Old School Lane's Nickelodeon Tribute: From Worst to First

In 1983, QUBE, the cable TV system that created Nickelodeon, was around $875 million dollars in debt for Warner Cable due to building too many stations. To prevent QUBE from going bankrupt, Warner Cable bought American Express as an investor to keep themselves stabilize. However, around this time, Nickelodeon's first president Geraldine Laybourne and MTV director Bob Pittman were growing more powerful among their positions. They didn't like where the companies were going or the decisions they were making to keep afloat. QUBE would eventually shut its doors in 1984 due to bankruptcy.



Despite having over 25 million subscribers and being the only channel to receive the Peabody Award due to its educational shows, Nickelodeon was struggling badly. Due to the failed programs such as Against the Odds and Going Great and that the majority of their programs were acquired from other sources, Nickelodeon was officially the worst network on the air being over $40 million dollars in debt ($200 million dollars today). Around 1984, there were so many great cartoons that aired in other channels: He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, Jim Henson's Muppet Babies, Inspector Gadget, ThunderCats, Transformers, G.I. Joe, and so much more. Nickelodeon needed a miracle to survive being on the air. Then came along two influential television advertisers and entrepreneurs, Fred Seibert and Alan Goodman.

 

Bob Pittman called them to help brand Nickelodeon the way that they branded MTV. Fred Seibert was the first creative director for MTV. Together with his partner Alan Goodman, Frank Olinsky, Pat Gorman, and Patti Rogoff, they designed the now iconic MTV logo.



Now Seibert and Goodman had their own company called Fred/Alan Inc. and once again, they worked magic on how they were going to save this dying network. They decided that they needed a new fresh logo. Something eye popping, something memorable. Seibert assigned Tom Corey and Scott Nash to come up with a new logo. They were skeptical at first since the name Nickelodeon was very long, kids couldn't pronounce it without help, and no one around the late 20th century even knew what the origin of the name was. Nonetheless, they accepted the challenge. When they came back, they presented Seibert and Goodman with a logo with the color Pantone Orange #21.


Seibert thought that Corey and Nash had lost their minds. He didn't see the action, the movement, the pow that the MTV logo had. Plus, orange was a color that wasn't used as much or even at all. But then Corey and Nash explained that it wasn't just one logo; it could be 100 logos, 1000 logos, or even 1,000,000. If they kept the orange color and the Nickelodeon logotype inside, they could change it into any shape they wanted.

As for the color, they claimed that it was eye catching and that it stood out compared to other common colors like red or blue. Seibert was convinced and the now iconic Nickelodeon logo was born. TV promos were also created to coincide with the logo.

Now that the promos were done, Seibert and Goodman came up with a risky, yet innovative idea. An oldies' television network. In the 80's, baby boomers were content on watching programs that their kids were into. They thought that the majority of them were garbage and had wished that they could see programs from their childhood. But at the time, it was completely impossible to see programs from that era. Remember, there was no internet back then. Pittman had purchased all 300 episodes of The Donna Reed Show thinking that one day it would come in handy. Plus it was very cheap.

Seibert and Goodman tried to pitch the idea to ABC, but they refused. However, they kept trying to get this idea afloat. The inspiration for an oldies television network came from Bill Drake, a radio DJ who created the first oldies' radio program. He would play classic rock and roll, doo-wop, and many more for nostalgic adults. Eventually, Seibert and Goodman created Nick at Nite.

Not only did they air The Donna Reed Show, but they aired Mr. Ed, Route 66, and My Three Sons. Nick at Nite was a huge success! Around the 80's, movies and TV shows were being reminiscent of the 50's such as Happy Days and Grease. It's like with today's adults reminiscing about movies and shows from the 80's such as Transformers Prime, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, and ThunderCats.

  

In one year, due to the hard work of Fred/Alan Inc., they turned Nickelodeon from the worst network on television to the #1 network for kids and adults. In 1986, Warner Cable sold Nickelodeon and MTV to Viacom for $685 million dollars. Now they were their own network channels. At this point, Nickelodeon was on their way to greatness! 

