Top 10 Worst Mistakes that Nickelodeon Has Ever Made

Nickelodeon might be a huge children's TV network, but it is not perfect at all. I still love it.

The Top Ten

Reject Adventure Time

As you may know, Adventure Time was submitted to Nickelodeon before Cartoon Network, and Nickelodeon denied it because they thought it was too weird. That was a huge mistake because, as you know, Adventure Time has gained a huge following. By denying it, they lost what could have been a huge success.
However, if Adventure Time was on Nickelodeon, things would have been very different. I think it wouldn't have gained as big of a following as it did on Cartoon Network, because Nickelodeon treats their cartoons a lot differently than Cartoon Network. And I'm not saying that in a bad way.

It still boggles my mind that Adventure Time, in some alternate universe, could have been a Nicktoon. It's already pretty crazy seeing the Nicktoons logo in the bottom-left corner of the show's pilot.
But seriously, this was the worst decision the network ever made. Passing up on Adventure Time and letting their chief rival, Cartoon Network, greenlight it legitimately set the studio back five years.
Adventure Time was an immediate success, bringing Cartoon Network back to relevance after the infamous CN Real and export era of the late 2000s. Meanwhile, Nick had to come up with their own terrible programming and floundered as a result.
Had Nickelodeon seen the potential in Pen Ward's short, the company would be in a much better position today, even if they have been recovering in recent years.
I can't name a more dramatic shift in network status in TV history than when Nickelodeon rejected one of the greatest cartoons ever made and allowed it to fall into their rival's lap.
Cancel good shows too soon

This was kind of a mistake. I say kind of because Invader Zim didn't get good ratings when it first aired. It was too expensive to keep on the network, even when they tried to give it a small test revival on Nicktoons around 2010.
This show went on to gain a massive following and became one of Nick's most beloved shows. Honestly, I'd say that if not for Rugrats, it would be in the top two, right behind SpongeBob. But again, you have to keep in mind when this show came out and why it was canceled. Invader Zim was ahead of its time. Too ahead of its time.
I'm sure it would thrive if it aired now, given the success of the comics and the upcoming movie. But 2002-2006 was not a suitable time for it to be released.
Put a huge emphasis on trashy sitcoms

Let's face it: Nickelodeon is not just a cartoon channel. It's full of sitcoms, but its cartoons should be getting the focus because that's what Nickelodeon is known for.
In the last few years, we've gotten some horrible sitcoms like Henry Danger, Game Shakers, and Bella and the Bulldogs. Focusing on these trashy sitcoms and not giving the people what they want is leading to many people tuning out of the network and not showing up anymore.

Rejecting Adventure Time was a big mistake. However, it wouldn't have mattered if Nickelodeon had tried to get other good animated content. Instead, they focused on trashy sitcoms with the worst acting, painfully unfunny comedy, and just terrible shows altogether.
At least shows like The Loud House and SpongeBob SquarePants still take the top two spots in the ratings.
Air SpongeBob SquarePants non-stop

They CLEARLY favour SpongeBob over all the other shows on Nick nowadays. Even though some of the shows have the potential to be memorable, Nick just values SpongeBob and throws the rest away.

When Nickelodeon had other good cartoons besides SpongeBob SquarePants, it wasn't the main focus of the channel. They had so many great classics like Rocket Power, Hey Arnold!, Rugrats, and The Fairly OddParents for kids to enjoy.
After these shows ended and Stephen Hillenburg left after making the movie, Nickelodeon started releasing poor-quality cartoons. Since they were hitting rock bottom, SpongeBob became their main show and the channel's lifeline.
To top it off, SpongeBob itself began airing very annoying and terrible episodes non-stop for hours. Now, in 2023, SpongeBob is no longer what it used to be.
Over-saturate franchises

Nickelodeon should have been okay with Hillenburg leaving the show and canceling it. A revival could have premiered in 2015, when the show started improving, rather than keeping SpongeBob on air for ten years (10 years!) of extremely low ratings.

Check your TV guide on Nick and tell me how many times The Loud House comes on. I'm not hating on the show - I love it - but I need some variety.

It mostly started with SpongeBob, and now they're doing the same with The Loud House.
Air Nick Studio 10

This was the worst programming block of all time. They interrupted their own shows with random clips but then cut back to the show, skipping over the portion that was missed. Universally hated, Nick Studio 10 lasted about a week before it disappeared. It was later brought back without interruptions, but quickly disappeared again.
The sad part is they were trying to start a rivalry with Cartoon Network's Incredible Crew.
Mistreat Korra

The spin-off of Avatar: The Last Airbender, a great but flawed show, was mistreated by the network. It was broadcast on Saturday mornings when most people are asleep. Soon, Nickelodeon decided to move it around the schedule, spreading episodes weeks apart. Additionally, Korra was underfunded, so they had to use a cheaper animation studio to save money.
Nickelodeon made Korra a chore to keep up with, and that's probably why people don't think it lived up to, or didn't like it compared to, Avatar: The Last Airbender. It could have been amazing.

