Nickelodeon changes their logo

[FiddySicks]

To belabor a point from days ago about outgrowing children's television, to what end does one program a full-time Classic Nick channel in the first place? Who is your audience, exactly? As much as we'd like present and future generations of kids to experience Ren & Stimpy or Pete & Pete or Double Dare or whatever because let's be honest, those were some righteous little shows, they probably have no interest in being told how great we oldsters had it. Kids don't like that. They find it crusty and tiresome, something to rebel against. This was the thrust behind the then-new original programming we're advocating here. Today's kids won't be any more excited to watch Hey Dude than we were about watching, I don't know, Howdy Doody or Captain Kangaroo or whatever the heck. So you're not going to hit the age group to which it was initially directed. Barring the handful of shows that were really good and memorable and stand the test of time (a tough test indeed for kid shows), it's not as if the programming is really any better than what the mothership is offering now, so why cannibalize your product by counterprogramming new Nick shows with old Nick shows of generally equal value? Then you have twentysomethings like us who watched the shows the first time around. Like I said, you're probably dealing with very short bursts of nostalgia, and the fact that people like the idea of classic Nickelodeon more than liking classic Nickelodeon itself. We'll say "hey, whoa, All That is on, cool!" and watch about six minutes before we realize we've totally and thoroughly outgrown All That, at which point we say "wait, this show sucks" and put in a DVD of Mr. Show. So really, who's going to watch Rugrats reruns all day? A Venn diagram of potheads and undergrads? Is that viable?

Realistically speaking, Nickelodeon nostalgia needs are best fulfilled, like many things, by Youtube. You say "hey, am I the only person who remembers The Adventures Of David The Gnome?", and no, you're not, and there it is, and so you watch like four minutes of Adventures Of David The Gnome, let the memories of being three years old wash over you, say "yep, that was something," and then you move on with your internet life by clicking over to Hot Asian Invasion or whatever suits your how-you-say more adult needs. It doesn't necessitate another cable channel, people, is what I'm trying to say.

Considering how many potheads and undergrads there are in this country, it may not be too out of the question.

Howabout this then, instead of a full channel, make a nickclassic.com website that offers all of your favorite old shows in high quality, youtube style formats? You could even make it a pay service. Hell, I'd pay $25 to have the option of watching my favorite old shows. Even if I barely used it, it'd make those days when the weight of the world feels like it's crushing you, and all you want is to be a kid again in some ways worth it.

[BroadwayBlueshirt]

Man, I grew up on 90s Nickelodeon like most the y'all here, but what's up with the Spongebob hating? Once that show hit it's stride, it became one of the best, most absurd, non-age-discriminating shows out there. Hillenburg is a Rocco's Modern Life alum, and Spongebob is certainly in that vein.

[hartfordwhalers2k8]

There's some debate out there about watching older Nicktoons. I grew up in the Rugrats-Oddparents era. Mid 90's to like 2002. It did include some of the non-cartoon shows like All That, Keenan & Kel, Salute Your Shorts, etc. Nick probably jumped the shark around the time of the Spongebob movie. Then, it started catering less to what they used to and more to the pre-teen pop crap. The logo is pretty bland and the splat will always be associated with Nick.

By the way, they have a couple of the mid-late 90's Nicktoons on this website.

http://theorangesplat.com/

I didn't really think of Rocko's Modern Life of being one of those shows a little too "mature" for Nick, but it's hilarious to me now. You gotta love the one when he gets the mega-vacuum cleaner.

[DustDevil61]

Ah, those were the days. I grew up watching Nick around the time the 3 original Nicktoons rolled out (early 1990s--Doug, Rugrats, Ren & Stimpy); Rocko' Modern Life was #4. It stunk when R&S seemed to disappear, then Rocko, then Doug was bought out by Disney of all things, and finally the Rugrats "grew up."

One of the quickest ways for a show to go bust is to remove its premise to appeal to a wider audience as was done to Rugrats with aging the kids. Honestly, you don't have too many options with toddlers, but the show did a good job with keeping it fresh (as I thought). Networks just don't know when it's time to end a series. Just ask Fox (somewhat OT), they didn't cancel King of the Hill when Mike Judge planned the series finale, then cancelled it 2 yrs. later. They couldn't make up their mind with Family Guy, first cancelling it then bringing it back, sloppier than ever. Futurama was scrapped prematurely (always being preempted by NFL games), as was The Critic (it seemed to have little chance, as Matt Greoning apparently despised the show).

I've seen R's ML recently, as a college roommate had some episodes on his Xbox 360. It had a sarcastic Simpsons feel to it, but seemed to reach a broad audience, and I liked it. I just hope that they don't try to bring it back in an all-out mature version, as was done to Ren and Stimpy. I wasn't too fond of Adult Party Cartoon; too much gross-out and not enough dialouge/humor, as what made it great under John K. the first time around (before he was thrown to the curb and R&S was seriously kiddied-up before the show disappeared from the air). That said, as the new, mature R&S came out, classic R&S episodes were shown, usually during the wee hours of the morning. Those too, were good; not too gross-out, but not watered down, either.

P.S.: Another tidbit I didn't know until I read about it: one current Rugrats alum writer--Greg Daniels, who also did much work with the Simpsons, King of the Hill, and now known for being involved with the writing on the Office. Apologies for the tangent.

[DustDevil61]

My niece watches the Disney Channel nonstop and they show the same episodes every other day it seems like.

