Nickelodeon

Nickelodeon (previously known as Pinwheel from 1977 until 1979) is an American cable television and the network for T.U.F.F. Puppy.

The New Nickelodeon logo used since September 28, 2009.

History of Nickelodeon

Pinwheel (1977-1979)

Nickelodeon was originally launched as Pinwheel on December 1, 1977 and was a local station on the Qube station that ran for 6 hours a day. Shows included Video Comicbook, Pop Clips, and Pinwheel(TV Show). Pinwheel went national in 1979 thus Nickelodeon has declared that 1979 is the network's official launch year. During its broadcast day, it would air shows such as the long running Pinwheel along with other TV shows such as Video Comic Book, America Goes Bananaz, Nickel Flicks and By the Way. In 1980, Geraldine Laybourne joined Nickelodeon's production team. She would become President of Nickelodeon in 1983.

Relaunch as Nickelodeon (1979-1990)

Pinwheel was relaunched as Nickelodeon: the First Network for Kids in 1981. It extended its hours from 8AM (EST) to 8PM (EST) by turning its channel over to the Alpha Repertory Television Service(ARTS) and later, for about a year, A&E Network. At one point the channel just went to a test screen after a sign-off. Its original logo was a silver pinball with Nickelodeon title in front in multicolor. Nickelodeon's first popular series was You Can't Do That On Television, a Canadian sketch comedy that made its American debut on Nickelodeon in 1981.

Beginning Of The Slime

After a while the network known for its iconic green slime, originally featured in You Can't Do That On Television. The green slime was then adopted by the station as a primary feature of many of its show. In the early years, other shows such as Livewire, Standby: Lights, Camera, Action, The Third Eye and Mr. Wizard's World were part of the regular Nickelodeon time slots.

The Fall, The Rise Again, And The New Logo Of Nickelodeon

The channel struggled at first, having lost $40 million by 1984 and finishing dead last among cable channels. After firing the staff, MTV Networks president Bob Pittman turned to Fred Seibert and Alan Goodman, who created MTV's iconic IDs a few years earlier, to reverse Nickelodeon's fortunes. Seibert and Goodman's company, Fred/Alan, teamed up with Tom Corey and Scott Nash to replace the "Pinball" logo with the "orange splat" logo that would be used in hundreds of different variations for the next quarter century. Fred/Alan also enlisted the help of animators, writers, producers and doo-wop group The Jive Five to create new idents for the channel. Within six months of the rebranding, Nickelodeon went from worst to first and has stayed there for 25 years. In 1985, after ARTS dropped its partnership with Nickelodeon, Nick added a late-night new block called Nick at Nite. In 1988, Nick aired the first annual Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards(previously known as The Big Ballot) and introduced Nick Jr., an educational block for younger children.

Success in the 1990s and 2000s (1990-2009)

By October 1990, Nickelodeon was seen in 52 million homes across the United States. In 1990, Nickelodeon opened Nickelodeon Studios, a television studio, in Orlando, Florida at Universal Studios Florida and entered into a multimillion-dollar joint marketing agreement with international restaurant chain Pizza Hut, which involved launching Nickelodeon Magazine, which was available for free at participating Pizza Hut restaurants. In 1991, for the first time, Nickelodeon developed its first animated series, Doug, The Ren and Stimpy Show, and Rugrats. These series, known as Nicktoons, premiered on August 11, 1991. The network had previously refused to produce weekly animated series due to high cost. The three Nicktoons found success in 1993, while in mid-1993, Nickelodeon developed its 4th Nicktoon, Rocko's Modern Life, which was also a success along with the three other Nicktoons. Later, Nickelodeon partnered with Sony Wonder and released top selling video cassettes of the show's programming. By 1994, Doug ended production, but Rocko's Modern Life, The Ren and Stimpy Show, and Rugrats were still in production and airing. In mid-1996, Nickelodeon developed two new Nicktoons, KaBlam! and Hey Arnold! which would take the place of Rocko's Modern Life and The Ren and Stimpy Show since they would both have ended production about that time, but still would air re-runs up until about 2001. Rugrats, on the other hand, was still airing. The show got very popular in 1998, when The Rugrats Movie came out. The movie grossed more than $100 million in the United States and became the first non-Disney animated movie to ever sale that high.

The Continuity of Nick Magazine, All That, and the removing of You Can't Do That On Television

In June 1993, Nickelodeon resumed its magazine brand, Nickelodeon Magazine. Nick Magazine will cease production in 2009 with the December issue being the last. In 1993, Nickelodeon removed sketch comedy You Can't Do That On Television from its schedule after twelve years on and the next year the network had launch its own sketch comedy, All that but this also ended its production.

Programming

Programming blocks

• Nick@Nite (1985-present) Nick@Nite is a grown-up's block that started in 1985. (See section The Fall, The Rise Again, and The New Logo Of Nickelodeon)
• Hollywood Hang (2009-present) Broadcasts on weekdays and sometimes on weekends.
• Nick Play Date (2009-present) A new version of Nick Jr.

Other projects

Nick.com

Launched to be on the web in 1995.

Nick Magazine

Children's magazine launched in 1993.

Nickelodeon Movies

The motion picture production launched in 1995.

Gallery

The Nick logo, which was known as Pinwheel, from 1977 to 1979.

Nick-old.jpg

The Nick logo from 1981 to October 1984.

The Nick logo from October 1984 to September 27, 2009.

The current Nick logo since September 28, 2009.