RetroDaze

You.
Me.
Mistletoe.

OFFICIAL

Stuffed Animals of the 80's

CONTEST WINNER!

Fright Night - A Retro Narrative

CONTEST WINNER!

A Flurry of Hadoukens and Shoryukens

Don't mess
with the bull.
JOIN!!!

4 COMMENTS

RETRORATING: 7

FAVORITED 2 TIMES

A Closer Look at: Nickelodeon's New Year's 1997-1998

By: ThatDudeintheHoodie

A new year is here and that means new adventures, opportunities, and experiences. What better way to do that than looking back in the past? Today I'll be taking a look at Nickelodeon's New Years bash 1997 - 1998. The New Years Bash is a special dedicated to the end of the old year and the start of the new year. So why not dig into this special and see if it was worth watching or not.

The Hosts:

The hosts for Nickelodeon's New Year's 1998 were Amanda Bynes, Lori Beth Denberg, Danny Tamberelli from All That and the cast of Nick in the Afternoon. I think this was the best thing they could do for hosts. They get the heavy hitters in their live action scene aside from Kennan and Kell and have them just run the show aside from the story. It's fun and still got a couple laughs out of me as an adult.

The Best of 1997 Countdown:

With it being a long segment, it needed something to fill time so why not have a countdown of Nickelodeon shows? Kids got to vote on the best episodes of shows through out the year and were ranked throughout the segment. While my tastes shifted from then when it comes to shows back then, I still love shows like Rocko's Modern Life, Angry Beavers, and Hey Arnold.

The Look Backs:

The year of 1997 was filled with new stuff for Nickelodeon, the Good Burger film, three new shows, and their own special events. These segments covered such things as the Good Burger movie Premiere and the chewed gumball hall of fame. Where celebrities chew gum and give it back to be showcased in a museum setting. While the film premiere was a large event, the one that has a changed opinion over time was the chewed gumball hall of fame. Back in the nineties, Nickelodeon relied on gross humor for their views. As a kid, it worked and I thought it was funny. As an adult though, it's the opposite. It's gross and weird, though at the same time fitting for the network.

The Story:

Surprisingly this special had somewhat of a story. It has to do with Stick Stickly preparing the slime geyser for the new year only to find out something is wrong. He finds out someone has messed with the hoses for the slime geyser. He then sees his mother making a ice swan and with the help of his co star, discover it was his mother and get it fixed just in time for the new year.

Looking at it as an adult, I think it was serviceable to the event. They needed some kind of hook to keep kids up until midnight and he was popular at the time. It did what it had to do and didn't over stay its welcome.

The Countdown to Midnight:

What's a new year bash without the countdown to the new year? Unlike the ball drop, this countdown relied on the eruption of the slime geyser at Nickelodeon Studios in Universal Orlando. With a small crowd of kids and Stick Stickly the geyser erupted at midnight as they sing their own version of Auld Lang Syne to close out the special before it repeats for other time zones.

I still enjoy this part since it's different and it has that feeling of optimism that you get each new year. They did this again in NEW York City in 2011 for the 2012 ball drop. While not closed off like the last one was, this shows how much we've grown since then and how much we have and haven't changed.

Overall this is a very unique special compared to others like this. Even though it's a basic setup, you can tell a bit more effort was put into it with a simple story and how to stretch the time. Which I feel goes a longer way than nothing and complex. So have a great new year and remember to live life and live nostalgic.

Looking for more from ThatDudeintheHoodie?

READ 110193 TIMES

ThatDudeintheHoodie Posted on Mar 23, 2018 at 01:01 PM

I actually still like Hey Arnold.

kodakofiremembergaming Posted on Mar 23, 2018 at 03:02 AM

I agree. HEy arnold didnt resonate. it was the end of an era.

Superman Posted on Mar 11, 2018 at 11:09 PM

I don't remember watching this, but I do remember watching Nick at Nite's New Year's Eve countdown of the most classic episodes of their shows. This lasted for quite a few years before they got rid of it. All in all, it was a pretty good way to spend a New Year's Eve. I still get nostalgic thinking about watching it with my mom.

Hoju Koolander Posted on Feb 13, 2018 at 10:52 PM

I feel like this year end celebration was also my "end of an era" event as far as watching Nickelodeon. I hung on as long as I could, but by this point I was in high school and Hey Arnold had nothing on Rugrats as far as I was concerned. I had outgrown my once favorite cable station. Although now I really want to play with some Gak! Funny how that works.

Joe Lieberman VS Scorpion

Not sure how many of you were around (or developmentally far enough along) to remember the 1993 Senate hearings on video game violence, but ...

Classic Games: Karateka for the Commdore 64

Note: This article has been reprinted from an original article that I wrote in early 2004 for the website "Lemon - Commodore 64." I am the autho...

Classic Games: The Great American Cross Country Road Race

Of all the games I owned for the Commodore 64, very few managed to addict me as much as Activision's Great American Cross-Country Road Race. While ...

Article Classic: The Pok'emon Fad

The year of 1998 is remembered fondly to me only for one thing. The impact from the beginning of the Pok'emon franchise. It was also my first year of ...

I totally missed out!

I don't know what any of you are talking about...I was such a nerd. Definitely not one of the cool kids:I didn't get new video games, see cool m...

MOST RECENT RETRORATING FEATURED OFFICIAL

Go to page: