My List Is Better Than Your List: Top Ten "Classic" Nickelodeon Shows

Some of these will be repeats from Angela's List because she picked a few of the best! Here goes.

1. The Adventures of Pete and Pete: What the hell was with this show?
I absolutely positively loved this show. In fact, this is a show I think I STILL love. It was totally strange: little Pete's tattoo of Petunia (that no one knows how it got there), the mom with the metal plate in her head, and Artie, the strongest man in the world. It had some really bizarre guest stars (the B-52's, Michael Stipe and Iggy Pop), and wonderfully whimsical plot lines involving staying up all night playing flashlight tag, searching for Mr. Tastee and little Pete getting a presidential marshmallow stuck up his nose.

2. Salute Your Shorts: We Hold You In Our Hearts
I watched this repeatedly. I think I knew every episode by heart. Angela is right, I DID have a crush on Pinsky, but he came later after Michael mysteriously left the show. This show taught me that faking sick to eat ice cream all day is a bad idea, to check your pockets for holes before you fill them with change, and that giraffe's have "big BLACK tongues."
ains It All: Before Carrie Bradshaw

3. Clarissa Explains It All: Before Carrie Bradshaw
Carrie in her teens would be a lot like Clarissa. Check out those outfits!

4. Rocko's Modern Life: This show was depressing
Yet it was my favorite of the Nicktoons. Rocko always seemed to be a little sad and stressed out by what was going on around him. My favorite moment to this day is when he maxes out his credit card at the mall buying all sorts of ridiculous shit. What pushes the limit of the card over the edge is when he discovers a 'sad crying clown in an iron lung' and muses that he'd always wanted one. That clown pretty much sums up everything that happened to poor Rocko.

5. Are You Afraid of the Dark?: Yes.
Some of the stories were lame and some were terrifying. I particularly remember having the pants scared off of me during the one with the little girl trapped in the mirror. She writes backwards all over the walls and generally looked creepy. I always thought this was a really good concept for a show: kids telling scary stories. There was a somewhat disturbing ritual to the gathering around the campfire and preparing to tell the stories. God bless you, SNICK.

6. You Can't Do That On Television: I don't know.
This is the show that made Nickelodeon. They still slime people to this day AND introduced us to Alanis Morissette.

7. Welcome, Freshman: The Merv-u-mentary
The thing that sticks out most about this show that, once again, I watched ad nauseum, is Merv's awful attempt at hard-hitting journalism, uncovering scandal around the school. I also really liked that the kids would sit around and chat in an area of the school that looked much more like a mall.

8. Fifteen: Canadian melodrama!
I feel sorry for kids who did not get to partake of the glory that was Fifteen. The kids in this show were handling WAY more shit than most people should including body issues and teen alcoholism. When Ryan Reynolds first starting showing up in movies, I said to myself "Hey, didn't he play annoying Billy on Fifteen?" Yes. He did.

9. Finders Keepers: Tearin' Up the Joint
My favorite of the Nick game shows. Just run through this huge house that's filled with garbage and find some tiny piece of crap, or a large tag that will win you a prize. GO!

10. Special Delivery: This Answer is A Cop Out
Special Delivery showed you something random. Sometimes it was animated Grimm's Fairy Tales, sometimes it was a classic cartoon. I loved it mostly for the times I got to see The Electric Grandmother. You got to pick her out and build her, what she looked like, what she did for fun. This movie was always kind of creepy and sad and I loved loved loved it.

A few more comments: I watched Nick endlessly as a child, even shows that I didn't care for. I can't count the hours I spent watching Wild n Crazy kids, but I usually hated it. I also really loved Nick in the Afternoon because I thought Stick Stickley was adorable and hilarious. Oh Nickelodeon, you will never be as good again but bless you for trying.