By The Way (Part Two) - Nick Knacks Episode

[@MissAshley42]

So By the Way chronicled one woman's descent into madness as she's stranded in a forest and randomly recalling cartoons she saw back when she lived in the civilized world.

[@1dbanner]

Kind of Nickelodeon's version of The Shining

[@adamnedeff3102]

I can't find anything for certain, but the "Solitary Splendor" thing smacks of "commercial parody" to me. Probably a prominent ad campaign in the moment that was immediately forgotten about when the commercials went away.

[@TackyRackyComixNEO]

The glitchy video in that part where Josie plays the recorder badly creeps me out.

[@Lynn17]

It makes my eyes hurt.

[@ThePhantom0230]

Man, the weird ghosting or fragments either from the transfer process to the degraded VHS (or both) gives this a very unsettling appearance.

[@jopat87]

Can I at least compliment George James as a musician? His Hocus Focus theme was great, and I'm also digging his work on the By the Way theme, too! I can see why Nick saddled this poor man with the dubious honor of writing *every* song for Pinwheel in the QUBE days...

[@melasnexperience]

jopat87 Seconding this! The By the Way theme gets stuck in my head randomly. James really deserves more respect & kudos than he gets.

[@ChuckD79]

I agree completely...although both BtW and HF were mediocre shows at best, both had great theme songs, and never knew Jake from Pinwheel wrote them both!

[@TheDanishGuyReviews]

I did some digging of my own: The phrase "Solitary Splendor" was used in a headline in 1979 when a man accidentally got on a flight as the only passenger, on first class. There were 15 people waiting on him hand and foot. So l'm thinking the joke is that playing the flute is comparative to 6 hours with luxury foods and being offered a movie to watch. ~ TDG

[@ryanortega1511]

Something similar happened a few years ago. A guy went on a flight to Boracay Island in the Philippines, a popular tourist destination, and found himself the only passenger.

[@GTVNewsForGamers]

Regardless of quality, any day lost media is found is a good day.

[@trevorrex7210]

Kinda late in the response period but, I was just gonna say that I hoped that quality was not because of my laptop somehow glitching out.

[@TORLBC]

Sometimes, the most obscure TV shows have incredible talents. The writer for 'By the Way' (Irene Mecchi) became the co-screenwriter for 'The Lion King'. Wild.

[@Lexi_Zone]

Whoa, the weird, glitchy image makes it look like some Josie is trying to cross over from some sort of bad dimension. Or maybe it's just 2020 Josie trying to warn her past self.

[@chrisjt86]

I was listening to that opening theme song and going, "Hey, that sounds pretty damn good." And of course George James wrote it.

[@caseyw1286]

It sounds similar to the “Electric Company” theme. I assume he took some inspiration for that. Even some of the opening graphics feel like they were taken directly from the Electric Company.

[@lorddalek]

Congratulations, Beyond Belief!! you are now the holy grail of short lived Nickelodeon shows.

[@DigiRangerScott]

lorddalek BE ON BRIEF

[@kameronbiggs5495]

Wow! That was the one show I was curious about the most! Next up, someone should find more footage of Hocus Focus!

[@stephenholloway6893]

Almost a year later you got it. An full episode has been found thanks to John Qube.

[@MaxineLunaZorua]

It EXISTS?! Huh... The world is a mysterious place sometimes. Just when it seems something will forever be lost it is found.

[@melasnexperience]

At 7:23 it looks like we stumbled on a wandering Fraggle. Heck of a find no matter what. And add me to the list of people who find the brown animated mouse oddly familiar.

[@TheDanishGuyReviews]

I found it! Der Sendung mit die Maus, a German educational programme from 1971. It's actually still running, and is responsible for the 2005 viral hit "Snappi, das kleine krokodil". ~ TDG

[@FairyHeartGaming]

Mela SN he does kinda look like a fraggle!

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

@@TheDanishGuyReviews I was impressed to learn who that was or where it came from years ago. Nice Germany can keep a show like that going on like that.

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

The writer of this show, Irene Mecchi, apparently went on to work at Disney, doing screenwriting for features like The Lion King, The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Hercules. She's currently listed for the upcoming remake of The Lion King as well. www.imdb.com/name/nm0575293/ Certainly a step up from the corny writing seen in By The Way! 11:55 I recall "Breakaways" also being another term Nick used to refer to these short breaks between programs when they were commercial free.

