Forgotten Treasures of Americana: SNICK

On the latest edition of Forgotten Treasures of Americana, Stoney Keeley relives the golden age of SNICK.

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In our never ending quest to provide all of our readers with relatable, ‘slice of life’ style content, we here at the SoBros Network feel the time to weigh in on social commentary has officially come. It’s once again time for me, Big Natural, to open up the leather-bound parchment pages of the annals of history. Put on your plush robe, light your pipe, start a fire, and get ready for deep contemplation. This is the as-often-as-I-remember-to-write-it column: Forgotten Treasures of Americana. Today, we are going to be reliving the golden era of Nickelodeon’s SNICK.

Man, I really feel like we’ve been diving into some old school Nickelodeon quite a bit here in the last month or so on SoBros Network. First, we had the episode of Phone It In on Spongebob Squarepants and the show’s parallels to mental health. Then, I had this nostalgic look back at Arnold’s bedroom from Hey Arnold. Now, I’m going to be taking a look back at the golden era of SNICK (short for Saturday Night Nickelodeon). We’re just having some early onset midlife crisis and trying to hold on to memories that are comforting on this brand, I suppose.

Nonetheless, unless you’re a child of the 90s, I don’t know that you can truly appreciate just how big of a deal SNICK was on a Saturday night. It was the one night of the week that Nick at Nite didn’t come on with garbage ass old shows, and it made SNICK appointment television. It debuted during the summer of 1992, which could be why I’m feeling particularly nostalgic about 90s era SNICK. It’s just that time of the year. But, you had Nickelodeon giants in Clarissa Explains It All and The Ren & Stimpy Show kicking off the evening. Some show that I don’t remember at all called Roundhouse followed those two. I know I just called it appointment television and now I’m saying I don’t even remember one of the shows – what can I say? I have no idea how my brain works. Anyway, the night was capped off with the CLASSIC Are You Afraid of the Dark? Something about being a six year old during that first summer and watching SNICK made me feel older, y’know? Like, I felt cool because I was watching the teenage girl, Ren & Stimpy felt edgy (and fucking gross if we’re being honest), and scary shit late at night. In a way, it felt rebellious, and that’s probably making a lot of light bulbs go off – “oh, Stoney thought watching SNICK on Saturday night was rebellious? Explains a lot.”

In later iterations of the block, Nickelodeon included classics such as The Adventures of Pete & Pete, The Secret World of Alex Mack, and Kenan & Kel, among a myriad of Nicktoons thrown onto Saturday night programming. But, the real game changer for me was All That, an SNL-style sketch comedy show geared towards preteens. I’m not sure how it would hold up in 2021, but at the time, 10-year old Stoney thought it was the funniest show on the planet. I used to daydream about being on the show, so hell – maybe that’s the earliest memory I have of wanting to entertain people. Maybe I should be including All That on my list of inspirations. I wonder how Amanda Bynes would feel knowing that she helped inspire SoBros Network? Proud…probably…

To this day, I still look at those Saturday nights growing up, watching SNICK, eating popcorn, and having no idea how fondly I’d look back on those days once I was old and wise enough to see the world for what it really is as special memories.

FORGOTTEN TREASURES OF AMERICANA ARCHIVES

Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network, and a Dogs Playing Poker on velvet connoisseur. He is a strong supporter of Team GSD and #BeBetter. “Big Natural” covers the Tennessee Titans, Nashville, and a whole wealth of nonsense. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley

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