Vic's Vacant Lot - Nick Knacks Episode

[@daelen.cclark]

Even without clips, you can make these videos excellently informative! Giving it back to people just as Vic gave tennis to the people! As soon as I'm able to contribute to your Patreon, I will!

[@xxthatsnotmexx]

I just want you to know how comforting your videos are when I'm having terrible anxiety/depression. When I'm at work I think about how I can come home and chill and watch your videos, thank you. ❤

[@theokkali467]

A episode is found now!

[@jeffharrisTXB]

It takes a very scholarly and creative mind to make a video about a show with no clips existing whatsoever and make it quite informative and entertaining at the same time. I am at awe and jealous of that talent. Great episode. Also of note, Nabisco owned Post, so the only conflict it would have had in regards to ESPN was that maybe they couldn't show programming sponsored by a product they owned. Kid-vid rules are quite weird and arbitrary. That's what doomed The Hub (well, that and Hasbro's reluctance to put in ads from competitors).

[@DigiRangerScott]

Found youuuuuu

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

I wouldn't be surprised if Nabisco paid to get it on Nick as well.

[@harriereducation]

I have clips of this important show on my channel.

[@chrisjt86]

6:41 Thank you for the Don Hertzfeldt reference...and doing the voice scarily well.

[@only257]

Never saw this show👍

[@RabidHappy]

My brother and I were featured on this show for a game my dad taught us called Can Ball. We never got in the paper, I don't believe. But we each did get a BMX bike, which was super cool.

[@PinkieLopBun]

I’m guessing you don’t have the episode?

[@stephenholloway6893]

At least now some of Vic's Vacent Lot has been found.

[@RealSolarRays]

I never knew "Steal the Bacon" was a game that debuted on a now lost Nickelodeon TV show. I heard about it when I was in middle school gym class. And that was around 2008-2011! If 14-year-old me knew it was a TV game, he'd love the game even more than he did.

[@meyerj75]

All I remember from that show was that it used to air on Saturday mornings on Nickelodeon starting around July 1984 and running until May or April the following year. When it aired, I'm guessing either 10:30 or 11:30 but I do remember giving up part of Saturday Morning cartoons just to watch at least one episode which was mostly Vic Braden wearing a blue polo shirt with the Vic's Vacant Lot logo on right teaching and instructing home viewers certain games you can play in your own neighborhood, hence the show's title. So this was part ideal, part sports program that was only on once a week against the traditional Saturday morning cartoon ritual. So should we give up watching Alvin & The Chipmunks for Vic's Vacant Lot? I wasn't surprised both this and Reggie Jackson's WOS were both cancelled the same time period. Gerry Laybourne pretty much knew that sports related programs were not the answer for Nickelodeon's continuing survival unless it crosses paths with a variety of sorts from different genres of entertainment blending in with one program (that in question would be Wild & Crazy Kids). Her major focus through 1985 was keeping Danger Mouse and You Can't Do That On Television elevated until more ideas can be added on to like a game show (Double Dare), movie related programs (Rated K) and (Gulp!) more animation (Looney Tunes). Whatever Laybourne did during her 12 year run on Nickelodeon, she was the captain of the ship that sailed through the rough seas and finding her way out with what truly works in the long run rather than Cy's approach on a hit-or-miss instant like keeping Pinwheel but ditching Spread Your Wings.

[@nessisasquid]

I really love these episodes where you shine a spotlight on the less glamorous, lesser known personalities and shows. Thanks for your work!

[@kellydavis3108]

I stayed home sick from school and Vic had a show about boomerangs. He asked the viewers to submit boomerang themed games and I won! I got a bike but I cannot for the life of me remember my game!

[@bananafairy59]

I love this series, but I think you're at your best when you're featuring someone that you find admirable and talking about their impact. This episode was great. Thanks, Pop Arena!

[@sarahchauvin3189]

Found Jaleel White in the Oreo commercial at 8:33 😁

[@Rodanguirus]

You are cranking these out! Thanks for the excellent work as always! For the amount of research you do and effort you put into presentation, your channel is criminally under appreciated.

[@amwfan88]

I used to play Steal the Bacon back in elementary school. Dang, that brings back memories! (I attended elementary school on the North Shore of Chicago)

[@jopat87]

Good call at the start - of the Honeycomb commercials from the time, you went with the one with Andre the Giant.

[@rmyers99]

I just wanted to say I think you're really refining your style with these videos and I appreciate the work you put in here.

[@jbanks979]

One additional note: I think THAT honeycomb commercial was around 87 (notlikeitmattersintheslightest) as Andre was dressed as his princess bride character

[@My-Say]

I would watch this when I was a young kid. I wanted so badly to win a bike and came up with "tree touchdown". I don't even recall the gameplay, but all my neighbors loved it. We had a bunch of trees in our yard and all the kids on the street would play in our yard.

[@PositionLight]

Steal the Bacon was a standard elementary school recess game.

[@vegetafan9922]

Great, now I suddenly want a bowl of HoneyCombs.