[@Lynn17]

All I can think of when I look at Josie is that her outfit was clearly the inspiration for Brock's original outfit in the Pokemon anime.

[@silveryote1]

LOL XD

[@SuperRob-qe5rz]

Oh my God I remember this show

[@tvguy1979]

Really? You're the first person I've seen who has, then!

[@NorbertSD]

Great video! It’s so awesome that we finally have footage of By the Way! If we found footage of this show, there’s sure to be footage of Nickel Flicks or a full episode of Hocus Focus on some VHS tape! Speaking of the former, John Moschitta Jr. actually commented on your Nick Knacks episode on Nickel Flicks! Did you see that comment, Greg? He thanked you for reminding him of the memories & even shared the real reason why Nickel Flicks was cancelled!

[@NorbertSD]

@ULGROTHA Source and link for what? There being footage of Nickel Flicks or a full episode of Hocus Focus? I don't know *for sure* if there is, I'm just hopefully optimistic there might be, but I can't prove if there *is*. When I said "There's SURE to be," I was saying that out of hopefulness since we now have footage of By the Way. I can't prove footage of either of those other two exists.

[@ryanortega1511]

Probably referring to John Moschitta's comment.

[@NorbertSD]

Ryan Ortega It’s on the Nickel Flicks Nick Knacks episode. Scroll down to the comments on that video and you’ll find it.

[@PersephoneDarling28]

This theme music for the show rules

[@unclelou4839]

This theme song rips off the Vegetable Soup song! Love these 'Nick Knacks', thanks as always!

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

A lot of late 70's tunes all sounded like that.

[@stephenholloway6893]

Plus Vegetable Soup eventually aired on Nickelodeon a few years later.

[@daelen.cclark]

My favourite show about everything under the sun and over the sun and also the sun!

[@FairyHeartGaming]

Reminds me of when Noggin used to these odd Japanese shorts from time to time on the network. I never really knew what they were but I loved them anyways. They were about little characters coming out of a door, and then they do something and then leave.

[@FairyHeartGaming]

Also, Josie reminds me of myself sometimes

[@DirtiestDMusic]

Jesus, that is the harshest interlacing I've ever seen.

[@jfunk513]

I just noticed Herb Alpert: Rise in the credits. Awesome!!

[@thunderlina3237]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Andy also play Lulu in, well, Lulu? You know, that soap opera QUBE had for a while? EDIT: She did! I knew she looked familiar! I remember Ben talking about Lulu in the QUBE episode of Oddity Archive, sounds like it was quite the experience.

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

It was all done in the same town so I'm sure the talent pool wasn't that big.

[@stephenholloway6893]

Although with that said, the opening song is very good. Probably George James' best non Pinwheel song.

[@acykat2069]

Pinwheel aired the Roger Glover "Love is All" short, I remember it clearly for the scene in which the frog almost eats a sentient creature, it was nightmarish to a young child.

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

I remember it from Pinwheel as well!

[@Malkmusianful]

I love how the original quadruplex videotape of By the Way just keeps glitching out Also, my initial guess as to what By the Way was - them burning off the shorts that didn't make the Pinwheel roster, along with wraparound segments - turned out to be right. I think I have an explanation for the constant calls for letters: it's done in such a way where if QUBE went national, they could integrate QUBE functionality into the shows (namely vox populi voting) as it had been the case in the Columbus test market.

[@wheeledjustice7381]

The way she moves in the degraded footage makes it look like something out of an ARG.

[@MrEmpoleon2010]

Whenever I heard Froggy went a courtin, I thought it was about a frog who becomes a lawyer. Now I know the truth.

[@Lynn17]

Phoenix Frog, Amphibian Attorney?

[@neonlightmole9634]

It's really awesome you're able to cover this show now, considering that Nick's 40th anniversary is on its way. Now we just need to find more footage of Hocus Focus LOL. Also, happy 2019.

[@TheMister123]

Great! Maybe these people can magically recover lost Doctor Who while they're at it? :-D

[@asia246222]

Oh dang! That's amazing! A lost show, found!

[@jbleichman]

Okay, that flicker is freaking me out. Is this a stealth creepypasta?

