Rugrats

About

Rugrats is a 90s animated Nickelodeon show that ran for twelve years. The show revolves around a group of babies and toddlers who go on adventures, seeing the mundane world from a child's imaginative perspective. Online, the show is most often known for being the subject of 90s nostalgia and ruined childhood moments.

History

Rugrats was formed by the then-husband-and-wife duo of Gábor Csupó and Arlene Klasky, along with Paul Germain in 1989. Klasky Csupo had a major animation firm at the time which also provided services for commercials and music videos. Klasky, Csupó, and Germain were also animating The Simpsons at the time, which they would continue to do until 1992. The trio decided to create their own series in reaction to a proclamation by the children's cable network Nickelodeon that they were to launch their own line of animated shows, which would be later called Nicktoons. With the comedic stimulation branching from the antics of Klasky and Csupó's infant children, the 61⁄2–minute pilot episode, "Tommy Pickles and the Great White Thing" (never to be aired), went into production.^[1] A sequel series, All Grown Up, was aired from 2003 to 2008 after the success of the original.^[13]

2020 Revival and Live-action Movie

On July 16th, 2018, Nickelodeon and Paramount Pictures announced a 26-episode revival of the series and a live-action movie with Arlene Klasky, Gábor Csupó, and Paul Germain returning as executive producers. Both the film and the TV series are slated for a 2020 release that will feature brand new adventures and characters.^[14]

Twitter users had mixed reactions to the news, as some fans were excited while others thought the revival would have a negative impact on the show's legacy. User @littlekev811 tweeted that he was excited about the show's return, gaining over 470 retweets and 1,100 likes (shown below, left). User @whoseyourdr tweeted a GIF from Scott Pilgrim indicating he thought it would likely not be good, gaining over 230 retweets and 1,100 likes (shown below, right).

Reception

Since its debut in 1991, Rugrats generally received positive reviews from critics and fans. The show is now regarded as a memorable classic. In a 1995 interview, Steven Spielberg (who, at the time, was producing several competing animated series for Warner Bros.) referred to the show as one of several shows that were the best children's programming at the time. Spielberg described Rugrats as "sort of a TV Peanuts of our time".^[1] It was named the 92nd-best animated series by IGN.^[8] According to Nickelodeon producers, this show made them the number-one channel in the 1990s.^[1]

Fandom

The Rugrats has an unofficial wikia run by fans with a surprisingly large 2,857 pages.^[2] Searching 'Rugrats' on DeviantArt yields roughly 13,000 deviations that are almost entirely based on the 90's show.^[7] About 1,500 fanfictions have been submitted under Rugrats in Fanfiction.net.^[12]

Online Presence

Rugrats, which at the time had moderately high ratings, was scheduled to air 65 episodes as Nickelodeon felt that it had enough reruns for a few years, putting production on a hiatus in 1994. Production of Rugrats resumed in 1996 with three specials, and followed with new episodes airing by 1997.

When Rugrats debuted in 1991, it was not as popular as it would later become. When production went on a hiatus in 1994, Nick began showing Rugrats repeats every day. More people began to take notice of the show, with ratings and popularity for Rugrats and Nick rising. From 1995 to 2000, it was the highest-rated show on Nickelodeon and the highest rated kids' show. The show experienced a wide diverse audience consisting of kids, teenagers and adults alike. Rugrats was successful in receiving an average of 26.7 million viewers every week: 14.7 million kids (2–11), 3.2 million teens (12–17), and 8.8 million adults (18 and over). In addition, Rugrats was seen internationally in over 76 countries. It was the only one of the three original Nicktoons that continued in the 2000s and had its own spin-off. While the other Nicktoons were popular during their run, Doug would later slip out of Nick's hands and into Disney's; and Ren and Stimpy would crash and burn in a creative rights dispute (only to return several years later in a much raunchier version on another network). During its run, Rugrats was enjoyed by a number of famous stars including Alexa Vega, Daryl Sabara, Amanda Bynes, Aaron Carter, Ray Romano, Nivea and Bow Wow.

Rugrats was noteworthy among contemporary children's television for depicting observant, identifiable Jewish families. Jewish and Christian religion groups gave the show high praises for their special holiday episodes. Nonetheless, at one point the Anti-Defamation League and The Washington Post editorial page castigated the series for its depiction of Tommy Pickles' maternal grandparents, accusing their character designs of resembling Nazi-era depictions of Jews.

Related Memes

Stu Making Chocolate Pudding at 4 Am

"Stu Making Chocolate Pudding at 4 AM"" is a YouTube Poop fad based on a scene from the episode "Angelica Breaks a Leg", in which Tommy's mother Didi Pickles finds out her husband Stu Pickles is up at 4 A.M. to make chocolate pudding for his demanding niece Angelica, only to find out she is no longer hungry. Since being uploaded onto YouTube in May 2010, Stu’s pessimistic response “because I’ve lost control of my life” heard in the video gradually became a popular source material for YouTube Poop remixes.

Drew Pickles

Drew Pickles is the father of resident series antagonist Angelica and an overall minor supporting character, has since been reimagined by shitposting troll communities as "the gayest man in the world", a murderous mass-rapist with a three-hundred-mile-long-penis who leads a group of other sexual deviants likewise based on random children's show characters known as the "Barney Bunch" and is "voiced" by text-to-speech program Microsoft Sam in countless crudely-made videos detailing his sexual escapades.

"The Rugrats Theory"

"The Rugrats Theory" refers to a fan hypothesis perpetuated among purveyors of Creepypasta and similar content which claims Angelica Pickles to be insane, and that the other babies as seen in the show are her imaginary friends, whose real counterparts were stillborn or aborted.

This was one of the first such subversive "theories" about a children's show to be popularly circulated online; similar narratives claiming various other characters from different series to be insane/delusional/dead/etc. have since become widespread to the point of being seen as clichéd.

Stu, A gross is 144 eggs

"Stu, a gross is 144 eggs" is a scene, posted on Tumblr, that features Stu Pickles ordering a gross of eggs and somehow not realizing that he has 144 eggs until notified of this excess by his brother, Drew. This post sparked the scene to have multiple edits and gain quick popularity.

Search Interest

External References