Sure, Nickelodeon mistreated Korra (the first bisexual character on Nickelodeon). But we weren't too nice to Korra either! Come on, people!
Sure, The Legend of Korra isn't better than Avatar, but at least give it a chance. Remember that Invader Zim wasn't great when it first came out, and then it became one of Nickelodeon's best shows.
Anyway, Centaurworld and Steven Universe are the worst shows I've ever seen. Somehow, they both got 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, while The Legend of Korra got 89%. So, yeah.
Give Disney the rights to Doug

Despite the show's success, Nickelodeon decided to cancel it after just four seasons. The big mistake was selling the rights to Disney, which made significant changes, including replacing most of the voice actors. Disney then ran the show for three seasons on ABC's Saturday mornings. Fans hated the Disney version and blamed Nickelodeon for ruining it.

I really wish that Nickelodeon's Doug lasted longer than it did.

Nickelodeon should've made a season finale instead of selling Doug.
Fail to release Nick DVDs

They used to be juggernauts with those releases. Remember The First 100 Episodes of SpongeBob? Now the DVDs have very little effort put into them. Compare the menus of the Season 1 SpongeBob DVDs with those of Season 10.

It is frustrating that they are releasing DVD-Rs, which are basically official bootlegs.
Air too much JoJo Siwa

Nickelodeon was already bad enough, but putting HER on the channel made it even cringier.
First, she's always screaming when she talks. What's her deal? Is she on drugs or something?
Second, she's so childish, which makes her even more annoying. Her car is decorated with rainbows, unicorns, bows, the Nickelodeon logo, and sparkles. Honest to God, she's so childish!
If I were Justin Bieber, I would've insulted her car too.

Ugh! I want to scream whenever this girl comes on. I wish she would stop being so loud! Girl, use your normal voice. We can hear you just fine! And that glitter - sheesh, you're 15! She once admitted she dresses like a 12-year-old. I was offended because twelve-year-olds are way more mature than she'll ever be! They don't dress like that! I wish I could rip my ears out whenever she appears on TV again.

The Newcomers

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Treat their live-action actors poorly

Just look at what happened to Drake Bell, Jennette McCurdy, and Amanda Bynes!

Quiet on set is an example of this.
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Hire Dan Schneider

The good thing though was he created Drake and Josh and iCarly, which were funny shows.
Other than that, he's seriously screwed up.

Honestly, hiring him was not the problem. Nobody knew what he was up to at the time. Keeping him, however...

The Contenders

Create Breadwinners

UGH. This was Nickelodeon's worst yet. It's a stupid show. I've never seen it, but I know I hate it.

They imported this show directly from YouTube. Bad idea!
Cancel good shows and keep bad ones

Me: It's sad they canceled Rugrats. Oh, well. At least we still have Avatar.
Nickelodeon: We're canceling Avatar.
Me: Oh, never mind. Good thing we still have Invader Zim.
Nickelodeon: We're canceling that too.
Me: Oh... Good thing there's Danny Phantom.
Nickelodeon: Canceled.
Me: OH COME ON! Good thing there's still Spongebob, Fairly Odd Parents, and The Loud House.
Nickelodeon: Chloe and Sparky are now part of FOP. Stephen Hillenburg is dead, so time to make terrible sitcoms, and we fired Chris Savino, so TLH will be bad.
Me: I give up.

They even canceled The Casagrandes, which was a decent spin-off. It was a spin-off of The Loud House, which was a decent show.
At least that got renewed for a fifth season, but The Casagrandes got canceled after three seasons.
Air Fanboy and Chum Chum

Fanboy and Chum Chum shows no effort in any of its work. You can tell nobody cared about this show. They just slapped together CGI with no story or plot and aired it. This, along with School of Rock, is of extremely poor quality. I give both shows a 2/10.

After rejecting Adventure Time, they greenlit this abomination of a show. The characters seemed drunk, and this taught kids to act drunk. Thank goodness it ended, but it shouldn't have been made in the first place.

