Microsoft, the damage is done. I’m never coming back. Except for when I want to play some PC games. But I’ve got to admit, your marketing has been pretty great. From the bold colors and minimalist, angular design of the Windows Phone 8 Mobile (or whatever you’re calling it) print ads, to this awesome, Webby-nominated ad for Internet Explorer, you’re actually out-Appling Apple. That said, most people who use IE have fond memories of the 1960s, not the ’90s. It’s a great video nonetheless.
Forgotten Freshness: You Can’t Do That On Television
Man, how the times have changed. Back in the 80’s, it was totally okay to have children’s sketch comedy show where families were so poor that their children got repossessed, it was okay for middle-aged man dressed as a scuba diver to share a bathtub with an underage girl, and there was even a recurring sketch about children being sentenced to death by firing squad.
You Can’t Do That On Television: Poverty & Unemployment Pt.1
Originally a low budget children’s sketch comedy show in 1979 for local Ottowa, Canada station CJOH-TV, You Can’t Do That On Television was picked up by Nickelodeon in 1981. Each episode’s sketches always centered around a main theme and the show is most known for its “slime” gag where green slime fell from the sky onto the actors’ heads every time they said “I don’t know.” To this day, green slime is a staple of Nickelodeon’s brand identity. In addition to the slime if any of the actors said “water,” water would fall on them.
You Can’t Do That On Television: Poverty & Unemployment Pt. 2
YCDTOTV was definitely a pretty edgy show, even by today’s standards. Episode themes centered around things like poverty, fashion, and the future, but some episodes were banned. An episode about adoption was banned in the U.S. and Canada and an episode about divorce was banned in Canada.
Once Nickelodeon picked up the show and tried aiming it toward a younger demographic, it kind of started going downhill. While originally made for teens and pre-teens, episodes about things like sexual equality, peer pressure, and drugs were replaced by more kiddy-ish potty humor.
The show lasted until 1990 and reruns were aired until 1994. In 2004, there was a reunion special called Project 131 and you can watch the whole thing on YouTube.
You Can’t Do That On Television: Poverty & Unemployment Pt. 3
Watching these old episodes, it’s definitely hard to imagine this sort of thing flying on TV today. As much as people complain that TV is too violent or oversexualized, I think they tend to forget how things used to be. Not saying anything was wrong with the good old days of children’s entertainment, though. If anything, this show deserves respect for not talking down to kids and talking about real issues.
And, come on, could you even imagine how if there was a children’s program where kids were being shot by a firing squad this day and age? Uptight parents would have a fit!
Maybe that’s the main divide between kids and grown-ups. Kids have the ability to see the humor in everything while grown-ups tend to take everything way too seriously.
Trivia:
Canadian singer Allanis Morrisette was on the show when she was just 5 years old in 1979 and was on again in 1986 for an episode about pop music. Dave Coulier was also working for Nickelodeon around this time on the show Out Of Control. Alanis Morisette’s song “You Oughta Know” is about Dave Coulier!!! Coincidence?
The show’s opening animation, The Children’s Television Sausage Factor was inspired by Terry Gilliam’s “gilliamations.” That’s the same Terry Gilliam from Monty Python’s Flying Circus. He also directed some movies you’ve probably heard of like 12 Monkeys,Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, and The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus.
Yesterday we posted a 90’s Breaking Bad intro, and now we have a VHS-tastic nostalgiafied Walking Dead throwback complete with fuzzy VCR effects and cheesy mood music.
Captain Höek and Cadet Stimpy in street art form from the episode “Space Madness” which always creeped me out as a kid. The whole thing about eating soap always made me queasy.
Entire “Space Madness” episode embedded below for great justice.
90’s Nostalgia: The Tales from the Crypt Saturday Morning Game Show
So when I was five years old, Tales from the Crypt was a pretty fucking huge deal for HBO. My father always watched it and I was kind of always around to squeal or run away from his television set while it played, but the memories and nostalgia always lingered of the Crypt Keeper and his fucked up tales of horror. But something crossed my mind the other day and I don’t think many people remember this, but do you remember the Crypt Keeper’s gameshow?
I hardly do. With the help of Google/Wikipedia/YouTube, I’m watching it over and thinking: How in the fuck did this crazy ass Saturday morning children’s game show air, of all networks, on CBS? And how did it last for one year?
The show was called Secrets of the Crypt Keeper’s Haunted House, and it involved kids going through physical challenges, Legend of the Hidden Temple style. They had a section of the challenge titled “The Swamp From Hell and used a shit ton of bad CGI to animate it.
Thanks to a user on YouTube, an episode is on the Internet to peep in three different parts. I guess the uploader, bojibbles, was a contestent on the show. Enjoy this hidden gem with me, because my brain doesn’t want to shit bricks alone at remembering this show at random.
Johnny Cupcakes was actually a huge driving inspiration behind the initial concept of Albotas back in the day, so we’re more than stoked to learn about is new project involving some of the the most generation-defining cartoons of all time.
If you read Albotas, you’re probably in your 20s, so this is for you. Entertainment Weekly reports that Nickelodeon will be adding a two hour time slot for re-airing some of its shows from the ’90s. The shows will be on a channel called TeenNick, and go from midnight to 2AM. The initial line-up consists of Keenan & Kel, Rugrats, and Clarissa Explains It All, among others. Nick says they will add more shows eventually. Rocko’s Modern Life, please!
