I was a kid when Nick at Nite was showing "I Love Lucy", "Alfred Hitchcock Presents", and "Dragnet" among other shows, and I loved it! As I got older and the shows got newer, Nick at Nite wasn't the same, but I guess that's to be expected. MeTV now is what Nick at Nite used to be.
@pannoni4875 > *As of late 2022, just four shows are currently present on Nick at Nite's schedule:* Sounds like the same only-4-show-itis that plagued TeenNick's 90s are All That / The Splay / Nick Splat / Nick Rewind block. 🤬
Thanks for this. I never understood why I didn't initially get Nick at Nite as a kid. Every night at 7, someone would flip a switch and Nickelodeon would become A&E. Every now and then the person manning the switch would fall asleep and I'd get a glimpse of My Three Sons, Mr. Ed, and Donna Reed. Eventually though, that switch would get flipped and good bye Nick at Nite.
90's Primetime TV for me growing up wasn't Seinfeld, Roseanne, or Home Improvement, it was the Munsters, Taxi, and I Love Lucy. I've been waiting for this episode for a long time. Thank you, PopArena.
I was thinking this too. You have the "Millennials" that grew up watching these old shows on Nick at Night, so they could go either way. I wouldn't think of watching Nick at Night for shows like Seinfield or Home Improvement. I think of shows like I Love Lucy, Mary Tyler Moore, Get Smart, Mr. Ed, etc.
Nick at Nite and later TV Land were my childhood. I watched Nickelodeon religiously already anyway but as soon as I started watching Nick at Nite I began to put a blank tape in and let it record until the end overnight so that I could watch all of my classic shows after I got home from school.
The original Nick at Nite and TV Land's successors are MeTV, Antenna TV, Retro TV, Cozi TV, Decades, Comet and various other classic TV digital subchannels anyone can get over-the-air with an antenna in your area...
The main thing (among many) that I've gleaned from watching your videos is that Gerry Laybourne was quietly one of the most influential forces on the kids of my generation. Not that everything was her idea, but she seemed to be very supportive, and more than willing to let the creatives experiment.
This really opened my eyes to the importance of how you package something. Without the absolutely genius marketing of the channel it wouldnt have caught on like it did with the group it aimed for. Amazing.
I think I have Nick at Nite partially to thank for some of my appreciation for older things that were before my time. The rest, I have my parents to thank as I'd sometimes absorb some of their nostalgia like a sponge.
Nick at Nite has a special place in my heart it’s how I learned about and discover classic shows with good value it was great for Friday and Saturday night viewing when I didn’t have to get up early for school and during school breaks during the year as well
Same here use to watch Alfred Hitchcock presents,adventures of Superman, American fernwood 2 tonight,best of snl,bewitched,the bugaboos ,Dennis the menace,Donna reed show,dick van dyke show,dragnet,Electra woman and dyna girl, f troop,get smart,green acres,h.r. pufnstuff,honey I’m home,here’s Lucy,I love Lucy,I dream of Jeanie, the Lucy show,land of the lost,lidsville,lassie,mork and mindy,mister Ed,many loves of dobie gills,my three sons,Mary Tyler Moore show,Patty Duke show got a good memory these were my childhood favorites on nick at nite at the time🥳
As a Nick at Nite lover from back then, I appreciate this deep dive. Hopefully people understand that so many older programs (even as recently as the 80s) have been lost to shoddy preservation techniques ("wiping" chief among them). Cheers!
When you get home from work, and your boss is a jerk, and you feel like a troglodyte; there's instant relief from this hardship and grief - thank good ness for Nick... at Nite! Will never forget that jingle, and it's been decades. Thanks for the history!
There is a Nick at Nite urban legend that the only way to watch the George Lopez show is to fall asleep with your TV on before Nick at Nite started and it'll appear
42:05 great point about being introduced to old shows and connecting with parents - the period between 1988 and 1990 or so when they ran the Best of SNL/SCTV/Laugh-In block starting at10 p.m. was a summer ritual for my friends and I, since we were off school and could stay up late - we dropped what we were doing outside and went to whoever's house was closest to watch those shows. My dad in particular loved SCTV and Laugh-In (both of which, unlike SNL, had been long off the air at that point) and it was great getting to watch them together. Also, watching Laugh-In on Nick at Nite was weird, considering I loved You Can't Do That on Television for so many years - it was nuts seeing just how much they outright took from Laugh-In.
My parents are on the younger end of the boomers and my dad definitely had a big nostalgia streak, especially the old live-action Disney movies (Davy Crockett, etc) and that sort of thing. I really appreciate getting into some of that while I was young.
My Dad was the same way too. When TV land aired 1960's Batman he made sure I watched it. He's still trying to get me to watch old school live action Disney movies. (He recently introduced me to the hilarity that is Blackbeards Ghost.)
Even though you didn't talk about it, I was glad to see you include clips from the do it yourself sitcoms search thing Nick at Nite did. For some reason I remember a surprising amount of details from that special, guess I thought the idea was cool, but with no one else seeming to remember I was starting to think I somehow imagined it.
Man, Nick at Nite and AMC was my jam in the late 80s. Nothing beat staying up late in the summer and, yes, even going through the entire rotation. Good memories and times. Meanwhile, my hunt for a complete listing of all the Nick at Nite movies continues. I remember a few, but am always surprised by what else aired. And on the topic of millennials hitting the same sweet spot of the boomers when Nick at Nite launched, does that mean that they will be nostalgic for classic Nick at Nite and want to see that again? The success of this channel does make you wonder.
As a 38 year old millennial who watched Nick at Nite starting in the late 80s/early 90s, I can attest that I am now nostalgic for the stuff I watched on Nick at Nite back then. Because I began watching those old programs so early in my life and continued on throughout my childhood, the humor and content really colored my tastes in entertainment and I never really got into the stuff that was meant for my age group as I got older. I never really watched the stuff they're now showing as "nostalgic" tv for my generation...I just want the classic stuff from way before I was born! I've been considering buying dvd sets of all my favs from the Nick at Nite lineup back then
Quite a fascinating breakdown in how TV blocks worked as curated experiences. Especially thinking of later blocks that I grew up with like Toonami which had a style so distinct it made for countless tributes to what is basically window dressing for cartoons that were, especially in the early days, dated and seen as also-rans. Framing is indeed everything.
