johnny Smith and his visions of death via The Dead Zone. King and Cronenberg is like a match made in movie heaven as King’s literary verbiage can be complex to adapt to the screen. Cronenberg is clearly the master of visual terror so taking the raw emotions and political climate of The Dead Zone and turning it into something even more horrifying than his signature body-horror films, is truly something to take in and resonate on. Nothing is scarier than politics people- yesterday and today.

    5. Videodrome

    Another Cronenberg classic, Videodrome is basically the body-horror master taking notes from David Lynch by dropping some acid and not giving one fresh fuck about anything other than doing what he does best here- and that’s freaking us the fuck out. This movie feels like it’s going to try and say something to you about the nature of consumption and the act of viewing it, but instead of doing the 1983 equivalent of saying “time to take out our phones” it just looks like you dead in the eye and says “long live the new flesh (bitch).” Fantastic. Plus it has a dude with a gun hiding in his stomach-vagina. Bonus points for that visual that will never escape my brain.

    4. Sleepaway Camp

    I know a lot of you might think I’m on drugs for putting this cheese-fest in front of visual Cronenberg stunners- but this is the 80s and crackers-on-cheese side dishes like Sleepaway Camp made the slasher decade what it was. So I believe I’m justified in sticking Felissa Rose and her prosthetic peen in this well-deserved slot. Besides, there’s so much to love about this film from the Camp Melodrama to the fact that literally no one besides Reverand Henry Kane, has made me feel quite as uneasy as Aunt Martha. A film like Sleepaway Camp can’t be made anymore. It is completely bonkers, with a hint of self-awareness and it actually pushes the boat out a bit further than most of its genre contemporaries. I got your back, Angela.

    3. Psycho II

    It’s pretty difficult to follow up on something as sacred as Psycho (1960) and is risky as hell considering the movie is near perfection and really no further context is needed. However, we were proved wrong in 1983 when Anthony Perkins as Norman Bates returns home and serves as basically The Godfather II of horror movie sequels. I realize that’s a bold statement but the continuation that no one knew we needed is a prime example of taking an excellent film and expanding on it with us really understanding Norman’s psyche, allowing us to really have some empathy. It’s a great taboo piece on mental health and a damn fine movie that more often than not, gets swept under the rug in favor of snooty fan politics.

    I’m the trash critic that will watch Motel Hell maybe twice a day over something of real substance so what do I know anyway.

    2. Cujo

    The horror version of Old Yeller forever traumatized the shit out of me worse than that Disney classic. Stephen King’s cocaine-fueled and drunk-driven literary genius of a novel about a rabid dog got adapted to the screen in 1983 and I’ve never looked at a St. Bernard the same way since. Feeling both sympathy and terror, this movie is just a roller coaster of either you crying or feeling anxious as fuck for both the dog and little Danny Pintauro. You feel exhausted from just ONE viewing so this is one I haven’t seen too many times because I need my energy but boy, did it stay with me; and that’s how a horror movie is successful guys.

    1. Christine

    Stephen King’s malicious tale of toxic masculinity and its effects on everyone and everything is well, the cherry 1958 Plymouth Fury on top of a delicious 1983 sundae. Arnie did about everything as wrong as you could do as a guy fed up with his minuscule lifestyle with the exception of fucking this car that he should have never bought in the first place, but hey, that’s rebellion for you. The superficial pleasures of life paraded as a killer and terribly jealous car named Christine pairs Carpenter at his best with his metaphors for the horrors of reality, so giving him the project to direct was nothing short of pure brilliance. It’s also a real spit in the face to those 1950’s Greaser guys that became a nostalgic obsession in the 80s thanks to films such as American Graffiti and Grease. And I appreciate the hell out of that.

    Also, paired with what is Carpenter’s finest score for a film (next to Season of the Witch that is), that scene of Christine just rolling out of that gas station after the explosion on fire is worth every damn penny you paid to see the film.

    Horror Nostalgia

    The Art Of Horror: Celebrating The Best Horror VHS Cover Art- Part II!

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    Movie Box Art is an all-but-dead form of advertising for movies these days. A while back, I wrote up a piece on VHS Horror Cover Box Art and the films that had some of the most intriguing rental art boxes that served to pique our curiosity when strolling down the horror movie aisle at your local Mom And Pop Video Store on a Saturday afternoon. You went to rent Nightmare On Elm Street 4 and left with films like Cheerleader Camp and Frankenhooker. Case in point, the cover art was the main selling point for these movies back then along with word of mouth; and when mom or pop gave you the precious video rental card to go get what you wanted when you were old enough, that my friends, was goddamn better than a credit card itself. The freeing feeling of being able to rent whatever your little heart desired, well just not shit behind the curtain anyway, without an adult hovering over your back as you’re staring intensely at a copy of Class Of Nuke ‘Em High. Then walking like a gangster to the counter while grabbing a box of Sugar Daddies, a Cherry Coke, and presenting your rental punch card to the clerk. The only thing that made that moment even more glorious was if you were due for a free rental.

    So let’s take another walk down the horror aisle of the corner video shop where some of the greatest horror movie cover art existed. That being said, there are way too many to put into one article, so I’ve decided to put together another piece championing VHS art with Parts 3 and 4 likely to come in the following weeks/months.

    These are just some that really stood out to me at that age. Oh, and for the record and refresher from my last entry, I popped that solo video rental store cherry visit with Return of the Living Dead and The Blob.

    What are some of your favorite VHS covers? Get crackin’ on those comments Nostalgic Nuggets and come back for parts 3 and 4 of wild and wonderous VHS Horror Box Art!