Salute Your Shorts

"Salute Your Shorts" may not be the finest television program ever created, but it sure does rank pretty high when concerning Nickelodeon shows. Thanks to Nick GAS (a channel that also airs "Double Dare," "Finders Keepers," "Legends of the Hidden Temple," etc) I've been catching it once or twice every weekend this summer.

I wasn't expecting much, to tell you the truth. I was a young kid the last time I saw this show, and, of course, my tastes have since irreversibly changed.

I was quite surprised to find a very entertaining show. The cinematography and camera angles are actually compelling; the direction is sure-handed and solid. Although the acting can sometimes lean a bit toward the amateurish side at times, it kind of adds to the show's charm. Don't get me wrong -- there is some really good acting here, too.

One of the few old Nickelodeon shows to hold up so well, "Salute Your Shorts" is a lost classic that deserves far more credit than it gets.

This was my favorite show on Nickelodeon as a little kid. My favorite episode was always the one about the Capture the Flag game against the other camp. My favorite part was when Donkey Lips came up behind a guy and creamed him with a water balloon up close while he was on the ground. Michael was a pretty cool guy, but I think his replacement, Pinsky, was a lot more animated. I also enjoyed the schemes they both pulled along with Sponge, Donkey Lips, and Budnick. Ug was also hilarious in the ways that he made a complete a** of himself all the time. I don't think Nickelodeon airs the show anymore. A definite kids show classic.

"Salute Your Shorts" (SYS) began with all the stereotypical characters. It became something else entirely. With inspired mayhem like a visit from Ug's horrific niece to a capture the flag game gone "Apocalypse Now," SYS is a sister show to "Hey Dude" - somewhat realistic, but always funny. The use of classical music (such as Tchaichovsky's "Marche Slave") as a soundtrack in many places gives the show a nice ironic, surreal feel that current Nick comedies sorely lack.

Fave Eps

Capture the Flag - Very cool spoofs of many war movies. Go Donkey Lips and ZeeZee!

Wrestling Team - Seeing Donkey Lips and Sponge trying to make the team is hilarious and heartwarming, too.

A night at the movies - A change of setting means cinema based hilarity.

My second favorite non-animated show on Nickelodeon. The first, of course, would have to be the Adventures of Pete and Pete. There were so many great things about this show, they're too many to list. All I can say is Nick needs to get back in gear and start running these old shows that came of Nickelodeon back when I was a kid. Shows like Pete and Pete, Rocko's Modern Life, Salute Your Shorts (of course) Clarissa Explains it All (did you know she went to see Pearl Jam in one episode, and Nirvana in another?) and maybe even some Roundhouse. Definitely don't bring back stupid Alex Mack or even Hey! Dude. I wasn't really too fond of either of those shows. They were just too cheesy without enough comedy. Hell, Alex Mack wasn't even a comedy, it was just a sad attempt at a kid's action/drama.

All I can say is, bring back the better shows. The shows from back in the day when the ads for Nick had a dog in a karate outfit dancing on two legs while an ocapella sang "Ni-ni-ni-n'nick-nick-nick- Nick-el-o-deon!

I bet anyone my age who had cable television can remember the greatness of good old Nickelodeon. Salute Your Shorts was absolutely my favorite show! The plots were easy to understand and the characters were (mostly) likable. Whenever I see someone watching Nickelodeon all I can think of is the hours I spent watching the greatest television. I suggest that Nickelodeon brings back all the shows from my childhood: Salute Your Shorts, Clarissa Explains It All, The Secret World of Alex Mack, Rocko's Modern Life, Are You Afraid of the Dark?, The Adventures of Pete and Pete, Double Dare with Marc Summers, Legends of the Hidden Temple, Guts, the old Rugrats(before they grew up and before they went to Paris), and Doug. It seems like yesterday when i heard the Patti Mayonnaise music, got extremely scared from a television show, watched Sam climb into Clarissa's window by climbing a ladder and Alex Mack turn into this liquid mercury stuff, went through the dryer at the laundromat to find Spunky, got extremely slimy with someone else's family, talked to some big rock, used a screwdriver to get out of a playpen, climbed a huge mountain, and went to summer camp. I guess those shows are considered classics now and I really hope that kids who grew up with these shows never forget about them.