| Genre: | Game show Nickerstitial |
| Runtime: | 120 minutes |
| Director: | Jason Harper |
| Producer: | Jason Harper |
| Country: | United States |
| Network: | Nickelodeon |
| Num Seasons: | 8 |
Slime Time Live is a television show that aired on Nickelodeon from 2000–2004, lasting 8 seasons. During its run it was hosted by Dave Aizer, Jonah Travick, and Jessica Holmes and produced/directed by Jason Harper. It was located outside (inside if either weather did not permit, or the outdoor area had become too messy from earlier in the day) of the former Nickelodeon Studios at Universal Studios Florida (the third-to-last show to do so). It mainly aired as filler during regular commercial time.
The show holds two Guinness World Records – most people pied in three minutes (1,000 in 2001), and most people slimed (762 on the finale). The sliming was done outdoors, in front of the studios.
The show was known to have slimed their audience; when they did this they would pick someone, sit them in a chair, and ask them a question. If they answered correctly, they would get a bucket of slime (eventually changed to two buckets, then three) poured on top of them.
The show was also known to have their audience members, contestants, hosts, celebrity guests, and staff caught on-camera pied in the face. When it was cancelled, Nick's pieing trademark was forgotten. It was later revived through the Nick-themed resort and cruise line.
During the show, viewers would phone in to play interactive games with players on the show. The most common game was to make a match of Nicktoons from off of a Tic-tac-toe grid. The board was scrambled before game play and if a match was made, the home player would win a prize and the contestant would be slimed and often pied as well.
If they did not make a match, host Dave Aizer would receive a whipped cream pie in the face. Later when the mystery bucket was introduced, if no match was made, only the mystery bucket would drop on the player.
In addition to Nicktoons, the board included a pie tile (the contestant would shove the pie they are holding in their face), a "cream blaster" tile (where the contestant would be blasted with whipped cream by the two side cannons), a bonus tile (where the home player gets another try) and an "instant slime" tile or a wild card (which triggered an automatic match, an instant sliming and an instant win).
On some occasions, an overload of slime is used. And slime-u-lator 2.0 where they have to hand pedal and slime in the red blue bins can travel upward through the yellow tubes into those two bins and filling the plastic tubes with slime and one bins with high point will fall down to which team and which team gets slime from one those bins is filled they will win and move on to big shaboozie showdown round.
More interactive games would be played as the run progressed. Many celebrities from other Nick shows appeared often.
First known as "Super Sloppy Slime-Off," The Big Shaboozie was the show's end game. Below are changes made, over the years, to it while the show was on-air.
Slime Time Live initially aired from 4-5pm, leading up to new episodes of Double Dare 2000. It was clear Nickelodeon had a hit on its hands, and within a few months on May 2nd, 2000, the show was expanded into a 2.5-hour programming block, airing between shows and commercials from 4-6:30 pm weekdays. This initial season lasted until June 30th, 2000.
The second season premiered on September 4th, 2000 and lasted until November 22nd, 2000. "This season resumed much the same way it left off, with a few minor gameplay changes. Longstanding traditions like the birthday pie in the face became cemented in place this season."
In "Super Sloppy Slime-Off," two out of three teams (each team had three contestants), Jessica led one team and Jonah led the other, would stand under a trough filled with slime. Dave would ask a Nick-related question, if one of the in-house players answered the question, one of the contestants from the home player's team would be pied by their team leader, if they answered wrong, a contestant from the opposing team would be pied by their team leader. The team to have all three of their members pied would be slimed and (along with the home player) receive a grand prize.
This season resumed much the same way it left off, with a few minor gameplay changes. Longstanding traditions like the birthday pie in the face became cemented in place this season. Starting in February 2001, BubbleCast would be aggressively promoted. This was an online interactive platform, which prompted viewers to constantly engage with the Nick.com website while watching shows. BubbleCast would be phased out by the end of the season.
Jonah and Jessica assume more prominent roles this season, with their roles clearly evolving from assistants to active co-hosts. Indeed, when Dave Aizer leaves to cover the 2001 Kids' Choice Awards in April, Jessica and Jonah hosted STL from Orlando.
The Slime-U-Lator rounds remained, but gameplay would change to allow home players 20 seconds to find the matching Nick characters. The Slime-U-Lator was updated to include two barrels of slime.
