Background
At the time of SNICK's creation,[1] traditional networks such as ABC, NBC and CBS didn't care to program for younger viewers on Saturday nights. The consensus at the time was that viewers who were 50 years of age and older were the only ones watching available, since younger viewers traditionally went out on Saturday nights. This would explain why shows such as NBC's The Golden Girls and Empty Nest were the most predominant shows on Saturday nights at the time. Previously on Saturdays, Nickelodeon themselves ceded the 8 p.m. timeslot to the vintage sitcoms[2] of the channel's late night programming block, Nick at Nite.[3]
Then-Nickelodeon president, Geraldine Laybourne, wanted to expose the myth that there is no audience for kids and teen programming on Saturday nights. Laybourne was a purveyor of market niche-talk, which was a strategy of programming highly focused programs targeted to specific groups defined by age, gender, race, education, religion or any of a number of other factors. In theory, the audience who would most likely watch SNICK would be too young to be out on the town and too old to be in bed by eight.[4]
Laybourne believed that the original shows on the SNICK block would double Nickelodeon's audience on Saturday night by as many as 650,000 to one million viewers. According to Nickelodeon, about one-third of Ren & Stimpy's audience, more than a million viewers, were between the ages of 18 and 35. By early 1993, Nickelodeon (according to A.C. Nielsen ratings) was the number one network among viewers ages 6–11 on Saturday nights.[5] With a 6.4 age-group rating, Nickelodeon beat FOX's 5.5, NBC's 5.2, CBS' 4.8, and ABC's 3.2 ratings.
History
1992–1999: Original SNICK
SNICK debuted on August 15, 1992, with a pair of Sunday favorites (the teen sitcom Clarissa Explains It All[6] and The Ren & Stimpy Show) and the network premieres of Roundhouse[7][8][9] (a musical sketch comedy-variety series) and Are You Afraid of the Dark? (a horror fantasy-drama anthology series).[10]
Three new shows (The Adventures of Pete and Pete, The Secret World of Alex Mack, and All That) premiered on the block between 1994 and 1995, with the latter two replacing Clarissa and Roundhouse's time slots, which had previously ended its run. By this time, much of SNICK's programming had diversified to the point of making room for other new programs by replacing their existing shows or scheduling them in different time slots.
On some occasions, the block would run a series of interstitial shorts in-between regular broadcast, known as "SNICK Snack",[11][12] or special programming events.
Many bumpers and advertising promos for SNICK featured the programming block's mascot, dubbed "The Big Orange Couch," in several places, including in different Nickelodeon shows (front of the Midnight Society's campfire, Ren and Stimpy's house, the Roundhouse, etc.), as well as various real life and fictional locations.
It was retired in June 1999, when the iconic couch (stuffed with $25,000 and 6,000 cookies) was given away in a contest celebrating Nickelodeon's 20 years on television. However, the couch was briefly returned from 2000–2001, in which it was redesigned.
1999–2001: SNICK House
On October 16, 1999, SNICK was revamped and was renamed to the SNICK House, and with this came a number of changes. The block was now hosted by Nick Cannon, and each week, a celebrity or music group made an appearance. The format was very similar to the former TEENick block, but was more of a party.
Each week, kids could go online and vote for their favorite SNICK House Video Picks. The winning music video would then be played during the block. The SNICK House was cancelled on October 1, 2000, making the way for the return of the regular SNICK block.
2001–2002: Elevator Music Era
After SNICK was cancelled on June 30, 2001, with the last program aired being All That, Nick replaced SNICK's normal slot with "Nick Flicks", 90 minute Nicktoon specials followed by The Brothers García. This went on from July 7, 2001, to January 12, 2002, and from June 29, 2002, to September 7, 2002.
On January 19, 2002, the brand new SNICK began with a whole new lineup, including a brand new season and subsequently a new cast of All That, which had been on hiatus for a year and a half. Bumpers now featured still pictures of various SNICK stars with a SNICK "talk bubble" above them, with elevator music playing in the background.
