Nick at Nite

From the Audiovisual Identity Database, the motion graphics museum



Classic (Early 1987-1991)


Visuals: There is a man holding the Nick at Nite logo at the time (a yellow crescent moon with the words "NICK at NITE" on it and the word "at" in a small circle over "NITE"), which he places on the sky as he brings in a window frame with curtains, a door that changes the background to that of a living room, a TV set and an armchair, which he sits on. Then he grabs a remote, turning the TV into a random object.

Variants:

  • A housewife shows up and cleans the television set, only for it to disappear. She then tries to sanitize the man, causing him to disappear as well. Finally, she sprays the screen and wipes the ident to black with her rag.
  • The man and a woman are seen putting together the Nick at Nite logo in the daytime, which is shaped like a heart. After this, they bring in the furniture as the background changes to the living room. The husband and wife then dance before sitting down. Suddenly, they transform into a cowboy and cowgirl. The wife lassos the TV, knocking it over, as a tumbleweed rolls by. Lastly, they pose in front of the camera, with the man putting his left foot on the TV.

Technique: Stop-motion animation.

Audio: A deep guitar note (presumably sampled from "A Hard Day's Night" by The Beatles) accompanied with the sound effects of the objects being brought in. The rest of the sounds depend on the variant.

Availability: Seen during commercial breaks on Nick at Nite from 1987 to 1991.

Factory (1992-March 1998)


Visuals: In a factory is workers making the Nick at Nite logo. When they're done, two workers put a sheet with the logo on it inside an old TV.

Technique: Live-action.

Audio: A joyful theme with a woman singing "Nick at Nite has the night to be all it's cracked up to be, in fact Nick at Nite is packed with exactly my kind of Classic TV!"

Static-Free (1992-March 1998)


Visuals: On a static background, a tilted oval (which is either pink or blue) and the words "Nick at Nite", each with a cable, intersect; this is followed by the words screwing their cable onto the oval. The static disappears, revealing either looped footage of a car driving down the highway at nighttime, a lake or a cloudy sky. The cables then disappear as the oval and the text slide into place. The ident ends with the oval morphing into a pair of lips saying "Hello out there from TV Land!".

Technique: Computer animation mixed with live-action. The lips appear to be traditionally animated.

Audio: A bluesy piano tune, with a man singing "Good TV that's static free. Nick at Nite is the place to be." and the lips' dialogue.

Teddy Bear (1992-March 1998)


Visuals: In front of the TV displaying the Nick at Nite logo are a man sitting down in a chair, a girl moving a teddy bear closer to her and a man in bed turning off the lamp. The camera zooms out to reveal that they're in a city with a giant TV displaying the Nick at Nite logo (the object behind the text of which is a red star) in the center.

Technique: A combination of traditional animation and live-action.

Audio: A comedy tune and a woman singing "Get in your favorite chair or snuggle up with your teddy bear, or tuck yourself in and turn out the light. Time for good TV with Nick at Nite!".

Love Affair (1992-March 1998)


Visuals: An abstract-looking woman in a green dress opens the door and sees her husband (who is depicted as the Nick at Nite logo, shaped like a heart, in a red suit trouser) holding a flower bouquet. This is followed by the wife and husband watching TV, with the woman having heart-shaped eyes, indicating that she is in love with the husband. While this is going on, the TV displays the exact same scene when the husband turns it on. The camera zooms in on the TV before the woman pulls down a curtain from above. On the curtain is the heart variant of the Nick at Nite logo.

Technique: Abstract-style traditional animation.

Audio: A jazz tune and the wife singing "I'm having a love affair. Every night on the air, the moon is always right with Nick, with Nick at Nite!".

Crazy (1992-March 1998)



Visuals: In a brick background is the Nick at Nite logo on a heart, which opens like a door to reveal a white fish with black spots and pink eyes with hearts for pupils, which briefly sings the tune as the camera zooms in on its mouth and the scene fades to a person with the Nick at Nite logo on a star for a body and Nick at Nite logos on a circle and triangle for eyes dancing along with other differently-shaped Nick at Nite logos as the background rapidly switches to a lot of crazy patterns. After a few seconds, a prison door closes, revealing the Nick at Nite logo on a triangle on the lock.

