The Prying Game: Nickelodeon

Double Dare. Roundhouse. Clarissa Explains it All. If Nickelodeon didn’t actually raise a lot of today’s American college students, it certainly played the role of our zany uncle. Most of the live-action Nick shows of our childhood have one thing in common: they were filmed at Orlando’s Universal Studios—a crazy blue-and-orange building with a green-slime fountain. But thanks to the popularity of Nickelodeon’s cartoons and a shift to filming in smaller New York and Los Angeles studios, Nickelodeon closed the iconic studio last year. In its honor, The Prying Game asked students to tell us about their favorite live-action Nickelodeon shows.

Ben E. Click ’06

“I watched the great triumvirate: ‘[The Adventures of] Pete and Pete,’ ‘Salute Your Shorts,’ and ‘You Can’t Do That on Television.’ ‘Pete and Pete’ was just so inane, and they had the craziest guest stars. Iggy Pop was a bus driver, and Steve Buscemi played the father of the girl next door….The soundtrack was awesome, and I have the theme song, ‘Hey Sandy,’ on my computer.”

Kristen C. Keating ’06

“‘Clarissa Explains it All,’ everyone wanted to be Clarissa, and everyone had an annoying sibling [like Ferguson, Clarissa’s Republican younger brother]. It’s a shame [that they’re moving more to cartoons]. How can you relate to Spongebob?”

Tania L. Stewart ’06

“I was on ‘What Would You Do?’ with my brother and my parents while we were on vacation in Orlando….I got to dump a bucket of water on my dad’s head. It was a total blast….I still have the tape of it somewhere.”

Sam M. Johnson ’06-’07

“I liked ‘Are You Afraid of the Dark.’ There was one where a girl slowly changes into a doll, and loses the ability to move, and that horrified me for years. I don’t have a lot of memories of my childhood, but that’s definitely one of them.

--Crimson staff writer Michael A. Mohammed can be reached at mohammed@fas.harvard.edu.