Kinda makes me wonder if that’s why Adult Swim Action struggled for a while. It certainly had good shows and at points it was mostly new stuff, yet the packaging wasn’t anything different from the normal Adult Swim stuff which didn’t really work with the anime they’d air. Heck, I’d go as far as to say they didn’t do well for while until they revived... well, Toonami.
There's a lot of nostalgia for Toonami though, even if it was only off the air for a few short years, but I think it's mainly for the early to mid-2000s Toonami. There's a reason Toonami Aftermath is a site.
What really made this channel valuable was the ability to watch Holiday themed episodes during the Holidays. The 50s-80s tv shows had the best humble, heart warming Christmas episodes 🥺 The Summer and Holidays gave us kids permission to stay up even later to watch Nick at Nite. My family said a cable tv package with Nick at Nite was more valuable than one with HBO and Cinemax. It was something we all could watch. I fell in love with Dobie Gillis, I Married Joan, Jack Benny, and sooo many more. I miss the original Arts and Entertainment channel that actually focused on THE ARTS. I fell in love with Agatha Christie, Sherlock Holmes and even Opera especially around Christmas. I think they once aired The Box of Delights which is now a yearly tradition to watch. Basic Cable back in the day was totally worth it and there was always something interesting to watch. Now, well, I'd take Nick at Nite and TV Land Holiday themed episodes with retro commercials and bumpers over Netflix, Hulu, Disneyplus, and HboMax. I remember at one point Danger Mouse came on Saturday nights with You Can Do that on Television and Out of Control 🤔 Now in 2020 there's no value to a Basic Cable package. The ability to stream Nick at Nite shows or watch them on TH-cam just isn't the same.🥺
Remember watching a lot of nick at nite when I was 7 in 1991 until I was 35 in 2019 I don’t have cable and nick at nite wasn’t the same after 2001 my favorite nick at nite shows were Alfred Hitchcock presents,American fernwood 2 tonight,adventures of Superman,the adams family,best of snl,bewitched,the bugaloos,Donna reed show,dick van dyke show,Dennis the menace,dragnet,Electra woman and dyna girl,f troop,green acres,get smart,h.r.pufnstuff,honey I’m home,lassie,looney tunes,land of the lost,lidsville,the munsters,mork and mindy,mister Ed,many loves of dobie gills, my three sons and Patty Duke show😌
Excellent episode as always, I particularly liked the music used, from Killing Me Softly to The Sound of Silence. My favorite Nick at Night show was Bewitched. I'm also coincidentally one of those "oldest millennials" turning 39 next year, with today being my birthday. heh
Trivia: the cisco kid was filmed in color even though it was from the 50's (since nobody broadcast color shows were filmed in b/w to save money), few had color tv sets but when color sets became color the show was seen in color some thought the shows was colorized, but that was the original color.
26:28 I suppose this was a message to those cable operators who chose to play something else instead of Nick's feed during those hours, as it was very common for many operators to try fitting different channels on the line-up when they had a limited amount of space to use.
Oh I remember Nick at Nite as far back as when I was 3 years old. I always liked how the shapes in the logo always varied (circle, square, oval, triangle, heart, crescent, rectangle, star, etc.) Yippee we get a scientific lesson on CRT televisions.
So many great memories of watching Nick at Nite with my cousins staying up super late in the basement at family gatherings in the summer/holidays.. we were kids who had no connection to the shows but enjoyed them just the same.
This just proves Fred Siebert is the greatest thing to happen to television. What a Cartoon, Oh Yeah Cartoons, Frederator, and now Nick@Nite… the list goes on
I was a chronic insomniac from childhood so Nick at Nite was my best friend. it was chill and usually amusing and unlikely to give me nightmares, so I ended up being a millenial nostalgic for Get Smart and other stuff that was running on Nick at Nite in the late 80s/early 90s.
I first met NAN in the early 90s, discovering 'Captain Scarlet', and watching hilariously entertaining ad spots for older B&W detective shows and sitcoms.
You forgot about Viacom's acquisition of Paramount in 1994, in which some Paramount TV shows like Mork & Mindy aired on Nick at Nite prior to the merger.
I'm in my 30s and miss the days of Nick @ Nite when they'd show The Munsters, I Love Lucy, Taxi, etc. Even Sid & Marty Krofft shows. Of course most shows are now on DVD. Both TV Land and Nick @ Nite are crap now. All the old adverts were great too. It's nothing like it used to be when it was fresh and cool.
I remember reading or seeing somewhere that someone did the math with the mechanical spinning wheel TV system and figured out that it was kind of TECHNICALLY possible to do 1080 HD with the system but would have needed a two story disk for that, just using the technical specifications at the time and assuming that in the years following when it was developed that the tech wasn't improved, which I don't think it could have obviously. I assume that the two story disk would have been at both ends, at the studio recording/broadcasting stage and at the receiving stage (the person's house or whatever). But that would have been crazy and obviously wouldn't have happened but something cool to think of.
Nice info on broadcasting in the US during those years, might help out European buds out who hadn't experienced TV quite the same way we did, where TV was seen as a "public service" and less another outlet for commercial exploitation.
I was surprised to learn recently that Nick at Nite didn't start showing I Love Lucy until 1994. I always thought of that as like their flagship show in the 90s. It's like the quintessential classic TV sitcom. I've never even seen the Donna Reed Show. The Munsters was my gateway to Nick at Nite so I must have started watching in around '95 or so.
Thanks for sneaking in that bit about the bring us home movement. I actually stopped watching the video to watch that, then when I had to go to bed last night I finished it this morning. Very interesting. I also like the way you'll be handling Nick @ Nite in the future; now maybe we'll get to the nicktoons before climate change! One more thing: Curious George is technically an ape? AND he was on Nickelodeon? Damn, can't wait for the next episode
I also remember asking my parents about the shows on Nick at Nite! I’d get excited every time they’d add a “new” show because I’d never seen them before. Nick at Nite showed the real success in “rerun TV” was not merely throwing them on the air but getting great prints, doing great promotion, and curating the whole experience so it makes sense. MeTV does it the same way.
