Salute Your Shorts

I bet anyone my age who had cable television can remember the greatness of good old Nickelodeon. Salute Your Shorts was absolutely my favorite show! The plots were easy to understand and the characters were (mostly) likable. Whenever I see someone watching Nickelodeon all I can think of is the hours I spent watching the greatest television. I suggest that Nickelodeon brings back all the shows from my childhood: Salute Your Shorts, Clarissa Explains It All, The Secret World of Alex Mack, Rocko's Modern Life, Are You Afraid of the Dark?, The Adventures of Pete and Pete, Double Dare with Marc Summers, Legends of the Hidden Temple, Guts, the old Rugrats(before they grew up and before they went to Paris), and Doug. It seems like yesterday when i heard the Patti Mayonnaise music, got extremely scared from a television show, watched Sam climb into Clarissa's window by climbing a ladder and Alex Mack turn into this liquid mercury stuff, went through the dryer at the laundromat to find Spunky, got extremely slimy with someone else's family, talked to some big rock, used a screwdriver to get out of a playpen, climbed a huge mountain, and went to summer camp. I guess those shows are considered classics now and I really hope that kids who grew up with these shows never forget about them.

Before I saw this show, I never really knew the stigmas attached to the word *CAMP* and the dread that kids have over it. I've never been, maybe that's why!

Anywayz-z-z, I enjoy all the characters, but most of all, my fave would have to be Ug-Lee. He is *hilarious* as the hated goofy, but good-guy counselor. He provided 99.999% of the slapstick and physical comedy of "Salute". (Remember when he goes into a movie theatre, and tells the concession lady, "I'll take a popcorn, AND YOU, to go!"(goofy laugh)?!)

My favourite episode, I think, was either the one where Budnick falls for Dina, or the one with the curse of that ox skull, when the guys split from the girls and each go into a cave, when Dina and Telly are fighting at first, but then make-up, while the guys try plucking one of Ug's nosehairs out for the "skull" ritual.

Of course, who could forget Capture the Flag and all those food fights?

-Sep

My second favorite non-animated show on Nickelodeon. The first, of course, would have to be the Adventures of Pete and Pete. There were so many great things about this show, they're too many to list. All I can say is Nick needs to get back in gear and start running these old shows that came of Nickelodeon back when I was a kid. Shows like Pete and Pete, Rocko's Modern Life, Salute Your Shorts (of course) Clarissa Explains it All (did you know she went to see Pearl Jam in one episode, and Nirvana in another?) and maybe even some Roundhouse. Definitely don't bring back stupid Alex Mack or even Hey! Dude. I wasn't really too fond of either of those shows. They were just too cheesy without enough comedy. Hell, Alex Mack wasn't even a comedy, it was just a sad attempt at a kid's action/drama.

All I can say is, bring back the better shows. The shows from back in the day when the ads for Nick had a dog in a karate outfit dancing on two legs while an ocapella sang "Ni-ni-ni-n'nick-nick-nick- Nick-el-o-deon!

This has to be one of the greatest shows ever aired in the history of television. First off, it starts at camp, which is always interesting. It was about a group of teenage campers facing everyday problems, at camp! The writing for the show was very creative, and it was very well acted. It seems like Nickelodeon is unable to air shows like this today because the crappy cartoons take up the whole schedule. I wish that Nickelodeon would just take one week and air episodes of "Salute Your Shorts," "Hey Dude," "Welcome Freshmen," "You Can't Do That On Television," "Nick Arcade," and "Wild and Crazy Kids." Maybe if these shows would air today, a new generation would be able to enjoy them. Ah, those were the days when you would come home from school and have these shows to look forward to. Too bad they've taken it away.

"Salute Your Shorts" (SYS) began with all the stereotypical characters. It became something else entirely. With inspired mayhem like a visit from Ug's horrific niece to a capture the flag game gone "Apocalypse Now," SYS is a sister show to "Hey Dude" - somewhat realistic, but always funny. The use of classical music (such as Tchaichovsky's "Marche Slave") as a soundtrack in many places gives the show a nice ironic, surreal feel that current Nick comedies sorely lack.

Fave Eps

Capture the Flag - Very cool spoofs of many war movies. Go Donkey Lips and ZeeZee!

Wrestling Team - Seeing Donkey Lips and Sponge trying to make the team is hilarious and heartwarming, too.

A night at the movies - A change of setting means cinema based hilarity.