The original post: /r/television by /u/Intelligent-Lack-122 on 2024-07-16 00:47:59.

Last year I talked about my history with the Canadian channel Teletoon, when it was shutting down and replaced with Cartoon Network Canada. Now I want to discuss my history with a similar channel, YTV—Canada’s equivalent to Nickelodeon. Like with Teletoon, I’ll go over the shows that stand out to me.

In The Beginning:

Unlike Teletoon which started in the late 90s, YTV premiered in the late 80s, with a special presentation highlighting the shows aired on the network. The special was hosted by none other than the late great John Candy. The purpose of the channel was to target both Children and Teenagers with Live Action shows, Animated Series, Original Content, and reruns of old TV shows.

Now I wasn’t around in the 80s, but from what I heard some of the shows that played on YTV were Ninja Turtles, Garfield, You Can’t Do That on Television, reruns of The Muppet Show, and the 60s Batman show.

But I was around in the early 90s, and one of the first shows I ever saw was on YTV, reruns of Gerry Anderson’s Thunderbirds. A popular UK show from the 1960s about a rescue organization founded by Jeff Tracy and his five sons, their purpose was to save people in distress using 5 different vehicles named Thunderbird’s 1-5.

The entire show was done using Puppets with model sets and vehicles, ran for 2 seasons, and got 2 movies. Thunderbirds rebroadcast on BBC in the UK and became popular again with kids of the 90s. The show was also popular in Canada when it played on YTV. I remember watching it constantly as a kid, I had a couple of episodes on tape, there were Matchbox toys and figures and they were some of the first toys I had. YTV also partnered with Pizza Hut for Kids Night every Tuesday, Kids would eat free, and get exclusive merch from Pizza Hut. One of them being Thunderbird trading cards. The show would return to YTV in the early 2000s but stopped in 2004 after the disaster that was the live-action movie.

Some of Anderson’s other puppet shows like Captain Scarlet and Stingray played on YTV, but I didn’t see them until years later. I don’t know how I missed those shows.

YTV was also one of the backers of the kid’s show Shining Time Station. Starring Ringo Starr (season 1 only), George Carlin, and Didi Conn (the girl from Grease).

It was a half-hour variety show about people working at a train station, with Ringo/George playing an eight-inch man named Mr. Conductor telling the kids stories about Thomas The Tank Engine. This was just a way to introduce Americans and Canadians to Thomas, and it worked because kids only cared about the Thomas segments and it showed in the VHS and toy sales. Like a lot of kids in the '90s I was also big into Thomas, I watched the ones where Ringo, George, and later on Alec Baldwin were narrators. After Baldwin left, that’s when I stopped watching as I felt like I had outgrown Thomas. Even though I don’t follow the series anymore, I still think the older seasons hold up. It has good morals for the kids, doesn’t talk down to its target audiences, and teaches them about railway terminology.

Plus it was my introduction to The Beatles, and George Carlin’s stand-up.

In the '90s Mighty Morphin Power Rangers was at the height of its popularity, spawning many more seasons until 2023’s Cosmic Fury. Mighty Morphin did air on YTV in Canada, but it didn’t last long due to the controversy surrounding the violence. Make sense because as a Power Ranger fan, I only saw the show on Fox Kids and later ABC Kids. Power Rangers wouldn’t return to YTV until Power Rangers Samurai, nineteen years later.

Original Shows:

Like Teletoon, YTV had its fair share of original series.

Video and Arcade Top 10,

A competitive game show in which contestants play against each other in video games for prizes. Before YouTube and Avgn, If you want hints, tips, and info on video games this show was what you had in Canada at the time. It also had Movie and Music reviews, letters to host on certain games, among others. When I was younger I always wanted to be on this show, but never got the chance.

Hit List,

A music video show hosted by “Tarzan” Dan Freeman. Personally when it came to music videos I mainly watched Much Music instead. Not much to comment.

Big Comfy Couch,

A preschool show about clowns, haven’t seen it in years. But I wouldn’t recommend watching it if you have a fear of clowns.

Catwalk,

I remember the promos, but I never saw the show growing up. The plot was about young adults in a band dealing with personal relationships and struggles.

Uh-Oh!,

A game show similar to Double Dare. I watched it because it was played between shows I was interested in. But I wouldn’t call myself a fan.

