Like many people, I grew up in a magical period of peak Nickelodeon television. I grew up with many of the Nickelodeon classics from the late 90s and early 2000s, including SpongeBob SquarePants, The Fairly OddParents, Rugrats, Drake and Josh, and many more quintessential Nick TV shows. They were a big part of my childhood; I enjoyed coming home every day after school and turning on the television to watch whatever was on. Even though I haven’t watched Nickelodeon in a long while, I am glad to know that the generation younger than me still watch the same shows that I used to love, including SpongeBob and Fairly OddParents.
Since nearly all the shows on Nickelodeon are aimed at little kids, a lot of their classic shows often had very loose logic. Silly premises or nonsensical storytelling didn’t stop many shows from being popular. As long as it still entertained children it was good enough to air on Nickelodeon, and children are generally entertained very easily. It’s not to say that there isn’t an art to making good children TV shows, it is just shows aimed towards to kids are allowed to get away a lot of ridiculous things that don’t make sense.
Suspension of disbelief can only go so far though. While as kids we are all willing to let a lot of things go, it becomes more difficult to forgive some of these shocking things in Nickelodeon shows as we grow older. So join me as I count 20 of the most shocking things that I remember in Nickelodeon shows that do not make a lick of sense.
20 Why Does He Get Godparents?
I loved a lot of Nickelodeon shows as a young lad, but The Fairly OddParents was probably my favorite. While the kiddie humor doesn’t hold up as well as I hoped, the show is charming and creative enough for me to still consider it a classic. The premise of the show is about a boy named Timmy Turner, who has a pair of fairy godparents. His godparents are allowed to grant any wish he desires. Apparently, he was gifted fairy godparents because he was a miserable child.
While Timmy is often neglected by his parents and bullied by his evil babysitter, all things considered he actually has pretty nice life.
Despite the neglect and stupidity, his parents clearly love him. He lives in a two story house, with a bed to sleep on. Compared to children living in extreme poverty in third world countries, I think Timmy is pretty well off.
19 This Relationship Makes No Sense
Even though I don’t think the show would hold up if I would watch it now, Drake & Josh was my favorite live-action series on Nick. In my heart of hearts, I believe the bromance between stepbrothers Drake and Josh is one of the greatest bromance in all of fiction. Both brothers would have several girlfriends throughout the show, but the most prolific was Josh’s relationship with Mindy. When Mindy first appeared she was a boastful teenager, who was Josh’s equal in terms of intelligence.
They initially started out as rivals, until they recognize they had feelings for each other and began dating. It was interesting twist considering that Mindy took apart a teacher’s car and rebuilt it in the middle of her classroom. She did it because the teacher gave her a B, and tried to frame Drake for it. She was then temporarily put in a mental institution.
18 What's With The Ladders?
Clarissa Explains It All was before my time, yet, I had an older brother who would watch reruns of it. I mostly remember it for starring a pre-Sabrina the Teenage Witch Melissa Joan Hart. I also remember that Clarissa had a friend named Sam, who I always thought as a kid would magically climb into her second-floor window via magic. It turns out he was actually climbing a ladder to her window; sometimes she would push him down to the ground.
While it was played for laughs in the show, it is honestly kind of weird how a teen boy would constantly take a ladder and climb to a girl’s window.
It’s kind of invasive, even though I don’t remember Clarissa having many issues with it. However, I don’t know how Clarissa’s parents took it. Also, did Sam just bring his own ladder, or was he using the ladder that is already at the house?
17 To Speak, Or Not To Speak
Blue’s Clues is the first show I remember loving. As a young toddler, I recall waking up and turning on the television to watch whatever episode is on. The adventures of Steve and his puppy named Blue were a source of a lot of fantastic childhood memories. I remember when I was older there was a special event where the show was going to start having a new live action segment added into the episodes. The new live action segments would star Blue, who was now a puppet.
She was not only a puppet, but she was now able to speak!
It was one of the earliest times that I remember being very disturbed with something on TV. Blue’s Room, the name of the segment, only lasted for 17 episodes. I think there was an in-universe explanation for how Blue could be talking in Blue’s Room, however, whatever explanation they give wouldn’t probably help.
16 A Modern Pinocchio
At times I feel like I am the only person that remembers Cousin Skeeter was a show. Sometimes I believe that I made the show up, however, I know that’s not true because there was a Kenan and Kel crossover, and I know Kenan and Kel exists. The show centers on a teen named Skeeter, who is forced to stay at his cousin’s place because he is a troublemaker. The kicker here is that Skeeter is puppet, and everyone else is not.
Everyone acts as if he’s real person, and it is never brought up that he is a puppet. This show lasted for three seasons, and I remember watching it all the time. I also remember being bothered by the fact that they never pointed out that Skeeter was a puppet. Kenan and Kel also don’t bring it up when they have their big crossover episode.
15 Toddler Voltron Force Go
I loved Rugrats as a kid. I watched the show religiously, I went to see all their movies in theaters, and I even put up with the awful All Grown Up sequel. And I really enjoyed the first two Rugrats movies, though I think I preferred the darker tone to the original The Rugrats Movie over the sillier tone in Rugrats In Paris: The Movie.
