The "The '90s Are All That" Not-so-daily Episode Log

[NikoMetsPlus]

I agree and disagree on the whole kids on TV thing. While I do believe you would find more "Kate's", there would be plenty of kids actually caught into the actual game, I mean, not everyone would want to express themselves like Kate, I would be a little nervous to make outbursts and interrupt Kirk like she did.

As for the Legends, it's funny, I think they went from horrible, to good, to horrible. I hated Season 1 legends, I didn't want to see images of the moat and the kids faces while the Legends were being read. However, those Legends were the most "factual % accurate".
Season 2 were the best, I actually remember enjoying those Legends, the Lucky Pillow one has stuck in my mind for a long time (probably due to other things in that episode.) Season 3 had strange Legends, and it had ancient characters using modern phrases, and to a older kid, sort of ruined the Legend. Snow Cone and Bifocle were very bad, and just looking through the episode names, you can see a lot of fake legends....

The temple would be similar, I feel like we would have more camera angles, like on the players helmet, they'd probably have them mic'd up for the Temple Guard scares, and frankly we'd have a more intelligent host, which would kind of take away from the fun. Believe it or not, I somewhat enjoyed Kirk botching the room names as a player was exiting, like "the Ledge of Size" and as the players were exiting, seeing him strangle the kids to get them in the camera shot, while he was sweating from working 12 hours while trying to remember what they won. They'd probably get either that Jeff Sutphen guy, or use a male star from one of their TV shows (thats an easy way to increase ratings...) . Funny thing is, I don't watch any of those shows, so I can't name one!

[The Red Jaguars]

I agree and disagree on the whole kids on TV thing. While I do believe you would find more "Kate's", there would be plenty of kids actually caught into the actual game, I mean, not everyone would want to express themselves like Kate, I would be a little nervous to make outbursts and interrupt Kirk like she did.

There would definitely be a lot of genuine and enthusiastic kids who would take the show seriously if they had a reboot for it. I just feel though that there would be a lot more of "fifteen minutes of fame" type of kids if the show was rebooted in this day and age. Especially with the presence of social media where it is much easier to express yourself and share with the whole world everything. And it isn't necessarily a bad thing to be a Kate-type contestant. I actually enjoyed watching Kate in her episode because she still looked like she had fun even though her run was kind of disappointing. And I like how she is the only one to read out the show title with Kirk at the end of the run. 

As for the Legends, it's funny, I think they went from horrible, to good, to horrible. I hated Season 1 legends, I didn't want to see images of the moat and the kids faces while the Legends were being read. However, those Legends were the most "factual % accurate".
Season 2 were the best, I actually remember enjoying those Legends, the Lucky Pillow one has stuck in my mind for a long time (probably due to other things in that episode.) Season 3 had strange Legends, and it had ancient characters using modern phrases, and to a older kid, sort of ruined the Legend. Snow Cone and Bifocle were very bad, and just looking through the episode names, you can see a lot of fake legends....

I agree, Season 2 easily had the best stories and legends. The use of drawings and paintings for the legends definitely made it more interesting to pay attention too. Plus, the had better voice acting and pacing than Season 1 legends. I enjoyed almost all of the legends of Season 2. Except for very few like the Cosa Rara and Cracked Crown legend. 

Season 3 had some pretty good legends too. They definitely made them more comical with superfluous details for a lot of the stories. For example, during the Red Sash legend one of the punishments for Tokugawa was that he would be "grounded for two weeks with no TV." Those kind of lines ruined the legends for me, but other than that I enjoyed Season 3 for their high quality artifacts and interesting stories  behind them. Unfortunately, there were a lot of bad legends too like Snow Cone, Bifocal Monocle, Marble Armrest, Bent Shaving Pan...

Season 1 definitely had the most boring stories and artifacts. Most of the time, the stories were too short and had plots that were irrelevant to the artifact and legend. And the moat shots were pretty boring like you mentioned. And the voice acting was so amateur also. I did enjoy a few of them like Lost Lariat, Golden Jaguar, and the Lucky Pig one.