I love this. I love this so hard. I’m so sad nick at night isn’t what it was in the late 80s and early 90s, and I’m a millennial. I don’t want to watch friends on nick at night, it’s just wrong. Get smart was my favorite show on nick at night when I was a kid too. TvLand back in the day was great too. ❤️
Fantastic episode. You hit on my main memory of the show as I was allowed to watch it with my parents so I often watched the first 1 or 2 hours of Nick at Nite with my parents in 1986-1990 before I got my own small TV and could play NES on it in my bedroom. What this ended up doing is making me a fan of a bunch of shows that I otherwise would never have experienced like Mister Ed, The Donna Reed Show, Green Acres, and the Smothers Brothers are the ones I remember from that time period. Of course this would also lead to me watching shows like Gilligan's Island, I Love Lucy, Happy Days, Petticoat Junction, and many more in reruns on TBS, TNT, or USA. Between Nick at Nite and the other reruns I'd watch I knew an alarming amount of trivia about 1950s - 1970s TV shows for a kid my age.
I am squarely part of the generation who are the children of Baby Boomers who basically only know about pre 80’s television from Nick at Nite. The network has morphed into something unrecognizable now but back in the early to mid 90’s it was awesome. I loved the block party summer lineups where they took like 4-5 shows and made each one their own day with no other show on that night. I also remember many of those bumpers shown in this video. Those were awesome and bumpers of any kind haven’t been shown on the network in I would say 15-20 years. It’s sad that the network is including current shows or shows that *just* finished their original run like this year or last year to the line up (I know George Lopez was perhaps the first one do to this with the finale airing on ABC in May of 2006 or 2007 and the first episode airing on Nick at Nite that immediate September but still) or even shows that have not even finished their original runs yet. The point of the network originally was for classic shows that remind the viewer of a simpler time. For the millennial generation that would be shows from the 80’s and 90’s that isn’t Friends and for a long time there were those shows like Fresh Prince, Roseanne, Cheers, Wonder Years, etc. I personally haven’t watched the network with any regularity in years.
It's kinda funny, because I ended up watching I Love Lucy on Sunday's when nothing was on and I'd like to see it on Nick at Nite, still a better show than George Lopez. But I also ended up seeing lots of 70's shows as a kid too, like Happy Days and Brady Bunch and Partridge Family.
Those text slides Nickelodeon used during their sign-off have a resemblance to Teletext, the cable TV local access text slides and the early text-based WeatherSTAR technology used by The Weather Channel for their Local Forecast inserts...
"Get Smart," too, was one of my favorite Nick at Nite shows. I remember it all so well...the Memphis Group style branding, looking at all older shows. Man, nostalgia of my favorite form of anxiety!
Every 20 years it happens. In the 80s, 50-60s was popular. In the 90s, it was 70s. The 2000s saw 80s revivals. Now in 2010s we see 90s nostalgia. This is accurate. It would be like airing 90s shows like mighty Morphing power rangers on the network and calling it quality kids programming. 1993-1999 kids will agree 100% and be thrilled to give thier kids the same experience. Back then in 1985 shows like "I love lucy" was that's generations "power rangers." And as a bonus, in the boring wee hours you can't sleep, why not watch something nostalgic?
Exactly! That's why Nick at Nite still works! I mean would you rather watch some cable news, or would you rather watch some old-school comedy (in my case the 80s and 90s) like Cheers, the Facts of Life, or even Becker?
@@newstarcadefan and the 80s toys had the same thing. Gi joe, thundercats, transformers and he man ALL Successfully returned before 2004 weather in comics or toys. It makes sense and is cool to realize
@@Tacom4ster LOL toys will he huge in 17-20 years. They will die slowly in the next few years, then disappear from pop culture. Then they will come back and be huge.
I'm glad to see I'm not the only Nickelodeon-watching kid who got hooked on Nick at Nite by watching Get Smart. I believe it did air during Nick's regular hours, so I look forward to your episode.
I remember them doing a special week where they'd play an episode of Inspector Gadget followed by an episode of Get Smart (on Nick proper), but I don't know if that's enough to count Get Smart as a Nickelodeon show per se. It wasn't a permanent thing and wasn't meant to be.
@@pronkb000 I seem to recall it would be on the regular schedule during Nick hours, sometimes right before Nick at Nite, sometimes on Saturday afternoons. But I'm also an old fart and may be misremembering things. We'll just leave the fact-finding to Greg. :)
From this I learned that I can remember when I was TWO! 1985 is apparently when I started remembering Nickelodeon and in particular Nick at Night. Yes, even as a child I was a night owl and strangely into classic TV. I remember liking My Three Sons. I also watched MTV, Night Flight, and other channels... But strangely I always hated Lassie and Denise the Menace and Donna Reed was just ok to my two years old brain. Yes, Get Smart was also my favorite as a kid. But Mary Tyler Moore was definitely the best show they ever went on. I won't lie. I am very disappointed to find out Nick at Nite won't be covered fully. I was looking forward to that more than most Nickelodeon shows.
Shame on the you tube algorithm for not helping me find this channel a year ago. This is my 3rd video in a row. I was born in 80, so I am a first generation nickelodeon kid. I remember it all, and love learning about it so thoroughly. Really nice work.
@@xxthatsnotmexx nice, so.youd be the same age as my brother, who also enjoys these vids btw. He especially enjoys all the goosebumps recaps here, I only read a few, but im pretty sure he read every one.
Honestly, Nick at Nite isn't much to write home about these days. However, when I was coming up they had a ton of classic TV I probably wouldn't have appreciated if I wasn't able to see otherwise. Also, this was the best move (then) to help Nick get the adult audiences...because as you said, what kid will be staying up past his/her bedtime?
Great presentation you did on Nick at Nite, Greg. I also liked the segment you did on how TV sets came to be. I trust you will plan on putting together a Nick Knacks episode about Nick at Nite’s spin-off channel, TV Land, when you finally reach 1996.