Whereas the original movie had a much darker premise, with the cast of characters being lost in a forest, Rugrats In Paris was a lot more fantastical.
While I always thought the more fantastical elements were just a part of the children’s imagination in the show, Rugrats In Paris made it seem as if all of it really happened. This includes a group of toddlers taking control of a giant dinosaur robot and fighting against a giant snail robot in the middle of Paris.
14 Fact Or Fiction?
When I was little, I tried to avoid scary things like Are You Afraid of the Dark? With that said, I did catch the occasional episode, and I remember always being enthralled by it. The dark storytelling and unique twists were things I simply haven’t seen in other shows. I always assumed that the stories the children told in the show were not real; they just made it up to scare the others.
But then there was a series of episodes titled “The Tale of the Silver Sight," where the kids actually do get involved with some real supernatural activities. Does that mean the supernatural exists in the real world, and all the stories the kids share are real?
13 No Consequences Here
I will always remember Kenan & Kel for getting me to love orange soda as a kid. The show was a spin-off from All That, starring two of the most popular cast members. Kenan and Kel were troublemaking teens, constantly trying to score big with whatever crazy scheme they could come up with. Some of the things they did were borderline illegal, which includes damaging a limo, faking an identity to get on a game show, taking a monkey, and several others. I never understood how they keep getting away scot free. The police should have caught these boys a long time ago, and put them in juvenile detention.
Side note, do you think Kel has diabetes now from all those bottles of orange sodas he drank?
12 Where Does It All Go?
As a young child, I never batted an eye towards the idea of CatDog. It was about a cat and a dog, who share a body but don’t have hind legs or a behind. It made perfect sense to me as a kid. Heck, I still don’t think it sounds too crazy – I think I’ve seen shows with crazier premises.
What didn’t make sense to me as a kid, and still doesn’t make sense to me now, is how CatDog goes to the bathroom.
They are connected to the stomach, and they are shown to constantly eat. They also have a bathroom, and sometimes we do see them sitting on the toilet. Yet where does waste come from? Where on their body do they lose waste from? I remember trying to make sense in my head of how it works, and I came up with a very easy explanation – it’s a kids cartoon, don’t worry about it.
11 Age Is Just A Number
Avatar: The Last Airbender was so different from anything airing on Nick. Based heavily on Eastern culture and philosophy, Avatar was an animated show with strong anime influence. It was a great show that was able to tell a sophisticated narrative that still had plenty of pathos and humor showered throughout its three-season run. Despite how beloved the show is, there was actually a lot of plot threads left open by the time of the final episode.
While those unsolved plot threads are more like plot holes than things that don’t make sense, the whole thing with Bumi actually doesn’t make sense. He is over a hundred years old, yet somehow is still this incredible agile fighter. He definitely looks good for his age, but no way would a man in his age still be able to do the crazy things he does in the show.
10 Someone Call Services
Dora The Explorer is a Mexican-American girl who goes on adventures with her talking monkey friend named Boots. Dora’s show was a great way for me as a young kid to learn Spanish, and I enjoyed it a great deal as a kid. Oftentimes I forget that Dora is only supposed to be seven, though.
While it is great to see a girl as young as her traveling alone and be able to think for herself, it is also very unrealistic.
I’m sure there are a lot of seven year olds that can take care of themselves; however I doubt most parents would allow their kids to travel all willy-nilly. I especially doubt parents would allow their kids to travel along with a dangerous animal like a monkey. No matter what kids will say, I think seven years old is a little bit too young for a kid to have adventures.
9 Haters Gonna Hate
I was on ground zero for SpongeBob SquarePants. I remember the first episode airing, and now the rest is history. SpongeBob has now become a multi-generations hit, with kids still enjoying the silly antics of SpongeBob and his friends to this day. Based on the dozens of memes that have come from the show, I like to believe the series still holds up.
A lot of things that older viewers have recognized in the show is that as they grew older they began to identify more with the grumpy Squidward, rather than the energetic SpongeBob. Squidward’s dissatisfaction with his life, including his job, is something that many grown-ups relate to. However, that still doesn’t explain why Squidward detests SpongeBob as much as he does. SpongeBob may be annoying, but he doesn’t deserve half the rude comments that Squidward throws at him.
8 A Rather Silly Rule
The Wild Thornberrys focuses on the adventures of Eliza and her documentary filmmaking family. They travel to exotic places to film different species of animals. Eliza is capable of actually talking to animals. Unfortunately, she has to keep it a secret from her family, or she else she will lose her power. In The Wild Thornberrys Movie she reveals her secret, temporarily losing her ability to talk to animals. The shaman who originally gave her powers decides to give back her powers after seeing her save a herd of elephants without them.
So if the shaman is capable of just giving the powers back anytime, then what is the point of having it be a secret?
Why does she lose them if other people find out? And if people do find out, what's to stop the shaman from just giving her powers back anyways?
