Anyone who was born in the last four decades can consider themselves among one of the generations that grew up watching Nickelodeon. Whether you're younger and associate your childhood with the likes of iCarly and Zoey 101, or you're old-school and remember a time before Nicktoons were even a thing, everyone under the age of 40 is likely to have some sort of fondness attached to that orange splat logo.
If there is one thing that most aspects of our childhood have in common, it's that they eventually break our hearts. From movies that aren't half as good as we remember them to be-- we're looking at you, Space Jam and The Mask-- to finding out that the magical bringers of Christmas presents and money for lost teeth aren't real, it really is true what they say: don't grow up, it's a trap.
To that end, while Nickelodeon is responsible for giving millions of kids billions of fuzzy memories, it also has the potential to take all that right back when you find out some of the dark secrets behind the people who created and/or starred in our favorite Nick shows, as well as disturbing details about some of the characters themselves.
Consider this your final warning: If you want to forever have a completely untainted view of Nickelodeon and its shows, hit the back button on your browser now before its too late.
15 Gak Was Named After An Illegal Substance
There is a great oral history of Nickelodeon called Slimed! that details the channel's ascent, especially during its rough-and-tumble early days. One of the revelations made in the book is that a lot of the people working behind the scenes in the beginning liked to partake in illegal substances-- maybe not such a major revelation given that the Nickelodeon first launched in the 80s.
Turns out that "Gak" is a direct reference to those party days.
While it might seem like a fun little nonsense word that Nick executives made up to sell their squishy building toy, Gak is actually a slang word for a particular substance-- and it wasn't at all by accident that it got that name, either. At least "slime" isn't a slang word related to a dubious lifestyle choice...we hope.
14 Admitted Whitewashing
The fact that it took awhile before people of color started showing up in Nickelodeon shows isn't something to hold against the network too harshly, as it was a fairly common practice in those days-- it's not especially rare today either, unfortunately.
But in another tidbit from Slimed!, former Nick staffers outright admitted that they were fully aware how "white" their programming was, and that it was an intentional choice because that's where the money was. Yikes.
At least someone was willing to fight the good fight-- Doug creator Jim Jinkins said that he created the rainbow-colored characters in his show as a sort of backdoor way to break through Nick's color barrier. Apparently his noble plan worked-- shows like All That, featuring African-American performers, followed just a few years later.
13 In The Early Days, It Swindled Its Young Stars
These days, there are all sorts of safeguards in place to protect children from getting bad deals from shifty production companies. Not so in the Wild West days of early Nickelodeon, and the network had no problem taking full advantage of how little protection child stars had in those days.
Former Nick child performers had to work 12 hour days, got paid very little upfront, and didn't see a single dime in royalties.
You know how Nick would show reurns of series like You Can't Do That On Television and Salute Your Shorts ad naseum because that's all the programming they had? Well, the young actors in those shows certainly didn't benefit from that.
Luckily, subsequent laws would change all of that-- but it's sad that Nickelodeon only started treating their stars better after they were legally obligated to do so.
12 Double Dare Contestants Had Potty Mouths
The dream of every 80s and 90s kid was to be a contestant on Double Dare and get the chance to go through that wonderfully messy obstacle course at the end. It certainly looked easy enough, and we definitely would've done a better job than all of those kids who embarrassingly fumbled their way through it as we cursed at them through our televisions.
Turns out, they were already cursing at themselves.
Double Dare host Marc Summers has said that he has never in his life heard as much swearing as he would hear coming from the mouths of the kids who went through the show's obstacle course.
They obviously-- and fortunately-- weren't miked, so it made it pretty easy for the show's production crew to edit out the swears from the broadcast. Those poor kids and parents who were at the live tapings? Well, that's another story.
11 Spongebob Is Watching You
In a 2016 class-action lawsuit, a group of parents alleged that Viacom-- Nickelodeon's parent company-- broke its promise to not collect data from the child users of its various web games and mobile apps and sell them to advertisers when it was discovered that various Nick games based on properties like Spongebob Squarepants and PAW Patrol were indeed using cookies.
