Like millions of other kids that grew up in the 90s, I watched a lot of Nickelodeon. I was not alone. In fact, Nickelodeon accounted for more than half of all TV watched by kids in that era.
As we all know, Nickelodeon has brought us some of the best shows, but let’s not forget that there have also been plenty of bad ones. In this article, we will go over the top 10 worst Nickelodeon shows ever to have the privilege to be broadcast on the insanely popular kid’s TV network.
1. Marvin Marvin
Image Credit: [Nickelodeon]
Even in the advertisements for this show, Nickelodeon just couldn’t make Marvin Marvin look funny. Every second is an eye-roll-worthy moment. In the promo for the show, an alien can be seen to be listening to sounds through his butt instead of his nose.
Marvin Marvin aired its last episode on April 27th, and we were glad to see this one be put out of its misery. Apparently Lucas Cruikshank
When it Died
This science-fiction slapstick wanna-be comedy was canceled on April 27, 2013. Like other shows from Lucas, this one was poorly conceived and really just didn’t sit well with critics, parents, or kids.
2. Mr. Meaty
Image Credit: [Nickelodeon]
The jokes in this show are just not any good. For example, one of the episodes was literally about a girl’s nose falling off. I don’t know about you, but to me, that seems like they are pretty desperate to come up with content. Another episode was centered around the concept of eating a fried hand. Huh?
When it Died
The show was canceled after only 20 episodes due to a combination of low ratings and criticism from adults and vegetarians who had a lot of issues with the show’s premise. This show was actually born out of a short that aired on CBC’s The Void and during commercial breaks.
3. Fred: The Show
Image Credit: [Nickelodeon]
This is a real sad story. You see, during the dusk of the last decade, Fred was one of the biggest rising stars on YouTube. Fred is a character that was created by Lucas Cruikshank. The character was featured on a blog-like video series where Fred would go on and on about different situations that he had been in. While this worked out pretty well for Fred on YouTube, the same cannot be said for the Nickelodeon adaptation.
At times, it was funny, and it was popular with kids. So much so that Fred made a cameo appearance on iCarly! and Nickelodeon even ended up making three movies with the character. So after that, of course, Nickelodeon tried to cash in on Fred’s popularity. They gave him his own show, and boy was it terrible! The main problem was the fact that by the time the first episodes of the show began to air, Fred’s popularity was already starting to fade. Also, what works on YouTube may not work for prime-time TV. That is kinda why YouTube original series exist, anyway.
When it Died
Fred: The Show was canceled with the final episode airing on August 3, 2012. Nickelodeon cited low ratings and poor reviews from critics as reasons for the show’s abrupt cancellation.
4. The Brothers Flub
Image Credit: [Nickelodeon]
In this super lame show, two brothers work as package couriers that operate in outer space. The Brothers Flub leans a lot on Futurama’s storyline and the culture that it created. Unlike Futurama, however, this show completely and totally lacks what made Futurama so fun to watch. Even the writing in this show seemed like an after-thought, and the stories presented in the show were dry and mundane, to say the least.
It gets worse. When it came to character designs, The Brothers Flub show hit the mark for ‘average,’ but it doesn’t help when the stories in this show essentially go nowhere. Also, this miserably boring show has one of the worst theme songs of all time.
Shortly after it premiered, this show was quickly moved to the very non-prime Sunday afternoon time slot. You know, the time where most kids are playing outside, doing homework, or taking a nap.
When it Died
The Brothers Flubb aired in the United States on Nickelodeon. Like the above show, this lasted just 26 episodes before Nickelodeon finally pulled the plug in January of 2000.
5. Super Duper Sumos
Image Credit: [Nickelodeon]
When I first heard about the plot for this show, I honestly thought the person telling me was either joking or that they saw a satirical ad for a fictitious series and was not able to tell the difference. Well, as it turns out, I was wrong. Super Duper Sumos is a show about Sumo wrestlers that truly does have no clear direction. It’s centered around a group of alleged Sumo superheroes and goes nowhere real fast.
When it Died
This show was canceled after just 26 episodes that ran for the 2002 – 2003 broadcast season.
