Nicktoons history

Nicktoons is a franchise of television cartoon shows that are produced and aired by Nickelodeon.
Prior to 1991, Nickelodeon had aired foreign-made animated films since its inception. It first experimented with its own animated programming in 1980, when the channel's first president Geraldine Laybourne commissioned a series with animated elements, Video Comic Book, and produced a fully-animated show titled Video Dream Theatre. The second series was left unaired, and throughout the next decade, animated fare on Nickelodeon comprised mostly of reruns of other companies' cartoons.
The idea for another attempt at original animated shows on the network began in the late 1980s. Starting in 1989, profits from other programs funded "Nicktoons", with the first three cartoons (Doug, Rugrats and The Ren & Stimpy Show) premiering on Sunday, August 11, 1991. This format was repeated every Sunday, eventually leading to the production of more Nicktoons at Nickelodeon Animation Studio. A spin-off channel named after Nicktoons was established on May 1,2002
== HistoryEdit ==
Pinwheel, the first Nickelodeon series which began in 1977, was formatted as an hour-long program with two forms of segments: original content with its cast of puppet and human characters, and showcases of foreign-made short films. Many of these films were animated cartoons dating back to the 1950s. These were the first form of animated content on what would become Nickelodeon.
For its first years, Nickelodeon continued to play foreign-made cartoons in a similar fashion as part of two anthology series called First Row Features and Special Delivery. In 1980, the channel aired its first original series that was not live-action: Video Comic Book. It could best be described as a "motion comic" that consisted of illustrated scenes with animated elements, like speech bubbles and moving backgrounds.
Nickelodeon's first attempt at a fully-animated show occurred later in 1980, when Geraldine Laybourne produced test pilots for Video Dream Theatre. It holds the title of Nickelodeon's first true cartoon. However, it was left unaired when test audiences did not give the reactions Laybourne wanted.
Throughout the 1980s, the amount of acquired animated shows on Nickelodeon increased, with reruns of cartoons and anime such as Bananaman, Danger Mouse, The Little Prince, and The Mysterious Cities of Gold.Blocks dedicated to animated programming such as Looney Tunes on Nickelodeon ran from the mid-1980s well into the late 1990s. When Nick Jr. premiered as a block in January 1988, much of its shows were imported cartoons.
Profits from Nickelodeon's expanding audience at the time helped it fund its own original cartoons: the first three "Nicktoons", Doug, Rugrats and The Ren & Stimpy Show. Nickelodeon executive Vanessa Coffey discovered all three of these programs after traveling to Los Angeles in 1988. Her goal was to find "three projects that looked completely different" in order to counter the homogeneous, toy-centric cartoons of the 1980s.
Nickelodeon's animation production studio was originally known as Games Animation, located in Studio City, California. In 1993, Nickelodeon approached Joe Murray to create its first fully original in-house series: Rocko's Modern Life. In March 1998, the then-new Nickelodeon Animation Studio was opened in Burbank, California. In September 1999, Nickelodeon opened a digital animation studio in Manhattan, which took over animation of Nick Jr. series such as Blue's Clues.
Throughout the 1990s, Nickelodeon continued with its "experimental" approach to animation. Hey Arnold!creator Craig Bartlett explained that the network gradually shifted away from creator-driven content during the later years of Herb Scannell's tenure as Nick president. In his opinion, the animation department "grew more and more corporate, and less like you had a personal touch".
In May 2002, Nicktoons TV, a sister channel named after Nicktoons, was created.
In 2016, Nickelodeon moved its animation facilities to a different building in Burbank that houses both animated and live-action properties.
== List of NicktoonsEdit ==
Image	Title 	Premiere date 	End date 	Seasons	Episodes	Co-productions
 	Doug 	August 11, 1991 	January 2, 1994 	4 	52 	Jumbo PicturesEllipse Programmé
 	Rugrats 	August 11, 1991 	August 1, 2004 	9 	172 	Klasky-Csupo
 	The Ren & Stimpy Show 	August 11, 1991 	October 20, 1996 	5 	52 	Spumco
 	Rocko's Modern Life 	September 18, 1993	November 24, 1996 	4 	52 	Joe Murray Productions
 	Aaahh!!! Real Monsters 	October 29, 1994 	November 16, 1997 	4 	52 	Klasky-Csupo
 	Hey Arnold! 	October 7, 1996 	June 8, 2004 	5 	100 	Snee-Oosh
 	The Angry Beavers 	April 19, 1997 	August 27, 2006 	4 	63 	Gunther-Wahl Productions
 	CatDog 	April 4, 1998 	June 15, 2005 	4 	68 	Peter Hannan Productions
 	The Wild Thornberrys 	September 1, 1998 	June 11, 2004 	5 	91 	Klasky-Csupo
 	SpongeBob SquarePants 	May 1, 1999 	present 	13 	280 	United Plankton Pictures
 	Rocket Power 	August 16, 1999 	July 30, 2004 	3 	71 	Anvision
Klasky Csupo
 	As Told by Ginger 	October 25, 2000 	November 14, 2006 	3 	60 	Klasky-Csupo
 	The Fairly OddParents 	March 30, 2001 	July 26, 2017 	10 	172 	Frederator StudiosBillionfold, Inc.