I fondly remember the commercial for Bewitched premiering on Nick at Nite in Fall 1989. This was a big deal because it would air the first two black and white seasons, not seen (as it said) in 20 or 25 years.
I do remember getting introduced to some of these old shows through Nick at Nite. But now I wonder if Nick at Nite is even needed anymore. It's not being promoted that much, and they barely make changes to the schedule. So I wonder if Nickelodeon would be better off if they shut down Nick at Nite and just go 24 hours.
They should turn it into a smart app that you can download on your tv and focus again on the 50s-80s shows with retro commercials in between each episode. Saturday mornings air classic Saturday Morning cartoons again with retro commercials added🤔
I never gave the channel a chance. I was 8 when N@N premiered and it always came off as the old peoples' channel. The only show I can ever remember taking time out to watch on it was The Wonder Years when I was in college.
I wonder how Donna reed herself felt about her show getting new life on Nick at nite. Ironically, the exact same year she was filling in for Miss Ellie on Dallas which she was widely ridiculed for., then she sadly passed away in 1986. I wonder if Nick at nite did a tribute promo for her .
Me tooi remember seeing the best of snl at the time it introduced me to snl my dad first saw snl in the 1970s he said he saw a parody Involving a lady chief bleeding 😊
They definitely had a lot of bumpers that appealed to the escapists. Their tunes were like “ your day was tough but you have nick at nite to look forward to “
I've really been enjoying your show, and I am inspired by it and want to have channel where I talk about pop culture. I never thought as some One who grew up with nick from 2005ish to 2017. That I'd be this in to learning about the history of it, can't wait for you to get Brain Surge, Supah Ninjas & Harvey Beaks
I watched Nick at Nite religiously from the time I was a kid all the way into my college years, and I watched the change from "classic old TV network" to "millennial reruns". The Nick at Nite I'm most familiar with was the 90s era, where it was a fairly even spread of the 60s and the 70s with some 50s (or at least I Love Lucy) mixed in.
On Friday nights after TGIF, I would turn to N@N to watch the Best of SNL, SCTV and Laugh In. It was the only night of the week I had the television all to myself
May be time to retire Nick At Nite and just make Nickelodeon 24 hours. The current lineup, and I use lineup very loosely since it’s barely even four shows, is not cutting it. Nickelodeon 24 hours and bringing back SNICK for Saturday nights may be the best case scenario.
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I was a kid when Nick at Nite was showing "I Love Lucy", "Alfred Hitchcock Presents", and "Dragnet" among other shows, and I loved it! As I got older and the shows got newer, Nick at Nite wasn't the same, but I guess that's to be expected. MeTV now is what Nick at Nite used to be.
*Antenna TV
Damn. All I got was Goerge Lopez.....
@pannoni4875 > *As of late 2022, just four shows are currently present on Nick at Nite's schedule:*
Sounds like the same only-4-show-itis that plagued TeenNick's 90s are All That / The Splay / Nick Splat / Nick Rewind block. 🤬
Me and my sister's favorite sitcoms, The Nanny and Full House, are both completely gone from the channel in favor of Seinfeld and Friends reruns.
My favorite as a little kid was the Monkees
Thanks for this. I never understood why I didn't initially get Nick at Nite as a kid. Every night at 7, someone would flip a switch and Nickelodeon would become A&E. Every now and then the person manning the switch would fall asleep and I'd get a glimpse of My Three Sons, Mr. Ed, and Donna Reed. Eventually though, that switch would get flipped and good bye Nick at Nite.
19:34 So that explains why 80s-90s nostalgia cycle never seems to end; because for Millennials, that time of transition never...ever...ends.
90's Primetime TV for me growing up wasn't Seinfeld, Roseanne, or Home Improvement, it was the Munsters, Taxi, and I Love Lucy. I've been waiting for this episode for a long time. Thank you, PopArena.
I was thinking this too. You have the "Millennials" that grew up watching these old shows on Nick at Night, so they could go either way. I wouldn't think of watching Nick at Night for shows like Seinfield or Home Improvement. I think of shows like I Love Lucy, Mary Tyler Moore, Get Smart, Mr. Ed, etc.
For me it was both, but Nick at Nite was the one left on when I fell asleep on weekends.
Nick at Nite and later TV Land were my childhood. I watched Nickelodeon religiously already anyway but as soon as I started watching Nick at Nite I began to put a blank tape in and let it record until the end overnight so that I could watch all of my classic shows after I got home from school.
The original Nick at Nite and TV Land's successors are MeTV, Antenna TV, Retro TV, Cozi TV, Decades, Comet and various other classic TV digital subchannels anyone can get over-the-air with an antenna in your area...
Funnily enough, metv is about the only over the air tv channel I watch if I watch tradition tv at all.
Yeah it's so crazy how these channels are free and are so much better than Nick at nite and tv land which are crap now.
And all of these channels are better than Nick at Nite and TV Land today.
Yep... and yet they do a much better job than Nick @Nite and TV Land nowadays.
The main thing (among many) that I've gleaned from watching your videos is that Gerry Laybourne was quietly one of the most influential forces on the kids of my generation. Not that everything was her idea, but she seemed to be very supportive, and more than willing to let the creatives experiment.
This really opened my eyes to the importance of how you package something. Without the absolutely genius marketing of the channel it wouldnt have caught on like it did with the group it aimed for. Amazing.
I started watching nick at nite in 1993 when I was 4 and I now own most of the shows that were on it
Like DVDs?
I'm 38 and if I was awake or woke up in the middle of the night I watched Nick at Nite. I use to love watching the Monkees on Nick at Night
I think I have Nick at Nite partially to thank for some of my appreciation for older things that were before my time. The rest, I have my parents to thank as I'd sometimes absorb some of their nostalgia like a sponge.
I thank Nick, TVLAND, & my parents
Again, great work. I also appreciate how you flat out explained WHY nick at nite airs newer shows now. It’s the entire purpose of the network.
