SLIME TIME LIVE
Slime Time Live (2000 - 2004) was a hybrid gameshow/interstitial programming block that aired weekdays after school on the US kids network Nickelodeon. The show was initially devised as a promotional vehicle for the network's launch of Double Dare 2000, a remake of the classic game show, similarly themed around Nickelodeon's signature slime. Interestingly, while Double Dare 2000 only lasted a single season, Slime Time Live lasted several years beyond the show it was initially meant to promote. The show went through many changes as it developed over the years. Gameplay, notes, and the shows that aired for each season will be described below.
HOSTS
Part of what made Slime Time Live so special was the dynamic of the hosts.
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DAVE AIZER
Dave might not have been the iconic host we came to know and love if he had followed his agent's advice. As revealed in a podcast interview, at the time, Dave's agent didn't think he was ready to audition for Nickelodeon. Disregarding her advice, he auditioned anyway, and was the best candidate they had seen. After firing his agent, Dave was hired as a presenter for both Slime Time Live and for segments on Nick GaS: Nickelodeon's now-defunct digital cable channel centered around Games and Sports.
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Dave had a rigorous shooting schedule, shooting for Nick Gas in the mornings, and for Slime Time in the afternoons/evening, often shooting multiple episodes per day. Despite sometimes being exhausted and the occasional live technical glitch, he never missed a beat, and always kept the show together. His hosting improved markedly as the series progressed, always making contestants feel at ease, and giving attention to fans. He brought strong energy and improvisational humor to the show, along with memorable interactions with his co-hosts.
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JONAH TRAVICK
Jonah and Dave were friends who had previously worked together. Jonah initially came onboard the Slime Time Live crew as a production assistant, but soon began making regular onscreen appearances. Although Jonah had never aspired to be a host, he will be fondly remembered as the Jay-man, who emerged from the mail-o-matic with postcards from home entrants, and captain of the blue team. He continued working in production and editing behind the scenes after his run on Slime Time.
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JESSICA HOLMES
Jessica also began on Slime Time as a production assistant, but soon her role was also expanded with regular onscreen appearances. Although known for her aversion to pies, she was happy to deliver pies to willing participants. She is also remembered for her sarcastic humor and rivalrous banter with her co-hosts. She was the captain of the red team. She continued with a string of TV presenting gigs in LA after Slime Time wrapped.
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SPECIAL GUESTS
Over the years, Slime Time Live was host to a number of special guests, ranging from TV & movie celebrities, sports stars, and musical artists. The following is a brief list naming some of them.
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CELEBRITY GUESTS:
Jennifer Lopez
Jeff Kelly (Linebacker)
Greg Maddux (MLB Pitcher)
Tony Hawk
Nick Cannon
David Arquette
Christina Vidal (Taina)
Lindsay Felton (Caitlin's Way)
Jason Harris (Double Dare 2000)
Lori Beth Denberg (All That)
Tom Kenny (Patchy the Pirate)
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MUSICAL ARTISTS:
A-Teens
Aaron Carter
B*Witched
LFO
3LW
Lil Romeo
No Secrets
Dream Street
Plus One
PYT
O-Town
Baha Men
Tik N' Tak
Lil' Bow Wow
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SEASON 1 (JAN - JUN 2000)
SEASON OVERVIEW
Slime Time Live premiered on January 24th, 2000. It initially aired from 4-5pm, leading up to new episodes of Double Dare 2000. It was clear Nickelodeon had a hit on its hands, and within a few months, the show was expanded into a 2.5 hour programming block, airing between shows and commercials from 4-6:30 pm weekdays. At the time, it was clear Slime Time was here to stay.
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The show took advantage of Nick Studios' location in Orlando, Florida's Universal Studios theme park, which facilitated the ease in finding daily audiences and contestants. The live shooting of STL became a popular attraction, with many park visitors hoping for a chance to be on TV. Being situated at Nick Studios, there were also many candid appearances made by TV stars and other familiar faces. The network took advantage of this and many other opportunities to promote upcoming shows, movies, and stars. As such, the programming block was partly responsible for a period of heightened viewership and engagement with the network, its brand, and its creative properties.