6. Breadwinners
Image Credit: [Nickelodeon]
Out there on the internet, you can an endless amount of original animations that are made by independent studios and even individuals. In fact, some of these independent studios and single-man creators are starting to show a clear edge in talent compared to AAA studios. Unfortunately, Breadwinners was not one of those shows. But that’s not to say that Nickelodeon sure didn’t try to make it one.
Unlike a lot of the other shows that can be found on this list, Breadwinners did, at least, have acceptable animation, but just barely. In this show, the characters are willfully ludicrous, annoying, and loud. When it comes to jokes, in Breadwinners, they are an ill-placed and poorly executed attempt at random humor.
The entire premise of this show is completely ridiculous, and other than that, there’s not much more to say about Breadwinners.
When it Died
Breadwinners were by Steve Borst and Gary Raffaele. The show was canceled in 2016 but continued to air reruns on Nicktoons until December 3, 2020.
7. Fairly Oddparents
Image Credit: [Nickelodeon]
It’s really unfortunate that I have to put this one on the list. Personally, it really hurt me to see this show go so far downhill. Fairly Oddparents used to be one of the absolute best Nickelodeon shows on the air. Unfortunately, however, towards the end of the show’s run, things went way, way downhill.
It was when the show introduced Sparky the talking fairy dog. That’s when things really started to take a turn for the worse. Like with any long-running TV series, it’s kind of a dangerous thing to Introducing a new character at such a late point in the show. Also, it’s usually a sign that the writers are simply running out of good ideas and are grasping for straws. It gets worse. In the very next Season, Sparky was replaced with Chloe, a girl who has the same fairies as Timmy.
What ended up happening was that neither new character was well-received. These new characters either ended up being the reason for the show’s downfall or a symptom of it. Either way, it’s long dead and over with.
When it Died
This show is still running, but it’s a shadow of its former self, folks. This show really is nothing like it used to be. So, I would have to say that this show died in Season 9.
8. Noah Knows Best
Image Credit: [Nickelodeon]
When it Died
Noah Knows Best aired from Nickelodeon from October 7 to December 17, 2000. The rating was so bad that the show was canceled while there were still five unaired episodes.
9. Butt Ugly Martians
Image Credit: [Nickelodeon]
When it Died
A company called ‘Just Group’ was behind this show. It quickly became known as a cash-strapped children’s entertainment company and was forced to appoint administrators (went out of business) back in 2002. The company, which was publicly traded, suspended its shares in November after it completely ran out of money.
Image Credit: [Nickelodeon]
Predictably, the four friends often find themselves stuck in situations that are difficult to get out of. The characters are boring. For example, Pigs thing is to causing problems in Cricket’s lab. Goat wants to be a rock star, and the banana is a wimp pretending to be a tough guy.
As you can probably see by the title, this show was born out of a desperate grasp for creativity. The mundane plot revolves around four roommates that go on predictable, overplayed, hijinx-filled misadventures. Similar to ‘Butt Ugly Martians,’ the animation in this show leaves very much to be desired. The only thing in the show worse than that is the character designs and character development. Both of which can be described as incomplete at best.
As far as I can tell, Nickelodeon was too ashamed to have ever even advertised this show. This is clearly a sign that the network never really thought too highly of this one. More or less, it’s filled with shock-based gross-out ‘humor’ that is seldom executed correctly.
When it Died
Even though on June 25, 2015, Nickelodeon had renewed Pig Goat Banana Cricket for a second season ahead of the series premiere, shortly after that the show was canceled. The show’s final episodes aired in 2018. Good reddens.
As we all know, Nickelodeon has brought us some of the best kids’ shows that have ever been aired. We all remember the classics, from Rocco’s Modern Life to Rugrats. From Ahh! Read Monsters to Doug. These shows made massive impacts on an entire generation and continue to influence them to this day.
But just like any other network, there are bound to be some failures, and with Nickelodeon being such a long-running network that has produced so many series, you end up with a list as we have here.
Overall, the output from Nickelodeon’s studios has been stellar, but alas, nothing is perfect. I’m sure there will be more room for these kinds of lists in the future as the next wave of wonderful and terrible shows hits the network.
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