Nickelodeon - Whatever happened to the good old days?

We began by watching shows on Cartoon Network. Many of us can still remember those continuous rumbling of Shaggy's stomach, constant laughing of Pebbles, and the barking of Courage. We grew to love Noddy and his nodding head [WHO knew that Enid Blyton created the first Noddy?], Tom and his uncountable tricks in attempts to lure Jerry out of his mouse hole, the Mayor of Townsville and his jar of candy, Popeye's overlarge muscles, and DiDi's overly curious nature. We still sing or simply hum the theme songs of various shows on Cartoon Network sometimes just because we can't think of anything else and sometimes because we feel like reliving our childhood.

But then came the revolutionary Nickelodeon. It released in the year 2001 and took our lives by storm. I had never before in my life seen something so enthralling and captivating as the shows on Nickelodeon. My parents would pull out their hair when they saw the amounts of hours I spent rooted in front of the television, my eyes glued to the TV screen.

The shows I loved the most on Nickelodeon include:

• Figure It Out- This was a game showed hosted by Summer Sanders [I used to adore her when I was a kid]. Since it involved filling blanks and at the start of every episode, Summer Sanders would announce the number of blanks by saying something like "Blank blank blank blank blank" or "blank blank THE blank blank", the show came to be known as BLANK BLANK BLANK BLANK in the household [yes, my folks used to watch it as well]. There would be three rounds to the game where the panelists [ four people who used to air on popular Nickelodeon shows played the game as panelists] would ask the contestant of the day yes-or-no questions [if they got a yes, they were allowed to ask another question.. this would go on till they got a no] in an attempt to guess his secret 'talent' [he might be able to do something special, might have won some competition, might have invented something etc]. Clues and SLIME were a common part of the game and it used to be LOVELY to watch the panelists perform the secret slime action [which would usually be something like, say the word 'like', or scratch their ear, or think about bananas.. or something along those lines]. So, anyway; if the panelist guessed a word of the contestant's 'talent' then a blank would overturn to reveal the word on something called 'Billy the Answer Head' which was where the blanks were located and were overturned. The show ends by the contestant revealing his 'talent' and showing it to everybody.. Grand prizes would be won by the contestant if the panelists aren't able to guess his talent by the end of the three rounds. Grand prizes included trips to Florida etc. *sigh*.
  
  
• Rugrats - It is Nickelodeon's longest running show, and for good reason. Rugrats shows us the daily lives of - Tommy, Chuckie, Phil, Lil and Angelica - a group of toddlers. Tommy is the leader of the group. He is the son of Stu and Didi Pickels. He is the most adventurous of the group and often leads the way for the rest of his friends. Chuckie and him are inseparable and Chuckie admires Tommy for his courage. Chuckie is the eldest of all the Rugrats. He has BRIGHT RED hair, which I suspect is the leading factor of his irrational phobias. He's loyal to his friends and often overcomes his fears to come to the rescue of the others. Phil and Lil are twin brother and sisters that have absolutely everything in common. They both like mud, they both are identical, and love eating worms. However they argue a lot. Angelica, is not actually a part of this group, but Tommy's elder cousin. She is the cutest antagonist of all times. She's always bossing the babies around and is a spoilt brat. She turns on her charm and manipulates her dad into buying her anything she wants. Her daddy calls her, 'His Little Princess'. She was the eldest of the Rugrats and was the only one who could communicate with both the toddlers and the adults. Later versions of the shows also introduced new characters like Dil [Tommy's little brother], Susie [a neighbourhood friend who stops Angelica from tormenting the kids] and Kimi [Chuckie's step sister, who made her first appearance in the movie Rugrats in Paris].

• Hey Arnold! - This was one cartoon I could completely relate to. It's about a young fourth grader kid - Arnold - and this group of friends and the various incidents that take place in their lives. Arnold is a sweet boy, always willing to lend a helping hand out to anyone who needs it. His room is the neatest room anybody can find in the whole of NY. His grandparents [who he is currently living with, as his parents died when Arnold was a young kid of three] are proprietors of their boarding house which is called Sunset Arms [this is a slightly unusual name, but I'm not complaining]. Arnold's best friend, Gerald, has the kind of hair every guy would dream of having in his childhood. It stays up without him having to apply gel every five minutes. Gerald is also the occasional voice of reason (just when Arnold needs it) and the teller of the schoolyard legends. One of Arnold's classmates is Helga, who is the person the story usually revolves around, though the story obviously concerns Arnold. She's the bully of the class and calls Arnold 'football head' though with good reason. She secretely has a HUGE crush on Arnold and that becomes the main cause for her bullying him. She doesn't want him, or anyone for that matter, to get to know about her crush. I could totally relate to this show as during the time of the show, I used to have the major hots for this guy. Since I was a kid, so I couldn't do anything about it at that time. I just used to bully him around just like Helga. But then I realised that that was a stupid idea, so I gave it up soon.

The above mentioned were my absolute favourite, but apart from these, there were so many shows I used to love watching. I wonder why I didn't manage to land myself with a pair of 'Brille'.

• 100 Deeds for Eddie McDowd
• As Told By Ginger
• The Wild Thornberrys
• Global Guts
• CatDog
• Legends of the Hidden Temple
• Double Dare 2000
• ChalkZone [It JUST ended on August 23rd in the States]
• Aaahh!!! Real Monsters
• Rocket Power
• The Fairly Odd Parents
• Blue's Clues [I have all the songs memorised .. !]
• KaBlam!
• All That [The Lori Beth and Danny Tamberelli era]
• The Amanda Show

The current Nickelodeon is just distressing. Ninja Hattori? Perman? ARE THEY RETARDED ?!?!Sorry, I just get very sentimental when I compare the old Nickelodeon to the new ones. Drake and Josh, and Kenan & Kel - the shows I actually used to enjoy, either come late at night on weekdays or don't come at all.

Whatever happened to the old Nickelodeon? Why do Indians [sorry for generalising, but I don't quite know who to blame for this one] think that dubbing all shows and airing them in hindi is 'in' and is what the children of this country want?

More later.
Signing off.
Mallika Priya Khullar.