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NIckelodeon celebrates 25th anniversary on April 1

NIckelodeon celebrates 25th anniversary on April 1

By ADELE UPHAUS

Date published: 4/2/2004

By ADELE UPHAUS

IDS AND MESSY, green slime.

They go together like apples and oranges, like ice cream and a hot, sunny day or popcorn and the movies.

Executives at Nickelodeon, self-billed as "the only network that puts kids first," figured this out many years ago, and green slime has become their trademark.

In 1982 the network, which celebrated a quarter century on the air yesterday, acquired the rights to a Canadian sketch comedy show called "You Can't Do That On Television."

"It was live action, like a kid's 'Saturday Night Live,'" Dr. Matt McAllister, associate professor of media studies at Virginia Tech said during a telephone interview. "They would dump green slime from the ceiling every time a character said 'I don't know.' That became sort of the signature logo for Nick."

These days, the highest honor a celebrity guest at the Nickleodeon Kid's Choice Awards can receive is to be slimed, and a fountain in front of Nick Studios in Florida spurts green slime all day long.

Nickleodeon, home of "SpongeBob SquarePants," "Rugrats" and "Dora the Explorer," has gone through countless gallons of verdant ooze during its 25 years on air. It's also grown and redefined its image.

It's gone from being a tiny, local programming block to a sprawling cable powerhouse that claims to be the highest-rated basic cable network in the U.S., according to the Web site of parent company Viacom, which also owns MTV, VH-1 and Paramount Pictures.

Nick's programming now includes shows for preschoolers (Nick Jr.), 'tweens and teens (The N) as well as for the elementary-school-aged audience.

It also includes Nick at Nite, which airs classic TV shows such as "The Brady Bunch," "Cheers" and "The Cosby Show," a digital channel called Nick GAS which airs games and sports for kids; and Noggin, an educational channel for preschoolers that's a joint venture with Children's Television Workshop.

The Nick can now be seen in Australia, the United Kingdom, most of Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, the Philippines, India and Japan, according to Viacom's Web site.

It's a huge conglomerate. But when Nick first launched on April 1, 1979, it was available to only 600,000 subscribers in the Columbus, Ohio, area.

"It was part of an experimental interactive network called QUBE," McAllister said. "Then it evolved into a kids' cable channel that went commercial-free in the mid-'80s."

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Date published: 4/2/2004