But now it’s time to talk about the biggest show to come from YTV, if you were a Canadian kid in the 90s you know this one.

Reboot,

The first animated series to be done in CGI, and became one of the most popular shows in Canada. If you haven’t seen it, Reboot takes place inside a computer and follows computer sprites battling viruses and competing against the user in video games. Reboot has been one of the shows for me since I was a kid, with its cast of memorable characters, storytelling, and humor (The show just loves its pop culture references).

Season 1 was the most family-friendly, that’s because ABC the network that aired Reboot in America got on the creator’s cases what they could and couldn’t show.

Season 2 was where the stakes started to rise, the season ended with an all-out war, and the main character Bob was shot into the web.

After Season 2, ABC canceled Reboot but the show did continue on YTV (eventually made its way to Cartoon Network in the States). That’s where Season 3 comes in. With ABC out of the picture, the creators could finally tell the stories they always wanted to, and they went all out with Season 3. Dealing with darker themes, death, destruction, and the kid character Enzo basically becomes the Batman of the show. But it kept the humor that fans liked, the heroes get a happy ending, with a musical number recapping the entire season.

And then, Season 4 happened 😑. Coming five years after Season 3 and was released as eight episodes combined into two movies, which were Daemon Rising and My Two Bobs.

The season had good and interesting ideas and backstories, but it made missteps, especially with My Two Bobs. And of course, there’s the infamous cliffhanger. That was the final episode of Reboot ever made. I was about nine when I first saw that cliffhanger, and let’s just say I was upset, disappointed, and confused when I first saw it. A lot of fans felt the same way. One of my parents told me that the show would probably be back with new episodes. Two decades later, that never happened.

Which is why I ignore Season 4 when revisiting Reboot.

The same company that made Reboot (Mainframe Entertainment) teamed up with Hasbro to create another popular animated series based on the Transformers, Beast Wars (or Beasties here in Canada). Fans of the OG Transformers hated Beast Wars at first because it was about Animals and Dinosaurs instead of Cars and Jets. But eventually, fans turned around on the series.

Now I’m gonna be honest, I wasn’t a huge fan of Beast Wars as a kid. I watched the occasional episode, and my brother and I had a couple of Beast Wars toys. But I didn’t fully appreciate the show until recently when I saw the show again on Tubi. In case you’re wondering, I don’t have my Beast Wars toys anymore except for Optimus Primal (but it’s missing the Gorilla face).

Beast Wars was so popular, it got a sequel called Beast Machines. From what I heard fans were mixed on the sequel. I only saw the first episode, and it was a step down from Beast Wars.

And if I don’t say it someone else will, Mainframe made another animated series called Shadow Riders. I’ve never seen it.

As for other original shows from YTV, there’s Monster by Mistake, Mona the Vampire, Yvon of the Yukon, and Being Ian. I saw an episode or two, years ago, that’s it.

Nickelodeon shows:

As stated in the title, YTV was Canada’s Nickelodeon just like Teletoon was Canada’s Cartoon Network. Since it was the main hub for almost all of the Nickelodeon shows.

The ones I watched growing up were

Rugrats.

Jimmy Neutron.

Fairly Oddparents.

And of course Spongebob.

While I liked these shows as a kid, I prefer the shows from Teletoon and Cartoon Network. They had more of an impact on me.

Before you ask, I have seen Avatar The Last Airbender and Legend of Korra. But I saw them years later on DVD, these 2 are my favorite Nick shows.

Afternoon and Saturday Morning Blocks:

Like many channels in the ‘90s and 2000s, YTV had its own after-school and Saturday Morning Blocks. There were The Zone and Vortex.

The Zone was first hosted by Gordon Michael Woolvett (aka Gord the PJ Man), later on, new hosts would take over PJ Phil (Phil Guerrero), PJ Robb (Rob Stefaniuk), and PJ Rockin’ Chan (Chandra Galasso). Followed by Sugar and Carlos.

The shows I remember playing on The Zone were Alvin and The Chipmunks, Dexter’s Laboratory, Powerpuff Girls, Pokemon, and Digimon.

Vortex was hosted by Stephanie Broschart, who left in 2003 and was replaced by Paula Lemyre. Exclusive to Saturday mornings, the shows that played on Vortex were *Jackie Chan Adventures, Transformers: Rob…

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