A month ago my friend sent me an email titled “START GETTING EXCITED LIKE NOW,” with nothing but a link to a screenshot of a press release from Nickelodeon Studios in the message’s body. They were announcing plans to produce brand new episodes of cartoon classics like Hey Arnold!, Rugrats, Angry Beavers, and Doug, with production to commence on Mar. 14. Like any other kid who grew up with the shows that made the network an instant nostalgia inducer, I was ecstatic. Turns out it was a hoax pulled off by some punk ass kid in California that knew a little Photoshop. Damn high school kids.
Of course the prospect of the revitalization of these shows drew strong reactions—not just on my newsfeed, but also all over the Internet. Who did this kid think he was? You cannot make such false proclamations about a subject that garners such impassioned discourse. Apparently recounting Hey Arnold! episodes is something other people do too.
These shows represent a lot more than the couch-bound entertainment of my childhood. These characters were my friends, my enemies, and my role models. I swear I also had corporeal friends as well—though they weren’t nearly as entertaining.
Hey Arnold!, more than any other program, exemplified my childhood television experience. I would sit in my TV room, sometimes with my parents or my brother, and watch Arnold grapple with his neighborhood’s unique and quirky characters—whether it was his P.S. 118 crew or the eclectic circus freaks that resided in his grandparents’ boarding house. Arnold was dealt a hard hand—no parents, senile and mildly crazy grandparents, and a stalker—and yet he still had the biggest heart and the best intentions. Yeah, it was corny, but it always felt genuine.
I am no expert on modern day children’s entertainment, but I do the occasional channel surfing and babysitting. I have noticed Nickelodeon’s once-dominant presence has given way to the Disney Channel. From what I gather, the humor is forced, the plots are outrageous, and the characters are just extensions of child star egos. The kids are spoiled (really, Zack and Cody live in a hotel with the concierge guy as their “friend?”) to the point of disbelief. The girls wear outrageous clothes and too much makeup for their age. Their personalities have few redeeming qualities.
As for providing kids with realistic role models, the openness of these child celebrities’ lives makes it too hard for young viewers to separate characters from actors. So when Demi Lovato goes to rehab and Miley Cyrus is caught on video taking Salvia bong rips, tech savvy tweens are more up on gossip than anyone my age is. These characters are more “real” than the cartoon characters of classic Nickelodeon, but these are not the role models I want for the next generation of kids. Seriously, no one wants to babysit for some pretentious kid who suddenly takes up drugs too. It’s enough that they text more than I do.
Everyone easily identified with the characters in Hey Arnold! You could be Phoebe, the timid intellectual (read: nerd) with the domineering best friend. Sometimes you were Helga, the unibrowed terrorist of the playground with a horrifying yet hilarious secret obsession with Arnold. Or sometimes you were Brainy, Helga’s secret admirer with the overactive sinus/mouth breathing problem. Every character filled a niche or a caricature of a playground creature, but they also had their share of weaknesses and quirks that made them relatable. Not to sound preachy, but Arnold represented the ultimate friend—he was supportive, kind, discreet, loyal, and nonjudgmental. He could and would befriend anyone while also helping them overcome their often unusual problems: Stoop Kid finally left the stoop.
I do not want to think that at 21 I have the hindsight and distance to really judge “kids these days,” but I fear for them. In an age where TV and media are even more in-your-face than it was for me and my peers, they are more impressionable than ever. My dad used to watch Nickelodeon with me, teasing me for being like Angelica on Rugrats or announcing how much he approved of Arnold and his moralistic ways.
I doubt he would be able to sit through a kid’s program now without having something to say about the overabundant materialism, phoniness, and all-around lack of quality. My dad always said that Arnold was such a role model. Channel surfing, I am hard-pressed to find a show geared to a young audience with such quirk, substance, weird heads, and most importantly, worth.
I couldn’t have said it better, and I’ve certainly tried.