NickJournals Yearly Review - 1990: The 90s Begin

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Nickelodeon Yearly Review - 1990: The 90s Begin

After analyzing a year on what I consider to be Nickelodeon’s lowest point on Twitter, I decided to start analyzing every year for the network since 1990. Some of it may be inspired by Pop Arena except that I’m not doing lengthy reviews of tv shows, I’m reviewing Nick shows on their own merits, rather than judging them from a corporate standpoint. Plus I’m only looking over at shows produced by Nick rather than including acquisitions. I will also cover the opening of Nickelodeon Animation Studios.

Hey Dude (4/10)

Ah, this show was important to Nickelodeon’s live-action department. It’s about a fictional ranch Bar None Dude Ranch at a rural place in Arizona (which is actually filmed there). The owner of the ranch is Mr. Ernst, who after getting divorced, quit his New York job to run Bar None Dude Ranch. He has a son named Buddy, who is a skater that feels dissatisfied about moving to a rural place. He had a dog named Cassie but she disappeared after the first season. The teenagers who engage in the ranch antics are Ted, Danny, Melody, and Brad. By the third season, Ted left the ranch is replaced by Jake, Ernst’s nephew. Another character named Kyle joined the cast and when Ted returned, the show developed a love triangle between the two boys and Brad. The only other recurring adult character is Lucy, one of the staff for Bar None. Why is this show important for Nickelodeon, you ask? Well, for the first decade of their existence, they mostly have shows produced at Canada like the show that popularized slime, You Can’t Do That on Television. It wasn’t until the Geraldine Laybourne years that they start producing in-house shows, but they were just unscripted programming like game shows and stuff. Hey Dude is officially the first scripted live-action show produced by Nick themselves, in which they’re still making to this day. Unfortunately, despite how important Hey Dude was for this network, it is not that good of a show. And I’m not saying it’s mediocre because I can’t stand being at a ranch, but it could get unpleasant to watch. I can’t stand Ted whatsoever. He’s not likable for a protagonist and he just came off as an egomaniac. He dragged the whole show down because of his personality. I don’t mind Danny as he’s the superior male teen character, but even he suffered from one negative trait: since he is the only important person of color of the cast (Native American played by a Mexican American), he was subjected to terrible stereotypes about his ethnicity in almost every episode. It does not set the tone for Nick’s diversity for years to come, since they are often praised for being “woke” (I used that word in a positive light). But it’s only their first kidcom, so things will improve from there on. The girls are better written, but even Brad can be as stubborn as Ted sometimes. What’s interesting about Melody is that out of the teen cast members, Christine Taylor was the only one who would still have an acting career to this day. It’s pretty obvious she’s my favorite character on the show. Mr. Ernst and Buddy are okay characters, but not memorable in their own right. I’ve only watched the first couple seasons through Dailymotion before dropping it entirely. I know I can watch the rest of the series through Paramount+, but I have a policy of dropping shows if I can’t stand watching it. There’s not one episode of the show that stood out for me and the best one I saw, it’s still not above a 6/10. Most of the plots are just typical sitcom episodes without a laugh track. The acting is bearable for the most part, but I just wish I could tolerate most of the characters. Kidcoms are guilty pleasures of mine if I wanted to get some good laughs, but there’s rarely anything funny going on, and while there’s some nice moments, it’s hard to enjoy a heartwarming scene if Ted is in a scene. Plus, the whole relationship between him and Brad possibly loving each other is dumb considering they can’t stand each other. And you all know me - the key to making a good content for kids is to make sure the young characters get along. This show’s characters lack chemistry outside of the Ernsts , as they spend most of their time fighting. It’s not a good atmosphere for kids and teens, and it’s definitely going to influence a certain producer to make the characters unlikable in his shows (but we’ll get to that in many years later as we’re still in the 90s). I know people who grew up with this show had fond memories of it, but I can’t for the life of me get into it. When it’s not bothering me, it’s otherwise an uninteresting show. Not being a ranch person is a leading factor, as I don’t think you need 65 episodes for a show about it. If you want to watch the show for your Nick Marathon like me and Pop Arena are doing, feel free to watch it on Paramount+. But I don’t think you’re going to enjoy it. A weak start for the Nickcom, despite being very influential.