Adored By The Network / Nicktoons

SpongeBob SquarePants used to be one of the major examples of this trope and has its own page as a result. The Loud House now has its own page.

• Rugrats was the first Nicktoon to get this treatment. After the show was brought out of hiatus due to the ratings for the reruns being strong, the show dominated most of the lineup and was running at least four times for everyday of the week, as well as winning Best Cartoon for Kids Choice Awards 6 years in a row (1996-2001). This led to Nickelodeon using Klasky-Csupo to produce several new shows for the network, including the Rugrats Spin-Off All Grown Up (born from another overhyped special which received the highest rated premiere in the network's history). Meanwhile, all the other Nicktoons were basically ignored to the background or canceled outright (especially KaBlam! and Invader Zim). It was seriously still running when Nicktoons such as SpongeBob SquarePants, The Fairly OddParents! and The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius premiered. Though Rugrats was nowhere near as Adored by the Network back then as SpongeBob SquarePants and The Loud House (see their pages above) are now. The show was eventually cancelled in the mid-2000s due to KlaskyCsupo failing to reach an agreement with Nickelodeon.
  • Every other Nick channel also loves Rugrats as it has aired on every Nick sister channel (though it was only one day on Nick At Nite), an honor not even SpongeBob has ^note  Not counting a simulcast of the musical, SpongeBob has yet to air on Nick Jr.. It aired on Nicktoons for years (And still occasionally does for marathons), also including TeenNick (as apart of NickRewind), and even aired on Nick Jr. (as part of the short-lived NickMom and the main channel).
  • When the show first made it out of the USA in 1992, Nickelodeon chose France as the first country outside the US to get Rugrats, and Canal+ had to cancel another show just to get Rugrats on the air. You might not believe it, but the show they cancelled was: The Simpsons, which was off-air in France for almost a year afterwards.
• Doug was promoted a lot by the network when it first came out, and was praised by many critics for being a great show that had good storytelling and positive role models for children, with TV Guide even recommending it in their Parents' Guide To Children's TV issues multiple times. It was also the first Nicktoon to have a streak in winning the Best Cartoon Category for the Kids Choice Awards 4 years in a row (1992-1995). However, it wasn't able to become as popular as The Ren & Stimpy Show or Rugrats were despite their efforts, and eventually Nick sold the rights to the show to Disney, where it has remained ever since.
• The Ren & Stimpy Show proved to be one of Nick's biggest hits of the early 90's, as ads for it were shown constantly and merchandise for the show was prominent across many retailers. The show even gained a short-lived revival on Spike TV in 2003 (which was cancelled after only 6 episodes had aired) and even started rerunning on Nick again in the late 2000's and early 2010's. The show was temporarily pulled from the channel after the sexual assault allegations against creator John Kricfalusi in 2018, but eventually returned later that year.
• CatDog had a fairly large amount of airtime during the early-to-mid 2000's and gained several merchandise tie-ins as well as a full-length TV movie titled "The Great Parent Mystery", in which CatDog are reunited with their actual parents, who turn out to be a yeti and a frog.
• Rocket Power and The Wild Thornberrys were all over the network in the late 90's and early 2000's. Both shows had frequent airings and promotion and had several merchandise tie-ins (and in the latter's case, two theatrical movies (including Rugrats Go Wild!)). Nick's plan to make them their next Rugrats did not work as well as they expected, likely due to SpongeBob overshadowing both series around the same time.
• From the early-to-mid 2000's, The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius was perhaps the third-most played series on the network next to SpongeBob and The Fairly OddParents, and considering the huge popularity of the series at the time, this wasn't a bad thing at all.
  • From May to late June 2020, it aired up to 10 times a day on Fridays on Nicktoons for 5 hours (This was probably done to compete against Disney XD's Phineas and Ferb airings, as the P&F airs up to roughly the same amount of time as Jimmy Neutron on various different days). However it was eventually replaced with (surprise, surprise) SpongeBob, go figure.
• The Fairly OddParents! was immediately popular back in the 2000s (compared to the other cartoon that premiered on the same day, Invader Zim, which was quickly Screwed by the Network) and quickly became the second-highest-rated children’s program among kids ages 2-11 on both network and cable television, behind SpongeBob SquarePants. The series managed to briefly steal SpongeBob's spot as the number one highest rated children's television program in mid 2003. The Fairly OddParents also attracted a wide audience, appealing to teenagers and adults as well as kids. It has produced several TV movies, as well as three live-action adaption movies, starring Drake Bell. However, the show eventually got screwed by having multiple delays, cutting its budget in half and moving the series to the Nicktoons channel where it was cancelled in 2017.
