SNICK

SNICK (short for Saturday Night Nickelodeon) was a two-hour programming block on the American cable television network Nickelodeon, geared toward older (preteen to teen) audiences, that ran from August 15, 1992 until January 29, 2005. It was aired on Saturdays starting at 8 p.m and ending at 10 p.m. ET. In 2005, SNICK was revamped as the Saturday night edition of TEENick. Nickelodeon continues to run a Saturday night programming block today, though since the TEENick name was removed from the lineup in February 2009, the block no longer goes by any name.

This article is about the Nickelodeon programming block. For the civil rights organization, see Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.
SNICK
Snick's 1992-1999 logo
NetworkNickelodeon
LaunchedAugust 15, 1992 (1992-08-15)
ClosedJanuary 29, 2005 (2005-01-29)
Country of originUnited States
OwnerViacom
Running time120 minutes
Original language(s)English
Official websiteOfficial website

The block debuted on Saturday, August 15, 1992, with a pair of Sunday favorites (the teen sitcom Clarissa Explains It All[1] and the Nicktoon The Ren & Stimpy Show) and the network premieres of Roundhouse[2][3][4] (a musical comedy variety series) and Are You Afraid of the Dark? (a horror fantasy drama anthology series).[5]

Background

At the time of SNICK's creation,[6] traditional networks such as ABC, NBC and CBS didn't like to program for younger viewers on Saturday nights. The conventional wisdom at the time was that viewers who were 50-years-of-age and older, were the only ones available, since younger viewers went out on Saturday nights. This could explain why NBC's The Golden Girls and Empty Nest were the most predominate shows on Saturday nights at the time. Previously on Saturdays, Nickelodeon themselves, ceded the 8 p.m. timeslot to the vintage sitcoms[7] of Nick at Nite.[8]

Nickelodeon president Geraldine Laybourne wanted to expose the myth that there is no audience for kids and teen programming on Saturday nights. Laybourne on that end, 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.[9]

Laybourne believed that the originals 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 The Ren & Stimpy Show's audience, more than a million viewers, was 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.[10] 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

Ads and bumpers

Ads and bumpers for SNICK featured the programming block's "mascot," dubbed "The Big Orange Couch," in several locales, including in front of the Midnight Society's campfire, Ren and Stimpy's house, the Roundhouse, and in various 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. In 2006, one of Nickelodeon's celebrities would take over Nickelodeon from Monday to Friday, sitting on the Big Orange Couch.

SNICK line-ups

The following are the shows aired during SNICK for the year listed. Although these are the standard shows aired, some days would see variation in the SNICK line-up.

SNICK

All these shows aired from 8 p.m.-10 p.m. ET (though the schedule was briefly extended to 8-10:30 p.m. ET in the summer of 1994[14]) with the ending having the big orange couch and above that a clock counting down until next week's broadcast.

Snick House

In 1999, Snick was revamped and showed promos on Nickelodeon half of which are under the name Snick House. With this came a number of changes. The block was 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 was then played during Snick.

Elevator Music Era

After the SNICK House was cancelled in August 2001, with the last program aired being The Brothers Garcia, 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 cast of All That, which had been on hiatus for a year and a half, instead of As Told by Ginger movie "Camp Caprice". Bumpers now featured still pictures of various SNICK stars with a SNICK "talk bubble" above them, with elevator music playing in the background.

Fall 2001:

  • 8PM Nick Flicks
  • 9:30PM The Brothers García

January–June 2002:

July–August 2002:

  • 8PM Nick Flicks
  • 9:30PM All That

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.

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, dressing up as a girl and competing in a beauty pageant, eating 1000 toe nails, put an entire Scorpion in your mouth, get 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!

September 2002–February 2003:

  • 8PM All That
  • 8:30PM The Nick Cannon Show
  • 9PM The Amanda Show
  • 9:30PM Cousin Skeeter

February–June 2004:

Saturday Night Nickelodeon era and the end of SNICK

During SNICK's "summer vacation", graphic design company "Beehive" created brand new bumpers for Saturdays on Nick, featuring orange SPLATs morphing into a show's character. Instead of saying "SNICK", the announcer said "Saturday Night Nickelodeon". TEENick Saturday Night replaced SNICK and Saturday Night Nick for the 2004-2005 television season and onward until the TEENick name was dropped in February 2009, to later be used (with its spelling changed to TeenNick) as the name for the rebranded The N cable channel.

June 2004–January 29, 2005

  • 8PM All Grown Up!
  • 8:30PM Romeo!
  • 9PM All That
  • 9:30PM The Amanda Show

SNICK on The '90s Are All That

TeenNick airs 1990s era Nick 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 will 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.

