The Ten WORST Nickelodeon Shows
I grew up on Nickelodeon. I’d say Nickelodeon accounted for at least 45% of ALL the TV I watched as a kid and teenager. Nick has given us TONS of good shows…and also some real stinkers. These are the Ten WORST shows to ever disgrace the First Kid’s Network.
10. Noah Knows Best
This is one of Nickelodeon’s more forgettable shows, and I dare say it was promptly forgotten barely a few weeks after cancellation! The main problem was that the humor was too dry; the sole joke I can recall is a teen trying to sell a CD to some people on the street, and then he turned around and admitted to his friend the CD was trash. It was not very funny or interesting. It tried being Clarissa Explains it All for a new generation, but it fell WAY flat.
9- Butt Ugly Martians
When the BEST part of your show is an otherwise lame theme song, you KNOW you’ve got a stinker! Also, we can say that the title directly represents the show: the Martians really ARE butt-ugly! And so are the human characters, the animation, the writing…it’s ALL butt-ugly! We lost Invader ZIM for THIS!?
8- Pig Goat Banana Cricket
Four roomates go on wacky misadventures. Too bad the animation is horrid, character designs are bleh at best, and Nickelodeon never saw fit to advertise the show. Probably for the best, as Gross-Out humor is hardly ever done right. In my opinion, only Ren and Stimpy ever did the genre right, and THAT had to be balanced with good writing!
7- Mr Meaty
I like puppet shows as much as the next guy, but who the fuck makes puppets THIS ugly!? Kids like CUTE puppets!
Also, the writing on this show is just…no. No, it can’t even be called a KID’S show with all the crap it had; there’s even a character that looks like a goddamn DEMON! And no, not like the Red Guy in Cow and Chicken; I mean a cow skull headed demon! WHAT!?
And the “jokes!” One episode was about a girl whose nose fell off. Another episode had a joke where characters ate a FRIED HAND! Just…no. No. Fuck off.
6- The Brothers Flub
Two brothers serve as outer space couriers. It’s half of Futurama’s premise, completely and utterly lacking EVERYTHING that makes a good cartoon, nevermind what made Futurama so good. The writing was half-assed, the stories were mediocre at best, the character designs were so-so on average, and the theme song…UGH! One of the WORST of all TIME! It’s no wonder why this show was relegated to Sunday afternoons, when most kids would either be outside playing or inside doing homework!
5- Fairly Oddparents (Seasons 9 and 10)
Boy, this one hurts me on a personal level. Fairly Oddparents was one of Nickelodeon’s best shows, bringing a style of quick witted humor that just wasn’t seen anywhere else. The jokes were sharp, the dialogue was hilarious, the animation was on point, and the characters were likable.
So when Season 9 introduced Sparky the talking fairy dog, the writing was on the wall that the good times were over. Introducing a new character at such a late point in the show is never, EVER a good sign. And then in Season 10, they replaced Sparky with Chloe, a girl who shares Timmy’s fairies with him.
NEITHER character was well liked, to the point that I sometimes felt that Butch Hartman was introducing the WORST characters possible so Nickelodeon would cancel his show and end his misery!
4- Breadwinners
The Internet has TONS of original animations made by small, independent studios and animators that demonstrate enough skill and talent to make big name studios green with envy. Breadwinners was NEVER one of those animations, but Nickelodeon still took a shot with the show.
Honestly, I’ve nothing more to say that hasn’t already been said by others who’ve made similar lists. There’s a REASON this show UNIVERSALLY makes it to every other ‘Worst shows on Nick” lists! It fucking SUCKS!!!
The animation is OK at best, but that’s as good a praise as anyone can give it. The characters are loud and annoying, the jokes are of the “lol so random” variety that hardly anyone finds funny, the premise is ridiculous, and it’s just plain insulting to think that THIS show was made by the same network that aired frickin’ AVATAR THE LAST AIRBENDER!!!
3- Super Duper Sumos
This is one of those shows that you swear, you SWEAR was a joke someone made online because it just sounds. So. Fucking. STUPID! A show about Sumo wrestlers!? Well, actually, no; they’re Sumo superheroes. Who slam their butts together. And one of them constantly hits on a TEN YEAR OLD GIRL!
Just…yikes. Some shows simply should never be made.
2- Fred: The Show.
So during the late 2000’s the second biggest name in YouTube was Fred, a character created by Lucas Cruikshank. Fred was a blog-style show where the titular character would regale us with the stories of whatever happened to him. It was a funny show at times. It was SO popular with kids, that the character Fred even made a special guest appearance on iCarly! The Nickelodeon made THREE movies with the character, and they were fairly popular.
So OF COURSE Nickelodeon would try to cash in on Fred’s popularity by giving him his own show! TOO BAD IT SUCKED! By the time the show aired, Fred’s popularity was waning anyway. Girls liked Fred because of his wacky voice and minimalist presentation, and because they thought Lucas was cute. That’s good for a YouTube channel, but this was from a time when having two million YouTube subscribers was enough to get you considered one of the top 5 channels to watch!
By the time Fred:The Show aired, Fred’s popularity was already in decline. It was like giving Milli Vanilli their own show just weeks after they got caught lip synching, but just a little before they were forced to return their Grammies.
Before we get to the WORST show, here’s a few Dishonorable Mentions…
The Adventures of Kid Danger: I almost feel like NOT including this show on this list is a crime, honestly.
Spongebob Squarepants seasons 5-today: again, a Masterclass on why you should end shows when they’re still good.
WORST Nickelodeon Show: Marvin Marvin
It’s been eight years, and I still remember the promos for this show. They couldn’t even TRY to make the show seem funny; I was rolling my eyes every second! When the funniest joke you can use for the promo is how an alien listens through their butt, you know it’s a stinker!
