Is it almost that time already?
DOUG,
Rugrats,
&
The Ren and Stimpy Show,
All three made their monumental debut on that fateful Sunday August 11 1991.
Where would we be without those 3?
Let’s not think about that and focus on the three Original Nicktoons of 1991 and see what makes them so monumental.
01 DOUG:
The very first Nicktoon broadcast on the slime factory.... before the sale to the Mouse House,
Doug made his start as an early drawing done by Jim Jenkins in 1966.
And the drawing made him look like Bart Simpson even though Bart wouldn't appear until
21 Years Later in THE TRACEY ULLMAN SHOW in 1987.
Years later in the mid-1980s,Jim and his friend Joe Aaron created a story book called
Doug's got a new pair of sneakers but that book went unpublished until 1997 during the Disney Era.
But not wanting to discard his character, Jim went into advertising using his Doug character.
I know most of Doug's early advertisements focused on Florida Grapefruit juice commercials but for some reason, I only have this to prove it.
When Nickelodeon announced their intentions to create original content, they proceeded to ask Jim Jenkins to use his Doug concept as a test pilot alongside Rugrats & Ren and Stimpy.
This eventually let all three start media franchises within the Slime Factory.
But DOUG takes the cake as the very first Nicktoon because it was cherrypicked by Nickelodeon to air first and the show was high on the Network's radar so that's why Doug was prioritized to air first on that fateful August 11 1991.
until January 2 1994.
During those 3 years, viewers followed Doug as he navigated his independent pre-adolescent life as an anxious but determined, and imaginative, 11 year old.
Whether it's getting his haircut at a new hair salon,
Impressing his Girlfriend Patti Mayonnaise,
Telling his friends that his wardrobe is original and not ripping off some celebrity,
(Jeff Goldblum's Seth Brundle Eat your Heart Out.)
Outsmarting mean jokes from his bully-turned-friend Roger
The list goes on, and on, and on.
Yes, Nickelodeon acknowledges that there is another version to the point that they have to market their own version with the title above since it's the only one that Paramount owns the copyright to.
Way to go both Paramount and Jeff Bezos.
The reason I'm using my own DVD Screenshots is because I can't stand abide with watermarks or magnetic tape degradation on screenshots I find in the Wikis.
The DOUG AMAZON DVD of the complete Nickelodeon Series however is no longer available on AMAZON but I think some copies might be available on eBay.
But your safest bet is either iTunes, Google TV, Amazon Prime, or Paramount+.
I think the digital distribution is superior to the AMAZON DVD since you won't find any compressed artifacting associate with the DVD-Rs that Amazon's former CREATSPACE service often had.
INTERNET ARCHIVE is another bet, but beware for any copies that are obviously taped or DVRed since those recordings have the Network bug.
I like my prints of Nickelodeon's DOUG without a transparent watermark.
02 RUGRATS
Created by the husband and wife team ARLENE KLASKY & GABOR CSUPO, alongside additional help from Paul Germain, this is another series for Nickelodeon that made it's debut on August 1991.
The three decided to create an original programme after Nickelodeon announced in 1989 that the network is asking for creative personnel to come up with Original Programming for a new concept called NICKTOONs, creator-driven cartoons with little to no interference from executives and not tied to an existing I.P..... unlike what happened throughout 80s animation.
The catch is that if the idea is original, there would be toys, merchandise, etc....
So the trio of Creators of RUGRATS got to work on a pilot.
The first test was TOMMY PICKLE AND THE GREAT WHITE THING.
After that tested positively with children, Nickelodeon picked up the series.
And the rest is history since the airing of TOMMY'S FIRST BIRTHDAY.
And this is Important: RUGRATS is the only Nicktoon currently to receive a star on the HOLLYWOOD WALK OF FAME.
03 THE REN AND STIMPY SHOW
This was the pet project of John Kricfalusi which also had an 11 year history of issues getting the series successfully pitched to the various networks.
