Nickelodeon seems to be a haven of good shows to kill.
Ren and Stimpy- The absolutely hilarious shock cartoon full of disgusting sight gags and side-splitting exaggeration depicting the adventures of one Ren Hoek (asthma-hound-chihuahua) and one Stimpson J. Cat, not to mention hundreds of secondary characters (the fat lady, the firman who hates circus midgets, and of course, Mr. Horse), was a revolution in cartoon history. They laid the foundation for such other cartoons dependant on gross visual comedy, which brings me to-
Rocko's Modern Life- My favorite show of all time, this show featured an easy-going wallaby of the show's title, his best friend Hef, a fat, overfed steer who was adopted by wolves, and Spunky, the dog who would eat anything.
This is just a sample of the quality shit Nick dispenses with. Other shows that were destroyed before their time include "The Angry Beavers," "Roundhouse," "Ahh! Real Monsters," "Pete & Pete," "Clarissa Explains It All" (C'mon...Even if you hate the show, it was worth it for her Ferguson-oriented video games), "You Can't Do That on Television," "Salute Your Shorts," and another cartoon that seems to have dropped off of the face of the Earth, "Invader Zim". Was Jhonen Vasquez a little too "out there" for Nick executives? How is it that all this stuff gets removed, and yet the crap remains?
"As Told By Ginger"? What the shit is this? "Doug" was on entirely too long also. How the fuck did "Doug" outlive "Ren & Stimpy"?? I'm not all that big a fan of "The Wild Thornberrys," but Tim Curry and Flea demand respect. The "Amanda" show? Are Nick executives TRYING to cause the untimely deaths of their audience?
I not a fan of the "Rugrats," but they were cool at first. Now that there's 37 new characters (Kimmy, Dyl, Susie, etc.), the show seems to have lost some it's original luster.
The only reasons to watch Nick nowadays involve a certain yellow porous cube, and two fairly odd fairies. That's it. "The Brothers Garcia?" "Taina??"
Why? What did we do to deserve this?
Anybody out there agree with me? Anything I missed? (Besides "Hey, Dude"... I have no comment on that.)
-PJ