 	Invader Zim 	March 30, 2001 	August 19, 2006 	2 	27 	N/A
 	ChalkZone 	March 22, 2002 	August 23, 2008 	4 	40 	Frederator Studios
 	The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius	July 20, 2002 	November 25, 2006 	3 	64 	O EntertainmentDNA Productions
 	All Grown Up! 	April 12, 2003 	August 17, 2008 	5 	55 	Klasky-Csupo
 	My Life as a Teenage Robot 	August 1, 2003 	May 2, 2009 	3 	40 	Frederator Studios
 	Danny Phantom 	April 3, 2004 	August 24, 2007 	3 	53 	Billionfold, Inc.
 	Avatar: The Last Airbender 	February 21, 2005 	July 19, 2008 	3 	61 	DR Movie
JM Animation
MOI Animation
 	Catscratch 	July 9, 2005 	February 10, 2007 	1 	20 	N/A
 	The X's 	November 25, 2005 	November 25, 2006 	1 	20 	N/A
 	El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera 	February 19, 2007 	September 13, 2008	1 	26 	Mexopolis, Inc.
 	Tak and the Power of Juju 	August 31, 2007 	January 24, 2009 	1 	26 	THQ
 	Back at the Barnyard 	September 29, 2007	November 12, 2011 	2 	52 	O Entertainment
 	The Mighty B! 	April 26, 2008 	June 18, 2011 	2 	40 	Paper Kite Productions
Polka Dot Pictures
 	Making Fiends 	October 4, 2008 	November 1, 2008 	1 	6 	N/A
 	Fanboy & Chum Chum 	October 12, 2009 	July 12, 2014 	2 	52 	Frederator Studios
 	Planet Sheen 	October 2, 2010 	February 15, 2013 	1 	26 	O Entertainment
 	T.U.F.F. Puppy 	October 2, 2010 	April 4, 2015 	3 	60 	Billionfold, Inc.
 	Winx Club 	June 27, 2011 	April 10, 2016 	3 	78 	Rainbow SpA(co-owned by Viacom)
 	The Legend of Korra 	April 14, 2012 	December 19, 2014 	4 	52 	Ginormous Madman Productions
Studio Mir
 	Robot and Monster 	August 4, 2012 	February 14, 2015 	1 	26 	Smasho! Productions
Lowbar Productions
 	Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 	September 28, 2012	November 12, 2017 	5 	124 	Lowbar Productions
 	Sanjay and Craig 	May 25, 2013 	July 29, 2016 	3 	60 	Forest City Rockers
 	Breadwinners 	February 17, 2014 	September 12, 2016	2 	40 	N/A
 	Harvey Beaks 	March 28, 2015 	December 29, 2017 	2 	52 	N/A
 	Pig Goat Banana Cricket 	July 16, 2015 	August 11, 2018 	2 	40 	N/A
 	The Loud House 	May 2, 2016 	present 	5 	130 	Jam Filled Entertainment
 	Bunsen Is a Beast 	January 16, 2017 	February 10, 2018 	1 	26 	Billionfold, Inc.