Nick at Nite has a special place in my heart it’s how I learned about and discover classic shows with good value it was great for Friday and Saturday night viewing when I didn’t have to get up early for school and during school breaks during the year as well
Same here use to watch Alfred Hitchcock presents,adventures of Superman, American fernwood 2 tonight,best of snl,bewitched,the bugaboos ,Dennis the menace,Donna reed show,dick van dyke show,dragnet,Electra woman and dyna girl, f troop,get smart,green acres,h.r. pufnstuff,honey I’m home,here’s Lucy,I love Lucy,I dream of Jeanie, the Lucy show,land of the lost,lidsville,lassie,mork and mindy,mister Ed,many loves of dobie gills,my three sons,Mary Tyler Moore show,Patty Duke show got a good memory these were my childhood favorites on nick at nite at the time🥳
As a Nick at Nite lover from back then, I appreciate this deep dive. Hopefully people understand that so many older programs (even as recently as the 80s) have been lost to shoddy preservation techniques ("wiping" chief among them). Cheers!
When you get home from work, and your boss is a jerk, and you feel like a troglodyte; there's instant relief from this hardship and grief - thank good ness for Nick... at Nite!
Will never forget that jingle, and it's been decades. Thanks for the history!
you do SUCH a great job on this. I never thought of Nick at Nite as a topic of research. great job!
I love the instrumental oldies music you're using as background throughout this.
There is a Nick at Nite urban legend that the only way to watch the George Lopez show is to fall asleep with your TV on before Nick at Nite started and it'll appear
42:05 great point about being introduced to old shows and connecting with parents - the period between 1988 and 1990 or so when they ran the Best of SNL/SCTV/Laugh-In block starting at10 p.m. was a summer ritual for my friends and I, since we were off school and could stay up late - we dropped what we were doing outside and went to whoever's house was closest to watch those shows. My dad in particular loved SCTV and Laugh-In (both of which, unlike SNL, had been long off the air at that point) and it was great getting to watch them together.
Also, watching Laugh-In on Nick at Nite was weird, considering I loved You Can't Do That on Television for so many years - it was nuts seeing just how much they outright took from Laugh-In.
You know, I remember Nick at Nite running the spin off of Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman Fernwood 2 nite, and America 2 nite.
My parents are on the younger end of the boomers and my dad definitely had a big nostalgia streak, especially the old live-action Disney movies (Davy Crockett, etc) and that sort of thing. I really appreciate getting into some of that while I was young.
My Dad was the same way too. When TV land aired 1960's Batman he made sure I watched it. He's still trying to get me to watch old school live action Disney movies. (He recently introduced me to the hilarity that is Blackbeards Ghost.)
Even though you didn't talk about it, I was glad to see you include clips from the do it yourself sitcoms search thing Nick at Nite did. For some reason I remember a surprising amount of details from that special, guess I thought the idea was cool, but with no one else seeming to remember I was starting to think I somehow imagined it.
Nick-at-Nite promos were a great way to experience baby's first irony
@mattamiller2002
What do you mean by 'baby's first irony'?
@Otneimica Oh. Okay.
@@Optimegatrongodzilla what did he mean?
@@bobthedopeman7327 I don't remember and I don't know why his response to me is no longer showing up.
The promos are what sold me to watch the programs classic or new. Because just watching the programs on its own can half work
The way you'll cover Nick-at-Nite from here on out sounds like a fair compromise.
Man, Nick at Nite and AMC was my jam in the late 80s. Nothing beat staying up late in the summer and, yes, even going through the entire rotation. Good memories and times. Meanwhile, my hunt for a complete listing of all the Nick at Nite movies continues. I remember a few, but am always surprised by what else aired.
And on the topic of millennials hitting the same sweet spot of the boomers when Nick at Nite launched, does that mean that they will be nostalgic for classic Nick at Nite and want to see that again? The success of this channel does make you wonder.
I hope so. I really like MEtv and Antenna TV but it's just the crappy syndicated versions of the shows.
As a 38 year old millennial who watched Nick at Nite starting in the late 80s/early 90s, I can attest that I am now nostalgic for the stuff I watched on Nick at Nite back then. Because I began watching those old programs so early in my life and continued on throughout my childhood, the humor and content really colored my tastes in entertainment and I never really got into the stuff that was meant for my age group as I got older. I never really watched the stuff they're now showing as "nostalgic" tv for my generation...I just want the classic stuff from way before I was born! I've been considering buying dvd sets of all my favs from the Nick at Nite lineup back then
@@yessumyecradI have most and not all of the shows on DVD of the nick at nite of my youth
As an Xennial, I say yes. Boomer nostalgia became part of our nostalgia, via things like Nick at Nite and oldies radio.
Quite a fascinating breakdown in how TV blocks worked as curated experiences. Especially thinking of later blocks that I grew up with like Toonami which had a style so distinct it made for countless tributes to what is basically window dressing for cartoons that were, especially in the early days, dated and seen as also-rans. Framing is indeed everything.
Kinda makes me wonder if that’s why Adult Swim Action struggled for a while. It certainly had good shows and at points it was mostly new stuff, yet the packaging wasn’t anything different from the normal Adult Swim stuff which didn’t really work with the anime they’d air. Heck, I’d go as far as to say they didn’t do well for while until they revived... well, Toonami.
There's a lot of nostalgia for Toonami though, even if it was only off the air for a few short years, but I think it's mainly for the early to mid-2000s Toonami. There's a reason Toonami Aftermath is a site.
