Les Brown, New York Times
March 4, 1979
...The new network does not go by initials but by the name Nickelodeon. Since it carries no advertising, it is liberated from the tyranny of audience headcounts. Instead of being designed by specialists in the art of riveting the great mass of viewers to the set, its programming is assembled by an authority in children's education, Dr. Vivian Horner, who helped develop "The Electric Company" for the Children's Television Workshop.
Programs carried by Nickelodeon, a channel for children, are intended to be more edifying than run-of-the-mine children's shows. The channel tries to be nonviolent, nonsexist, nonracist and nonpropogandistic. Its fare is a mix of foreign animations, vintage movie serials, films produced for the school market, short informational pieces, read-aloud comic book presentations, music and teenage forums...
Dr. Horner explained the Nickelodeon philosophy: "We are trying to make it be
not-television, different from commercial or public television. And much of it will be -- pardon the expression -- good for them. The object is not to compete with the commercial networks but to provide an alternative. We're not trying to sell the kids anything. We're paid in advance for what we provide, and so we're not motivated the same as other television programmers.
"This doesn't lok at all like television fare," Dr. Horner noted. "The pace is different, slower, gentler. There is none of the bang-bang-bang that the commercial people think necessary to catch and hold attention. The programming is made up of varied materials of varying lengths, so that none of it begins or ends on the hour. I think of it as an electronic sandbox the kids can come to whenever they wish." ...
Nickelodeon's big, original production is a daily teenage program, "America Goes Bananaz." This is a youth version of the talk-variety program typified by "The Mike Douglas Show," with disco music and guest-star spots girding the "rap sessions," or dialogues, on teenage issues. "This program has some conventional TV concepts," Dr. Horner conceeded, "but the difference is that it cares about kids and their concerns, without playing down to them."
Whatever the merits of the particular programs, the Nickelodeon concept elevates children's television from the programming ghettos to which it has been consigned by the networks and also insulates it from the cynicism of commercial impresarios. To the extent that television is a babysitter, the least that may be said for Nickelodeon is that its attitude is more positive, and its approach more responsible, than those of the alternative electronic nannies...
