Nick at Nite

Nick at Nite (sometimes spelled Nick @ Nite, by its current logo) is an evening programming block broadcast over Nickelodeon Sunday–Thursdays from 9 PM–6 AM and Friday–Saturdays from 10 PM–6 AM Eastern and Pacific Standard Time. Nickelodeon is known for its kids' shows during the day, while Nick at Nite appeals to adult audiences with a lineup of classic television; largely Viacom-owned syndicated sitcoms, shown with about a ten-year lag. At the choice of Viacom, Nick at Nite is treated in the Nielsen Media Research as a separate television network from Nickelodeon, despite being aired on the same channel. (Similarly,Adult Swim, a programming block on Cartoon Network is now considered a separate channel by these ratings). This is for advertising purposes.

Brief history

Nick at Nite debuted on July 1, 1985. Its initial programming included Camp Nickelodeon, which was an 8-9 p.m. block of old sitcoms such as The Donna Reed Show and Dennis the Menace and classic drama Route 66. As the station grew it would add to its library of shows branching out to rerun sketch comedy, such as original Saturday Night Live episodes as well as the Canadian SCTV. It also briefly reran the 1970s mock local talk show Fernwood 2Night. As the years went by, the channel's sitcom library swelled to over a hundred shows. For the station's 20th birthday celebration, an episode from almost every series that had appeared on Nick at Nite was shown.

Commercials

Nick at Nite has used myriad unusual and sometimes down right bizarre commercials, logos and, promotions. Originally the channel had only a few limited animated commercials. In the late 1980s, the channel began running a few different commercials with a similar premise that all had vastly different endings. One of them was of a couple who would bring objects for a living room onto the screen including a couch and a television then sit down in front of the TV. The male would click the remote and something bizarre would happen, such as a gorilla appearing. Before the commercial was over the Nick at Nite logo would appear somehow tied to the premise of the commercial. These were presented in fast motion with music in the background not unlike the style of old Charlie Chaplin films. These commercials rarely if ever seemed to had anything to do with reruns or classic television.

During the early 1990s, Nick at Nite started running a wide variety of commercials. These were made with almost every imaginable technique from limited animation, to claymation and stop motion, to original live action and stock footage. Almost every commercial had a different jingle professing Nick at Nite as being "A TV Viewers Dream" for "the TV generation" and as coming from a place called TV Land ("Hello Out there, from TV Land!"), and promoting "Better Living Through Television" and, proclaimed itself curator of "Our Television Heritage", although these claims were always somewhat tongue in cheek. They would also create sarcastic commercials for shows on their network: an announcer's voice would discuss the series, accompanied by clips and music, sometimes the show's theme song. The commercials would use an actor's line or expression and take it out of context to create a new subversive meaning. The channel still uses this technique today, although often in a more hybrid way. One memorable promo, for The Facts of Life, featured series star Charlotte Rae clad in sunglasses and leather, claiming that the entire series, even "Cousin Jeri" and "the 80s" were all part a virtual reality created by aliens.

The early '90s also saw the addition of Nick at Nite's mascot, Trixie the TV Land Pixie, for a few years. For a time they would also play a short bumper called "Milkman", about a milkman who would distribute wholesome advice to customers on his milk delivery route. In 1995, on the occasion of the network's 10th anniversary, a tribute to the commercials throughout the network's existence was aired and hosted by former network President Rich Cronin.

The channel also had a unique way of telling viewers what shows were about to play next. Beginning as only an announcer reading off that evenings block of shows and the times they would be on while the list was displayed and music was played, this simple concept would be revised and rerevised many times over. At one point a television with objects and people from the show scrolling by (for instance, for Get Smart a shoe phone, gun, and Max and 99) would appear on the screen while the announcer read of the show and time. The time that the show was on would be displayed in another box. This continues to be changed and updated.

Also in the late 1990s, Nick at Nite began displaying a data sheet before rerun episodes telling the name of the episode, number in the series and usually an interesting fact or bit of history about the episode.

The station also had a wide variety of "bugs" or logos displayed in the corner of the screen during a show.

Marathons

When new shows are added to the line-up, they are usually accompanied by some kind of marathon complete with logo and sometimes hosted by an aging star from the show. For instance, when Newhart was added, the channel also acquired Bob Newhart's short-lived third sitcom Bob and showed a programming block entitled "Bob's Bob, Bob Newhart, Newhart Marathon" and showed the two shows and The Bob Newhart Show which it already had the rights to, in a programing block hosted by Bob Newhart. When some older shows were retired they would also frequently have a marathon send-off. For instance, when a long rerunning show on the channel Mister Ed (from the channel's inception in 1985 to 1992) was finally retired, there was an all-weekend marathon of the show called "Au Revoir Mister Ed!" Also during the 1990s, on Saturday nights, they would air an entire night dedicated to a certain theme, dubbed "Very Very Nick at Nite." Each night's theme would include the name of the theme. For example, one night's theme was paranoia, therefore the evening was called "Very Very Paranoia." A group of people in a snow globe, dancing around, composed most of the Very Very commercials. During the summer months of the late 1990s the station for a while created a programing block called "Block Party Summer" during which a particular show was shown in a block on particular nights of the week. The days would be referred to as "Munster Monday" for The Munsters, "Lucy Tuesday" for I Love Lucy, "Bewitched Be-Wednesday" for Bewitched, Jeannie Thursday" for I Dream of Jeannie or "Joe Friday" for Dragnet. Other seasonal scheduling blocks were also not uncommon such as Christmas-themed blocks during late December, Thanksgiving-themed blocks in November, and Valentine's themed episodes in February. From 1989 until 1998 on New Year's Eve, the channel would host "TNick at Nite's (year) Rerun/Classic TV/TV Hits Countdown" hosted by longtime countdown radio DJ, Casey Kasem. Casey would spend noon until 12:30am on New Year's Eve Day "counting down" the 25 "most classic" episodes of the TV shows currently airing on Nick at Nite, supposedly voted on by phone by the viewers at home, revealing the #1 episode at midnight. Viewers could even dedicate an episode to a person they knew. The scheduling was different in a few years. In 1995, they counted down 5 episodes a day for 5 days from Christmas until December 30; because Nickelodeon had its own New Year's special in 1996 and 1997, they aired the entire countdown on the 30th instead of the 31st.