No, not the kind of cookies you dip in milk.
Although Viacom eventually won the landmark lawsuit, it still didn't change the fact that the company was indeed using cookies to track young players and then giving them targeted advertising based on their web histories, something they always said they wouldn't do. While cookies and targeted ads are a common thing in the internet age, to specifically do it in kid-focused apps just feels that much shadier.
10 Nickelodeon's Messed-Up "Lost Film"
One thing that Nickelodeon's biggest rival, The Disney Channel, has over Nick is its expansive lineup of original movies-- there's even a fun acronym for them (D-COMs). But that isn't to say that Nickelodeon has never ventured into original movie territory, though seeing as how things went with 2000's Cry Baby Lane, it's no wonder they didn't do it more often.
The horror movie, starring Oscar-nominated Hollywood vet Frank Langella, was a bit intense for Nickelodeon's target demographic.
It also garnered controversy for its plot, which positioned conjoined twins as "freaks." The movie had a very short run before disappearing for years, leading to the oft-repeated urban legend that it was officially banned. Turns out it wasn't-- but that isn't to say that Nick didn't realize its miscalculation of the movie's edgy themes and try to quietly shelve it.
9 Rugrats Led To A Divorce
After being fired from The Simpsons early in its run due to creative differences with the show's creators-- and looking at those very rough early episodes, its easy to see why Matt Groening and co. were unhappy with their work-- husband-and-wife-run animation studio Klasky Csupó went on to find success creating their own shows-- beginning with their breakthrough hit Rugrats.
However, it would seem as though the pressures of their first big success were too much for Arlene Klasky and Gábor Csupó's marriage, as they divorced during Rugrats' run. Sure, divorce isn't a terribly uncommon thing, but to know that we were watching a show being steered by a couple whose marriage was falling apart just casts the adventures of those precocious toddlers in a slightly darker light.
8 A Prolific Nick Show Creator Wrote And Directed An Adult Film
Jonathon C. Butler has done some notable things in his partnership with Nickelodeon, from writing episodes of The Haunted Hathaways, The Fairly OddParents, and Fanboy & Chum Chum to being the creator of the sports-themed Bella and the Bulldogs. He's also gone on to write a few episodes of The Flash.
Oh, and there's also that adult film he wrote and directed.
Before his first writing gig at Nick, Butler wrote and directed the 2009 film The Cuckold, described by IMDB as "a dramatic feature that explores the consequences and risks in looking beyond the skin in search of love." If that sounds like a lot of fancy words to describe what is basically a movie about people getting in on, that's because it is. Experience is experience, but it's hard to imagine a Nick executive seeing that on someone's resumé and proclaiming, "Hire this man, stat!"
7 Rocko's "Modern" Career
In a tradition started from the very first batch of Nicktoons-- even including the seemingly innocent Rugrats, which is edgier than you ever imagined-- Nickelodeon's cartoons often contained adult jokes and references that completely flew over our young, untainted minds. It's hard to know how much of that stuff completely slipped by Nick's censors, and how much they were willing to overlook because they knew that the shows' target audience wasn't going to get it-- and it never hurts to put a little something in there for the parents that are along for the ride.
One thing that few of us noticed as kids was that Rocko of Rocko's Modern Life had a very inappropriate job for a character on a cartoon for children. Let's just say that his job at the "call center" was to excite his clients on the other end.
"Hot line," indeed.
6 For a Good Time, Call...Didi Pickles?
Animation can be an incredibly tedious business. It involves drawing a lot of the same things over and over again, and drawing a lot of mundane things like walls, trees, and kitchen cabinets. In order to keep their sanity, animators will often draw silly things to amuse themselves and their fellow artists.
Sometimes those silly things are extremely inappropriate.