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FORMAT / GAMEPLAY
The first hour of each show featured three Slime-U-Lator rounds. In each round, online voters would select one of three studio contestants wearing red, yellow, or blue. The selected contestant would be paired up with a home player, usually selected by Jonah from the Mail-O-Matic, which was full of postcard entrants. By phone, the home player would try to match up Nickelodeon characters shown on an onscreen game board. Making a match would win the game, and result in the studio contestant getting slimed by the contraption known as the Slime-U-Lator, and both would win a prize. If the contestant lost, host Dave Aizer would get a pie in the face. In the first season, the Slime-U-Lator was a single, large barrel contraption that would automatically turn over when a game was won. Cream-blasters were a feature of the Slime-U-Lator added later in this season.
After the first hour, more contestants would come in to play (usually three) elimination rounds, with the winners of those games moving on to the Super Sloppy Slime-off. The elimination rounds of this season introduced many Slime Time Classics, or favorite games that would return for many seasons, including Musical Pies and Sliming for Apples. This all culminated with the Super Sloppy Slime-off, in which two teams (blue and red) would be represented by two home players who, on the phone, would have to answer random Nickelodeon trivia questions. A correct answer would earn a pie in the face for a team member. The first team to have all members pied would win the game, a grand prize, and get a bin of slime dumped on their heads.
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As with all seasons, skits, promos, and audience participation stunts would take place at random points between commercials.
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SHOWS AIRED
A number of shows aired between segments throughout STL's run. Regular shows in the first season included Rugrats, Doug, Rocko's Modern Life, Double Dare 2000, Kenan & Kel, and All That.
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SEASON 2 (SEP 2000 - JUN 2001)
SEASON OVERVIEW
This season resumed much the same way it left off, with a few minor gameplay changes. Longstanding traditions like the birthday pie in the face became cemented in place this season. Starting in February 2001, BubbleCast would be aggressively promoted. This was an online interactive platform, which prompted viewers to constantly engage with the Nick.com website while watching shows. BubbleCast would be phased out by the end of the season.
Jonah and Jessica assume more prominent roles this season, with their roles clearly evolving from assistants to active co-hosts. Indeed, when Dave Aizer leaves to cover the 2001 Kids' Choice Awards in April, Jessica and Jonah hosted STL from Orlando.
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FORMAT / GAMEPLAY
The Slime-U-Lator rounds remained, but gameplay would change to allow home players 20 seconds to find the matching Nick characters. The Slime-U-Lator was updated to include two barrels of slime.
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The questions for the Super Sloppy Slime-Off now centered on random themes, rather than Nickelodeon trivia questions. The host would give hints about something relating to the stated theme, and home players would buzz in to answer. The themes became more random and ridiculous as the series progressed, such as "Things you wouldn't want to sit on," and "Wild Thornberrys animals you wouldn't want to find in your pocket." This made the segment a bit more humorous and engaging than the straight trivia questions of the previous season.
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SHOWS AIRED
Regular shows in the second season included Rugrats, Double Dare 2000, and Pinky and the Brain.
SEASON 3 (SEP 2001 - MAY 2002)
SEASON OVERVIEW
This season saw a number of changes, especially when it resumed in January 2002. In Mondays throughout November 2001, STL would visit different schools, where they hosted Slime Time Takes Over Your School. Also in 2001, a feature called Head-to-Head Friday was played, which involved competitions to determine which of two shows would air, with the audience divided into two teams, and often taking part in competitions.
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Starting in January, the NickVentures segment was introduced, which involved Jonah traveling across the country to find out what kids liked to do after school. This segment would usually introduce the mystery mess for the upcoming Slime-U-Lator round.
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FORMAT / GAMEPLAY
Gameplay for the Slime-U-Lator rounds changed again, in that home players now got three chances to pick two numbers at a time, in an attempt to make a match. Starting in 2002, the Slime-U-Lator was revamped to include three barrels: two containing slime, and a third as the "mystery bucket," containing a mystery mess that was often voted for online. If the player won the game, their studio teammate would be slimed with all three buckets. If they lost, their teammate would only get the mystery bucket dumped on them. In 2002 the Slime-U-Lator game was reduced to two rounds per show, but usually added an extra messy skit or stunt in its place.
Also in 2002, the finale of the show was iconically renamed The Big Shaboozie, and the shaboozinator was filled with slime in addition to several different mystery messes, resulting in a unique, colorful mess at the end of each day. Winning contestants would also be blasted with the Cream Blasters and the Booty Blasters from the front and behind, respectively. In this season, teams started doing choreography of some sort when introduced.