John wanted to create what he calls a series that's not only a homage to the Cartoons of the 1940s but also wanted to ensure he has total control of the subject matter with little to no censorship.
As well as create a show that is not tied to an existing I.P which could be either Scooby-Doo, Marvel Comics, French Comics, Toys, etc.
This however was easier said than done because John had to work on the various cartoons of the 1980s such as THE SMURFS, many which he dreaded due to the networks always watering things down to appeal to mothers and moral guardians.
After his work on Jetsons, Mighty Mouse, and Beany & Cecil, John was called by Nickelodeon to create a series of original CREATOR-DRIVEN cartoons for the SLIME FACTORY.
Using a series of Characters he created in 1978 when he studied in Sheridan College, John K pitched an anthology series called YOUR GANG.
Only the Ren and Stimpy Characters impressed the executives, including one VANESSA COFFEY.
And thus was born, THE REN AND STIMPY SHOW.
He still had to create a test before the show was ready for prime-time.
After that, the show eventually went to full production and aired on that fateful August 11 1991.
However, the superior SPUMCO Episodes were fraught with production problems.
John K. was a notorious perfectionist who won't stand abide with his disliked 80's system of cartoon production, so he purposely delayed episodes until they are 101% to his liking in terms of production Quality.
The famous STIMPY'S INVENTION was one such episode affected by said delays.
"I won't let annual delays hurt production for my best friend STIMPY!!!"
While the mantra of Quality over Quantity led to some rather famous episodes, the delays and production problems not only pissed of Nickelodeon's Executives but it also pissed off the advertisers.
Due to these issues, John was fired in late September 1992, which essentially yanked the series off his hands and went straight to the hands of Bob Camp.
And we all know how this episode between 1993 until 1996 turned out.
After all this, Nickelodeon would create a media franchise and allowed other creators to pitch show ideas.
That led to classics such as
ROCKO'S MODERN LIFE,
HEY ARNOLD,
CATDOG,
SPONGEBOB,
JIMMY NEUTRON,
INVADER ZIM,
THE FAIRLY ODDPARENTS,
DANNY PHANTOM,
AVATAR THE LAST AIRBENDER,
THE LOUD HOUSE,
just to name a few.
So what's the status of these Three Original Nicktoons?
Well, 2 years after the conclusion of the Nick Series, Jumbo Pictures would be sold to Disney and they decided to create their Sequel Series of DOUG...….
Despite not being as popular as it's superior predecessor from the Slime Factory, Disney's Doug still managed to be listed as a popular show on
DISNEY's ONE SATURDAY MORNING block alongside PEPPER-ANN and RECESS.... to which those two shows pretty much trounced DOUG in both critics and audience Nielsen ratings.
RUGRATS would get revived in 1997 after 2 specials and eventually having 3 theatrical films before airing it's last episode in 2004 due to falling ratings, internal competition with SpongeBob, as well as the Sequel Spinoff series ALL GROWN UP.
RUGRATS would eventually get revived as a CGI series exclusive to Paramount+, to mixed reactions from older fans over the art direction. 
The show however got removed off Paramount+ due to a restructuring before the series got relocated to the new NICKTOONS block on TV.
As for Ren and Stimpy?.....
Well..... after 3 infamous years involving GAMES Animation from 1993-1996,
The even more Infamous Adult Party Cartoon in 2003,
and John K's problems later in his career,
It almost made it certain that Ren and Stimpy would be over for good....
That was until August 2020 when it was announced by COMEDY CENTRAL that the Cat and Dog duo would get the Revival Treatment, without John's Involvement..
After 4 years of production problems relating to I.P, change of overseas animation houses, and a 4chan leaking of episode names, the series finally premiere in July 2024..... in France, in the middle of the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics......
And let's leave it at that shall we.
I just realized that this post is made for a Sunday.
Which, Surprise Surprise, also happens to be the exact date the Original Nicktons aired on August 11 1991 which also was a Sunday.
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