Let it sink in that Nickelodeon rejected Adventure Time for this awful show.
Close Nickelodeon Studios in Orlando

It was so cool to have a Nickelodeon experience in the eastern part of the U.S. People living on the East Coast didn't have to fly all the way to California to see shows being taped. It was such an immersive experience. You could tour the facilities and look down on production happening in the sound stages below. Back then, Nick shows were worth watching, and a lot of creativity was put into them.
At the end, there was GAME LAB! You could watch some lucky kid get slimed. Watching your favorite Nick shows like Double Dare, Guts, Legends of the Hidden Temple, and Clarissa Explains It All being taped (or even being part of the studio audience) was an amazing experience.
But over 20 years ago, when Herb Scannell took the reins, the quality of the network's output began to gradually decline. They focused more on animation, and the live-action output transitioned to closed-set sitcoms, moving production to California. This put Nickelodeon Studios in a bona fide death spiral.
Move The Fairly OddParents to Nicktoons

When The Fairly OddParents was on the main channel, it consistently attracted viewers. But when Nickelodeon moved it to Nicktoons, it basically marked its early death as ratings plummeted.
It was a poor business decision because even though modern Fairly OddParents isn't great, it would still have more viewers on the main channel than on Nicktoons.

They moved The Fairly OddParents to Nicktoons. The last episode aired on July 26, 2017. Now that the creator, Butch Hartman, has retired from Nickelodeon, the show is canceled.
Change the logo

The logo change wasn't a significant issue itself. The real problem was that they permanently removed the splat and replaced it with a generic text logo. The splat logo represented what Nickelodeon once was - a leading channel where children could have fun. The text logo is sterile and boring, particularly for a cartoon channel.

TBH, the splat logo actually had originality and creativity because it made it look like a place where kids could have fun. But the new logo just makes everything look boring, and on top of that, the shows are bad.
Try to be hip and cool with the kids

Some of the things I dislike about Nickelodeon include their use of memes that died years ago, inserting them into their shows. They also use dying memes in their programming. Fortnite dances? Dabbing in 2018? And don't get me started on their "hip" 'We'll Be Right Back' montages - they're disgusting. And their cringe sitcoms? Oh lord, help me.

Nickelodeon was fantastic in the '90s and 2000s until they decided to create cringy shows with kids trying to relate to memes. Nowadays, Nickelodeon tries too hard to be hip and cool, but they fail and only make things cringier. This is why Nickelodeon started to decline in the 2010s.
Disrespect Stephen Hillenburg

Once upon a time, the company Nickelodeon wanted more money. With Stephen Hillenburg out of the way (R.I.P. Stephen Hillenburg), they decided to continue Spongebob despite Stephen Hillenburg's intention to cancel it and made it worse. However, they needed more money, so they created the subpar Kamp Koral and the terrible Patrick Star Show - spinoffs that Stephen Hillenburg did not want.

Nickelodeon is going to reboot SpongeBob, even though Stephen Hillenburg strictly forbade it. They waited until he passed away to start working on it because, with Stephen dead, he couldn't stop them. It's a seriously scumbag move, and I'm not going to bother watching Kamp Koral!
Fire most of the team from SpongeBob SquarePants after the movie

You mean the great creative writers left, and the show's quality kept falling. (R.I.P. Stephen Hillenburg.)
Add Chloe to The Fairly OddParents

She's such an uninteresting Mary Sue. One of the trademarks of Mary Sues is having a flaw to suggest they aren't a Mary Sue, but the flaw doesn't actually impact them. Chloe's flaw is perfectionism, but she doesn't need fairies because her life is perfect.

This reminds me of when they added Ladonna and Bud Compson to Arthur. I'm so glad they were gone after that.

She's the worst character added to The Fairly OddParents, and Timmy had a fairly odd dog.
Interrupt shows with random garbage

Nick Studio 10 interrupted shows on Nickelodeon with garbage, including SpongeBob SquarePants, The Fairly OddParents, and others. They cut into these shows with random junk.
Why would kids want that? They don't. Nick Studio 10 deliberately annoyed Nick fans.
Not to mention, the fart in a jar song was atrocious. The show also encouraged animal abuse and was vulgar and messy.

Bruce Banner (Marvel) watches Power Rangers on Nickelodeon.
Power Rangers: (Gets interrupted by Nick Studio 10, or should I say "Nick Stupid 10")
Bruce Banner: (Gets angry and turns into the Hulk)
Hulk: (Bursts through the walls of Avengers headquarters, finds Nickelodeon studio, and beats up the Nick Studio 10 creators and team, completely wrecking and destroying them)
Hulk: "Nick did it? Now Hulk did it."
Make Sanjay and Craig
Cancel Ren & Stimpy

The adult version of this show completely ruined it. Ren and Stimpy were just fine as roommates and didn't need to be portrayed as lovers. It was tasteless and gross. Although I wasn't a huge fan of the original show, the adult version that didn't air on Nickelodeon and calling the actual series' DVD release "The (Almost) Complete Series" is just bad.
Add Sparky to The Fairly OddParents

He was a useless addition, but it was still watchable.
Say Timmy Turner is 10 when he looks 8