[@hulkvsthormovie4946]

Great job, G

[@DigiRangerScott]

MIRACLES HAPPEN ONCE IN A WHILE

[@heidifedor]

I don’t know, I find the frog/mice hybrids quite disturbing.

[@TheSchmuck2]

5:09 is the video supposed to be flickering like that?

[@rhymetimetown4804]

Hey! Can you tell me the name of the show at 3:17 please? I have been trying to find it since forever! Thank you! Edit: Nevermind!

[@superpan218]

_Standing in line_ _To see the show tonight_ _And there's a light on_ _Heavy glow_ _By the way, I tried to say_ _I'd be there, waiting for_ Whoops, wrong thing.

[@xd-ff6pu]

I have never heard of this show it must have been lost

[@stephenholloway6893]

No surprise it lasted only 1 year when Nickelodeon wasn't widely available nor was VHS recordings for a reasonable price at the time.

[@googleuser7454]

That's an amazing find.

[@MattyHervey]

Do you think the show (bookend segments) always took place in the woods, or that it could have just been the theme of the found episode? Also, I'm skeptical that this and Pocket Money are the same thing. The name, Pocket Money, doesn't really make sense for this show. By The Way fits because it doesn't really mean anything, or maybe "the way" is the path through the forest, if indeed the show always used that theme. My speculation would be that Pocket Money was an idea that never passed the brainstorming stage, and was probably an idea for a show that would have taught kids about managing money, like a TV version of Penny Power magazine.

[@caseyw1286]

I would suggest that the entire show took place in the woods only because of the opening credits. It shows Josie hiking with her backpack through the forest, presumably on her way to the wooded glade where the episode takes place (similar to the opening of Fred Penners Place). Plus, she is wearing the same clothes in the opening credits as she is in this episode which furthers my theory.

[@meyerj75]

So one execute said," We can't get all these shorts on Pinwheel at the same time. Oh, I got an idea! Let's send some of it to "By The Way" for now.

[@PositionLight]

Note the "Scanimation" in the intro. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scanimate

[@TheDanishGuyReviews]

Who's the brown mouse at 3:17? I know I've seen that before at some point. Also, I had high hopes for more missing Doctor Who episodes to be found in the next few years. But this is still good. Anything lost being re-discovered is a great thing. ~ TDG

[@FairyHeartGaming]

TheDanishGuyReviews Idk, but he sure is cute I think he’s from a book.

[@TheDanishGuyReviews]

@@FairyHeartGaming That would make much more sense, as we're nowhere near anything from Nick that l've watched yet. Unfortunately, "brown mouse" is the worst thing to google for accuracy.

[@TheDanishGuyReviews]

@@FairyHeartGaming Found it! Der Sendung mit die Maus, an educational German children's programme from 1971. It is still running, and was responsible for 2005's viral hit song "Snappi, das kleine krokodil". ~ TDG

[@FairyHeartGaming]

TheDanishGuyReviews oh!, I’ve heard of Snappi. Thx for the info.

[@RainbowMilk1996]

What's up with the stuttering? Was the original tape damaged?

[@madmonkee6757]

Why do you pronounce "especially" as exspecially? What is with that?

[@Tirgo69]

Why do people have accents? Can you justify this to me?

[@MadsAboutYou]

I know this is an old comment, but it’s a relatively common pronunciation in the Midwest. I have friends who say it that way. It bugs me, but I know they can’t help it.

[@seanpatmac27]

I don't remember this show @ all

[@gatorboymike]

If I ran across some person alone in the woods playing with an imaginary dog, I'd run as fast as I could in the opposite direction for fear that person would make a meal and/or a new set of clothing out of me.

[@CNFunnyJon]

That song... Is just jibberish to me. She is glitching!!! Speedster! xD

[@angelmarie2281]

But it's not my birthday!

[@jwbogacki]

By the way was kind of like the "dora the explorer" (minus boots, map and swiper) of the 70s.

[@unclelou4839]

Today's Special, please!!

[@meyerj75]

One Today's Special Episode #29, coming up!

[@thomasstone3480]

During the credits I thought the video stuttering was an artistic choice rather than a video artifact, it's kind of a shame it's not

[@MisterH37]

RARE TOMES????