2002–2004: SNICK On-Air Dare
Starting in September 2002, SNICK featured a series of On-Air Dare segments featuring members of the All That cast. All but three members of the cast would pull a lever to determine the night's "dare", which one of the three would have to do. The three cast members from All That in each segment would be placed in a glass cylinder and one would be randomly chosen to participate in a dare. If chosen, two security guards enter and grab the cast member (as if he or she was arrested) so they don't escape. This appears to have been based on Fear Factor.[citation needed]
Some of these dares included singing the National Anthem in a diaper, apple bobbing in a toilet, taking a bath in a tub of raw eggs, eating a couple gallons of blue cheese, being painted with peanut butter and licked by dogs, hanging upside down and being dipped in dog food, having buckets of worms dumped on the cast member's head, drinking a gallon of sweat, sitting in a giant bowl of chili, eating 1,000 toe nails, the cast member putting an entire scorpion in their mouth, the cast member being pecked by hungry chickens, or shaving their school principal's legs.
During this era of SNICK, the SNICK line-ups went through some major transitions that included the phasing out of The Nick Cannon Show and Cousin Skeeter and the addition of a new show, Romeo!.
In 2003, design company Beehive created brand new bumpers for SNICK, featuring an orange splat morphing into a show's character. Instead of saying "SNICK", the announcer said "Saturday Night Nickelodeon".
2004–2005: Saturday Night on Nickelodeon era and the end of SNICK
On September 4, 2004, SNICK was quietly rebranded as Saturday Night on Nickelodeon. However, the SNICK name was still used during live on-air segments.
TEENick Saturday Night replaced SNICK for the 2004–2005 television season and onward. The TEENick block name was dropped in February 2009 in preparation for the launch of a separate channel named after the block, TeenNick. TeenNick launched in September 2009 and much of its programming was sourced from the original TEENick block.
2011: SNICK on The '90s Are All That
In 2011, TeenNick would begin airing 1990s era Nickelodeon shows starting at 12:00 am Eastern Time under the banner The '90s Are All That. All That and Kenan & Kel are the most prominent and consistent SNICK shows to get reruns. It was announced that the week of December 26, 2011, up until New Year's Eve that TeenNick would air classic SNICK lineups from each year of the 1990s, with a special marathon airing New Year's Eve, all with classic SNICK and Nickelodeon bumpers from the 1990s.
On August 17, 2013, SNICK returned to The '90s Are All That, for its "SNICK-iversary", celebrating its 21st anniversary, reaching drinking age if it were a person. The original lineup was aired (Clarissa Explains It All, The Ren & Stimpy Show and Are You Afraid of the Dark?) with the exception of Roundhouse being replaced by All That.
2017: SNICK on NickSplat
Since the block's 2011 resurgence, SNICK has returned to TeenNick three times. The first two under the block timeslot of The '90s Are All That, which was renamed to The Splat on October 5, 2015, and was renamed once again as NickSplat on May 1, 2017. SNICK's third appearance on TeenNick was to celebrate SNICK's 25th anniversary by airing episodes Saturday nights during the month of August 2017.
August 5, 2017:
- 12:00AM – The Adventures of Pete and Pete
- 12:30AM – Clarissa Explains It All
- 1:00AM – Are You Afraid of the Dark?
- 1:30AM – The Ren & Stimpy Show
August 12, 2017:
- 12:00AM – All That
- 12:30AM – All That
- 1:00AM – Kenan & Kel
- 1:30AM – Kenan & Kel
August 15, 2017:
- 10:00PM – Clarissa Explains It All
- 10:30PM – Roundhouse
- 11:00PM – The Ren & Stimpy Show
- 11:30PM – Are You Afraid of the Dark?
August 19, 2017:
- 12:00AM – KaBlam!
- 12:30AM – Rugrats
- 1:00AM – CatDog
- 1:30AM – The Angry Beavers
August 26, 2017:
- 12:00AM – The Amanda Show
- 12:30AM – The Amanda Show
- 1:00AM – All That
- 1:30AM – All That
