The Top Ten BEST Nickelodeon Shows
I did one for the Disney Channel, and now I’m doing one for Nickelodeon. This one will be more personal to me because I’ve been raised on Nickelodeon, and watched that channel daily from before I could remember to around the end of 2008. Remember: this list is OPINION.
10. Clarissa Explains it All
Nickelodeon’s first ever female-led show, Clarissa dealt with the misadventures of the titular character, a teenage girl from the late 80’s to the early 90’s. Clarissa was the epitome of ‘cool’ back then: sassy, savvy, and chic. But make no mistake; this was a show whose writing was sharp edged and witty. Clarissa dealt with typical teen troubles, but she’d turn to the camera and explain to the audience her point of view on whatever the episode is about.
Clarissa Explains it All was a daring show that even today can be called unconventional. It starred a girl, but we’d be remiss to call it a “girl’s show.” She and her male best friend DON’T end up romantically involved ever, and the ONE date they have is rather underwhelming. Clarissa was blonde and hip, but she was the nice girl and the main hero of the series instead of the villain type we STILL see on kid’s shows these days. Further, Clarissa was shown to be tech savvy, working on a computer in the later seasons; she’d often even make her own GAMES! You just don’t see that on TV much these days! And the best part? It was all played like it was normal, like it wasn’t a big deal. This show was way, WAY ahead of its time!
9. All That
Saturday Night Live for kids, that’s the ONLY way to describe All That. Though not the first sketch comedy series on Nickelodeon, it’s for all intents and purposes its most iconic and influential. Dan Schneider, the man who (retroactively unfortunately) came to define the Nickelodeon of the 2000’s, got his start on this show. This show was directly responsible for giving us such classics as Kenan and Kel, The Amanda Show, Drake and Josh, and so on…
All That really made its mark on Nickelodeon history, and all before hitting its ten year mark. The show lasted 11 years, but it lives on in the hearts of its fans…
8. As Told by Ginger
You look at this show, and you think it’s just Rugrats in middle school. Then someone tells you the basic plot of any given episode, and you’re all “what the hell? Is this a cartoon or a drama!?” Turns out it’s both, and one of the best in Nickelodeon’s catalog.
Seriously, listen to this episode synopsis: “Ginger’s latest poem worries her friends and family, who think the girl is suicidal.” THAT WAS AN EPISODE! THAT HAPPENED IN A KID’S SHOW!!!
Divorce, death, depression, puberty; the show was unafraid of tackling heavy subject matters, and it did it all with earnestness and respect. That’s why it’s one of Nick’s best.
7. Are you Afraid of the Dark
Nickelodeon was a daring trailblazer back in the day, and this show was one of the many that pushed the envelope for what was kid’s TV. A horror series. For kids. Who comes up with this sort of thing!?
6. iCarly
OK, can you name any other show from Nickelodeon, Disney or Cartoon Network that had the FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA as a special guest star!?
But no, seriously, you can’t underestimate how BIG this show was/is. This show was the first Nickelodeon sitcom to make it to one hundred episodes. For a sitcom to last that long is no easy feat. It’s one of the few Nickelodeon shows to actually get a series finale, have it advertised as such, and even turn it into a frickin’ EVENT! And if you grew up with this show, I KNOW you had tears in your eyes during the whole thing!
5. Rocko’s Modern Life
During the 90’s Nickelodeon was a FORCE in kid’s entertainment. It all started with Ren and Stimpy, a cartoon that pioneered not just gross out humor, but brought back exaggerated facial expressions and wild movement into animation. But while Ren and Stimpy had the disadvantage of being helmed by John Kricfalusi, Rocko’s Modern Life did everything that show did, and I’d argue it did it all better.
The brilliance of Rocko is that it showed that a good cartoon comes from not just good storyboards, but a good script too. Rocko’s best jokes aren’t just physical and visual gags, they’re the verbal jokes too. One joke that had me in stitches back in the day was when Rocko and the crew were watching a telenovela in Spanish, crying their eyes out. But the dialogue was saying “Maria! This book is late! I’m going to the library!” I STILL laugh at that joke!