[@racheleaston43]

I kinda figured we had little to no footage of the show considering you played an old honeycomb commercial for this episode's intro.

[@harriereducation]

Segments of Vic's Vacant Lot are now available on the Harrier Education channel.

[@nonenone4560]

I feel like if a tape exists, it wouldn't be from one of the winners. Rather, it would probably be an ESPN recording that someone accidentally taped while recording a game.

[@Lexi_Zone]

Wow, what an awesome guy. His life story is practically a movie script!

[@pdbasement]

I can't wait until Lassie just to see how much of old TV gets explored... coming up soon.

[@BlueSpiceSpace]

Some of those games sound really fun & imaginative, Id love if somehow we find footage of this show

[@spanglearchive]

I clicked on this insanely fast because I've been waiting for a new Nick Knacks since the last one Sometimes I wonder if I have a life

[@neonlightmole9634]

Spangle Ze Kankle Well ad least you didn’t half to wait long.

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

Feels like a "Loss Leader" sort of situation for the show ending up on Nick.

[@PaulSebert]

ESPN had one other children's show that I believe started in syndication. It was called "The Baseball Bunch" and was about former Cincinnati Reds catcher Johnny Bench teaching a group of kids the fundamentals of baseball. Other baseball players would would frequently guest star and The San Diego Chicken would provide comic relief.

[@meyerj75]

The Baseball Bunch was a weekly summer replacement series that usually is seen on American Bandstand-Fat Albert time slots between 1981 through 1985 on selection stations such as WNBC TV 4 in New York City for example. ESPN didn't pick it up until the summer of 1988 showing episodes daily @ 5:30 PM in the afternoon displaying a 1988 copywright date at the end of each episode even though the show aired it final episode in 1985.

[@sherberthead8301]

...Andre the giant was in a Honeycombs commercial?

[@meyerj75]

Why not?

[@googleuser7454]

This history is fascinating. I never knew the history of Nickelodeon

[@cr3ative_name]

I will write that I am excited for the Danger Mouse episode until we get the Danger Mouse episode.

[@ShadowWingTronix]

What about the Count Duckula spinoff, since that will probably be it's own episode?

[@ChristopherSobieniak]

@@ShadowWingTronix Count Duckula will come around 1988.

[@Nickrj3]

Nick Rocks is next and here's what I think after that. Danger Mouse Bananaman Belle and Sebastian Lassie Out of Control.

[@meyerj75]

Banana Man was occasionally seen after Danger Mouse, so you were watching 2 for the price of 1 for a 30 minute block.

[@CTAigis]

This was surprisingly sweet. Good luck getting your car repaired, wish I could contribute but will share this video around.

[@MissAshley42]

Oh yeah, the Honeycomb robot! I don't remember the hideout at all, but that robot is certainly familiar. Side note: The "Honeycomb big" marketing worked on my mom. We ate _a lot_ of Honeycomb shortly after her divorce because she felt the big pieces made it a bargain. Meanwhile, I came to hate it because those big pieces often cut up the inside of the my mouth.

[@Clay3613]

Rooftop Football? Hi Mark!

[@alannamcfall7887]

I snorted way too loud at the "Rejected" reference :P

[@GreenFlash1790]

I have fond memories of this show as it encouraged my imagination to make up games with limited resources. And I'm fairly certain that it did play times other than 6am.

[@Smaggledagle]

Ok come on a show with a TENNIS INSTRUCTOR

[@lainiwakura1776]

I'm looking forward to the Nick Arcade and the Wild n Crazy Kids episodes.

[@neonlightmole9634]

Well this video came out shortly after the last one. LOL.

[@ryanortega1511]

Interesting video, though I think referring to the kids featured only by their first names was futile since the newspaper clippings shown have their surnames printed (unless they changed or appended them upon marriage). Perhaps you can ask the Braden's family or estate about the show?

[@daltonriser1125]

I kind of figured you didnt have footage since this came so quickly after the last one plus the andre the giant commercial in the intro

[@gatorboymike]

Can't we just eat our damn cereal without being harassed by pro wrestlers? Shit, I was just sitting on a park bench eating a granola bar when John Cena comes out of nowhere and is all like, "ME WANT HONEYCOMB!" or whatever.

[@jbanks979]

I think this may be the last of the historical curiosities mostly forgotten by time (kudos for making an interesting 15 minutes out of literally nothing). It’s hard to say if this was a Schneider or a Layborne pickup, as I’m sure it was just cheap filler content either way The next 5 are so shows are well remembered, and if anything reflects just how significant the turnaround in viewers was from 84-85 (Nick rocks may be the perfect bridge show between silverball/splat era because it stuck with the original rainbow/balloon theme of silverball Nick logo) Anyways, kudos and thanks for continuing to make this series fascinating

[@Isthecakereallyalie]

More like Quick Knacks, eh?

[@Snakie747]

Not the most interesting episode without footage and all, but hey, we should be getting near the end of these ones that are kinda tough to cover. This will cease being a problem at some point. Thanks for the effort as always.