That's a big reason why TV died as well
What really made this channel valuable was the ability to watch Holiday themed episodes during the Holidays. The 50s-80s tv shows had the best humble, heart warming Christmas episodes 🥺 The Summer and Holidays gave us kids permission to stay up even later to watch Nick at Nite. My family said a cable tv package with Nick at Nite was more valuable than one with HBO and Cinemax. It was something we all could watch. I fell in love with Dobie Gillis, I Married Joan, Jack Benny, and sooo many more. I miss the original Arts and Entertainment channel that actually focused on THE ARTS. I fell in love with Agatha Christie, Sherlock Holmes and even Opera especially around Christmas. I think they once aired The Box of Delights which is now a yearly tradition to watch. Basic Cable back in the day was totally worth it and there was always something interesting to watch. Now, well, I'd take Nick at Nite and TV Land Holiday themed episodes with retro commercials and bumpers over Netflix, Hulu, Disneyplus, and HboMax. I remember at one point Danger Mouse came on Saturday nights with You Can Do that on Television and Out of Control 🤔 Now in 2020 there's no value to a Basic Cable package. The ability to stream Nick at Nite shows or watch them on TH-cam just isn't the same.🥺
Remember watching a lot of nick at nite when I was 7 in 1991 until I was 35 in 2019 I don’t have cable and nick at nite wasn’t the same after 2001 my favorite nick at nite shows were Alfred Hitchcock presents,American fernwood 2 tonight,adventures of Superman,the adams family,best of snl,bewitched,the bugaloos,Donna reed show,dick van dyke show,Dennis the menace,dragnet,Electra woman and dyna girl,f troop,green acres,get smart,h.r.pufnstuff,honey I’m home,lassie,looney tunes,land of the lost,lidsville,the munsters,mork and mindy,mister Ed,many loves of dobie gills, my three sons and Patty Duke show😌
Excellent episode as always, I particularly liked the music used, from Killing Me Softly to The Sound of Silence. My favorite Nick at Night show was Bewitched. I'm also coincidentally one of those "oldest millennials" turning 39 next year, with today being my birthday. heh
I'm 22
Trivia: the cisco kid was filmed in color even though it was from the 50's (since nobody broadcast color shows were filmed in b/w to save money), few had color tv sets but when color sets became color the show was seen in color some thought the shows was colorized, but that was the original color.
...there's just a naked Barney Gumble hanging out at 4:30
Yeah, what the heck was that? What?!
He's there too protect us
"Hi, Mom."
Who wouldn't want a naked Barney to decorate your tv science room type place.
This is one of your very best videos.
Prior to Nick at night there was a period where SNL reruns, Monty Python's flying circus at the young ones aired.
26:28 I suppose this was a message to those cable operators who chose to play something else instead of Nick's feed during those hours, as it was very common for many operators to try fitting different channels on the line-up when they had a limited amount of space to use.
Oh I remember Nick at Nite as far back as when I was 3 years old. I always liked how the shapes in the logo always varied (circle, square, oval, triangle, heart, crescent, rectangle, star, etc.) Yippee we get a scientific lesson on CRT televisions.
I think my first Nick At Night show was "Hi, Honey, I'm Home," which I remain positive was the key inspiration for the "Pleasantville" movie.
It baffled my mom that I would stay up late to watch Dragnet.
A monkey that won't keep his hands to himself? Lupin III?
Early in their Nickelodeon run the Looney Tunes shorts also aired on Nick at Nite.
Actually yes! They ran that on Sunday's as a link between Nick, and Nick at Nite.
Agreed I remember seeing looney tunes on Nickelodeon at 7:30 pm and 8 pm on Sundays in august 1991 I was 7 at the time 😌
Yes it was an hour of looney tunes but then at 8:00 it was specially branded for Nick at nite. Nickelodeon loved branding the heck out of their shows
Another group that watches Nick at Nite - the "fun" group. They have fun watching the old series as much as they do watching current series.
So many great memories of watching Nick at Nite with my cousins staying up super late in the basement at family gatherings in the summer/holidays.. we were kids who had no connection to the shows but enjoyed them just the same.
This just proves Fred Siebert is the greatest thing to happen to television. What a Cartoon, Oh Yeah Cartoons, Frederator, and now Nick@Nite… the list goes on
And before that, he was at MTV and led the team that came up with "I Want My MTV."
Thus altering the world in ways we have yet to appreciate.
One of.
Cause Fred was a great executive and was awesome at his job
I loved watching the nick at night bumpers. I watch collection videos for them when I can. Please bring back the original Nick at Nite
this was the best thing to come home to after a long day of work and study grouping for finals.
I was a chronic insomniac from childhood so Nick at Nite was my best friend. it was chill and usually amusing and unlikely to give me nightmares, so I ended up being a millenial nostalgic for Get Smart and other stuff that was running on Nick at Nite in the late 80s/early 90s.
🙌🙌🙌🙌🙌🙋♀️🙋♀️🙋♀️
I first met NAN in the early 90s, discovering 'Captain Scarlet', and watching hilariously entertaining ad spots for older B&W detective shows and sitcoms.
Me and my dad would watch the Munsters on Halloween on Nick at Nite
You forgot about Viacom's acquisition of Paramount in 1994, in which some Paramount TV shows like Mork & Mindy aired on Nick at Nite prior to the merger.
I really miss what they used to play on nick at nite. Most of what they play now only ended a few to 20 years ago
I'm in my 30s and miss the days of Nick @ Nite when they'd show The Munsters, I Love Lucy, Taxi, etc. Even Sid & Marty Krofft shows. Of course most shows are now on DVD. Both TV Land and Nick @ Nite are crap now. All the old adverts were great too. It's nothing like it used to be when it was fresh and cool.
Remember seeing those shows on nick at nite at the time loved the Sid and Marty shows as well 😌
I remember reading or seeing somewhere that someone did the math with the mechanical spinning wheel TV system and figured out that it was kind of TECHNICALLY possible to do 1080 HD with the system but would have needed a two story disk for that, just using the technical specifications at the time and assuming that in the years following when it was developed that the tech wasn't improved, which I don't think it could have obviously. I assume that the two story disk would have been at both ends, at the studio recording/broadcasting stage and at the receiving stage (the person's house or whatever). But that would have been crazy and obviously wouldn't have happened but something cool to think of.
Nice info on broadcasting in the US during those years, might help out European buds out who hadn't experienced TV quite the same way we did, where TV was seen as a "public service" and less another outlet for commercial exploitation.
I was surprised to learn recently that Nick at Nite didn't start showing I Love Lucy until 1994. I always thought of that as like their flagship show in the 90s. It's like the quintessential classic TV sitcom. I've never even seen the Donna Reed Show. The Munsters was my gateway to Nick at Nite so I must have started watching in around '95 or so.
All but 3 those shows you listed from 1984 are still on tv today!
Thanks for sneaking in that bit about the bring us home movement. I actually stopped watching the video to watch that, then when I had to go to bed last night I finished it this morning. Very interesting.
