MovieChat Forums > Rugrats (1991) Discussion > What do you think 'killed' Rugrats?

What do you think 'killed' Rugrats?

posted 15 years ago by joshwinkler87
77 replies | jump to latest

I mean it went from being the most popular show on Nickelodeon in 1998 to being off the air a few years thereafter. SpongeBob SquarePants has been on Nickelodeon since 1999 and it is showing no signs of going out of style anytime soon.

In my opinion, Rugrats just wasn't the same after it was brought back in 1997. It seemed more like a 'kiddie show' rather than having some of the adult humor the 1991-1994 episodes had. It was like a different show that had lost its charm. When they added Dil I think that just made it 10x worse. I liked Kimi but by the time she came along, Rugrats had lost it's magic.

[–] oewnaynailf 13 years ago

For me, the show started to lose its magic when around 1997. It was still entertaining for kids (even adults loved the show), but the style of writing and animation was just off. When Dil appeared, the focus shifted so much on him and disrupted the character dynamics. Plus, he was just an annoying character! By the time Kimi joined, I had stopped watching. My younger sister still watched, but says that Dil and Kimi ruined the show. All Grown Up destroyed any bit of charm that lingered.

[–] Zettsuyk 13 years ago

It's strange that even as an 8 year old kid, I immediately noticed when the writing got worse. I remember watching the "car wash" episode with my brother when it was premiering and we both started complaining that it wasnt as good as the older ones. (I started losing interest once the title font for the episodes name in the beginning went from being red to black)

Though I just started rewatching some of the early episodes for the first time in years, and thy are sooooooo good!

They mostly come at night, mostly......

[–] furienna 12 years ago

I don't mind Dil or Kimi at all, and I enjoy the later episodes as well.

Intelligence and purity.

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[–] Hancock_the_Superb 12 years ago

The writing staff left after its original cancellation. Paul Germane started Recess in the interim so they obviously couldn't get him back. The new writers lacked Germane's off-key wit and made the show into something silly and conventional. Few kids shows could get away with namedropping Clarence Thomas and Saddam Hussein; newer Rugrats didn't even try that level of humor. The Godfather jokes in Rugrats in Paris are the pinnacle of late season cleverness.

I also suspect Nick consciously tried to make the show more kid-friendly after its un-cancellation. This explains the downplaying of cultural references and in-jokes, the escalation of toilet humor and malapropisms (did anyone say "diapie" prior to the '97 season?), the more childish voice work, downplaying the adult characters (arguably the best part of the '91-'94 show) and the new characters.

Ironically, this may have doomed the show. Rather than a crossover show like the early years, Rugrats became strictly for young kids. I'm sure most kid viewers didn't mind but the sizable teen/adult audience lost interest. My parents loved the early seasons as much as me and my brothers, but couldn't stand anything after the movie. Even kid viewers moved on eventually, especially with SpongeBob and Fairly Oddparents coming out around the same time.

As obnoxious as Dil and Kimmi were, like most new characters they're symptoms of decline rather than the cause. The show in its prime wouldn't have added them in the first place; they're just an obvious attempt at a "new" angle and to sell merchandise. I won't even touch All Grown Up.

"Haven't they replaced you with a coin-operated machine yet?"

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[–] josedeleon3000 11 years ago

Nothing. I loved every season and every episode. Even the new ones with Kimi, I thought they would be taking viewers to new places but it just ended in 2004. That was sad. Simpsons, Futurama, and other shows I like stayed right on track.

OT: Spongebob was a great series too until later seasons were just bleh. Family Guy is another show that went downhill in my opinion.

[–] dpm12 8 years ago

The addition of new characters, while admittedly unnecessary, never bothered me. While the show in its later years wasn't as good as in its earlier years, it was still watchable. The problem was the show ran its course. Rugrats was on the air for 13 years. Yes, it was a great show with a great premise, but it wasn't the type of premise that sustained longevity.

In case I don't see ya---Good afternoon, good evening, and good night.

[–] jptf2 8 years ago

Actually, it was exactly the type of premise that would sustain longevity so long as you retain the brilliant writers who made it what it was. Much like The Simpsons, which is actually where the shows' creators and writers broke into the industry. The stories in the Paul Germain-run years were self-contained, which is the sort of style that leads to a great number of possibilities for episodes.

The problem was that literally the entire writing staff left after the original 65 episodes (127 segments). When literally the whole writing staff, including the head writer/voice director/3rd co-creator (Germain) are gone, the show is going to dramatically change.

The new writers simply didn't get it. They didn't know/understand the concept for the series and were likely instructed to do something different by Arlene Klasky for the very reason all the writers departed in the first place.

The conflict between Klasky and the original writers probably even enhanced the creativity in the series, as they actually used it as inspiration to ridicule and subvert her demands, but in the end, the strained relationship broke it apart.

[–] freebird1987 11 years ago

Dil's birth

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