The temple would be similar, I feel like we would have more camera angles, like on the players helmet, they'd probably have them mic'd up for the Temple Guard scares, and frankly we'd have a more intelligent host, which would kind of take away from the fun. Believe it or not, I somewhat enjoyed Kirk botching the room names as a player was exiting, like "the Ledge of Size" and as the players were exiting, seeing him strangle the kids to get them in the camera shot, while he was sweating from working 12 hours while trying to remember what they won. They'd probably get either that Jeff Sutphen guy, or use a male star from one of their TV shows (thats an easy way to increase ratings...) . Funny thing is, I don't watch any of those shows, so I can't name one!

Kirk "Fogging Up" in the temple was the best part about the temple runs. It just showed how much authentic he was in the temple and he didn't sound like a sports broadcaster or the like. He was also very supportive of the contestants even when they were really bad (like Kristen from Lucky Pig and the Bifocal Monocle kids). There were times where he was annoying like when he repeated himself or got on a contestant for something stupid. His low point was in Season 1 where he sounded so bland  and monotone. But to be fair, he didn't have much direction and definitely became better in the later seasons. I honestly wouldn't mind if he returned for a Legends reboot. I know he will be over 50, but age doesn't matter when it comes to being a game show host. I can't imagine Olmec without Kirk...

[NikoMetsPlus]

The one good thing (and somewhat of a bad thing) is the un-predictable nature of Nick. It could bring back Legends at any time, after all, it's (one of) the last good 90's game show yet to be revived, but then again, I'd have to think twice on the topic of "Do I really want Legends back?".

I think that cutting the show after Season 3 was a mistake. I honestly think Season 4 in 1996 would have been a HIT. Then again, we should be thankful for the 120 episodes we got, all the fun we have debating quirks within episodes, and being able to re-live my childhood, because, to be brutally honest, if I was the guy working for Nick after Season 1, I would have cut it, because Season 1 was, well, dreadful for a Nick show. It was expensive, convoluted and had a lot of holes....

[The Red Jaguars]

Yeah, I use to say the same thing about how it was surprising that Legends got an additional season produced after Season 1. Season 1 was so poorly produced and had too many problems. There were too many errors and production problems with the show, mostly in the earlier episodes. There was very little diversity in the moat, temple games, and even the temple where they used the same ideas over and over again for everything. Kirk's commentary was very lackluster and he was overwhelmed with too many hosting duties. And the talent pool was very weak where a lot of contestants were average or pathetic. The whole season was a huge mess and most of the S1 episodes were hard to watch because they were so boring. There are still a dozen or so great episodes, but the rest are either mediocre or REALLY bad. 

But to be fair, the whole show was a big learning experience for both the producers and the contestants. The entire first season was taped before a single episode aired on Nickelodeon. So the kids that appeared in the Season 1 episode did not really have any direction or guidance with the temple, which is why they got confused and move slow in the temple a lot of times. In the later seasons, the kids could look into the earlier seasons for reference. But the Season 1 kids didn't have that luxury which is why you can't really hold it again them all the time. And Kirk himself admitted that he was ashamed of his Season 1 performance because he was overwhelmed with his tasks and had very little direction. I think what saved this show was the fact that it was unique. No single episode was alike and team element was the key to the success of the show. The new writers for the second season did a solid job in correcting all the mistakes of the first season like updating the temple and giving more duties for Olmec. That is why Season 2 and 3 are more highly regarded than Season 1.

And it was definitely a big mistake for the show to quit after Season 3. The show would only have gotten better if there was a fourth season, judging by the great production quality towards the end of S3. Even Kirk said that he and the producers had no idea that Season 3 would've been the final season. I remember someone saying that most Nick game shows usually lasted 3 seasons, which is why they didn't renew it again. Or something like that. But Legends was so unique and one of a kind that it could've lasted a few more years...

[NikoMetsPlus]

I wonder if they would've changed some of the rooms for S4....

I still don't understand why they didn't make some changes during S3.

[The Silver Monkey]

Closing, as T90sAAT will be no more as of 10/5, in favor of "The Splat!".