Cousin Skeeter was a show that aired on Nickelodeon in 1998 and ran for three seasons. In the show Bobby's life is turned upside down when his cousin Skeeter comes to live with him and his family. Skeeter was actually portrayed by a puppet, but he was treated like a real person. Another character in the series was Bobby's best friend Nina who he had a crush on. Later in the series a character named Nicole was added. She was portrayed by a puppet like Skeeter, but was much more polite than he was. She became Nina's best friend.
This show provides examples of:
- Accidental Astronaut: ''New Kids on the Planet" has Skeeter, Bobby, Nina, and Skeeker's crush, Nicole, go to space camp. Attempting to impress Nicole, Skeeter sneaks everyone on a Space Shuttle, believing it to be just one of the camp's simulators. After messing around with the controls they find out it is in fact a real shuttle and are launched into space. Taken further when Skeeter hits the hyperdrive button (while trying put press a Do not touch! note to it), sending them to an alien world.
- The Ace: Skeeter. He's able to do anything and everything, his own cousin doesn't get enough attention.
- Berserk Button: Being called short for Skeeter—if anyone insults his height, he gets angry and defensive.(or sad if one of his loved ones does it unintentionally on a heated moment)In "April Foolish," his Nightmare Sequence ends with him getting even shorter and shrinking away to nothing.
- Big Applesauce: The show is set in New York.
- Bilingual Backfire: Skeeter had just...knocked over a T-Rex skeleton or something. A couple of women say in Portuguese-"The short one is in trouble" as they laugh amongst themselves. Skeeter replies in Portuguese "Hey! I'm not short! I'm still growing!"
- Confirm Before Reveal: In Season 2 "New Kids on the Planet", after Skeeter sneaks Bobby, Nina, and Nicole into a space shuttle called the "Prometheus 7" and accidentally launches the ship into space, this gets the attention of mission control in Houston, Texas.Mike: Say, Dave.
Dave: Yes, Mike.
Mike: What day is it? Tuesday, right?
Dave: (checking his watch) Yep, Tuesday. Why?
Mike: The Prometheus 7 just took off. I thought that wasn't scheduled to happen until Thursday.
Dave: (checking a clipboard) Yep, Thursday.
(beat)
Mike and Dave: Aaaaaaaaah! - Crossover: With another Nick show Kenan & Kel.
- It helped that Tollin/Robbins produced both shows.
- Diet Episode: In one episode, Andre and Skeeter are looking through a family photo album when they discover a photo of a muscular ancestor. They decide to get in shape to be just like him, forcing Bobby and Vanessa to come along for the ride. Vanessa eventually cooks up a scheme to alter Andre and Skeeter's clothes to make them think that their diet and exercise program is already giving them the results they want.
- Disguised in Drag: In one episode, Skeeter disguises himself as "Skeetia" to get into a popular all-girl singing group.
- Embarrassing Nickname: Skeeter's was "Sugar Booger" in elementary school.
- Everyone Hates Fruit Cakes: In the intro to "Miracle on 32nd Skeet", Bobby's dad Andre suggests Bobby get Skeeter a fruitcake, which Bobby counters nobody likes fruitcake. A Gilligan Cut immediately shows Skeeter actually enjoying a fruitcake...to use as a hockey puck.
- The Greatest Story Never Told: In "New Kids on the Planet" Skeeter had warped his friends on a space-faring adventure, thwarted a stereotypical bug queen overlord, and even planted a mole so that her 50,000,000 year old plot for world domination will be thwarted in the long run. Then his friends get neuralized by Kay. IN GOLF PANTS. Skeeter was with them when this happened, but he was not looking at the neutralizer. He rolled a natural 20 on dodge, the others call him stupid.
- Hellevator: Used in the TV movie New Kids On The Planet
- "Home Alone" Antics: In an episode, the main characters worked in a toy store that was later robbed by a couple criminals. They use the toys to fight them off.
- I'm Okay!: Always said by Skeeter after he crashes into something.