• My Life as a Teenage Robot, Danny Phantom, and especially Avatar: The Last Airbender were practically the big three action shows on the network during the mid-2000s, with constant promotions and large amounts of airtime between the three when they all premiered. In fact, Nick's Latin American feed loved Teenage Robot more than SpongeBob himself at one point! Sadly, this was more in the case early in their runs, as Nickelodeon cancelled Teenage Robot due to low ratings (largely due to Nick constantly airing season 2 in different time slots and giving the show long breaks between episodes without warning, with reruns and other shows taking its place) and Danny Phantom season 3 had a massive hiatus and later aired with weak marketing and aired in a poor timeslot. Avatar: The Last Airbender also suffered from constant hiatuses and only reran every once in a while because of its very story-driven plot, although it at least got the highest ratings of the bunch and was the only one to become a Cash-Cow Franchise, which it remains to this very day.
  • In the late 2000s and early 2010s, it was practically impossible to see at least one of these shows several times a day on the Nicktoons channel, with frequent marathons as well. Avatar especially, to the point where the network gave it its own Avatar Extras series ^note An event that would feature pop-up facts and comments written by writers of the series.
• While it was treated not so nicely on the main channel due to several complaints from parents, Invader Zim was aired very frequently on Nicktoons, and had several marathons. For example, in early September 2011, the show had a 24 hour marathon, while Fanboy and Chum Chum was more than happy to take up the night slot. It also made a surprising comeback to Nicktoons in December 2020.
• As of May 18, 2012, Nickelodeon could be called "The SpongeBob and Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness Network". The latter would play for 2 1/2 hours on weekdays, making it the second-most run show on Nick at the time.
• The Penguins of Madagascar received 6.1 million viewers during its official debut and thus became Nick's number two cartoon. At the time it was new, it aired more reruns compared to the rest of the non-SpongeBob Nicktoons, causing Nick to produce two more cartoons based on DreamWorks movies (one whom Monsters vs Aliens is from the same producers). Alas, its adoration status came to an end by 2012, as its premiere schedule become slower than usual.
• Fanboy and Chum Chum: When it was brand new, Nick would air massive blocks on both Nickelodeon and Nicktoons; it seemed for a while that you couldn't go a single day of the week without seeing at least three episodes of it. This was thanks to having a ratings boost due to officially premiering after SpongeBob's Truth or Square special.
  • Often the same three episodes. Again and again and again. Seriously, for a while you could only see three to five episodes, total, of The Penguins of Madagascar and Fanboy and Chum Chum, even with the knowledge that other episodes probably existed. They would play them in hour blocks, yet you never seemed to catch a new episode and the latter eventually got screwed later on in its run.
• Before it got Screwed by the Network, T.U.F.F. Puppy would get adoration in the same way as Fanboy & Chum Chum whenever The Fairly Oddparents had the day off.
• Before it also got Screwed by the Network, Back at the Barnyard would get treated nicely ad well, premieres would constantly air at a pretty good time around late 2009-late 2010. The show even gets to occasionally air on Nicktoons, with constant marathons.
• For a few years during the early 2010s, Nickelodeon channel could have easily been called "The SpongeBob and FOP Channel". When they weren't airing their Kid Com series or Nick Jr. cartoons, the channel was pretty much SpongeBob and The Fairly OddParents! every weekday. As of 2015, the Fairly OddParents has been mostly pushed onto sister-channel Nicktoons. However, with a new season coming out, FOP has been airing on the main channel a bit more, but was moved to Nicktoons since 2017. Reruns of some of the episodes that premiered on Nicktoons aired on Nickelodeon in 2018 only to be removed a little bit later.
• Before it became renamed to "The Splat" (and later "NickSplat" and "NickRewind" - the latter was the name of the block until it discontinued on 31 January 2022), TeenNick's late night "The '90s Are All That" pretty much exclusively aired Hey Arnold!, Rugrats, and CatDog for several years.
  • Even with that said, NickRewind still tended to air the same cartoons often until it was removed from TeenNick's schedule: Rugrats, CatDog, Rocko's Modern Life, Hey Arnold!, and The Angry Beavers.
  • Rugrats, Hey Arnold!, Rocko's Modern Life and Doug (Nickelodeon seasons only) have had mostly permanent time slots since each show debuted.^note CatDog, a formerly permanent show, got dropped in 2018 for unknown reasons and The Ren & Stimpy Show, a semi-permanent show, has aired on and off since it debuted; it briefly got dropped in 2018 due to controversies surrounding the creator, but it would return the following year.
  • Hey Arnold! had the honor of being the final Nicktoon to air on NickRewind until the block became 100% live-action (with the block shuttering for good two weeks later).
• Ever since the summer of 2016, Nickelodeon's weekend schedule from 7AM until 6PM was entirely comprised of SpongeBob, ALVINNN!, and The Loud House.
• Nickelodeon was extensively advertising Sanjay and Craig when it was new. In fact, two or even three commercials for the show would air in a single commercial break. Commercials were even airing on different networks. They also interrupted shows with Sanjay and Craig ads as well, playing a commercial right after a show's theme song. However, it was (thankfully) fitted so no content was missed.
  • They went so far as to advertise on Tumblr, leading to a backlash against the show because Tumblr ads were breaking into the users' dashboard.
