I want you to do me a favor: go back about 13 years. Try to remember when you spent an endless amount of hours playing pickup baseball in your backyard, ate everything in sight — and still lost five pounds — and, most importantly, didn’t worry about anything. Part of the reason: those awesome TV shows on Nickelodeon. Unless you were one of those kids without cable. If you were, I’m sorry your parents hated you. But the rest of us can easily recall the best cartoons ever. But which one was the best? After hitting the streets and interviewing 103 people, here are the results:
(5) The Angry Beavers
Squeaking in with six votes is the hilarious duo, Norbert and Daggett. I put that theme song on my iPod. I am not ashamed.
(4) Legends of the Hidden Temple / Rocket Power
Both shows tied it up at seven votes. Shrine of the Silver Monkey, anyone? My sister and I spent our childhood training to one day be on that show. I never really got “Rocket Power” though. I stopped watching it after there was an episode where the nerdy kid kept freaking out about sand in the potato salad. That wrenching voice still haunts my dreams.
(3) Hey Arnold!
Ringing in 13 votes, Football Head did pretty well. Who can forget how nice Arnold was to everyone, especially Eugene, the human jinx? I always wished I could be as nice as Arnold.
(2) Rugrats
With 14 votes, “Rugrats” proved to have left a deep impression on our memories. Remember the episode when Spike ran away? Or when Chuckie swallowed the watermelon seed? Classic!
(1) Doug
Taking the lead with 22 enthusiastic votes, the cartooned teenage drama of Doug Funnie comes in at number one. The wild adventures of Quailman and Durango Doug stole the hearts of our childhood. We all hated Roger Klotz, crushed over Patty Mayonnaise and felt like best buds with Skeeter — all while rocking out to The Beets. But what the heck was his little dog’s name?
Earning an honorable mention: “Rocko’s Modern Life,” “All That” and “Are You Afraid of the Dark?” Coincidentally, those are my top three favorite Nickelodeon shows.
But then there were other shows that didn’t make the list. Apparently, Marquette doesn’t have any love for shows like “CatDog,” “The Amanda Show,” “The Ren and Stimpy Show,” “Kenan & Kel,” “The Wild Thornberrys” and “Aaahh!!! Real Monsters.”
Between hearing the enthusiasm of grown men and women scream their favorite Nickelodeon show across Wisconsin Avenue and meeting an actual “Double Dare” contestant (Sean Patrick, a senior in the College of Engineering), I feel this was a great moment of nostalgia for all of us who are freaking out about growing up. We need to take some time to be kids again and play hours of backyard games, eat an entire cake and go on YouTube to watch three consecutive hours of “Are You Afraid of the Dark?” Try it out. I promise you’ll forget about your 30-page paper due next week (sorry for bringing it up).
