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Mime is the second (first if excluding pre-Nickelodeon) era of Nickelodeon. It was Nickelodeon's national launch branding, debuting on April 1, 1979 and replacing the C-3 era. It lasted until April 11, 1981, and was replaced with Silver Ball era.
History[]
The proposed pre-launch logo for Nickelodeon, 1978–1979.
The name "Nickelodeon" is believed to have come from Sandy Kavanaugh, one of the co-creators of the Pinwheel program, after Vivian Horner asked her colleagues to come up with proposed names for the new children's network Horner was starting for Warner Cable Corp. In describing why she selected the name of the channel, Kavanaugh said that "it was whimsical sounding" and "had a fun lilt."
Viewers would have seen this screen on Nickelodeon's channel space prior the actual launch date of April 1, 1979. Photo from Bob Cooper.
Since Nickelodeon was planned to be commercial-free, the network needed something-preferably low cost- to fill the time between programs. As a result, Warner Cable turned to Jonathan Schwartz, a veteran of the Claude Kipnis Mime Theatre, who happened to know one of the new network's employees. Schwartz does not recall which Nick employee facilitated this, but Nyhl Henson, the channel's first general manager, recalls that Al Parinello facilitated the Mime IDs. Utilizing Schwartz's talents, the Mime IDs were taped at a Sixth Avenue studio in New York City, likely around the Fall of 1978; Schwartz recalls that the channel had not launched yet at the time of the taping. Some of the Mime's routines were scripted, but Schwartz improvised them as well. The IDs with the "mime hands" were filmed with the hands of Schwartz's friend Rita Nachtmann, as her hands were allegedly better looking than Schwartz's.
Branding[]
A Mime-era ID.
Mime-era Nickelodeon is a relatively unknown period in Nickelodeon's history, due to tapes from the era being difficult to come across. From what we do know, programming played uncut with remaining time filled in with short sketches of a mime against a black background. Several of the IDs consisted solely of a gloved "mime" hand, one of which has been found.
Apparently, some Nickelodeon viewers at the time recalled that Nick's mime era-sign off consisted of the mime waving goodbye (towards the camera) and turning off a light. This would have preceded the sign-on of Star Channel, the precursor to The Movie Channel that shared time with Nick, up until December 1979, when The Movie Channel became a 24-hour network. Unfortunately, no recordings of this ID have been found so far.
Menus, up next bumpers, and promotional end boards have not turned up on the very few Mime-era recordings that exist as of this article's publication, if they even existed at all.
Programming[]
Mime-era Nickelodeon was built to be for "young people", carrying and relying on educational and informational programming. A good chunk of Nick's schedule in this era (and in subsequent eras) was Pinwheel, an educational puppet show meant for pre-school audiences. Later in the schedule was programming meant to cater to older pre-teen audiences, such as America Goes Bananaz Nickel Flicks and Livewire.
Because the channel was just starting out, Nickelodeon programming was driven by acquired content. Early originals like Pinwheel and Hocus Focus regularly featured licensed films from outside companies, while shows like Nickel Flicks, First Run Features, Special Delivery and PopClips were entirely driven by licensed media (the latter eventually expanding to its' own channel - MTV). Because the rights to these films have long since expired, these shows are never reran on modern Nickelodeon networks and are very rarely mentioned on social media.
Original series[]
- Pinwheel
- Video Comics
- By the Way
- Nickel Flicks
- America Goes Bananaz
- Children's Classics
- Hocus Focus
- First Row Features
- PopClips
- Special Delivery
- What Will They Think of Next!
- Dusty's Treehouse
- Livewire
- Matt and Jenny
- Studio See
- Adventures in Rainbow Country
- Vegetable Soup
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| Erasv • t • e | ||
|---|---|---|
| Nickelodeon | Generic | C-3 • Mime • Silver Ball • Seeing Orange • Fontoid • Polka Dot • Toy Box • Abstract • Pictograph • The Splat Is Real • Nick Beat • Nick Extra! • Rainbow Lines • Whitespace • Projector • Pattern Pop • Technicolor Madness • Orange Screen • Kids First • The Splat Zone |
| Summer | ||
| Halloween | Splat'o'ween | |
| Holidays | Ha Ha Holidays • Jingle Nicks • Wooly Christmas • Ho Ho Ho Holiday • A Yeti's Nickmas • 25 Ways to Holiday • Nickmas is in the Air • Splat-mas | |
| Nick@Nite | Generic | Those Nite Jingles • Splat at Nite • Dot. • Hashtag • Retro Splat |
| Summer | ||
| Halloween | ||
| Holidays | ||
| Nick Jr. / Noggin / Nick Jr. Channel | Generic | Block-exclusive: Nick Junior • Orange and Blue • Grow, Learn, and Play • We Play to Learn • Play to Learn • Just for Me • Where I Play to Learn • Where I Play Along • Love to Play • Nick Jr. Play Date • Play Date Noggin: What's in Your Noggin? • Bubbles • Everyday Something New to Think and Do • It's Like Preschool on TV Shared between block and channel: It's Like Preschool on TV • The Smart Place to Play • Ready to Play • Splat Zone Jr. |
| Summer | ||
| Halloween | ||
| Holidays | ||
| NickToons | Generic | Nicktoons TV • Splat • Globe • Big Stars. Animated. • Action to the Maxtion • The Splat Zone |
| Summer | ||
| Halloween | ||
| Holidays | ||
| TEENick / The N / TeenNick | Generic | TEENick: Starry TEENs • TEEN's Spray • TEEN Fame The N: Flipping Through • Messages • Guitar • Your Regular Day • TV for Teens TeenNick: Collage • Parties • In-Between • The Splat Zone |
| Summer | ||
| Halloween | ||
| Holidays | ||