That's all for now. Tune in next time as we discusses about the next show that put Nickelodeon on the map for a new generation. The first game show for kids: Double Dare. 

Also, the moment you've been waiting for: my interview with Marc Summers. 

Hope to see you around Old School Lane soon. Thanks for reading.

-Patricia

Old School Lane's Nickelodeon Tribute: PopClips

It's the year 1980. Friday the 13th debuted in theaters and gave reasons for kids to be scared when they were sent to summer camp by their parents. Jason Voorhes would soon be an iconic 80's slasher. One of the funniest spoof movies of all time Airplane was released in theaters. The 70's were gone for good and the 80's was in full swing. A new decade meant new opportunities and new shows for Nickelodeon. A new logo, again designed by Joseph Iozzi, and a new commercial was used for this new era.





One of the shows that was created during 1980 was a brand new TV genre never done before. Conceived by former Monkee member Michael Nesmith, he created a program as a promotional device for Warner Communication's (Warner Music Group) record division. That program was called PopClips. Michael Nesmith was inspired by a New Zealand program called Radio with Pictures which began in 1976. The show would include music clips from popular bands and singers as well as conducting interviews with them.



According to an 2001 article by American Decades, John Lack, a marketing executive for Warner Cable Corporation (which owned Nickelodeon and several other pioneer cable channels), the network went after the teenage audience as well since Nickelodeon was first targeting children. Teenagers were traditionally considered "low users" by the television industry, and Lack saw visual rock music as a way to reach that vast, un-tapped audience. Lack commissioned Michael Nesmith and Warner Communication to produce the show. PopClips was going to be fast-paced mixes of videos set to popular songs, animation, and segments featuring a "veejay," the video equivalent of a disc jockey.



Popclips were hosted by Jack Armstrong, Jeff Michalski, and Howie Mandel. The show was directed by William Dear. Some of the music videos that were shown in Popclips were the following:

Split Enz -- "I Hope I Never"
Pretenders -- "Brass in Pocket"
Kim Carnes -- "More Love"
Mike Nesmith -- "Rio"
Jo Jo Zep & The Falcons -- "Security"
The Tourists -- "I Only Want to Be with You"
Madness -- "One Step Beyond"
The Police -- "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic"
The Waitresses -- "I Know What Boys Like"
Mi-Sex -- "Computer Games"

PopClips would be broadcast weekly and at the time, it was a hit. There was never a show like this and seeing their favorite bands performing their favorite songs was something to behold. Also, it gave them an opportunity to listen to upcoming new bands or singers. They knew that had something special. In 1981, Warner Cable wanted to buy PopClips for William Dear and Michael Nesmith, but they both refused. However, this was the future inevitable doom for PopClips. On 12:01 a.m. at August 1, 1981, a similar idea of a music television show was debuting for the first time in its own channel. Instead of it showing up for 30 minutes every week, this program would be showing music videos 24 hours a day, every day. That infamous program was...MTV!



There was no way that PopClips could ever compete with MTV so they were cancelled in 1981, a year after they debuted. Jeff Michalski, one of the veejays of PopClips, went to be one of the veejays for MTV, Howie Mandel did stand up and did a lot of voiceover work with Jim Henson's Muppet Babies, Gremlins, and Bobby's World. But of course, we all know him as the host of Deal or No Deal and as one of the judges in America's Got Talent. William Dear directed other movies and TV shows like Saturday Night Live, Dinosaurs, Harry and The Hendersons, If Looks Could Kill, Angels in the Outfield, and Michael Nesmith's TV series Television Parts and his groundbreaking comedy and music video, Elephant Parts.




Overall, PopClips was ahead of its time releasing only music videos for the viewing audience and it would become a precursor to one of the most popular channels of the 80's. In a way, without Nickelodeon, there would be no MTV, so it's quite amazing when you think about it. Check it out sometime.

That's all for now. Hope to see you around Old School Lane real soon. Thanks for reading.

-Patricia