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movies/tv Can Nickelodeon experience a Live-action Renaissance?


TheMisterManGuy

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Recently, Nickelodeon has been stepping up it's game in regards to the quality of their animated output. Starting with the cult favorite, Harvey Beaks, and continuing with the recent break out success of The Loud House. And if some of their upcoming Cartoons like Welcome to the Wayne and Pinky Malinky (which believe it or not, looks much better than the original Cartoon Network pilot) are an indication, good things might be ahead for Nick's animated lineup.

 

Such cannot be said about their Live-action shows. Unlike Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon didn't just produce animated series, they also became known for innovative Live-action shows as well. From Clarissa Explains it All, to The Adventures of Pete and Pete, to Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide. But somewhere around the 2000s, Nick just kind of, stopped trying with their shows. Now, their Live-action output is so homogenized and dry, it's almost impossible to tell each show apart. And it doesn't look like things are improving much anytime soon.

 

The only new Live-action series I enjoyed from Nick in recent years, is 100 Things To Do before High School. And in typical Nick fashion, the show was death slotted, bounced around the schedule with little advertising, and eventually axed without telling anyone. With Nickelodeon improving their animated shows, can they do the same with their Live-action? Animation will always be Nick's biggest strength, but having healthy lineup of quality Live-action shows is equally as important. I'd love for Nickelodeon to come out with another show like Pete and Pete or Ned's Declassified and actually be a success. Dan Schneider can't save them forever, and it's time Nick realizes this.

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Honestly, Nick struck gold with shows like Drake and Josh and Ned's Declassified. It helps shows like All That! and The Amanda Show built up to them. But Nick doesn't seem to even give one second of effort when it comes to their new live-action shows. Drake and Josh and Ned's were all clever, funny, well-acted, and all around terrific. I don't even need to watch the stuff now to know it's all straight up garbage.

 

Personally, they should drop them all together and focus strictly on animation at this point. Cartoon Network as been kicking their asses ever since Adventure Time, Chowder, and Regular Show burst onto the scene. The Loud House is a terrific step in the right direction. I just saw the Christmas Special for The Loud House and it was terrific. LH is, in my opinion, the best cartoon on TV. Using the leftover money and resources from live-action shows, they could increase the quality of their cartoons. Fairly Oddparents is a disaster and Spongebob is pretty much over.

 

So once Nick can establish quality cartoons again, then perhaps they can try to re-enter the live-action genre.

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Honestly, Nick struck gold with shows like Drake and Josh and Ned's Declassified. It helps shows like All That! and The Amanda Show built up to them. But Nick doesn't seem to even give one second of effort when it comes to their new live-action shows. Drake and Josh and Ned's were all clever, funny, well-acted, and all around terrific. I don't even need to watch the stuff now to know it's all straight up garbage.

 

Personally, they should drop them all together and focus strictly on animation at this point. Cartoon Network as been kicking their asses ever since Adventure Time, Chowder, and Regular Show burst onto the scene. The Loud House is a terrific step in the right direction. I just saw the Christmas Special for The Loud House and it was terrific. LH is, in my opinion, the best cartoon on TV. Using the leftover money and resources from live-action shows, they could increase the quality of their cartoons. Fairly Oddparents is a disaster and Spongebob is pretty much over.

 

So once Nick can establish quality cartoons again, then perhaps they can try to re-enter the live-action genre.

Like I said, Nick needs a balance of both good Cartoons, and Live action shows. I'm not asking for every show to be great, hell, I'm not even asking them to stop spamming SpongeBob and The Loud House on the Schedule (Times have changed and streaming apps have largely taken over scheduled television for kids). All I'm asking for, is a little more variety and quality control in the programing the network produces.

 

Animation has always been a big part of Nickelodeon, but people seem to forget that Nickelodeon's success wasn't just built on the Nicktoons, it was also built on shows like Clarissa Explains It All, The Adventures of Pete and Pete, All That, The Secret World of Alex Mack, and the multitude of Game Shows they used to produce. So while it's good to see Nick's animation division improving, it's merely a piece of the much bigger puzzle. I'd like to see ALL of Nick improve, not just one part of it.

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Personally, they should drop them all together and focus strictly on animation at this point.

 

That wouldn't be a smart business move. Henry Danger and The Tundermans have both been bringing in good ratings. I'm drawing a blank on how the rest are doing, and I'm not a fan of any of them, but as long as they keep brining in the ratings, Nick isn't going to see any reason to drop them.

Edited by PinkiePie97
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If Nick could catch the magic that they had with live television in the 90s, then that would be fantastic. Unfortunately, it seems like all live action TV has followed the Hannah Montana feeling that Disney started. I can't describe it, but there's a similar feeling that I can't quite put my hands on it.

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As long as Viacom, the company that is actively trying to kill off YouTube (indirectly) with lawsuits, and only seems to care about $$$$$, owns Nickelodeon, I don't think so.

 

I'm just glad my cable TV provider (PlayStation Vue) dropped all CBS/Viacom cable channels, because of what I said.

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Nick actually has some pretty good cartoons currently(which says a ton) but I still have zero faith in them in that regard as Nick will continue to screw them over - 

 

 

On top of that, Nick's live-action output(along with Disney's for that matter) are some of the most abysmal stuff on TV

 

I mean, Drake and Josh was one of the best shows they ever had, and before that he worked on The Amanda Show, All That, and Kenan&Kel, which were also some of Nicks greats, but the same guy who created those went from that to...Victorious...Game Shakers...Sam&Kat...Henry Danger...

 

Fact is, that's a pretty enormous drop in quality, and the other current live action shows are the same assembly line garbage we've seen show up on the channel

 

Not to mention that they've pretty much abandoned making Gameshows, which were another staple of the channel's golden years

 

I mean, it's not impossible for Nick to have another Live-action renaissance... but I don't expect it to happen for a long...long time

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If Nick could catch the magic that they had with live television in the 90s, then that would be fantastic. Unfortunately, it seems like all live action TV has followed the Hannah Montana feeling that Disney started. I can't describe it, but there's a similar feeling that I can't quite put my hands on it.

It's called homogenization. Disney's success with wish-fufillment style kid shows in the mid-2000s changed executives perception of live-action kids shows. Shows like Hannah Montana came on to the scene and took the world by storm. In executives eyes, down to earth single camera shows like Lizzie McGuire, Surrealist live action cartoons like Pete and Pete, or Adventure shows like Alex Mack were no longer profitable. To get kids attention, you needed to flashy, grandiose gimmick with a laugh track and teenie boppers. Nickelodeon was hit by this, and their Live-action became less and less memorable as the years went on. Fans will debate over where this decline started, but I personally feel, it started with Zoey 101 (I was never a fan of this show, not even as a kid), and only grew with shows like iCarly. By 2010, Nick became almost completely indistinguishable from Disney Channel, and has tossed out much of it's surreal, rebellious attitude, and instead tried to mimick a brand that it once mocked for being what they themselves had become, a sterile, manufactured "dreams come true" twinkle factory for girls.

Edited by TheMisterManGuy
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Well they did a good job on live-action so maybe yeah.

 

The Loud House? That's pretty much the best thing on Nick right now.

LH is, in my opinion, the best cartoon on TV.

Heck ya

Edited by Afghanistan
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