- Intercontinuity Crossover - In the two part episode "The "Hoo, I'm Wild" Wild West" with Kenan & Kel.
- KidAnova - Downplayed with Skeeter: he had quite a few girlfriends over the show (and even more at his previous school), but since he seems to be a young teenager (thirteen or fourteen) he's older than most examples of this trope.
- Motor Mouth: Nina, who could talk endlessly without drawing a breath. Since she was also a Teen Genius, it occasionally crossed over with Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness (with the other teens telling her to stop using big words and get to the point).
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: In one episode, Bobby gets a job at a toy store, where the biggest rule is "no playing with the toys". When the store gets attacked by crooks, Bobby and Skeeter use the various playthings to fend them off. Although they stop the robbery, Bobby gets fired for breaking the rules. But since he did stop a robbery, he is allowed one free toy of his choice.
- Oblivious to Love: Nina has no idea that Bobby has a giant crush on her, despite his awkwardness around her and various other obvious clues. It didn't help that Skeeter was a Shipper on Deck who constantly tried to get them together.
- Properly Paranoid: In "New Kids on the Planet," the kids find themselves on the planet Tunica, which seems to be a teenager's paradise. The Tunicans offer the quartet everything they could ever want (endless sports equipment for Bobby, a huge wardrobe for Nina, and massive amounts of junk food for Skeeter). Nicole is the only one who suspects that it's all too good to be true—and she turns out to be right, as the planet's leaders are planning to conquer Earth.
- Rubber-Forehead Aliens: In the TV movie "New Kids On The Planet"
- Save the Villain: In the "New Kids On The Planet" the villain's right-hand man is about to fall into what looks like an incinerator. The protagonists make a run for it, except Skeeter, who runs back for him while yelling "I got a conscience, man, I'm sorry!" and tells the villain to take his hand. The other characters go back to help pull when it looks like Skeeter isn't strong enough. This act of kindness is enough to get the villain to pull a Heel–Face Turn and help the kids escape.
- Say My Name: Bobby shouts Skeeter's name whenever he screws up.
- Shout-Out: Whether it was intentional or not the second episode was called "Skeeter's Toy Story"
- The episode "Out of Control," about a bringing a speeding bus to safety, is one for Speed.
- Also the title- Out of Control was one of Nickelodeon's earliest original shows (pre-Double Dare (1986) even).
- The title of the episode Miracle on 32nd Skeet, despite it not being a Christmas episode.
- After "New Kids on The Planet," the gang is neuralized by Expies of Agents Jay and Kay.
- The episode "Out of Control," about a bringing a speeding bus to safety, is one for Speed.
- Taught by Television: subverted in "New Kids on the Planet" where Skeeter tries to show of his "Kung Fu Skills" from watching tons of martial arts films to aliens. The aliens then pulled an Indiana Jones, and just shot near him. Skeeter surrenders immediately.
- However, Bobby did manage to fly a NASA rocket ship thanks to a flight simulator video game.
- Theme Tune Cameo: In one episode, Skeeter disguises himself as "Skeetia" to get into an all-girl singing group. When asked to improvise a tune, "she" sings the bridge of the theme song, substituting "her" own name for Skeeter's ("Skeetia's the one for me...").
- Title Drop: Happened a few times, but it wasn't out of the ordinary, as Bobby would introduce Skeeter to people saying "This is my cousin Skeeter."
- Unusually Uninteresting Sight: The fact that Skeeter is a puppet is never acknowledged on the show.
- Vague Age:
- The ages of Bobby and Nina are never stated. However, They begin High school in the first episode of season 3, while seasons 1-2 they were in summer school, making it highly likely that they are 13-14 in seasons 1 and 2, and 14-15 in season 3.
- With Skeeter and Nicole, It's more vague, since they're the shortest characters on the show, yet attend school with Bobby and Nina.
- Watch Out for That Tree!: "The Not-So Great Outdoors" opens with Skeeter exploring the park's wilderness and swinging into a tree then.