A visitor to Nick's animation studios stumbled upon an example of what animators do to pass the time when she used the restroom and found drawings hanging in the stalls of Rugrats character Didi Pickles in various outfits that were, shall we say, not quite G-rated. Fine, so nobody is surprised that male animators like to sketch female characters in various states of undress to entertain themselves-- but it seems a bit unnecessary to then hang those doodles up in a bathroom for women to find.
5 Ren & Stimpy Was Even More Inappropriate Than We Realized
Ren & Stimpy often walked a very fine line of appropriateness-- and usually spit up a hairball on it. That Nickelodeon was willing to let the show get away with what it got away with, especially given that its original time slot was on Sunday mornings, is pretty remarkable.
Well, not surprisingly, Ren & Stimpy was actually far grosser and more adult than we even knew as children. It isn't because of a lack of popularity that the show is almost never reran-- and when it was, it was on MTV at night-- it's because it has become much more obvious over the years just how "adult" it really was.
Even worse, if fired creator John Kricfalusi had his way, the show would've been even less kid-frienfly than it already was-- as evidenced by the show's later Spike network follow-up, Adult Cartoon Party, which often bordered on being X-rated.
Art by Labrenzink.
4 Producers Turned A Blind Eye To Abuse
All That was one of Nickelodeon's attempts in the mid-90s to move towards more teen-focused programming as its viewers began to age into that demographic. A sketch comedy show for kids and starring kids, All That ended up being an incubator of future talent, launching the careers of stars like Amanda Bynes and Keenan Thompson.
The show also hid a very dark secret.
Original cast member Angelique Bates came forward in 2016 to talk about the physical and mental abuse she suffered during her time on the show. To be clear, it wasn't anyone involved with All That who was responsible for the abuse, but rather Bates' own mother. However, Bates also alleges the abuse happened in front of All That's adult crew, and that none of them did anything to help the young star-- even supposedly urging her to keep quite about it.
3 A Power Ranger Ends A Life
The Power Rangers franchise changed ownership a few times in its early years, but since 2011 and beginning with Power Rangers Samurai, it has called Nickelodeon home. It's obviously a great fit for the network, as Nick has extended its deal to air the show until 2021.
Unfortunately, PR's Nickelodeon debut is also connected to the darkest aspect of its history.
One of the main villain of that season, Deker, was played by actor Rick Medina-- who had previously played a Ranger during the Wild Force era. In 2015, Medina was arrested for ending the life of his roommate, of which he eventually pleaded guilty and was sentenced to prison.
The weapon he used to commit his crime? A sword. You really can't make this stuff up.
2 Risqué Photos And Video Leaks
Child stars don't stay children forever, and many of them choose to rebel against their innocent reputations once they enter adulthood. See: Elizabeth Berkley in Showgirls, Christina Aguilera's "X-Tina" phase, and Miley Cyrus riding that wrecking ball.
Sometimes, maturing stars choose to do that rebelling in private-- but thanks to the wonders of the internet, we often find out about it. Such was the case with Sam & Cat star Jennette McCurdy, who had a series of personal selfies leaked to the public. Her show was cancelled soon after. And then there is True Jackson VP's Keke Palmer, who is said to have made an adult home movie with a rapper.
Deep down, we know that our favorite Nick stars are real people-- with real "urges"-- but that doesn't mean we want to actually see that stuff.
1 Predators Among Its Ranks
Dan Schneider is one of Nick's most successful producers, beginning his career way back at All That and being credited on shows through 2018's Kid Danger. Rumors have circulated for years that Schneider hasn't always had an appropriate relationship with the young female stars of his various shows. We have to tread lightly here because he hasn't yet been formally accused of anything, but you're welcome to research it for yourself. It won't take long to find things.
Then there is producer Brian Peck, a man who has actually been convicted of inappropriate conduct while at Nickelodeon. Sadly, he continues to work in the industry despite his criminal record, even on projects featuring children.
Finally, Loud House showrunner Chris Savino was recently fired following accusations of harassment. It's good that Nick is being proactive against some of its misbehaving staffers, but it's obviously being a bit selective.