The questions for the Super Sloppy Slime-Off now centered on random themes, rather than Nickelodeon trivia questions. The host would give hints about something relating to the stated theme, and home players would buzz in to answer. The themes became more random and ridiculous as the series progressed, such as "Things you wouldn't want to sit on," and "Wild Thornberrys animals you wouldn't want to find in your pocket." This made the segment a bit more humorous and engaging than the straight trivia questions of the previous season.
The third season premiered on January 1st, 2001 and lasted until June 15th, 2001. Starting on February 5th, 2001,[1] BubbleCast would be aggressively promoted. This was an online interactive platform, which prompted viewers to constantly engage with the Nick.com website while watching shows. BubbleCast would be phased out on March 30th, 2001. However, BubbleCast would return on Sunday nights in August 2001 during Taina. Jonah and Jessica assume more prominent roles this season, with their roles clearly evolving from assistants to active co-hosts. Indeed, when Dave Aizer leaves to cover the 2001 Kids' Choice Awards in April, Jessica and Jonah hosted STL from Orlando." It also aired special editions like Slime Time SNICK Live which aired on March 10th, 2001 and March 17th, 2001. Even Slime Time Live in the Bahamas that ran from June 4th, 2001 to June 8th, 2001 reran from 6:30-9am from June 11th, 2001 to June 15th, 2001.
The fourth season premiered on September 3rd, 2001 and lasted until December 21st, 2001. There was no Slime Time Live the week during the 9/11 attacks.
This season saw a number of changes, especially when it resumed in January 2002. In Mondays throughout November 2001, STL would visit different schools, where they hosted Slime Time Takes Over Your School. Also in 2001, a feature called Head-to-Head Friday was played, which involved competitions to determine which of two shows would air, with the audience divided into two teams, and often taking part in competitions.
Gameplay for the Slime-U-Lator rounds changed again, in that home players now got three chances to pick two numbers at a time, in an attempt to make a match. The fifth season premiered on January 7th, 2002 and lasted until May 24, 2002. Starting on January 21st, 2002, the Slime-U-Lator was revamped to include three barrels: two containing slime, and a third as the "mystery bucket," containing a mystery mess that was often voted for online. If the player won the game, their studio teammate would be slimed with all three buckets. If they lost, their teammate would only get the mystery bucket dumped on them. In 2002 the Slime-U-Lator game was reduced to two rounds per show, but usually added an extra messy skit or stunt in its place.
Starting in January, the NickVentures segment was introduced, which involved Jonah traveling across the country to find out what kids liked to do after school. This segment would usually introduce the mystery mess for the upcoming Slime-U-Lator round.
Also in 2002, the finale of the show was iconically renamed The Big Shaboozie, and the shaboozinator was filled with slime in addition to several different mystery messes, resulting in a unique, colorful mess at the end of each day. Winning contestants would also be blasted with the Cream Blasters and the Booty Blasters from the front and behind, respectively. In this season, teams started doing choreography of some sort when introduced.
It also aired special editions like Slime Time Live in Hypertime which aired on April 6th, 2002 and a Hey, I Wanna Be Arnold! Slime Time Movie Special which aired on June 15th, 2002 and June 22nd, 2002.
Renamed "The Big Shaboozie," changes to the game included Dave asking Nick-related questions on the given topic (instead of random questions); all players would now wear goggles during the game—whether it was getting pied, slimed, etc. -- in addition to getting slimed (they often got slimed with other substances besides that), the members of the winning team would be blasted (front and back) with whipped cream.
The new format could be summed up as "elimination rounds on steroids." The first section involved building teams, through a series of elimination rounds. I.e., in a series of competitions, 16 blue team contestants would be narrowed down to two players. The same process would be repeated for the red team. Once two teams of two had been established, then these teams would compete against each other in even more games, to gain points which could be used in the final Big Shaboozie showdown round.
The sixth season premiered on September 2nd, 2002 and lasted until November 27th, 2002. This season saw some radical changes to the show and its format, starting with the schedule, which now became a three-hour block from 2-5 p.m. This was not the most convenient schedule change, as many kids did not get out of school until 3 p.m. The schedule change was presumably made so that U-Pick Live could assume the attractive 5 p.m. slot.