  • Despite falling under 1 million viewers a few times towards the end, this remains as one of the only original Nicktoons that debuted in the 2010s to air on the main channel for its entire run. They were able to air the remaining episodes by a week of premieres during summer 2016 instead of waiting forever to be burnt off on Nicktoons.
• When it was new, Rabbids Invasion took Kung Fu Panda's crown as second most run animated series on Nickelodeon. You could expect to see at least 2 hours of it a day.
• If you watch Nickelodeon Asia, it's hard not to turn it on and see either Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012), The Penguins of Madagascar or Back at the Barnyard. These three shows air so much that SpongeBob only airs four to five times a day and only airs older episodes.
  • The new favorites seem to be Rabbids Invasion and Oggy and the Cockroaches. What's worse is that the latter already airs on seemingly every kids' channel in some Asian regions, as well as on some local channels. They also love the Dora the Explorer franchise.
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012) was once Nick's second-favorite show, after SpongeBob of course. Not bad considering that kids and adults alike love the show and that it makes a lot of money of merchandising! It had the most half-hours produced for a 2010s Nicktoon. However, it only had reruns early on, and much like Avatar: The Last Airbender, it was story driven, making it difficult to rerun. It is aired a lot on Nicktoons, though, especially when they did a marathon to prepare for the premiere of Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
• Nickelodeon BENELUX is quite particular for this:
  • Most of you probably know that Nickelodeon airs marathons of SpongeBob, but most outside of that particular area do not know that it was also prone to say that they would air marathons of The Penguins Of Madagascar.
  • The TeenNick of that area was also prone to air Victorious a lot, airing it for full 3 hours on week-ends.
• If you had Nicktoons Network from 2006 to 2008, chances are you'd see a show called Kappa Mikey, as well as commercials for it, a lot. It got to the point where they couldn't go a single commercial break without shoving an ad for it in your face.
• The short series Tortellini Western aired on Nicktoons at least ten times a day from 2004 to 2006. It was far more common to see shorts of Tortellini Western playing in-between shows than it was to see other shorts such as The Presentators, Doodlez, Napman, or Edgar & Ellen.
  • Speaking of shorts, whenever Nicktoons aired one of the KaBlam! shorts on their own during breaks, it usually tended to be Prometheus and Bob, but especially Life With Loopy- and nine times out of then it was always "20,000 Leagues Under The Sofa", "Lunar Loopy", or "Hi-Fi Frankenstein". Sniz and Fondue and Action League NOW! also aired during commercial breaks but not as frequently (the former rarely aired and the latter had a program that was rerunning on Nicktoons at the time) Not only did they play frequently on the channel, but they eventually outlasted KaBlam! itself in reruns for about two years.
• In the United Kingdom, Nickelodeon's most-aired animated shows are Winx Club (a co-production between Nick and Rainbow Group, both part of Viacom) and Horrid Henry airing most of the day to fulfill European content quotas.
  • Surprisingly enough, the UK feed is currently the only feed of Nickelodeon in the world to not air any cartoons at all, save for SpongeBob, The Loud House, The Casagrandes, It's Pony, ALVINNN!!! and the Chipmunks, and the aforementioned Winx Club and Horrid Henry.
• At one point, Harvey Beaks seemed to have this treatment. Given its Win Back the Crowd status for the network, this wasn't a bad thing at all. Emphasis on "one point", though, as Nickelodeon would eventually go in the complete opposite direction.
• During holidays, Nicktoons UK airs a block called "Loud Horrid Sponge", comprised of the three shows it's named after, which takes up most of the day's schedule.
• In July 2018, Nicktoons might've as well be called "The Butch Hartman and Keep It Spotless Channel", and as of 2020, FOP and SpongeBob.
• It's Pony was looking to be the next adored Nicktoon. Its first episode was aired at least 6 times within the first couple days, a kind of treatment that has been lacking for most modern Nicktoons outside of the Loud House. This didn't last, AT ALL.
• Middlemost Post is getting lots of love. It airs at least 3-4 times a day, despite the fact that there are only a few episodes released yet.
• Since spring 2021, the Nicktoons channel has pretty much devolved into a 24/7 clone of the main Nick channel (without the Nick Jr and Nick @ Nite blocks), with SpongeBob, The Loud House (two shows that are already oversaturated on Nick), and their spinoffs gaining more slots every passing month. Every classic/ended shows not named Rugrats (2021), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012), or Big Nate (all three of which only have around two slots each on any given day) are no longer airing on the channel and if an ended show does return to Nicktoons, it doesn't last long. The Fairly OddParents! managed to avoid the chopping block at first, but it too stopped airing reruns by March 2023. The only good thing about the channel nowadays is that they mostly ditched the live-action programming since the summer so it now lives up to its name again.
• Despite being a Paramount+ show, Big Nate is getting this treatment from the main Nickelodeon network. The show is heavily promoted, has quite a few reruns and they even got the titular character to host the AfterToons block.

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