For an entire generation, Nickelodeon was the only channel for kids. So, when the network debuted SNICK (Saturday Night Nickelodeon), it was a massive hit that catapulted Clarissa Explains It All, Ren and Stimpy, and Are You Afraid Of The Dark? into pop culture.
The three shows were part of the original SNICK lineup, but there was another, the low-budget sketch comedy series Roundhouse. Filmed in front of a live studio audience, which they often showed on screen, Roundhouse defied characterization and is still the most original show the network ever produced, but it’s also unavailable on every streaming platform, and it’s never been released on DVD.
The cast of Roundhouse
Roundhouse is the closest we’ll ever get to a college theater production aired on weekly TV, with presumably, the budget to match. Each episode played out like a 22-minute stage performance, complete with musical numbers and dance breakdowns, about a topic relevant to teens and tweens.
I remember an episode about belly buttons, and everyone deciding that innies (or outies) were cool (or not) that day, playing out like a production of Dr. Seuss’s The Sneetches performed by the cast of Rent. Another was a Wizard of Oz parody that finally answered the question of what the Witch’s guards were chanting: “Or-e-o! Yoooo-da!”
John Crane in his motorized chair
I remember a gag from Roundhouse, but not my mom’s phone number. For those of us who are now of a certain age, the one constant from the series, which rotated roles for the cast members, but always centered around the Anyfamily family, is the Dad, played by future MadTV Head Writer John Crane, rolling around in a motorized chair. Every now and then, he’d take part in a dance number as well, still sitting in the chair like Professor X if he wandered onto the set of Stomp.
The music was as much a part of the show as the weekly sketch performances, thanks to a house band of accomplished studio musicians, and with rare exceptions stayed with soft rock and uptempo pop; it was the early 90s after all. Before YouTube, it was hard to catch live music performances outside of MTV, and Roundhouse brought at least three a week into kids’ homes.
As part of the original SNICK lineup, Roundhouse should be a large part of Nickelodeon’s history, but ever since it was canceled after Season 4 and replaced by All That, it’s never been talked about again. For SNICK’s 25th anniversary in 2017, the network aired one episode of Roundhouse; otherwise, when the “original” lineup aired, it was still being replaced by All That. If it was able to be aired once, there’s no issue with music rights, and it didn’t use licensed music in the first place, so why is the show being erased from existence?
No one knows, and the sheer theater kid energy emanating from Roundhouse should have led to some sort of revival after High School Musical and Glee hit it big. The series was never released on VHS, never had a DVD box set, and don’t even think of a Blu-Ray; the printing of that box set would be more than the budget for the entire four-season run. For now, it’s a fun show to bring up among elder millennials, and the type of show that younger generations would never believe made it to air.
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