There were more than just a few disturbing secrets Nickelodeon tried to hide from us.
Grab your orange blimpies and hop aboard the nostalgia train: things are about to get slimy.
Boarding school dramedy Zoey 101 hit Nickelodeon in January 2005, starring Jamie Lynn Spears
as protagonist Zoey Brooks.
The show consistently performed well for Nickelodeon over its first three seasons, even landing
an Emmy nomination for outstanding children’s program.
But that all came crashing down in December 2007 when Spears, who was just 16 at the time,
announced that she was pregnant.
Nickelodeon immediately released a statement, saying,
"We respect Jamie Lynn's decision to take responsibility in this sensitive and personal
situation.
We know this is a very difficult time for her and her family, and our primary concern
right now is for Jamie Lynn's well being."
The network officially cancelled Zoey 101 in January 2008, announcing the show’s fourth
season would be its last.
In 2012, Jason Biggs landed a gig outside of his usual wheelhouse, voicing Leonardo
in Nickelodeon's animated Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot.
Contrary to his affable beta-male image, Biggs loves to crack bawdy jokes on Twitter, a little
hobby that unfortunately landed the American Pie star in some trouble with Nickelodeon.
“Well, I suppose, uh, I suppose it all started at, um…"
During the 2012 Republican National Convention, Biggs tweeted some seriously gross jokes about
Ann Romney and Janna Ryan, wives of the men on the GOP presidential ticket.
Though he deleted them soon after, Biggs’ tweets soon went viral when Nickelodeon linked
to his personal Twitter account, urging fans of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to follow
the star.
The network later apologized, saying, in part,
“It was our mistake to link... to Jason’s personal twitter account, and we quickly corrected
our error.
We also insisted Jason use better judgement and discretion in public communications while
affiliated with our brand.”
Debuting on Nickelodeon in 1997, The Angry Beavers featured the misadventures of two
beaver brothers, Dag and Norb, who lived in an Oregon forest.
Despite having a solid fanbase, the show’s creators started to sense an inevitable cancellation
by 2001, which, according to co-creator Keith Kaczorek, was due to the show being significantly
over budget and behind schedule.
However, instead of buckling down and writing an episode that proved the show’s worth
to the network, Kaczorek and writer Roger Eschbacher wrote “Bye Bye Beavers,” a
darkly funny, self-referential extravaganza of a final episode in which Dag and Norb grow
self-aware, discover their show is about to be cancelled, and realize they’re essentially
about to die.
"Genius, huh?"
"Yeah.
Right."
The episode also includes sly digs at Nickelodeon, particularly its penchant for airing reruns,
as well as references to the voice actors’ previous roles, like Nick Bakay’s
Salem from Sabrina the Teenage Witch.
"Did the cat just talk?"
"Yes.
And get this stupid hat off my head."
"Oh my god!"
Amazingly, the powers that be at Nickelodeon approved production "every step of the way,"
before realizing what was actually happening.
Writer Micah Wright told Vice:
"Then they saw it all put together and said, 'Wait, this makes us look bad,' so they killed
it."
The episode was never completed, but an audio recording of the script leaked online in 2006.
Nickelodeon's annual Kids’ Choice Awards marks the biggest night of the year for Hollywood's
tween-centric branch.
So when Sam & Cat star Jennette McCurdy skipped the 2014 celebration despite being nominated
for favorite TV actress, fans took notice.
McCurdy took to Twitter the next morning to explain her absence, claiming she had been
put in an “uncomfortable, compromising, unfair situation” and had to look out for
herself.
Days later, TMZ reported McCurdy’s sit-out was all part of a contract renegotiation ploy,
as the actress was allegedly mad that her Sam & Cat costar, Ariana Grande, took home
a bigger paycheck.
In July 2014, after yet another thinly-veiled online rant from McCurdy seemingly meant for
Grande, Nickelodeon cancelled Sam & Cat.
A few weeks later, McCurdy released a reality-blurring web show called What’s Next for Sarah?
Written and produced by McCurdy, the show’s third episode features an arrogant, unintelligent,
up-and-coming pop star named Gloriana who wears her hair in a super high ponytail.
Coincidence?
We think not.
In October 2017, during the height of the Me Too movement, around a dozen women came
forward to Nickelodeon with complaints about Chris Savino, creator and producer of The
Loud House, Nick's second-highest-rated show among young viewers at the time.
According to the website Cartoon Brew, one woman reportedly didn't accept an offer to
work at Nickelodeon because of Savino’s presence, alleging that the producer had sent
her sexually explicit text messages and pictures when they both worked for Disney.
BoJack Horseman director Anne Walker Farrell also detailed alleged harassment from Savino
during the early 2000s, when she worked with him at Cartoon Network.
Nickelodeon swiftly took action, suspending and subsequently firing Savino just days later.