7 Babbling Babies
I have several relatives with kids already, so I spent a lot of time with babies and toddlers. Babies and toddlers’ brains are very much in the early stages of development, which means they lack even the bare essentials to properly communicate. They either cry or yell to get people’s attention. They don’t have any understanding of any languages, and just make any noises that they are capable.
The friendship of the main cast in Rugrats is certainly enduring, however, it isn’t an accurate depiction of children that age. Kids that young, who barely know how to walk, shouldn’t be able to communicate with one another at all. I’m sure the babies in the shows are probably really speaking gibberish to one another, and what we hear is just the rough translation of what they are saying. Still, young kids do not have the capabilities to understand one another the same way as the series shows.
6 A Viral Plot Device
Spoilers for Hey Arnold!: The Jungle Movie.
I watched a lot of Hey Arnold! as a really young kid. I mostly remember the sobering episodes, including the episodes that center on Arnold’s parents. Arnold’s parents were adventurers who mysteriously disappeared in San Lorenzo. It is a sad backstory for the title character, but I honestly felt like it added nuances to the series. It made me sympathize with the character more and I loved how it didn’t shy away from the tragic realities of life.
Even as a kid I always felt the show was better never actually revealing the fates of Arnold’s parents.
This is why I am upset that The Jungle Movie chose to actually unveil that his parents were alive and well. Not only did the series lose poignancies, the reveal that his parents were under a “sleeping sickness” comes off as being more of a cop-out.
5 A Lazy Explanation
In the world of Avatar: The Last Airbender, there are certain people in the world that are able to control the four elements. Some people are capable of “bending” fire, water, earth, or wind. Being a bender wasn’t something that everyone was capable of doing, with the Avatar being the only person in the world capable of bending all four elements. It was eventually revealed that the power to bend actually comes from a mystical group of creatures known as the Lion Turtles. The inclusion of the Lion Turtles was definitely an odd choice and honestly takes away from the world of the Avatar. It was much more entertaining to believe that bending was simply present within people, and wasn't the aid of magic force.
4 The Ultimate Rule Breaker
Timmy Turner should’ve lost his fairy godparents a long time ago. Timmy may be a nice person deep down but often times he would make incredibly selfish wishes. A lot of times these wishes wouldn’t just affect him, sometimes they would affect the world. Remember the time he wished that every day was Christmas? That certainly screwed up the world for a little while.
The higher ups of the fairy world should have confiscated his fairies a long time ago.
It’s been established that there are other kids in the world with fairies, yet it is Timmy’s wishes that seem to affect the world the most. That isn’t including the times he has broken Da Rules. His fairy godparents are constantly being exposed to other people, which usually would mean they disappear forever. However, through whatever convenient loophole the show finds, he is somehow allowed to keep his fairies.
3 No Helmets Needed
I remember going to watch the original Jimmy Neutron movie in theaters with my family, and having a good time. Then the show came and I, of course, would watch it whenever it was on. I enjoyed the show as a kid, though there was one thing that constantly bothered me about the science of the series. Every time the characters would travel in space, they would never need to wear helmets or special clothing that allows them to survive the emptiness of space.
A lot of times, the characters would literally travel to a distant planet without changing their clothes.
Crazier still is the fact that Jimmy’s spaceships are capable of going beyond light speed, as he is able to go to a planet light years away and be back on Earth within the span of a day. Jimmy did give out an explanation of how all of this is possible – however, his words were drowned by Carl’s singing. God darn Carl!
2 It's Warm Underwater
Cartoons often exist in their own world, and they don’t need to follow the normal rules found in real life. Since cartoons are usually make-believe, as long as the creators imagine it, anything can go. In the world of SpongeBob SquarePants, the creatures under the sea are capable of talking and wearing normal human clothes. They can also eat foods meant for humans like hamburgers, and are even able to drive cars around.
SpongeBob is a sea sponge that somehow looks like a normal kitchen sink sponge.
It’s cartoon logic – suspension of disbelief is capable of making all these illogical inconsistencies seem trivial. Even the show makes fun of how illogical it is at times. Fire is constantly in the show, and a lot of times characters would question how fire can exist under water. None of it makes sense, but it doesn’t have to in this case.
1 It's Just Plain Confusing
Danny Phantom came at the tail end of the Nickelodeon renaissance. Created by the same man who created Fairly OddParents, Danny Phantom focuses on the adventures of a teenage superhero who was somehow half-ghost. The show was definitely fun and creative. Despite that, I couldn’t help but question the main premise of the entire show – how can anyone be half-ghost?
It’s apparent that ghosts in Danny Phantom are more like original supernatural creatures rather than the typical spirits.
The show also couldn’t touch on the afterlife or the undead since it was a Nick show. Despite that, spirits and the afterlife were often times hinted at, with many enemies that Danny faces clearly being spirits. Danny could never be half ghost, as they would mean he would be half-deceased, which was clearly not the case. He was just a normal boy who somehow got the powers of a ghost, that doesn’t mean he’s half ghost.