Nickelodeon, making dreams come true, is considering rebooting its classic shows.
“We are looking at our library to bring back ideas, shows that were loved, in a fresh new way,” Russell Hicks, president of content and development at Nickelodeon, told Variety.
Hicks declined to offer up any specifics on shows they’re looking at rebooting, but he did mention that the ’90s viewers who grew up on Nickelodeon now have kids of their own, and he’s heard from some of those grown-up kids.
“We are getting ready to bring back some of the ones they’ve told us multiple times they want to have brought back,” he said.
So in lieu of any concrete information, here’s a few shows Nickelodeon should bring back.
“Double Dare”
Ranked No. 29 on TV Guide’s list of the 50 Greatest Game Shows of All Time, “Double Dare” pitted two teams of two kids against each other in a battle of trivia and physical challenges, including an obstacle course. With its growing popularity, spinoffs continued popping up, including “Super Sloppy Double Dare,” “Family Double Dare,” “Super Special Double Dare,” “Double Dare 2000” and “Double Dare Live,” performed at the Nickelodeon Suites Resort in Orlando.
A reboot wouldn’t have to change much: keep the mess, keep the challenges and keep the craziness.
“Doug”
Nickelodeon’s first original animated content, “Doug” followed 11 1/2-year-old Doug Funnie and his friends through the trials and tribulations of middle school; his alter ego, Quailman, had less trouble navigating puberty and his trusty dog Porkchop often served as Doug’s moral center.
Nickelodeon could go two ways with a reboot: grown up Doug or Doug Jr. An adult Quailman would be a sight to see.
“Hey Arnold!”
“Hey Arnold!” has lived on more than most Nickelodeon shows in memes and references online, but it started out simply enough as a cartoon about 9-year-old Arnold and his friends, including group leader Gerald and bully Helga.
The Stoop Kids jokes are probably a little too old for today’s kids, so a reboot could put a new group of friends in the middle of the same town.
“Legends of the Hidden Temple”
Each of the six teams on “Legends of the Hidden Temple” (the Red Jaguars, the Blue Barracudas, the Green Monkeys, the Orange Iguanas, the Purple Parrots and the Silver Snakes) competed in four rounds: crossing a moat, a memory test, various temple games and the temple run, where the winning team raced against the clock to retrieve the artifact from the temple.
“Legends of the Hidden Temple” was so perfect in the ’90s that not much needs updating. Just put kids back in their teams and let them go.
“Rugrats”
Spanning nine seasons, “Rugrats” racked up Daytime Emmy Awards, Kids’ Choice Awards and even its own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame as toddlers Tommy, Chuckie, Phil, Lil and Angelica got into all sorts of mischief.
Any “Rugrats” reboot would have to be a sequel. Who wouldn’t want to see Tommy and Angelica as parents?
“The Wild Thornberrys”
One of the most international of Nickelodeon’s cartoons, “The Wild Thornberrys” trecked across the globe to follow documentary filmmakers and their family, including daughter Eliza, who had the secret gift of being able to communicate with animals (the family chimpanzee, Darwin, was a staplepiece of the show).
A teenage girl in the jungle who can talk to animals isn’t a far stretch, but 21st century Eliza could do fun things like livetweet bird migrations and Periscope safaris.
