when nikalodeon was *awesome*

I remember all of those.

 

Nickalodean used to have a show where kids debated issues of the day. The host was a young guy with blonde hair and a boyish face. Don't remember his name right now. That was one of the few shows that had a level of intelligence and debate that isn't seen these days.

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Kinda like Nick News w/ Linda ellerbee (sp?)? That show occasionally brought up some good issues.

 

Linda Ellerby used to do an overnight news show in the early 80s. Haven't seen her in a while. She had a bout with cancer years ago.

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Yep, I remember they had some serious topics, from pollution to AIDS. One landmark show had Magic Johnson on along with other kids who had the disease, educating the audience about it. They were able to explain complicated "grown up" issues to kids at that time, and actively show them how its important and effects there lives. I really think I became a news junkie because of this, along with current events in school, weekly readers, Time magazine for Kids etc. When I was growing up, kids just seem to know more...nowadays they couldn't care less about the goings on of the world around them.

 

I loved Pinwheel, Nickelodeon's first show ever. Hardly anybody's seen it, but you can check out clips on Youtube. It had Paddington Bear and Simon in the Land of Chalk Drawings and what not.

 

Didn't Nick start out as a PBS-like educational channel? I thought that it was started up by two women and meant to be like PBS but changed fairly quickly into an entertainment channel.

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The 80s was the peak of the news junkie era and late night news-talk shows, especially early to mid 80s in the U.S.. They were actually informative and serious back then, not the brash loud-mouth Chris Matthews Jerry Springer type shows that are littering the airwaves today.

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