When We Were Young...

A tribute to 90s Nickelodeon

Who can forge the lovable cartoons we sat down every afternoon to watch? When I was growing up, all of the kids on my block would run inside after school to watch our favorite (and on many occasions seriously gross) cartoons: Rugrats, Doug, Ren & Stimpy, Rocko's Modern Life and Hey Arnold!

The cartoons were followed by parent-friendly family programming: Double Dare (and Family Double Dare), GUTS (and later, Global GUTS), Legends of the Hidden Temple, Figure it Out, Wild and Crazy Kids, Get the Picture, Welcome to Weinerville and What Would You Do?

Next came the "young adult" programming and the much-loved SNICK: Salute your Shorts, Hey Dude!, The Adventures of Pete and Pete, Are you Afraid of the Dark?, Clarissa Explains it All, All That and Round House (I've only found one other person who remembers this show!)

So, this wasn't my most informative post, but if you loved these shows then I'm sure you'll agree that there is just far too much to say about each and every one of them! Enjoy the memories.

Flash-Forward
*You can catch some of these great shows on NickGAS if you have cable/sattellite (Legends of the Hidden Temple, GUTS and Global GUTS, Figure it Out).
*Disney eventually gained the rights to "Doug" and aired it on ABC on weekend mornings. Don't get me started though, they absolutely butchered the show!
*They also (apparently) continued making episodes of "All That" for several seasons, but with a sub-par cast. I refuse to watch.
*While Nickelodeon still broadcasts popular kid's programming, I doubt that "Hannah Montana" could ever be as good as 90s Nick :)

UPDATES

I've changed some of my posts, not in content but in format. I've also added some video links to the post "There was a Riot on the Streets, Tell me, Where were You?" so check them out!

Fixin' to be Alot Better, Man...

Dazed & Confused
Click Here to see where the film got its title.
Okay, so the movie is set in 1976, but it was filmed in 1993 (this blog has taught me that I am apparently obsessed with this year). Dazed and Confused combines my two favorite eras, and features one of my favorite soundtracks of all time. Even though it didn't garner much attention in 93, Dazed and Confused has become increasingly popular over the last 15 years, gaining cult status.


Soundtrack
The film opens with Aerosmith's "Sweet Emotion," capturing the bliss that goes along with the last day of school, and closes with "Slow Ride" by Foghat as Pink, Wooderson, Dawson and Simone drive to get Aerosmith tickets. Other great songs in the film include Alice Cooper's "No More Mr. Nice Guy" when Mitch is getting his beating, and the 'Nuge's "Stranglehold."


Breakout Roles
Ben Affleck (O'Bannion): Before Good Will Hunting and "Bennifer," (parts I and II), Ben Affleck was the fifth-year bully O'Bannion. Take a closer look at his paddle...FUH-Q.

Matthew McConaughey (Wooderson): Playing the slightly-older dropout, McConoughey landed himself the most memorable line from the film: "That's what I love about these high school girls, man. I get older and they stay the same age."

Rory Chochrane (Slater): If you don't recognize his name, you probably didn't watch the first two seasons of CSI. He played the character Speedle, who is murdered pretty early in the series. In Dazed Slater is by far the most toasted character, my favorite line being "Behind every good man there is a woman, and that woman was Martha Washington, man, and everyday George would come home, she would have a big fat bowl waiting for him, man, when he come in the door, man, she was a hip, hip, hip lady, man."

Adam Goldberg (Mike): Goldberg has had small parts in several movies, (Saving Private Ryan, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days), and in some pretty popular TV shows, (Friends, Entourage), but self-described "geek" Mike Newhouse was his breakout role. "I'm just trying to be honest about being a misanthrope."

Milla Jovovich (Michelle): Jovovich has had a pretty extensive modeling career and a so-so acting career. Michelle was Kevin Pickford's girlfriend in Dazed, and seemed just about as out of it as Slater and Pickford were. She didn't have any memorable lines and mostly just stared blankly throughout the film.