 	Welcome to the Wayne 	July 24, 2017 	May 31, 2019 	2 	30 	Yowza! Animation
 	The Adventures of Kid Danger 	January 15, 2018 	June 14, 2018 	1 	10 	Powerhouse Animation
Schneider's Bakery
 	Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 	July 20, 2018 	present 	2 	52 	Flying Bark Productions
 	Pinky Malinky 	January 1, 2019 	July 17, 2019 	2 	30 	Jam Filled Entertainment
 	The Casagrandes 	October 14, 2019 	present 	2 	40 	Jam Filled Entertainment
 	It's Pony 	January 18, 2020 	present 	1 	20 	Blue-Zoo Animation Studio
 	Glitch Techs 	February 21, 2020 	present 	1 	20 	Maven Animation Studio
=== Upcoming NicktoonsEdit ===
Image	Title 	Premiere date	Ref(s)
 	Adventures in Wonder Park 	April 2020 	
 	Kamp Koral, SpongeBob's Under Years	July 2020 	
 	Rugrats (2020 TV series) 	2020 	
 	Monster High (2025 TV series) 	TBA 	
 	Man of the House 	TBA 	
 	Meet the Voxels 	TBA 	
 	Untitled Squidward Tentacles series	TBA 	
 	Untitled Star Trek animated series 	TBA 	
 	Garfield 	TBA 	
 	Big Nate 	TBA 	
 	The Ben 10 United 	TBA 	
 	Rugrats Teenage High' 	TBA 	
 	Deviantart TV Series 	TBA 	
 	 	 	
=== Animation showcasesEdit ===
The following three shows are usually excluded from Nickelodeon's lists of Nicktoons, as they heavily feature pilots that Nickelodeon does not own the rights to. Some shows that were spawned from these showcases were picked up by other networks, such as the KaBlam! segment Angela Anaconda (greenlit by Teletoon and Fox Kids) and the Random! Cartoons pilot "Adventure Time" (greenlit by Cartoon Network).
Image	Title 	Premiere date 	End date 	Seasons	Episodes	Co-productions
 	KaBlam! 	October 7, 1996 	2000 	4 	48 	Flying Mallet Inc.
 	Oh Yeah! Cartoons	July 19, 1998 	2002 	3 	34 	Frederator Studios
 	Random! Cartoons 	December 6, 2008	December 20, 2009	1 	13 	Frederator Studios
=== DreamWorks co-productionsEdit ===
The following shows were spun off from DreamWorks Animation's film franchises. While they were co-produced by Nickelodeon Animation Studio and Viacom owns half of each show's copyright, Nickelodeon has excluded them from their Nicktoon compilations since 2016, when DreamWorks was purchased by NBCUniversal and stopped licensing their characters to Nick.
Logo	Title 	Premiere date 	End date 	Seasons	Episodes
 	The Penguins of Madagascar 	November 28, 2008 	January 4, 2016 	3 	80
 	Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness	September 19, 2011	June 29, 2016 	3 	80
 	Monsters vs. Aliens 	March 23, 2013 	February 8, 2014	1 	26
=== MiniseriesEdit ===
The following miniseries were produced by Nick Animation, but they were never green-lit for full seasons.
Logo	Title 	Premiere date 	End date 	Episodes	Co-productions
 	Rugrats Pre-School Daze	November 16, 2008	December 7, 2008 	4 	Klasky Csupo
 	Middle School Moguls 	September 2, 2019	September 29, 2019	4 	Gengirl Media, Inc.
== Acquired showsEdit ==
Please see Non-original shows broadcast by Nickelodeon for a list of cartoons that have aired on a Nick channel but were not produced by Nickelodeon.
== Movies based on NicktoonsEdit ==
=== Theatrical filmsEdit ===
Image	Title 	Release date 	Co-production 	Based on
 	The Rugrats Movie 	November 20, 1998	Paramount Pictures / Klasky Csupo 	Rugrats
 	Rugrats in Paris: The Movie 	November 17, 2000	Paramount Pictures / Klasky Csupo 	Rugrats
 	Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius 	December 21, 2001	Paramount Pictures / O Entertainment 	The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius
 	Hey Arnold!: The Movie 	June 28, 2002 	Paramount Pictures / Snee-Oosh / Nickelodeon Animation Studios 	Hey Arnold!