Original Programing

Nick at Nite has also occasionally experimented with creating its own shows, sometimes with bizarre and surrealistic results. In the late '80s the channel had a contest where viewers could create their own sitcoms and send them in and the winner would supposedly get their own show.

In 1988, the channel aired a 30-minute animated Christmas special the pilot for what was to be an animated series entitled Tattertown, created by animation legend Ralph Bakshi. The series never emerged, but the special, later renamed Christmas in Tattertown, was aired every Christmas on Nick at Nite for several years.

In 1990, the channel briefly aired a show called On the Television,^* a mock TV critic show hosted by Siskel and Ebert-type characters and featured bizarre sometimes disturbing clips from parodied TV shows supposedly beginning that week. For instance, "The Gigantic Herman's Playground" a parody of Pee Wee's Playhouse hosted by an unusually large obvious parody of Paul Reubens' character "Pee Wee Herman", which took place in a playground rather than a "playhouse". As a parody of Pee Wee's "word of the day" where kids at home were encouraged "to scream real loud" when they hear the secret word, the Gigantic Herman would encourage children to "scream until you spit up blood" when they heard his word of the day. "On The Television" was unsurprisingly short-lived and it is almost impossible to find any information on today.

In the early 1990s, a special made up of old TV commercials was aired only once, but the idea of showing old commercials would be rehashed by the network on several other shows and eventually become a staple of offshoot channel TV Land. There was one special that was promoted as a TV dad quiz. The host walked through a "Typical TV Home" and quizzed the viewers at home with trivia about classic TV dad cliches. At one point, the host told the viewers to connect pictures of TV dads with their appropriate TV moms displayed on the screen with a magic marker. At the end of this segment he mentions that he forgot to tell the viewers to place a piece of plastic over their screen while doing this and made jokes about the viewers futilely trying to clean the magic marker off their screens for the rest of the show.

In 1991, Nick at Nite created its own sitcom based around the rerun genre it had pioneered. The sitcom, named Hi Honey, I'm Home! after the cliche phrase used by TV dads addressing their TV wives when returning home in the evenings from work, was about a 1950s sitcom family, the Nielsens. The family's show has been removed from syndication and they are forced to leave TV Land and move into a real 1990s suburban neighborhood. Once there, the family is repeatedly confronted with culture shock. The show aired on ABC on Fridays and then went into "Reruns" on Nick at Nite on Sunday nights. The show was also unpopular and Nick at Nite was reluctant to create original programing for the next ten years.

Nick at Nite Today

The lineup now mostly consists of 1980s and 1990s hits such as The Cosby Show, Full House, Roseanne, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Murphy Brown, and Who's the Boss?. Mad About You was added to the lineup early in 2006. In 2004 Fatherhood, an animated series based on the book by Bill Cosby was also added to the line up. In April 2005, Nick at Nite premiered a reality series, The Search For The Funniest Mom In America," in which mothers from across the country competed to win $50,000 and a chance to develop a show for Nick at Nite. The winner of the competition was Darlene Westgor. In August 2005, another original series, Hi-Jinks premiered, where parents pull pranks on their children. A recent second installment of "Funniest Mom," hosted by Katey Sagal aired, beginning April 12, 2006. Nick at Nite will also begin broadcasting a new mini-sitcom entitled "At The Poocharelli's" later in 2006.

Nick at Nite's tagline is "We play favorites".

The Cosby Show has aired on Nick at Nite the longest of any of the shows in its current lineup. Nick at Nite's most popular show is Roseanne with The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air close behind. Roseanne airs six times a night, while other shows, such as Murphy Brown and Who's The Boss? air only once. Roseanne usually delivers 1.5 million viewers per night.

Nick at Nite still tries to target adults who like to revisit old sitcoms and enjoy programming that used to come on television. However, since the channel shares a space with the children's network Nickelodeon, many children have grown up watching them as well.

Nick at Nite has also spun off a niche network, TV Land, which features a variety of rerun programming and vintage commercials.

On February 13, 2006, the Latin American version of Nickelodeon started broadcasting for the first time Nick at Nite, including shows like ALF, Mork and Mindy, The Addams Family, The Munsters, Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie, Growing Pains and Perfect Strangers, which have been broadcasted in Latin American local networks and other cable channels. Although the L.A. versions was born in the mid-1990s, it had never carried this block before.^*

External links

MTV Networks | Nickelodeon | Viacom subsidiaries | 1985 establishments | Television programming blocks

Nick @t Nite | Nick At Nite