Nickelodeon (or Nick for short) is an American children's network owned by Paramount Global (formerly known as "Viacom"), previously owned by Warner Bros. (now WBD) until 1986. It originally began broadcasting as C-3 in December 1977 before relaunching with its current name on April 1, 1979.
Animaniacs Productions Aired on Nickelodeon[]
- Animaniacs (Original Series) (US: 2001-2005) (Internationally, Various)
- Pinky and the Brain (US: 2000-2002) (Internationally, Various)
- Wakko's Wish (Internationally)
History With the Animaniacs Franchise[]
Pinky and the Brain[]
Pinky and the Brain Nickelodeon Promo
In a press release on August 29, 2000, it was announced that reruns of Pinky and the Brain would begin airing on Nickelodeon on September 4, 2000. The channel also apparently gained syndication rights to Pinky, Elmyra and the Brain as part of their purchase of the Pinky and the Brain syndication package but there is no record of the show airing on either Nickelodeon or Nicktoons, suggesting that not even they wanted to air it.[1] The episodes themselves were generally unedited, but Nickelodeon inserted their name all over the opening sequence by having their logo replace the original colors of a background or foreground object.
One of the many insertions of Nickelodeon's logo in the Pinky and the Brain theme.
For example, Brain's mathematical equation during the line "One is a genius, the other's insane," was changed to a drawing of the Nickelodeon logo. Also, at the very end of the intro sequence, a lightning bolt was shown striking the sign on the Acme Labs building and changing it to the Nickelodeon logo. Nickelodeon usually avoided doing this to their acquired series, and this caused quite a bit of controversy with the show's fans. Pinky and the Brain would stay on the network for three years.
A Dutch dub also aired on Nickelodeon in the Netherlands.
Animaniacs[]
Animaniacs- Nickelodeon Promo (2001)
Promo introduced in 2001.
Appropriately following Pinky and the Brain joining the channel, Animaniacs reruns came to Nickelodeon on September 3, 2001, and aired on the channel for the next two years. But in what proved to be even more controversial than with Pinky and the Brain, Nick not only wrote their name on the intro (the zoom-in to the WB Water Tower at the beginning was replaced by the logo breaking through a screen with the Nickelodeon logo), but they also shortened down the song and replaced all the variable lines with a custom-made one of their own. Additionally, the first half of the lyrics were set to clips that came later in the song and sped up to the PAL recording speed. This causes the lip-sync to be off and sound effects such as them bouncing on the ground and the sound of Dr. Scratchansniff's painful laughter in the background made no sense. The shortened lyrics to the theme song were as follows:
The infamous "Nickelaney" shot from Nick's altered version of the Animaniacs theme.
- It's time for Animaniacs!
- And we're zany to the max! [set to "We have pay-or-play contracts!"]
- So just sit back and relax [set to "We're zany to the max"]
- You'll laugh till you collapse, [set to "There's baloney in our slacks!"]
- We're animany,
- Totally insaney,
- Nickelaney, [set to the variable verse Shirley MacLainey, but the crystal ball has the Nickelodeon logo in it]
- AN-I-MANI-ACS!!!
- Those are the facts.
The fans were outraged, so much that some of them refused to watch the show on the channel, on suspicion that Nick was even editing the episodes to change all mentions of Warner Bros. to mentions of Nickelodeon. The episodes were indeed edited on the channel, but instead it was some scenes being cut out for timing purposes (though in some cases, such as "Cutie and the Beast", it would ruin a joke).
The Animaniacs would be on the network for four years, with the last regular airing occurring in 2003. It would air sporadically until 2005.[2]
Animaniacs and Pinky and the Brain would also be shown on one of Nickelodeon's sister channels, Nicktoons TV, from its launch in 2002 until its revamp as the Nicktoons Network in 2005.
Much like Pinky and the Brain, a Dutch dub aired on Nickelodeon in the Netherlands. The Dutch dub starred Rolf Koster, Florus van Rooijen, and Monique van der Ster as Yakko, Wakko, and Dot. Another Dutch dub was released on Boomerang in with Rolf Koster, Florus van Rooijen, and Monique van der Ster reprising their roles as Yakko, Wakko, and Dot.
Gallery[]
Logos[]
Promos[]
Animaniacs[]
Pinky and the Brain[]
Footage on the Channel[]
Trivia[]
Nick+ branding lingering on during the switch to Teletoon+ on Prime Video Canada.
- The network's animated series Rugrats was parodied on Animaniacs, in a segment titled "Animani-rats."
- Nickelodeon had planned to air the Pinky and the Brain three-parter Brainwashed as a movie under their "Nick Flicks" block on August 25, 2001; and even promoted the planned airing. However, it was pulled at the last-minute and the As Told by Ginger special Summer of Camp Caprice aired instead.[3] The channel still continued to air the three parts as standard half-hours while they had the broadcast rights.
- The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade balloon of Nickelodeon star SpongeBob SquarePants would later appear in a cartoon in the first episode of the Animaniacs reboot, "Suspended Animation Part One."
- In September 2022, Corus Entertainment's Nick+ service was succeeded by Teletoon+. In the service's initial September 1st rollout on Prime Video Canada, the older Nick+ branding temporarily lingered onto Teletoon+ program pages (including the Animaniacs reboot).
See Also[]
References[]
- ↑ Warner Bros. Press: Nickelodeon Acquires Exclusive Television Rights To Warner Bros. Animation’s "Steven Spielberg Presents Pinky & The Brain". (Archive) Published August 29, 2000.
- ↑ Nickandmore!- List of every TV series aired on Nickelodeon. Retrieved June 28, 2022.
- ↑ Nick Flicks -- Too Much of a Good Thing: Schedule Archive. Rugrats Online. Retrieved February 28, 2022.