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Next week, the Daily Lunchtime Quizzes will be celebrating the 1980s. Here’s a sneak preview.
Nickelodeon programming taught me a lot about myself during my formative years. I learned that I could draw a simple picture relatively well as long as the drawing process took place under the masterful tutelage of Bill Cosby. I learned that I could sit upside-down on my friend Matt Hall’s couch for about twenty minutes in order to make the one scene where the image is inverted in You Can’t Do That On Television appear normal. I learned that my neighbors could end up on TV—as long as it was Nickelodeon. And I knew that if any rival family on the block wanted to resolve a dispute with a “physical challenge” we’d…well, we’d probably establish a lifetime shun on the spot, but at least we would know what they were talking about.
Half the fun of Nickelodeon was tuning in to find out what those kooky producers could dream up next. How often did you tune in? Take our quiz and show us what you know.
Comments (30)
Comment
100%, though I lucked out with that Turkey Television question. I don’t remember that show either.
Is it sad that I still watch Nicktoons while getting ready for work in the morning?
posted by Jill on 4-25-2008 at 5:13 pm
ZOMG!!!!!1!
I got 80%, because I couldn’t remember Kid’s Court or the guy’s name from Turkey TV, though I *LOVED* Turkey Television. I wish it were available on DVD or something. The theme song was something like “THat’s why a turkey created TV… that’s right, a turkey created TV… [something something] take one look and you’ll see… that a turkey created TV!!!”
Does anyone remember a cool but somewhat creepy show called “Seven Cities of Gold” with some kind of flying golden eagle airplane thing, and some kids combating evil Olmec Indians?
And “Belle and Sebastian”!
And “The Third Eye,” the (British?) “horror show”.
And “Nick Rocks,” which was kinda like MTV. My parents wouldn’t let me watch MTV, but “Nick Rocks” was OK.
I grew up watching Nick in the early 80’s, if you can’t tell. Good times.
posted by Mark on 4-25-2008 at 5:28 pm
100%, unfortunately because I remember each and every bit of that. If you had to guess on some of them, be glad!
posted by gmsc on 4-25-2008 at 6:33 pm
80%! OMG PINWHEEL.. I forgot about that until the question popped up, then immediately had to youtube it! THEN it reminded me of Today’s Special with the mannequin who took off his hat.. REMEMBER??? OMG
I talk about Picture Pages all the time… mention it to people at work to see who remembers it. I was really teeny when these were on so I am proud of myself for remembering :)
Later on I watched Hey Dude, Eat My Shorts and Wild n Crazy Kids.
posted by Kelly on 4-25-2008 at 6:52 pm
70%….not bad considering i spent almost the entire decade overseas and only had a few short weeks of every summer (well almost every summer) to watch what i could…and that wasn’t very much…i do miss some of the old shows though…
posted by stef on 4-25-2008 at 6:54 pm
80% because I didn’t remember Turkey TV and I couldn’t decide between NKOTB and Debbie Gibson.
Thank you, by the way, for getting the Pinwheel song stuck in my head!
posted by BustyMcLeod on 4-25-2008 at 7:56 pm
Wow, I was actually proud of myself for getting a 90%, but lo and behold, even in a quiz about my beloved Nick shows I am bested! Oh the humanity!
It’s unfortunate that the TV shows now a days are not like that. We are bombarded with shows like “Looney Toons… Extreme” and “Ghost Busters… Extreme”… Ugh you get the point.
posted by kevin on 4-25-2008 at 8:03 pm
50%, but my excuse is that I was born in 1988. I would LOVE a Nick in the ’90s quiz, though - I’d definitely ace it.
posted by Laura R. on 4-25-2008 at 8:53 pm
I got 60–you need a 90’s nick quiz, I was born after most of these shows were off the air…
posted by emily on 4-25-2008 at 10:36 pm
Wow, 60%. I’m impressed because not only was I born in 1987, I never watched Nickelodeon. My mother thought it was too crude, so she never let me watch it.
Oddly enough, I remember some of those title cards. Previous lives, perhaps?
posted by Silva on 4-25-2008 at 11:41 pm
Excuse me, Finders Keepers was “flimsily conceived?” I loved that show AND had the home game. Maybe to the adult eye it has a less than perfect premise, but it was golden to six year old me!
posted by Nicole on 4-26-2008 at 1:27 am
I loved Nickelodeon when I was younger. Heck, I still do! I was born in ‘83 and even though I only got a 50%, I still feel pretty good about what I remembered. ‘You Can’t do That on Television’ was hilarious when I was younger but it didn’t air long after I started watching it. Then I moved onto ‘Roundhouse’ and ‘Salute My Shorts’. And Nick at Nite. ;)
posted by Henna on 4-26-2008 at 5:57 am
Well, color me shocked! I got 100%! Shocking because we didn’t have Nickelodeon on our Extremely Basic Cable in the 1980’s. We had 7 channels: Showtime, MTV, CNN, ESPN, WGN (Chicago), WTBS (Atlanta) and WWOR (Secaucus).