I also like the way you'll be handling Nick @ Nite in the future; now maybe we'll get to the nicktoons before climate change!
One more thing: Curious George is technically an ape? AND he was on Nickelodeon? Damn, can't wait for the next episode
Wow...LOVE THIS CHANNEL! I spent many.....MANY late nights watching NICK AT NIGHT and NIGHT FLIGHT on the USA Network!
In today’s world, there’s “Disco Saturday Night” on “K-Surf” where it features retro dance classics as part of an all-night staple.
Oh wow, those letters to Nick at Nite were actually real.
I also remember asking my parents about the shows on Nick at Nite! I’d get excited every time they’d add a “new” show because I’d never seen them before. Nick at Nite showed the real success in “rerun TV” was not merely throwing them on the air but getting great prints, doing great promotion, and curating the whole experience so it makes sense. MeTV does it the same way.
anyone remember when nick at nite came on early sunday evenings like around 6pm/ 5 pm central in the 80's after nickelodeon was done.
I do love Donna Reed. As a kid, I loved it because it's a good show. In my old age, I love it because of the good grammar and pronunciation.
I learned more about the 1960s from Laugh-In reruns on Nick at Nite than from a year of AP US History.
Two Sally Field programs: The Flying Nun and Gidget.
42:16 The NBC network didn't cancel St. Elsewhere. The producers of that show just gave it a special ending to finish the series with.
I love this. I love this so hard. I’m so sad nick at night isn’t what it was in the late 80s and early 90s, and I’m a millennial. I don’t want to watch friends on nick at night, it’s just wrong. Get smart was my favorite show on nick at night when I was a kid too. TvLand back in the day was great too. ❤️
Other than the rare typo (like Midnight being labelled "12:00PM"), a great triple history lesson.
It's New Year's Eve 2020, and all I can think of is how much I miss the Rerun Countdown with Casey Kasem
SpongeBob, All That, and Kenan and Kel also aired on Nick at Nite this decade so it's kind of in that category of aired on both…SpongeBob especially
Born in 1982. Those opening promos unlocked some core childhood memories.
Fantastic episode. You hit on my main memory of the show as I was allowed to watch it with my parents so I often watched the first 1 or 2 hours of Nick at Nite with my parents in 1986-1990 before I got my own small TV and could play NES on it in my bedroom. What this ended up doing is making me a fan of a bunch of shows that I otherwise would never have experienced like Mister Ed, The Donna Reed Show, Green Acres, and the Smothers Brothers are the ones I remember from that time period. Of course this would also lead to me watching shows like Gilligan's Island, I Love Lucy, Happy Days, Petticoat Junction, and many more in reruns on TBS, TNT, or USA. Between Nick at Nite and the other reruns I'd watch I knew an alarming amount of trivia about 1950s - 1970s TV shows for a kid my age.
I am squarely part of the generation who are the children of Baby Boomers who basically only know about pre 80’s television from Nick at Nite. The network has morphed into something unrecognizable now but back in the early to mid 90’s it was awesome. I loved the block party summer lineups where they took like 4-5 shows and made each one their own day with no other show on that night. I also remember many of those bumpers shown in this video. Those were awesome and bumpers of any kind haven’t been shown on the network in I would say 15-20 years. It’s sad that the network is including current shows or shows that *just* finished their original run like this year or last year to the line up (I know George Lopez was perhaps the first one do to this with the finale airing on ABC in May of 2006 or 2007 and the first episode airing on Nick at Nite that immediate September but still) or even shows that have not even finished their original runs yet. The point of the network originally was for classic shows that remind the viewer of a simpler time. For the millennial generation that would be shows from the 80’s and 90’s that isn’t Friends and for a long time there were those shows like Fresh Prince, Roseanne, Cheers, Wonder Years, etc. I personally haven’t watched the network with any regularity in years.
F Troop, dragnet, mork and mindy, get smart just before bed were pure gold as a kid
Fantastic video! I used to watch Nick at Nite quite a bit in the 1990s.
You might as while call Nick At Nite these days as Friends on Nickelodeon (at Nite)
It's kinda funny, because I ended up watching I Love Lucy on Sunday's when nothing was on and I'd like to see it on Nick at Nite, still a better show than George Lopez. But I also ended up seeing lots of 70's shows as a kid too, like Happy Days and Brady Bunch and Partridge Family.
i used to watch this at night lol i love lucy major fan.
Those text slides Nickelodeon used during their sign-off have a resemblance to Teletext, the cable TV local access text slides and the early text-based WeatherSTAR technology used by The Weather Channel for their Local Forecast inserts...
That's pretty much what it was. Also they should have sprung for Muzak covers of popular songs.
Ah, Nick at Nite, aka "I guess I'll play video games now."
"Get Smart," too, was one of my favorite Nick at Nite shows. I remember it all so well...the Memphis Group style branding, looking at all older shows. Man, nostalgia of my favorite form of anxiety!
Jose Carrales Remember, “Get Smart” used to be on WPIX-TV (channel 11) in NYC back in the 1970’s before Nick at Nite picked up in 1991.
@@Musicradio77Network Well, Yes...but I didn't come on line until 1976.
Every 20 years it happens. In the 80s, 50-60s was popular. In the 90s, it was 70s. The 2000s saw 80s revivals. Now in 2010s we see 90s nostalgia. This is accurate. It would be like airing 90s shows like mighty Morphing power rangers on the network and calling it quality kids programming. 1993-1999 kids will agree 100% and be thrilled to give thier kids the same experience. Back then in 1985 shows like "I love lucy" was that's generations "power rangers." And as a bonus, in the boring wee hours you can't sleep, why not watch something nostalgic?
Exactly! That's why Nick at Nite still works! I mean would you rather watch some cable news, or would you rather watch some old-school comedy (in my case the 80s and 90s) like Cheers, the Facts of Life, or even Becker?
I'm kinda baffled what people will be nostalgia for in a few decades, pop culture hand me downs?
@@newstarcadefan and the 80s toys had the same thing. Gi joe, thundercats, transformers and he man ALL Successfully returned before 2004 weather in comics or toys. It makes sense and is cool to realize
@@Tacom4ster LOL toys will he huge in 17-20 years. They will die slowly in the next few years, then disappear from pop culture. Then they will come back and be huge.
newstarcadefan the funny thing is- I remember watching nick at nite faithfully when they aired the facts of life...