Jason London (Randall "Pink" Floyd): What's not to love about Pink? The inexplicably lovable character conflicts throughout the film about signing a declaration not to drink or use drugs, eventually telling his football coach "I may play ball next fall, but I will never sign that." London and his twin brother Jeremy have both lead semi-successful careers, with small movie roles and a few television appearances.

There are thousands of other memorable characters and quotes that would make this post painfully long, so I'll spare you. Watch the movie! :) It now comes as a dual-disk set with the 80's cult classic Fast Times at Ridgemont High, another great movie.

Pop-Culture References
Family Guy has referenced Dazed and Confused on two occasions:
1) Brian, dressed as Wooderson, repeats the high school girls line outside an animated Emporium
2) Chris is afraid to start high school, and is eventually paddled to "No More Mr. Nice Guy."

There was a riot on the streets - tell me, where were you?

Rodney King.
On March 3, 1991, a black man was pulled over for driving recklessly. Twenty-six year-old Rodney King was then beaten by 4 Los Angeles police officers. The encounter was partially video taped by a civilian and was ultimately aired on several national networks. Though charges were brought against the officers, they were dropped on April 29, 1992. In an act of retaliation, thousands of Los Angeles citizens rioted.

April 29, 1992.
In 1992 the band Sublime wrote the song "April 29, 1992 (Miami)" in reference to the LA riots.

"April 26th, 1992,there was a riot on the streets,tell me where were you?You were sittin' home watchin' your TV, while I was paticipatin' in some anarchy."

Then & WOW.
So, what's happened to Rodney King since he was beaten? He was awarded$3.8 million in a civil suit against the city of Los Angeles and others. Since then, he has been arrested for several minor offenses. Currently, you can see Rodney King struggle with addiction on "Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew" on VH1. We're so proud of you, Rodney. You too, LA.

Two permits do not equal a license!

As if!
Mel: Cher, get in here!
Cher: Yes daddy?
Mel: What are you wearing?
Cher: A dress.
Mel: Says who?
Cher: Calvin Klein!

Ah, Clueless. While the movie is undeniably vacuous, shallow Cher Horowitz was so adorably "clueless" that audiences couldn't help but love her and her oh-so-90s slang (also known as "Valspeak," the universal language of the Valley Girls...thank you, California).

Believe it or not, Clueless is loosely based on the Jane Austen novel Emma. Very loosely. Click here to view character and plot comparisons between Emma and Clueless. The film, which was released in 1995, follows the life of 15 year-old Cher Horowitz, (played by Alicia Silverstone), the daughter of a rich lawyer ("Daddy's a litigator. Those are the scariest kinds of lawyers...He gets paid $500 an hour just to fight with people, but he fights with me for free 'cause I'm his daughter!") as she plays matchmaker with her friends and teachers in Beverly Hills. The cast includes a slew of (now) well-known actors, including Brittany Murphy, (Tai), Paul Rudd, (Josh), and Donald Faison, (Murray).

Josh: I'm amazed.
Cher: That I'm devoting myself so generously to someone else?
Josh: No, that you've found someone even more clueless than you are to worship you.

Admittedly, I know pretty much this entire movie by heart. With lines like "I feel like such a heffer. I had two bowls of Special K, three pieces of turkey bacon, a handful of popcorn, FIVE peanut-butter M&Ms..." and "That was my mom. Isn't she a total betty? She died when I was young. A freak accident during a routine liposuction," (Cher), what's not to love?

Remember when?
*Remember when Alicia Silverstone was supposed to be the next up-and-coming young actress? She was even Aerosmith's music video "Crazy" with Steven Tyler's daughter, Liv. See the video on YouTube: "Crazy"
*What about Brittany Murphy!? Apparently 10-15 pounds and a dye-job can work wonders! (Okay...maybe more like 20 pounds...she's looking pretty skeletal in that second photo.)