SNICK on NickSplat

SNICK has returned to TeenNick three times. The first two under the block timeslot of The '90s are All That, being renamed to The Splat as of October 5, 2015, and being renamed once again as NickSplat as of 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

  • 12AM The Adventures of Pete and Pete
  • 12:30AM Clarissa Explains It All
  • 1AM Are You Afraid of the Dark?
  • 1:30AM The Ren & Stimpy Show

August 12, 2017

  • 12AM All That
  • 12:30AM All That
  • 1AM Kenan & Kel
  • 1:30AM Kenan & Kel

August 15, 2017

  • 10PM Clarissa Explains It All
  • 10:30PM Roundhouse
  • 11PM The Ren & Stimpy Show
  • 11:30PM Are You Afraid of the Dark?

August 19, 2017

  • 12AM KaBlam!
  • 12:30AM Rugrats
  • 1AM CatDog
  • 1:30AM The Angry Beavers

August 26, 2017

  • 12AM The Amanda Show
  • 12:30AM The Amanda Show
  • 1AM All That
  • 1:30AM All That

Home video releases

In August 1993, Nickelodeon released two VHS video tapes meant to recreate the SNICK-watching experience by including episodes from all four of the original SNICK shows: Clarissa Explains It All, Roundhouse, The Ren & Stimpy Show, and Are You Afraid of the Dark?. The tapes also included episodes of the original The Adventures of Pete & Pete shorts in between each SNICK show as well as SNICK bumpers featuring The Big Orange Couch. The videos were released through Sony Wonder and came in orange-colored cassette tapes.

Volume 1: Nick SNICKS Friendship
  • Clarissa Explains It All: Season 3 episode "Sam's Swan Song"
  • The Ren & Stimpy Show: Season 1 episode "The Littlest Giant"
  • Are You Afraid of the Dark: Season 1 episode "The Tale of the Lonely Ghost"
  • Roundhouse: Season 1 episode "New Kid In Town"
  • The Adventures of Pete & Pete shorts "Artie, the Strongest Man in the World," "X-Ray Man," and "Route 34"

Volume 2: Nick SNICKS The Family
  • Clarissa Explains It All: Season 1 episode "Cool Dad"
  • The Ren & Stimpy Show: Season 2 episode "Fake Dad"
  • Are You Afraid of the Dark: Season 1 episode "The Tale of the Hungry Hounds"
  • Roundhouse: Season 1 episode "You Can't Fire Your Family"
  • The Adventures of Pete & Pete shorts "The Burping Room," "Mom's Plate," and "The Punishment"

References
  1. Heffley, Lynn (August 15, 1992). "TV Reviews : Nickelodeon Unleashes New 'Ren' Episodes". Los Angeles Times.
  2. Moore, Scott (June 19, 1993). "'ROUNDHOUSE' KEEPS THROWING QUICK JABS". South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
  3. Mendoza, N.F. (June 19, 1994). "Shows for Youngsters and Their Parents Too : How Nickelodeon's 'Roundhouse' hooks a Saturday night audience". Los Angeles Times.
  4. Rosenfeld, Negab (June 3, 1994). "NICKELODEON'S TWEENAGE TRICK OR TWEAK SHOW". The Washington Post.
  5. Brown, Rich. "Nickelodeon Skews New for Fall Archived 2006-01-10 at the Wayback Machine." Broadcasting and Cable magazine. August 17, 1992. 20.
  6. Zurawik, David (August 14, 1992). "NICK'S KNACK WITH KIDS Cable's Nickelodeon hopes to lure youngsters with lineup that's Saturday night lively". The Baltimore Sun.
  7. Mifflin, Lawrie (June 17, 1999). "Following a Tough Act; Nickelodeon Chief Quietly Builds on Celebrated Legacy". The New York Times.
  8. Adams, Erik (August 9, 2016). "Nickelodeon grew up and blew up in 1996". AV Club.
  9. "SNICK". Entertainment Weekly. August 28, 1992.
  10. Kiska, Tim (June 26, 1993). "SNICK Finds a Niche".
  11. "THE FAMILY THAT SNICKS TOGETHER STICKS TOGETHER? NICK MAKES SATURDAY NIGHT FAMILY NIGHT". Greensboro News & Record. August 14, 1992.
  12. Mendoza, N.F. (May 7, 1995). "SHOWS FOR YOUNGSTERS AND THEIR PARENTS TOO : 'All That' is comedy, hip-hop and more, namely in a good Nickelodeon slot". Los Angeles Times.
  13. Moore, Scott (January 7, 1996). "SNICK SNACKS' ARE SHORT, SWEET". The Washington Post.
  14. Ginny Holbert. "Children's Bedtime Stories Get Star Treatment on PBS", Chicago Sun-Times, June 10, 1994. Retrieved March 10, 2011 from HighBeam Research.
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