I'm glad to see I'm not the only Nickelodeon-watching kid who got hooked on Nick at Nite by watching Get Smart. I believe it did air during Nick's regular hours, so I look forward to your episode.
I remember them doing a special week where they'd play an episode of Inspector Gadget followed by an episode of Get Smart (on Nick proper), but I don't know if that's enough to count Get Smart as a Nickelodeon show per se. It wasn't a permanent thing and wasn't meant to be.
@@pronkb000 I seem to recall it would be on the regular schedule during Nick hours, sometimes right before Nick at Nite, sometimes on Saturday afternoons. But I'm also an old fart and may be misremembering things. We'll just leave the fact-finding to Greg. :)
“Get Smart” was originally ran on WPIX-TV (channel 11) back in the 1970’s before it joined Nick at Nite in the 1980’s.
I LOVED Nick at Nite!
They also showed The Wonder Years.
You need to do Hey Dude & Salute Your Shorts!
From this I learned that I can remember when I was TWO! 1985 is apparently when I started remembering Nickelodeon and in particular Nick at Night. Yes, even as a child I was a night owl and strangely into classic TV. I remember liking My Three Sons. I also watched MTV, Night Flight, and other channels... But strangely I always hated Lassie and Denise the Menace and Donna Reed was just ok to my two years old brain. Yes, Get Smart was also my favorite as a kid. But Mary Tyler Moore was definitely the best show they ever went on.
I won't lie. I am very disappointed to find out Nick at Nite won't be covered fully. I was looking forward to that more than most Nickelodeon shows.
Shame on the you tube algorithm for not helping me find this channel a year ago. This is my 3rd video in a row. I was born in 80, so I am a first generation nickelodeon kid. I remember it all, and love learning about it so thoroughly. Really nice work.
Same, except I was born in 1985. Actually the only reason I found this channel was because I searched "Nickelodeon Retrospective"
@@xxthatsnotmexx nice, so.youd be the same age as my brother, who also enjoys these vids btw. He especially enjoys all the goosebumps recaps here, I only read a few, but im pretty sure he read every one.
@@JerryD9000 yeah I loved Goosebumps as a kid!
On Thanksgiving night 1985, The Nick At Nite movie aired It's A Wonderful Life. It was the 1st time I ever saw the movie. I was 9 years old.
Didn’t know that 🙃
Honestly, Nick at Nite isn't much to write home about these days. However, when I was coming up they had a ton of classic TV I probably wouldn't have appreciated if I wasn't able to see otherwise. Also, this was the best move (then) to help Nick get the adult audiences...because as you said, what kid will be staying up past his/her bedtime?
Agreed. I'd rather watch the older stuff than endless episodes of crap like Mom and Friends that Nick at Nite airs now any day.
Amazing
Great presentation you did on Nick at Nite, Greg. I also liked the segment you did on how TV sets came to be.
I trust you will plan on putting together a Nick Knacks episode about Nick at Nite’s spin-off channel, TV Land, when you finally reach 1996.
I fondly remember the commercial for Bewitched premiering on Nick at Nite in Fall 1989. This was a big deal because it would air the first two black and white seasons, not seen (as it said) in 20 or 25 years.
I do remember getting introduced to some of these old shows through Nick at Nite. But now I wonder if Nick at Nite is even needed anymore. It's not being promoted that much, and they barely make changes to the schedule. So I wonder if Nickelodeon would be better off if they shut down Nick at Nite and just go 24 hours.
They should turn it into a smart app that you can download on your tv and focus again on the 50s-80s shows with retro commercials in between each episode. Saturday mornings air classic Saturday Morning cartoons again with retro commercials added🤔
Is the world really ready for 24 hours of Spongebob?
@@ClaudeLv250 spongebob is now on Nick at Night
Love seeing these old ads!
god, i miss late 80s early 90s nick at nite
Okay 'Tuber.
I kinda thought there would be a Boomer gag, but PopArena showed restraint
I never gave the channel a chance. I was 8 when N@N premiered and it always came off as the old peoples' channel. The only show I can ever remember taking time out to watch on it was The Wonder Years when I was in college.
I wonder how Donna reed herself felt about her show getting new life on Nick at nite. Ironically, the exact same year she was filling in for Miss Ellie on Dallas which she was widely ridiculed for., then she sadly passed away in 1986. I wonder if Nick at nite did a tribute promo for her .
Nick at Nite was the first place I watched Saturday Night Live and SCTV.
Me tooi remember seeing the best of snl at the time it introduced me to snl my dad first saw snl in the 1970s he said he saw a parody Involving a lady chief bleeding 😊
u do great docs n details
They definitely had a lot of bumpers that appealed to the escapists. Their tunes were like “ your day was tough but you have nick at nite to look forward to “
I've really been enjoying your show, and I am inspired by it and want to have channel where I talk about pop culture. I never thought as some One who grew up with nick from 2005ish to 2017. That I'd be this in to learning about the history of it, can't wait for you to get Brain Surge, Supah Ninjas & Harvey Beaks
Had such a crush on Dobie Gillis!😊
Have you thought of making a video about Nick at Nite’s original: “Hi, Honey! I’m Home!”?
I watched Nick at Nite religiously from the time I was a kid all the way into my college years, and I watched the change from "classic old TV network" to "millennial reruns". The Nick at Nite I'm most familiar with was the 90s era, where it was a fairly even spread of the 60s and the 70s with some 50s (or at least I Love Lucy) mixed in.
On Friday nights after TGIF, I would turn to N@N to watch the Best of SNL, SCTV and Laugh In. It was the only night of the week I had the television all to myself
I remember best of snl I was 7 in 1991 on nick at nite ☺️
This is what made “It’s a Wonderful Life”.
May be time to retire Nick At Nite and just make Nickelodeon 24 hours. The current lineup, and I use lineup very loosely since it’s barely even four shows, is not cutting it. Nickelodeon 24 hours and bringing back SNICK for Saturday nights may be the best case scenario.