True about kids not caring as much. But I swear that the Disney Channel goes through many of its shows quicker than Charlie Sheen goes through girlfriends; give it two years and few kids will have remembered Phineas and Ferb.

[TrueYankee26]

There's some debate out there about watching older Nicktoons. I grew up in the Rugrats-Oddparents era. Mid 90's to like 2002. It did include some of the non-cartoon shows like All That, Keenan & Kel, Salute Your Shorts, etc. Nick probably jumped the shark around the time of the Spongebob movie. Then, it started catering less to what they used to and more to the pre-teen pop crap. The logo is pretty bland and the splat will always be associated with Nick.

By the way, they have a couple of the mid-late 90's Nicktoons on this website.

http://theorangesplat.com/

I didn't really think of Rocko's Modern Life of being one of those shows a little too "mature" for Nick, but it's hilarious to me now. You gotta love the one when he gets the mega-vacuum cleaner.

Dude, Thanks a lot for this website!!!

[JayLo1112]

There's some debate out there about watching older Nicktoons. I grew up in the Rugrats-Oddparents era. Mid 90's to like 2002. It did include some of the non-cartoon shows like All That, Keenan & Kel, Salute Your Shorts, etc. Nick probably jumped the shark around the time of the Spongebob movie. Then, it started catering less to what they used to and more to the pre-teen pop crap. The logo is pretty bland and the splat will always be associated with Nick.

By the way, they have a couple of the mid-late 90's Nicktoons on this website.

http://theorangesplat.com/

I didn't really think of Rocko's Modern Life of being one of those shows a little too "mature" for Nick, but it's hilarious to me now. You gotta love the one when he gets the mega-vacuum cleaner.

Dude, Thanks a lot for this website!!!

thats a sick website. I love all those shows.

ka-blam wasn't all that great I dont think. And I [expletive] hated invader zim. it was god-awful.

but the others are all classics. nick has really gone down the tubes. the last great show was sponge bob. and the logo, a down grade

[BadSeed84]

Heres all the logos nick and its channels will be using sept 28th and on

[Wasatch]

Heres all the logos nick and its channels will be using sept 28th and on

Ouch, those are hard on the eyes!

[Puck]

Heres all the logos nick and its channels will be using sept 28th and on

Ouch, those are hard on the eyes!

Much like any programming on Nick Teen.

(Insert social commentary about the sheer volume of "Degrassi" programming played each day on The N.)

[TrueYankee26]

Heres all the logos nick and its channels will be using sept 28th and on

Ouch, those are hard on the eyes!

Agreed, 90's Nick FTW

[eriqjaffe]

FWIW, one of the first things my 8-year-old mentioned while watching SpongeBob SquarePants this morning was, "hey, dad, look, Nick changed their logo."

[Matito]

FWIW, one of the first things my 8-year-old mentioned while watching SpongeBob SquarePants this morning was, "hey, dad, look, Nick changed their logo."

Sounds like you're raising your kid right.

[nitroseed]

This is terribly unfortunate. Years and years of brand integrity destroyed in favor of a logo system I suspect won't survive past 2014. Sad.

[Wasatch]

This is terribly unfortunate. Years and years of brand integrity destroyed in favor of a logo system I suspect won't survive past 2014. Sad.

Years of years of integrity they built with these different splatters?

[CDixonDesign]

Yeah, but just like the Snickers typeface, the splatter in orange was something immediately associated with Nickelodeon, even without the script, if you saw it, you think Nick...it takes years to build that kind of branding, it had become an icon if you will...

[nitroseed]

This is terribly unfortunate. Years and years of brand integrity destroyed in favor of a logo system I suspect won't survive past 2014. Sad.

Years of years of integrity they built with these different splatters?

Yes, actually. I used Nickelodeon as an example of brand integrity during the class I taught on Logo and Identity Design. Regardless of its shape, the orange splat became synonymous with Nickelodeon and kids programming. Even paired with a smaller blue shape, it became recognizable as Nick Jr. Nickelodeon had one of the most flexible brands in existence because of that. They could put their name inside an orange rocket ship, an orange mushroom, a splatter mark, pretty much anything, and it was still recognizable as being Nickelodeon's.

Brand integrity does not always equate to something being identical in image across the board. If you have a recognizable mnemonic device like Nick did (the orange shape/splat), then you've accomplished something that is nearly unheard of in today's world of branding.

[Wasatch]

This is terribly unfortunate. Years and years of brand integrity destroyed in favor of a logo system I suspect won't survive past 2014. Sad.

Years of years of integrity they built with these different splatters?

Yes, actually. I used Nickelodeon as an example of brand integrity during the class I taught on Logo and Identity Design. Regardless of its shape, the orange splat became synonymous with Nickelodeon and kids programming. Even paired with a smaller blue shape, it became recognizable as Nick Jr. Nickelodeon had one of the most flexible brands in existence because of that. They could put their name inside an orange rocket ship, an orange mushroom, a splatter mark, pretty much anything, and it was still recognizable as being Nickelodeon's.

Brand integrity does not always equate to something being identical in image across the board. If you have a recognizable mnemonic device like Nick did (the orange shape/splat), then you've accomplished something that is nearly unheard of in today's world of branding.

I see your point and you?re right on!

[BrianVlietDesign]

As far as im concerned, Nickelodeon hasn't existed after 2003.

I don't think it's existed since the turn of the century

[Top Shelf]

By the way, they have a couple of the mid-late 90's Nicktoons on this website.

http://theorangesplat.com/

There's plenty more where that came from...