SNICK (Saturday Night Nickelodeon) was the ultimate Saturday night hangout for kids and preteens who weren’t quite old enough to be hitting the town. From August 15, 1992, to January 29, 2005, SNICK took over Saturday nights with two hours of must-watch TV from 8 to 10 p.m. ET. If you missed it, no worries—there was a replay on Sundays from 5 to 7 p.m. In 2005, SNICK evolved into the Saturday night version of TEENick and continued to entertain until 2021, though it eventually dropped the name and just became Nickelodeon’s Saturday night lineup.
In honor of its 32nd birthday, here’s an entire 2-hour block of SNICK (including all the commercials) featuring episodes of Roundhouse, The Adventure of Pete and Pete, Ren & Stimpy, and Are You Afraid of the Dark!
Back in the day, the big networks like ABC, NBC, and CBS didn’t even bother with younger viewers on Saturday nights, assuming that only the over-50 crowd was tuning in. Enter Nickelodeon’s president, Geraldine Laybourne, who thought this was nonsense. She believed there was a whole audience of kids and teens who weren’t out partying or tucked in bed by 8 p.m. Her goal? To prove that Saturday nights could be a goldmine for youth programming.
And boy, was she right! SNICK’s original shows doubled Nickelodeon’s Saturday night audience, attracting up to a million extra viewers. By early 1993, Nickelodeon dominated the 6–11 age group on Saturday nights, even beating out the big networks. SNICK was a game-changer, turning what was once a quiet TV night into a vibrant, can’t-miss event for kids everywhere.
Edit: There is some confusion about the actual date of when this was originally broadcast. We had incorrectly stated 1992 as that’s what the YouTube video stated, but that’s incorrect. The Pete and Pete episode ‘Day of the Dot’ didn’t air until December 5, 1993. The Ren & Stimpy episode “Sammy & Me” didn’t air until 1996. So it’s unclear still when this would have air as-is, but it was definitely not 1992.
