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Monday, July 25, 2011

Nostalgic Young Adults Get Their Nickelodeon Favorites Back

A scene from the show "All That," which will return to Nickelodeon starting Monday. (Nickelodeon/Viacom)

A scene from the show "All That," which will return to Nickelodeon starting Monday. (Nickelodeon/Viacom)

Starting Monday night, Nickelodeon shows that were popular in the ’90s make a comeback –  from “All That” to “Clarissa Explains It All” and “Salute Your Shorts.”

Nickelodeon’s “90′s Are All That” block comes after millions of 20-somethings petitioned on social media to get their childhood favorites back on the tube.

Twenty-five-year-old Josh Huber is one of many who started an online petition, he grew up with shows like “The Adventures of Pete and Pete” and “Doug.”

“It was almost religion in our house to turn on Nickelodeon and watch ‘Pete & Pete’ and all those other shows,” he told Here & Now‘s Robin Young.

Huber said he started the online petition after watching today’s Nickelodeon shows with his younger cousin. He says he was struck by the poor quality of the shows and he found the characters hard to relate to.

“The kids in the 90s didn’t have to be cool… every kid on TV now has to be cool. They have to have the nice clothes the nice haircut, every single kid has to be incredibly funny.  The shows now all seem forced, it seems like they’re completely controlled by people who don’t get kids,” he said.

Huber said that when Nickelodeon’s TeenNick channel takes a break from their present-day shows to re-air ’90s favorites starting Monday from midnight to 4 a.m., he plans to “sit directly in front of the TV for four straight hours.”

Guest:

  • Joshua Huber, a 25-year-old who started an online petition to bring ’90s Nickelodeon shows back
Other stories from Monday's show

We welcome comments from all of our listeners. Post below. Please stay on topic and be civil. Comments may be moderated by us, but you are solely responsible for the content of your comments.

  • Nefert-tmu

    When describing “All That” why say that it’s urban, why not just say that it’s black?

    • Mo

      Because it wasn’t black. There were only a couple black kids out of the dozen or so in the cast.

  • Amanda Qualls

    I for one look forward to seeing Rugrats and perhaps Rocco’s Modern Life?! Great shows that me and my husband often reminisce about. Now all that’s left to do is get them posted to a streaming service like Hulu.

  • http://twitter.com/djbowes Daniel Bowes

    Haha, nice work Huber!

  • Dammit_Jim

    We have pop culture  decade eras identified as the 60′s, 70′s, 80′s and 90′s.
    But what was the last decade 2000-2009 called?  
    It one day will also be a nostalgia target, if we could only title it.

  • Dee

    This is what the 20 somethings care about? who cares about the  state of our country’s debt, we need to bring back Clarissa explains it all… We’re doomed.

    • LKAK1983

      I don’t understand your comment. I care about the state of our country’s debt.

    • Mollydalba

      I care about the state of our country’s debt,  but there isn’t a thing I can do about our corrupt and hopelessly immature congress. I am but one vote, which I exercise at every opportunity. Doesn’t mean I’m not allowed to be excited about some great shows I loved in my childhood. 

  • LKAK1983

    Someone pinch me, I’m dreaming. This is too good to be true. These programs defined my childhood. Cannot WAIT for Pete & Pete, and Salute Your Shorts

  • http://twitter.com/Welshmanspride Ronald Llewellyn III

    Pete & Pete!!!!!

  • Himegs

    MAJOR LETDOWN. I was so excited upon hearing this story today I ran to my DVR to set up recordings at my first opportunity.  Sadly you failed to clarify in the story that these shows are being shown on Teen Nick, not Nickelodeon. My cable provider doesn’t even offer Teen Nick. 

    • Anonymous

      Hi Himegs, Thanks for alerting us to this, our apologies for not being clearer– we’ve added the clarification and hope you’ll be able to get your 90′s Nick fix another way!
      -Jill Ryan, H&N

  • Ben

    I found this story laughable and. The fellow is yearning for the past. Obviously his future sucks, so he wishes to retract to the past.
    The last line of the story of –he plans to “sit directly in front of the TV for four straight hours.” left be wondering that this guy is “hooked on electronic heroin” which television is known as.

    Another couch potato in the making. Does this guy realize the affects of all that radiation on his eyes and body? Also want is he eating and drinking during these 4 hrs?  Probably junk foods.
    I suggest you sit down and read Jerry Mander’s Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television  from 1977 .  

    “We’ve turned into this nation of overfed clowns, riding around in clown cars, eating clown food, watching clown shows. We’ve become a nation of cringing, craven f*ckups.”  James Howard Kunstler, author of “The Long Emergency”

  • Just In Time

    Television, the plug-in drug. Don’t worry about being cool son.  Sounds like you or is it your generation feel “left out”. Are you lonely or depressed? Lacking attention, so being cool is going to help you out.
    Be yourself. It could turn into one hell of a crisis if your electricity goes off and you are stuck in the dark eating chips and sipping your diet sodas with aspartame.

    As Mary Harris “Mother Jones” stated nearly 80 years ago:

    “Sit down and read. Educate yourself for the coming conflicts.”
     

    I find television very educating. Every time somebody turns on the set, I go into the other room and read a book.    —Groucho Marx

  • Kristal

    Why didnt they show the programs ?

  • Bill

    90′s definitely a golden era for “cable network” shows – nostalgia happens for every generation, it’s just gen y’s turn.

  • Clara

    Another one of those stories which involve the 3 “S’s” of American culture.
    SEX, SCREEN and SPORT.

    I wonder if Here and Now or There and Gone will be doing some stories on the National Football League and their settlement for another season of “video cigarsmoke”.
    Keep them masses FAT, DUMB and HAPPY.
    Easiest way to control the sheeples.

  • Alfred

    This comment from Huber.

    Huber said that when Nickelodeon’s TeenNick channel takes a break from their present-day shows to re-air ’90s favorites starting Monday from midnight to 4 a.m., he plans to “sit directly in front of the TV for four straight hours.”

    What do you doing for a job Mr. Huber? Are you a laborer during the day or sit on your butt in some office cubicle in front of a computer screen?
    You must be awfully exhausted after your day at work to sit for 4 straight hours in front of a TV.
    What a waste of life. 

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