 	The Wild Thornberrys Movie 	December 20, 2002	Paramount Pictures / Klasky Csupo 	The Wild Thornberrys
 	Rugrats Go Wild 	June 13, 2003 	Paramount Pictures / Klasky Csupo 	Rugrats and The Wild Thornberrys
 	The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie 	November 19, 2004	Paramount Pictures / United Plankton Pictures 	SpongeBob SquarePants
 	Barnyard 	August 4, 2006 	Paramount Pictures / O Entertainment 	Back at the Barnyard
 	The Last Airbender 	July 1, 2010 	Paramount Pictures / Blinding Edge Pictures 	Avatar: The Last Airbender
 	The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water	February 6, 2015 	Paramount Pictures / Paramount Animation / United Plankton Pictures	SpongeBob SquarePants
==== Upcoming theatrical filmsEdit ====
Image	Title 	Release date 	Co-production 	Based on 	Source	
 	The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run	July 31, 2020	Paramount Pictures / Paramount Animation / United Plankton Pictures	SpongeBob SquarePants	 	
 	 	 	 	 	 	
 	The American Dad Movie 	Summer 2022 	Fuzzy Door productions 	American Dad 	 	
 	The Fairly Odd Parents Movie 	TBA 	Bilionfold 	Fairly Odd Parents 	 	
=== Direct-to-video and made-for-TV filmsEdit ===
Image	Title 	Release date 	Co-production 	Based on
 	Jimmy Timmy Power Hour 	May 7, 2004 	O Entertainment / DNA Productions / Frederator Studios 	Jimmy Neutronand The Fairly OddParents
 	Jimmy Timmy Power Hour 2: When Nerds Collide! 	January 16, 2006 	O Entertainment / DNA Productions / Frederator Studios 	Jimmy Neutronand The Fairly OddParents
 	Jimmy Timmy Power Hour 3: The Jerkinators! 	July 21, 2006 	O Entertainment / DNA Productions / Frederator Studios 	Jimmy Neutronand The Fairly OddParents
 	Rugrats Tales from the Crib: Snow White 	September 17, 2005	Paramount Home Entertainment / Klasky Csupo 	Rugrats
 	Rugrats Tales from the Crib: Three Jacks and a Beanstalk	September 5, 2006 	Paramount Home Entertainment / Klasky Csupo 	Rugrats
 	A Fairly Odd Movie: Grow Up, Timmy Turner! 	July 9, 2011 	Pacific Bay Entertainment / Frederator Studios / Billionfold, Inc.	The Fairly OddParents
 	A Fairly Odd Christmas 	November 29, 2012 	Pacific Bay Entertainment / Frederator Studios / Billionfold, Inc.	The Fairly OddParents
 	A Fairly Odd Summer 	August 2, 2014 	Pacific Bay Entertainment / Frederator Studios / Billionfold, Inc.	The Fairly OddParents
 	Half-Shell Heroes: Blast to the Past 	November 22, 2015 	Nickelodeon Animation Studios 	Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
 	Hey Arnold!: The Jungle Movie 	November 24, 2017 	Snee-Oosh 	Hey Arnold!
==== Television on net filmsEdit ====
Image	Title 	Release date 	Co-production 	Based on
 	Rocko's Modern Life: Static Cling	August 9, 2019 	Joe Murray Productions	Rocko's Modern Life
 	Invader Zim: Enter the Florpus 	August 16, 2019	Maven Animation Studio	Invader Zim
==== Upcoming direct-to-video and made-for-TV filmsEdit ====
Image	Title 	Release date 	Co-production	Based on 	Source
 	The Loud House: A Very Loud Christmas!	December 2020	N/A 	The Loud House	
==== Upcoming television on net filmsEdit ====
Image	Title 	Release date	Co-production 	Based on 	Source
 	The Loud House Movie 	2021 	Jam Filled Entertainment	The Loud House 	
 	Untitled Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie	TBA 	Flying Bark Productions 	Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles	
== TriviaEdit ==
* SpongeBob SquarePants currently holds the record for longest-running Nicktoon, which had previously been held by Rugrats, surpassing that show's run (in terms of number of episodes) when SpongeBob aired its 172nd episode on April 10, 2012. However, with two spin-offs, Rugrats still has the most shows featuring its characters as of 2019.
** The Rugrats Pre-School Daze miniseries holds the record for shortest-lived Nicktoon (18 days in the U.S. and just 5 in the United Kingdom) and the least amount of episodes (4).
* The Fairly OddParents was the first Nicktoon to ever reach ten seasons, even before SpongeBob SquarePants, which was still in its ninth season, when the first episode of Season 10, "The Big Fairy Share Scare!" premiered.
* The ninth season of SpongeBob SquarePants took almost five years to air all 26 episodes, lasting from July 21, 2012 to February 20, 2017. This is the longest time a single Nicktoon season has lasted on the main Nickelodeon channel.
* Several Nicktoons have never finished airing on the main Nickelodeon network. As an example, two episodes of As Told by Ginger remain unaired in the United States as of 2019.
* In North America, almost all Nicktoons are distributed on home video by Paramount, which has been a subsidiary of Nickelodeon's parent company Viacom since 1994.
** From August 1993 to October 1996, all Nicktoon videotapes (and all Nickelodeon videotapes in general) were distributed by Sony Wonder.