So I grew up on MTV, which is why I get 100% on all of those 80’s 1-hit wonder quizzes. My husband had Nickelodeon, though - I’ll make him take this quiz and see how he does.
posted by Rachel on 4-26-2008 at 8:00 am
I got a rather shocking 100% on this quiz. Shows how much I watched Nickelodeon as a child. And referencing Henna, Salute Your Shorts was one of my all time favorite shows. That and Rocco’s Modern Life.
I think the main thing I remember from Turkey TV was the fish head song. What a great song.
posted by Christopher on 4-26-2008 at 12:13 pm
Actually I take that back about my last post:
Pete and Pete was probably THE greatest show Nick has brought to my youthful days. I still enjoy watching it from time to time. Iggy Pop and Michael Stipe making cameos? Classic.
posted by Christopher on 4-26-2008 at 12:16 pm
I loved Turkey TV. It was the show that introduced me to the wonderful world of Dr. Demento when they showed the video for “Fish Heads.”
And, Mark, I remember that cartoon! Man, 80’s nickelodeon was the best.
posted by nikki on 4-26-2008 at 8:12 pm
I remember when we first got cable television, back around 1983 (my dad was sick of having to climb up on top of the house to re-attach the aerial antenna each time there was a thunderstorm…
The first channel the technician who installed it turned it to when he was done was Nickelodeon, which was airing Pinwheel. I remember my little sisters being captivated by it.
Oh, and I’m glad someone beside me remembers Turkey TV, because I spent the better part of my college days trying to convince my friends that such a program had, in fact, existed.
posted by Mel on 4-27-2008 at 6:31 pm
50% Not bad seeing as how I didn’t get into NICK until the 90s.
posted by Phoenix on 4-27-2008 at 8:34 pm
100%! Woohoo!
Proving that even back then I had no social life. ;)
posted by Phraktyl on 4-27-2008 at 8:40 pm
60%–mostly lucky guesses. I’m on the other end of the spectrum…much too old for this quiz. After reading the comments about people being born in the 80’s, I feel even older. I GRADUATED HIGH SCHOOL in 1987.
Sigh.
posted by bre on 4-28-2008 at 8:01 am
I got two wrong (80%), and the two were the first two- which seems about right because they were both from before I was born!!!
I wish you’d do a later-Nickelodeon quiz, with stuff like “Doug”, “Rugrats”, and “Are You Afraid of the Dark?”. I loved that stuff!
posted by Kelly J on 4-28-2008 at 8:14 am
I LOVED Fifteen! It was probably the first teen soap and it had Ryan Reynolds in it - swoon! LOL
I also loved Pete and Pete, Alex Mack, Are You Afraid of the Dark (scared me every time!), and Finder’s Keepers.
Does anyone else remember a show with a dinosaur skeleton puppet that was really mean?
posted by Kristin on 4-28-2008 at 9:05 am
70% - even though some were guesses.
posted by MikeTrig on 4-28-2008 at 9:11 am
100%
I’m impressed considering I was born in ‘84. I had completely forgotten about Pinwheel until just now, and its quite eery how I can suddenly conger up the sound of that squeaky marker. GOD do I miss that marker.
I’m so glad other people remember Fifteen as fondly as I do, Ashley was always my favorite character (I think thats her name anyway, she was played by Laura Harris). In the time before Youtube, no one ever believed that such a show had existed. In your face!!!
posted by Lauren on 4-28-2008 at 10:06 am
Whoa - 90%! I clearly should have gotten out more. And thanks for the roughly five minutes of uncontrolled laughter I got from imagining Don Imus as Mr. Wizard.
posted by Roger on 4-28-2008 at 10:07 am
9/10 - Are you sure there was a Turkey Television and the website is not making it up????
posted by Witty Nickname on 4-28-2008 at 10:39 am
I agree with Nicole. I used to love Finders Keepers as a kid!
retrojunk.com is really a great website to visit in order to tack a trip down Nostalgia Lane… Lots of shows on there I forgot I used to love.
posted by Bethany on 4-29-2008 at 3:41 pm
90%- I don’t remember Turkey TV. I am going to have the Picture Pages song in my head for the rest of the day, though.
posted by Jamie on 5-1-2008 at 6:44 am
Sometimes I feel like the only person who remembers Turkey TV!
I remember seeing the music video for “Fish Heads” by Barnes and Barnes on that show. Disturbing stuff, really.
Plus, did anyone else ever notice that You Can’t Do That on Television was completely modelled after Laugh-In? Think about the announcer in front of the clock and the Joke Wall/Joke Lockers. I remember being blown away by the similarities when I caught Laugh-In on Nick @ Nite.
posted by EMStoveken on 5-2-2008 at 2:49 pm
90% - Yea!
I remember Turkey TV - in fact, I am even humming a few bars of the theme song. Darn the Mr. Wizard question - I always hated him anyway.
posted by tristan on 5-27-2008 at 11:05 am