THEN ********************************************NOW Whatever!
Clueless: The Television Show.
Nobody needs to watch this show (I'm not even sure it's running on syndicates any more). The show butchered the film and didn't even include all of the same characters. Alicia Silverstone was smart enough not to go near it, and the show starred Rachel Blanchard. While it seems like picking up where our favorite characters left off would be a great idea, it was a total "Monet."

What is, and What Should Never Be.

Crystal Pepsi

If you don't remember the stuff, you're not the only one. In 1992, PepsiCo. launched a new campaign for their "re-designed" cola. The clear drink, aptly named Crystal Pepsi, was designed to fool the public into thinking that it was healthier than other sodas because it was caffeine-free and more "pure" due to the lack of dyes.

The slogan for Crystal Pepsi was "You've never seen a taste like this," because unlike other clear soft-drinks, it didn't taste like lemon-lime. It didn't exactly taste like regular Pepsi either, though that was the company's claim.

The campaign launch began during SuperBowl XXVII in 1993 and featured the Van Halen hit "Right Now." The song choice was appropriate, because that very moment was the first and practically last mention of Crystal Pepsi. The product flopped tremendously.

References in pop-culture:

*Saturday Night Live: spoofed Crystal Pepsi during a fake product ad for "Crystal Gravy"

*The Simpsons: Homer tries to steal a bottle of "Crystal Buzz," the show's Pepsi equivalent, from a vending machine. After drinking the soda, he says "Mmm, invisible cola!"

*Family Guy: Peter is drinks a can of Crystal Pepsi, then states "It has all the great taste of regular Pepsi, without that troublesome opacity!"

*http://crystalpepsi.captainmike.org/: An entire page dedicated to Crystal Pepsi.

Go ahead and put Crystal Pepsi in the vault. While you're at it, throw in PepsiOne, PepsiBlue, New Coke (aka Coca-Cola II), and Tab Clear (the Coca-Cola equivalent to Crystal Pepsi). These failures point out only one thing: If it ain't broke, don't fix it!

The Show about "Nothing"

Seinfeld.
You can't discuss the 1990's without mentioning Seinfeld, the iconic television show seemingly about ...nothing. For 9 years we watched Jerry break up with a woman because she had so-called "man hands." We were stunned when George accidentally killed his fiancee Susan with poisonous wedding invitations. We laughed when Kramer settled a tabacco suit out-of-court in exchange for a large-scale Marlboro ad featuring himself. We found ourselves in stitches watching Elaine's "little kicks" dancing.These iconic characters embarked on paths of destruction, ruining their relatinonships and careers, taking everybody else down with them.

The Seinfeld lingo made it's way into every day slang and continues to be accepted today, almost ten years after the show's final episode. Even if you're not a "low-talker," an "anti-dentite" or "master of your domain," odds are there's a Seinfeld-ism for you.

Though the show ended its run in 1999, it continues to rule the airwaves (or, perhaps, the cables?). Seinfeld even out-rates new popular shows on several networks. It continues to air syndicated episodes daily in 200 markets. With coverage like that, there's no chance that Seinfeld is headed for the vault any time soon.

Jerry: Do you date immature men?
Vanessa: Almost Exclusively.

Welcome to the 21st Century.
For those who just can't get enough Seinfeld but need something a little more up-to-date, I present your new addiction: Curb Your Enthusiasm. The un-scripted show stars Larry David, co-creator and co-executive producer of Seinfeld, who seems to find new ways to end up in the doghouse with friends and his wife by the end of every episode. Not sure you'll be able to connect with a new character? Larry David has been quoted as saying that he created Seinfeld's George Costanza based on his own personality. Occasionally a few of your favorite Seinfeld regulars, like Julia Louis-Dreyfus, make an appearance too.

Curb Your Enthusiasm wrapped up its 6th season in November of 2007; it is unknown if there will be a 7th season. You can watch re-runs of Curb Your Enthusiasm on HBO, but if you don't have the provider the DVD's are available as well.