2022: Good Content, Bad Schedule
As we enter the third year of the 2020s, Nickelodeon has another good year under their belt, but there’s two hiccups down the road: a crappy live action show of The Fairly OddParents and the live feed becoming more and more of an afterthought now that their content are thriving on Paramount+ (which makes up most of their profit aside from Star Trek). So in shorter words, good content, bad schedule. Let’s get right to it.
Warped!
It only had 13 episodes, but I reviewed the whole thing here: https://felixsaenzreviews.blogspot.com/2022/10/its-warped-review.html?m=1
It was easily my favorite Nick show to come out of 2022, as you can tell.
(9/10)
The Tiny Chef Show
The second collaboration between Imagine Kids, this show follows Tiny Chef hosting a show as prepares to cook various of plant based foods. During the climax, he struggles to make a food and gets interviewed with a celebrity (such as Tabitha Brown, Josh Dela Cruz, Kristen Bell, etc.). He is accompanied by his friends, Olly, Henry, and Ruby, who helps him succeed at cooking. Every segment has an educational segment on the episode’s food. Well, judging from what I described, it’s another laid-back Nick Jr show that will obviously be cancelled after a season or two because it’s not hectic like Paw Patrol and Blaze and the Monster Machines. But if you’re a show of these type of shows, enjoy them as much as you can because they will be gone before you know it. And from the first season I watched on Paramount+, I had a blast. Not only it is cozy as heck, but it is also educational for the young ones who want to cook food. And as a food lover, it sure gonna make hungry thinking about the food Tiny makes.
(9/10)
Big Nate
I wanted to do a separate review for the show, but I realized there isn’t much to talk about every episode. It is the first time Lincoln Pierce’s comic book series got adapted to a television series, and as someone who read very little of them while passing by the library store at the local mall, I can see the appeal. Big Nate, just like The Peanuts Movie, really translate well from comics to 3D animation. I know people have grown wary of computer animation, but please believe me when you take a look at this show. It’s so uniquely animated that I thought I was watching something theatrical. Speaking of big budgets, I’m surprised to see the show playing a good amount of licensed music. I guess being on a streaming service takes more risks in addition making more PG rated jokes. Yes, they have some of them, which is reminiscent of 90s Nicktoons. Who knew how different this show would be if it was on cable as originally intended? Nate Wright himself is a portrayed as a troublemaker, but he’s more toned down here. His sister Ellen is voiced by the girl who played twins on a Disney Channel sitcom (despite being a Nickelodeon production).
Transformers EarthSpark
Separate review coming soon:
(8/10)
Face’s Music Party
Remember that face who took up the entire screen when you were watching Nick Jr as a child? Well, many years later, he is back with a brand new show for today’s generation of preschoolers. This series revolves on Face functioning as a video jockey, playing various of pop songs and nursery rhymes, all matching the themes of an episode. For example, in the first episode, Friendship/Bugs, they played songs that had to do with friends and insects (such as Together by Sia, The Ants Go Marching). They even get permission to play actual music videos, if they don’t provide actual animation or a rerecording the music video with kids. All of the remixed nursery rhymes are accompanied by animation. All of music box segments are live action segments featuring kids recording music. Every episode ends with a dance party segment. Sometimes, there will be music videos from Nick Jr shows, and I was really surprised seeing Backyardigans in the show considering it ended many years ago. I’ll be honest with you - when I first heard about this show, I didn’t expect much with it. Nick have been too much on a nostalgia trip lately that I feel tired from all the stuff that were being brought back for sake of it, but I ended watching the whole season on Paramount+ and ended up enjoying more than I expected. Just like a lot a majority of modern Nick shows, it’s very comfy and serves as background noise if there’s nothing interesting to watch. Face makes his long awaited return with a brand new voice - Cedric L Williams (as Chris Phillips is better known as the Nick Jr announcer nowadays, something he’s been doing for the brand for nearly 3 decades now), and he does a great job as the role. The live action/animation hybrid is utilized well just like in Blue’s Clues as you have Face interacting with actual children. The musical sequences are a good watch, although it gets points off for playing a few lame songs (but they don’t have a choice since some of them have to match the theme of an episode). Overall, it’s a decent addition to the Nick Jr block, but I doubt they’ll ever renew it because of their Paw Patrol addition lately.
(7/10)
Monster High
Monster High has been around since 2010, and went through a couple reboots. This is just the second reboot, making it the third generation. G1 lasted about 6 years and spawned a bunch of media. But G2 was short lived and fans hardly remember about it. So the franchise took a break for a little while until Mattel and Nickelodeon team up to produce the next generation. G3 focuses more on Clawdeen as opposed to Frankie in G1 and Draculaura in G2. And before anyone asks, this is mostly focused on the animated series, but I suppose I will get my honest opinions on the live action adaptation out of the way. They are on the same level of quality as the Zombies movies on Disney Channel. They were only made just so the costume department can make the corniest wardrobe ever. And not to mention, to cash in the musical aspect that Kenny Ortega popularized with High School Musical and later Descendants. In shorter words, they simply suck and I don’t know why Nick prioritize them more than the cartoon, but that’s Hollywood for you. They always favor cheap drivel. The show’s premise is basically the same as the other media they done (monsters living their daily lives at a high school), except with a big emphasis on Clawdeen’s life and of course, some great representation done by Maya Lichian. And while I never had time to keep up with the show’s premieres, I have to say, this is the best piece of Monster High media ever produced, period. Yes, even better than the movies they made previously, which were alright, but they suffered from being cliched teen movies.
(8/10)
The Really Loud House
Hadn’t seen it yet, will do a separate review of live action Loud House content.
The Fairly OddParents: Fairly Odder
A separate review of the show can be found here: https://felixsaenzreviews.blogspot.com/2022/05/fairly-odder-is-waste-of-everyone’s-time.html?m=1
Easily the worst Nick show of 2022 by a margin.
(2/10)
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