** Shout! Factory has held the home video distribution rights to Aaahh!!! Real Monsters, The Angry Beavers, CatDog, The Wild Thornberrys and Danny Phantom since May 2011. Shout! also had the video rights for Hey Arnold! and Rocko's Modern Life from then until 2018, at which point their rights reverted to Paramount.
** After DreamWorks Animation ended all partnerships with Viacom, distribution rights for their three Nicktoon co-productions (The Penguins of Madagascar, Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness, and Monsters vs. Aliens) transferred to 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, who released all of the Legends of Awesomeness and Monsters vs. Aliens DVDs.
* Most Nicktoons are majority-produced in the United States with their final animation processes outsourced to service companies in Asia. Exceptions include:
** The Nickelodeon episodes of Doug, co-produced with the French studio Ellipse Programmé.
** The Nickelodeon episodes of Winx Club, co-produced by Nickelodeon Animation Studio and their Italian sister company (through Viacom), Rainbow Group. Nick Animation handled script writing, voice recording, animation approval, and some of the music production while coordinating with the Italian team.
* The Nicktoons brand also extends to other media, such as video games featuring the Nicktoon characters (including the Nicktoons Unite! series).
* As it is technically a live-action show, Mr. Meaty has not been recognized as an official Nicktoon. It is still a Viacom-owned production.
* When Nickelodeon repackaged the Action League Now! shorts into a half-hour block, the "new" show was occasionally advertised among the full-fledged Nicktoons. The package show is otherwise excluded from all of Nick's Nicktoon lists, and it was not produced by Nick Animation.
== See alsoEdit ==
* Nickelodeon Movies
* Nicktoons (TV channel)
== ReferencesEdit ==
# ↑ "Finding Ni Hao" (Pinwheel excerpt) (April 2008).
# ↑ Nickelodeon Nation: The History, Politics, and Economics of America's Only TV Channel for Kids(February 2004).
# ↑ The Washington Post: The kids' channel that 'Double Dares' to be different (September 25, 1988).
# ↑ Nickelodeon and Consumer Citizenship (2007).
# ↑ Nicktoons 25th anniversary oral history of Rugrats, Doug, Ren & Stimpy (August 11, 2016).
# ↑ Makin' Toons: Inside the Most Popular Animated TV Shows and Movies (2003).
# ↑ Studio Tour: Nicktoons (April 1998).
# ↑ David Kilmer (September 22, 1999). Nickelodeon opens animation studio in New York. Animation World Network.
# ↑ Nickelodeon grew up and blew up in 1996 (August 9, 2016).
# ↑ Viacom bought the Winx Club franchise before producing new seasons at Nickelodeon Animation Studio. Nickelodeon's packaging guide officially calls the show a Nicktoon.
# ↑ TheFutonCritic: Robot and Monster.
# ↑ Viacom bought the TMNT franchise before producing a new series at Nickelodeon Animation Studio. Nickelodeon's packaging guide officially calls the show a Nicktoon.
# ↑ Welcome to our new series of crew profiles (November 18, 2015).
# ↑ Nick Greenlights ‘Welcome to the Wayne,’ First TV Series Based On Digital Series (April 23, 2015).
# ↑ Viacom bought the TMNT franchise before producing a new series at Nickelodeon Animation Studio.
# ↑ 16.0 16.1 Nickelodeon Upfront 2017 – Nickandmore!.
# ↑ Produced at Nickelodeon Animation Studios; Distribution rights owned by streaming service Netflix.
# ↑ Produced at Nickelodeon Animation Studios; Distribution rights owned by streaming service Netflix.
# ↑ 'Rugrats' Revived at Viacom With New Nickelodeon Series, Feature Film (July 16, 2018).
# ↑ SpongeBob Squarepants spinoff may head to Netflix in new massive deal with Nickelodeon.
# ↑ Paramount Sets ‘SpongeBob 3’ for 2019, Delays ‘Monster Trucks’ to 2017 (November 10, 2015).
# ↑ 'SpongeBob' Prequel, Live-Action 'Loud House' Movie Set at Nickelodeon.
# ↑ 23.0 23.1 Nickelodeon Sets 'Loud House', 'Ninja Turtles' Animated Films at Netflix.
# ↑ 'Loud House' Ratings Drive Graphic Novel Sales
=== NotesEdit ===
# ↑ Only the first four seasons were produced by Nickelodeon.
# ↑ Seasons 5–7 (three seasons in total) were produced at Nickelodeon Animation Studio.