4. Spongebob Squarepants (before the first movie)
Of course this show is on this list, and OF COURSE I’m only counting the pre-movie seasons. Honestly, Spongebob IS Nickelodeon for anyone and everyone under twenty!
While the show’s quality greatly declined throughout the years, there’s no question that the first four seasons were not only great, they were truly groundbreaking. The show was high paced and energetic, with lovable characters you’d recognize from silhouette.
For the love of God, we legitimately expected the finale of Band Geeks to be fully recreated during the 2019 Superbowl Half Time show as a tribute to Stephen Hillenburg’s passing! If you’ve never seen it before, LOOK IT UP! It may well be the BEST WAY to have ever ended an episode EVER!!!
3. The Adventures of Pete and Pete
Now and then there’s a show that really defies all description, yet makes perfect sense. It’s a genre buster; you can’t call it anything because there’s no description possible. It defies so many rules, and yet…there it is. A show that’s memorable for all the right reasons, and was beloved for all the right reasons.
Pete and Pete was a sitcom that was filmed on location, eschewed the laugh track, and focused its jokes on the absurdity of Americana and childhood. It was a happily deranged view of growing up in small-town America in the early 90’s. It was a kid’s show, but its soundtrack would have been equally at home in an indie movie.
I’d gush about the soundtrack, and good lord does this soundtrack deserve to be gushed over, but I’d just let you seek it out for yourself. Polaris, by Mark Mulcahy. Seek out that band, and you’ll find the sound of the early 90’s.
2.Rugrats
Rugrats. If you don’t know this show, you don’t know Nickelodeon. The network owes a good portion of its existence to this one cartoon about babies.
It’s not just the fact that this show was Nick’s biggest hit in the 90’s, or that it was the first franchise for the network. Rugrats was a show that dared to go places few, if any, cartoons ever dare to go.
This show had a Christmas special, a Passover special, a Hanukkah special, and even a Kwanzaa special! It was also the cartoon that had the first non-Disney animated movie to have earned one hundred MILLION dollars! That is no small feat!
Before we go to number one, here’s a few honorable mentions…
Ren and Stimpy: A trailblazer, yeah, but…the show was sadly at its best and most daring when John Kricfalusi was held by a leash; the show’s legacy is forever tarnished by its own creator…
Drake and Josh: I’m not saying it’s not a great show; it’s one of Schneider’s best. But it’s been eclipsed by iCarly, let’s be honest.
Invader Zim: Yeah it’s a great show that remains popular to this day, but it was so short lived that it didn’t have the chance to be as big as it could have been. I personally rank it Number 11.
Victorious: Victoria Justice’s star vehicle, but her character is now seen as the WORST part of the show. Ouch. But it gave the world Ariana Grande, so…But honestly, the whole damned cast was wonderful and highly talented. I’m sad Victoria Justice isn’t the A-Lister she deserved to be, but hey; at least we have Ariana Grande. Also the music in this show slaps.
Legend of Korra: the show isn’t bad PER SE, but it just never could live up to the legacy of its predecessor…
1.Avatar: The Last Airbender
You’re not surprised, admit it. You KNEW this would be Number One.
Let me mince no words: EVERY WORD OF PRAISE GIVEN TO THIS SHOW HAS BEEN AND IS RICHLY DESERVED! Its story is timeless, its characters unforgettable, its world building top notch. THIS is the type of Fantasy that gets taught in Universities along with Lord of the Rings!
Fifteen years after its premier, twelve years after its grand finale, the show is STILL being watched, STILL being talked about and referenced! This show RAISED THE BAR on how children’s TV ought to be done!
Actually, forget that; it raised the bar on how TV is done! It’s not just the BEST Nickelodeon show, it’s one of the best shows ever, period!!!
