Salute Your Shorts

Salute Your Shorts is an American comedy television series that aired on Nickelodeon from 1991 to 1992 with reruns until early 1999. It was based on the 1986 book Salute Your Shorts: Life at Summer Camp by Steve Slavkin and Thomas Hill.

Salute Your Shorts
Title Card
Created bySteve Slavkin
Starring
Narrated byJordan G. Smith
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons2
No. of episodes26 (list of episodes)
Production
Running time30 minutes
Production companyPropaganda Films[1]
DistributorCBS Television Distribution
Release
Original networkNickelodeon
Original releaseJune 1, 1991 (1991-06-01)[2] –
June 29, 1992 (1992-06-29)
External links
Website

The series is set at the fictional summer camp, Camp Anawanna. It focuses on teenage campers, their strict and bossy counselor, and the various capers and jocularities they engage in. It was primarily filmed at Franklin Canyon Park and the Griffith Park Boys Camp within Griffith Park in Los Angeles.

The title comes from a common prank campers play on each other: a group of children steal a boy's boxer shorts and raise them up a flagpole. Hence, when people see them waving like a flag, other children salute them as part of the prank.

In the second season, Blake Soper joined the cast, playing the part of a suave preppie and ladies-man, Ronald "Ronnie" Foster Pinsky. His clashes with the more rough-and-tumble Budnick (Danny Cooksey) become a recurrent theme and the source for various capers as the two boys vie for the attention of the girls at Camp Anawanna.

Cast
  • Kirk Baily as Kevin "Ug" Lee, head camp counselor
  • Megan Berwick as Z.Z. Ziff
  • Michael Bower as Eddie C. "Donkeylips" Gelfand
  • Venus DeMilo as Telly Radford
  • Tim Eyster as Sponge Harris
  • Heidi Lucas as Dina Alexander
  • Erik MacArthur as Michael Stein (season 1)
  • Blake Soper as Ronald "Ronnie" Foster Pinsky (season 2)
  • Danny Cooksey as Robert "Bobby" Budnick
  • Steve Slavkin as Dr. Kahn, the unseen camp director

Cancellation

The series was not renewed for a third season due to budgetary disputes and most of the cast unwilling to relocate from Los Angeles to Orlando, the home of Nickelodeon Studios.[3]

Episodes
Main article: List of Salute Your Shorts episodes
SeasonEpisodesOriginally aired
First airedLast aired
Pilot1October 1990
113July 4, 1991 (1991-07-04)1991 (1991)
213June 1, 1992 (1992-06-01)June 29, 1992 (1992-06-29)

The pilot for the series aired as a special on Nickelodeon in October 1990.[2][4] After the pilot episode was picked up to series, all of the actors had to re-audition for their roles.[5]

Reception

The series was the second highest rated cable TV series in kids 6–11 during its second season.[6] Despite having not aired new episodes in four years, Salute Your Shorts was among the top 15 highest-rated, regularly scheduled basic-cable series in 1996 according to Variety.[7]

Availability
Ronnie Pinsky (left) with his frequent rival Budnick, having a momentary truce and teenage angst as they muse over their woes.

In March 2010, six episodes from season two became available for purchase on iTunes, Amazon.com, and Zune marketplace. In August 2010, six episodes from season one became available for purchase on each place. Six episodes are also available on Media Go. As of May 2018 (when tvshowsondvd.com shut down their website in favor of social-media posts only), the series was the #1 voted show that had yet to see a physical release of a full season in all of television.

Salute Your Shorts has appeared frequently on The Splat, formerly The 90's [sic] Are All That, a 1990s oriented program block on TeenNick. Because of the series' relatively short run, the series does not have a permanent time slot, but it has won several U-Picks and has also appeared in holiday blocks.

Reunions

Many of the original cast and crew reunited in September 2012 for a panel at the Comikaze Expo in Los Angeles.[8]

Another reunion occurred in 2015 with most of the cast attending Portland’s Everything Is Festival. Danny Cooksey did not attend as he was recording an album with country and western band Shelter Dogs.[9]

Awards and nominations

The series was also ACE Award-nominated.[6]

References
  1. "Nickelodeon". Variety. May 6, 1991. Retrieved 2016-11-19.
  2. King, Susan (June 16, 1991). "Summer Sights". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2016-11-19.
  3. "Everything You May Not Have Known About Salute Your Shorts". E! Online. Retrieved 2017-02-07.
  4. Lipton, Lauren (July 7, 1991). "Camp out with Nick as 'Salute Your Shorts' returns as weekend series". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2016-11-19.
  5. Greene, James. "Michael Ray Bower". Ink 19. Retrieved 2010-05-11.
  6. King, Susan; Mendoza, Nadine (June 21, 1992). "Camp out for 7 hours with Nickelodeon's 'Salute Your Shorts'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2016-11-19.
  7. Richmond, Ray (January 19, 1997). "Numbers game puts Nick way out front". Variety. Retrieved 2016-11-19.
  8. ""Salute Your Shorts" Reunion". waldenponders.
  9. Connolly, Kelly (June 1, 2015). "Salute Your Shorts cast reunites—and Donkeylips sings the theme song". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2016-11-19.
  10. "Fourteenth Annual Youth in Film Awards". Young Artist Awards. Retrieved 2014-06-28.
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