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SHOWS AIRED
Regular shows in this season included Rugrats, Hey Arnold, SpongeBob SquarePants, Animaniacs, and Rocket Power. Frequent Daily Nick U-Pick winners included The Amanda Show, All That, Taina, and The Brothers Garcia.
SEASON 4 (SEP 2002 - MAY 2003)
SEASON OVERVIEW
This season saw some radical changes to the show and its format, starting with the schedule, which now became a three hour block from 2-5 p.m. This was not the most convenient schedule change, as many kids did not get out of school until 3 p.m. The schedule change was presumably made so that U-Pick Live could assume the attractive 5 p.m. slot.
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FORMAT / GAMEPLAY
The format and gameplay changed quite a bit in this season. Gone were the classic Slime-U-Lator rounds that involved a phone-in home player. However, there were still games like Challenge Jonah, which allowed winning contestants to get slimed by a new slime contraption.
The new format could be summed up as "elimination rounds on steroids." The first section involved building teams, through a series of elimination rounds. I.e., in a series of competitions, 16 blue team contestants would be narrowed down to two players. The same process would be repeated for the red team. Once two teams of two had been established, then these teams would compete against each other in even more games, to gain points which could be used in the final Big Shaboozie showdown round.
The Big Shaboozie finale involved a large tic tac toe-style game board with nine numbers. In turn, teams could use their accrued points to pick numbers on the game board, in hopes of finding the winning square, The Big Shaboozie. If players found The Whammy
square, then the opposing team automatically won the game. There were plenty of mystery messes thrown in behind the other squares. The audience of the winning team would get blasted with whipped cream cannons. This round introduced teams with a silly dance or cheer, orchestrated by team captains Jonah and Jessica.
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SHOWS AIRED
Regular shows in this season included Rugrats, Tiny Toon Adventures, Hey Arnold, CatDog, and The Wild Thornberrys.
SEASON 5 (SEP 2003 - JUN 2004)
SEASON OVERVIEW
The final year saw a number of significant changes to format and scheduling. Very few recordings of this season are known to exist. From what is known of this season, the hosts appear much more casual and laid-back compared to previous seasons.
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FORMAT / GAMEPLAY
The Splat Vat was introduced, which was a kind of dunk tank, used for various games with audience members and hosts. There was a call-in segment that ran similarly to the Slime-U-Lator rounds of previous series.
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Teams for The Big Shaboozie now wore orange and light blue, a change from the red and blue of the previous seasons. The Big Shaboozie was played in a similar way to the first few seasons, home players on the phone competing for their team in studio. This season, questions are asked in a "this-or-that" format. E.g., players might have to decide whether an item is "Desert" or "Dessert." Hosts would alternate each show, with Dave, Jonah, and Jessica all getting a chance to sit above the Splat Vat. At the start of The Big Shaboozie, the host would bank on a team they thought would win. If they chose the wrong team, they would be dropped into the Splat Vat after the winning team was slimed.
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SCHEDULE CHANGE & CANCELLATION
Starting October 20th, 2003, STL moved somewhat abruptly to a 7am morning slot. Many cite this move as the beginning of the end for Slime Time. "Breakfast TV" was not an established convention for American children, many of whom were rushing out the door to catch the school bus by 7:30. Predictably, viewership declined. Also during this period, shows were pre-recorded, so the spark and freshness of the live performances decreased.
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Not much is known about why this significant schedule change was made so abruptly mid-season. It has been conjectured that Nickelodeon's higher-level executives wanted to kill off the show, and doomed its ratings by condemning it to an unfavorable time slot. Others speculate that executives wanted to cultivate a younger audience. Whatever the case, the writing was on the wall, and by spring of 2004, it was clear to the cast and crew that Slime Time Live would not be renewed.
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LEGACY
In the years following STL's cancellation, many Nickelodeon shows would attempt to recreate the spirit of this classic show. Short-lived shows in the same vein like Splat! and Friday Night Slimetime, maintained similar concepts, albeit with different hosts, but failed to duplicate the success of the original series, let alone the chemistry and creativity of the original cast and crew. Slime Time Live was more than a game show, it was a viewing experience that epitomized the era of kids' after school TV in the early 2000s. Few shows can match the memories elicited when you hear host Dave Aizer and the audience shout in unison, "Let's Play Slime Time!"
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