The Big Shaboozie finale involved a large tic tac toe-style game board with nine numbers. In turn, teams could use their accrued points to pick numbers on the game board, in hopes of finding the winning square, The Big Shaboozie. If players found The Whammy square, then the opposing team automatically won the game. There were plenty of mystery messes thrown in behind the other squares. The audience of the winning team would get blasted with whipped cream cannons. This round introduced teams with a silly dance or cheer, orchestrated by team captains Jonah and Jessica.
The seventh season premiered on January 6th, 2003 and lasted until May 23rd, 2003. In this season, the show has been cut down to two hours, now airing from 3-5pm.
This time, there are only two players on each team. Each team takes turns deciding which number to pick on a Tic-Tac-Toe board, if one team finds "The Big Shaboozie" they will win the game, but if they find "The Whammy," the opposing team wins.
The Splat Vat was introduced, which was a kind of dunk tank, used for various games with audience members and hosts. There was a call-in segment that ran similarly to the Slime-U-Lator rounds of previous series.
Teams for The Big Shaboozie now wore orange and light blue, a change from the red and blue of the previous seasons. The Big Shaboozie was played in a similar way to the first few seasons, home players on the phone competing for their team in studio. This season, questions are asked in a "this-or-that" format. E.g., players might have to decide whether an item is "Desert" or "Dessert." Hosts would alternate each show, with Dave, Jonah, and Jessica all getting a chance to sit above the Splat Vat. At the start of The Big Shaboozie, the host would bank on a team they thought would win. If they chose the wrong team, they would be dropped into the Splat Vat after the winning team was slimed.
On August 4th, 2003, Nickelodeon aired Summer Slime Live which was a summer edition of Slime Time Live where it was hosted by Dave Aizer, Jonah Travick and Jessica Holmes of Slime Time Live and Brent Popolizio and Candace Bailey of U-Pick Live with Nickelodeon stars often appearing as co-hosts, and it aired until August 29th, 2003.
The final season premiered on September 22nd, 2003 and lasted until July 2nd, 2004. The final year saw a number of significant changes to format and scheduling. Very few recordings of this season are known to exist. From what is known of this season, the hosts appear much more casual and laid-back compared to previous seasons.
For the final season, the show began recording prior to the days it was set to air, and aired in the morning hours. Nickelodeon had tried to gain young viewers in that time through this, but ratings declined shortly thereafter. The show would often "connect" (Florida to New York) with U-Pick Live, which would replace it later in the year.
On the grand finale, the show broke the world record for most people slimed at one time.[4]
Starting October 20th, 2003, STL moved somewhat abruptly to a 7am morning slot. Many cite this move as the beginning of the end for Slime Time. "Breakfast TV" was not an established convention for American children, many of whom were rushing out the door to catch the school bus by 7:30. Predictably, viewership declined. Also, during this period, shows were pre-recorded, so the spark and freshness of the live performances decreased. Not much is known about why this significant schedule change was made so abruptly mid-season. It has been conjectured that Nickelodeon's higher-level executives wanted to kill off the show and doomed its ratings by condemning it to an unfavorable time slot. Others speculate that executives wanted to cultivate a younger audience. Whatever the case, the writing was on the wall, and by the spring of 2004, it was clear to the cast and crew that Slime Time Live would not be renewed. On November 26th, 2003 for the finale, the show broke the world record for most people slimed at one time.
Not much is known about why this significant schedule change was made so abruptly mid-season. It has been conjectured that Nickelodeon's higher-level executives wanted to kill off the show, and doomed its ratings by condemning it to an unfavorable time slot. Others speculate that executives wanted to cultivate a younger audience. Whatever the case, the writing was on the wall, and by spring of 2004, it was clear to the cast and crew that Slime Time Live would not be renewed.
One year after the show's cancellation, Friday Night Slimetime premiered on Nickelodeon, but unlike the original version, its segments were prerecorded. It lasted for two back to back seasons and was hosted by Lil' JJ and Chloe Dolandis (who had previously hosted Splat!). Nickelodeon had a talent hold on Lil' JJ and was forced to give him a show to finish out his contract. Because of this, Dave Aizer was brought on board as a writer and also occasionally announced the prizes. The most common prizes on it were either a bicycle or athletic balls. This ran from September 23, 2005 to March 24, 2006.