Technique: 2D animation.

Audio: A 50s like tune, with a woman singing "Hello out there from TV Land, why don't you join us!". Then a man sings "Cause it's crazy, it's really crazy, it's Nick at Nite!"

Better (1992-March 1998)

Visuals: The logo starts with 3 Nick at Nite logos in different shapes, as a randomized number between 1 and 3 comes up and to make different objects and random Nick at Nite logos in random shapes and colors appear like a slot machine. Then it turns into a dentist flossing someone's teeth, before they form the Nick at Nite logo with a blue star.

Technique: 2D animation.

Audio: A crazy tune.

Balcony (1992-March 1998)


Visuals: On a night sky background in a downtown city is the Nick At Nite logo in the sky and a woman waiting for something on the balcony, then the logo slides away, appears on the balcony, and slides back in the sky.

Technique: Cut-out animation.

Audio: Blues music with a woman singing "If you suffer from a late night TV blues, it's Nick at Nite for the deja vus". Then a man says "All night, every night."

Blue Yodel Coyote (October 1991-March 1998)

Visuals: A car is driving on the road, passing a sign of a coyote howling, a sign of the sun setting and the Nick At Nite logo stuck on a TV. The scene then cross-fades to what the car is driving around: the oval variant of the Nick at Nite logo on a desert road. The coyote comes out of its sign and howls.

Technique: 2D animation.

Audio: A country tune, followed by a man singing "When the coyotes call and the sun seems low, for the best TV you can always go to Nick at Nite."

How To (1992-March 1998)


Visuals: There is a Nick at Nite logo with arms and legs and Elvis Presley hair holding a microphone, grooving near a TV, the screen of which show a path of footprints that slide away to reveal the How to Nick at Nite logo. Then we see another Nick At Nite logo but with a girl's hair and arms and legs turning on the TV, turning the spect dial, and jumping on a chair, as the Nick at Nite logo falls down.

Technique: 2D animation.

Audio: A 50s rock tune with a man singing "Come on everybody cause the time is right, we're gonna show you how to Nick at Nite!" and a woman saying "Just click on, turn the spect dial, and Nick at Nite!", along with a falling sound when the Nick at Nite logo falls.

Beautiful Place (August 4, 1991-March 1998)


Visuals: In a neighborhood is houses shaped like televisions with the Nick at Nite logo. The screen cuts to a scene where a family cleans a television set with the Nick at Nite logo as a triangle, followed by a scene where some friends are having a picnic and looking at their television, with changing Nick at Nite logos on the screen.

Technique: Early digital VFX. Done by Charlex.

Audio: A swing tune with a woman singing "Hello out there from TV Land, a beautiful place to be. Nick at Nite, better living through good TV!".

Troglodyte (1991-March 1998)


Visuals: A light blue circle with the Nick at Nite logo, a face, limbs and a cane sings as we see scenes of a man and his boss strangling each other in an office, the man opening the door and falling in exhaustion, the man turning into a gorilla and roaring at his wife after she kisses him, two pills falling in a glass and liquidizing, the man pouring the glass on himself, turning back to normal and sitting on his couch with his wife to watch TV, as the camera rotates to show the Nick at Nite logo on the TV screen and the circle leaping inside to tap the logo with its cane, coloring it.

Technique: 2D animation.

Audio: A crazy toon-like tune with the circle with a female voice singing "If your boss is a jerk, and you get home from work, and feel like a troglodyte, there's instant relief from this heartshaping grief. Thank goodness for Nick, at Nite!"

Audio Variant: Additional sound effects were added in 1992.

Availability: Unknown. [Examples?]

Spelling Bee (1992-March 1998)


Visuals: In a city skyline, a white ball bounces on billboards that spell "NICK at NITE". The ball goes over a bridge and bounces on billboards again before bouncing on the moon, which becomes the "at" circle as the background becomes yellow and shrinks into a moon shape that forms the Nick at Nite logo over the bridge.

Technique: 2D animation from Arlen Schumer.

Audio: A conga tune with a female vocal spelling out the name's letters. Finally, the tune morphs into a relaxing orchestral music with a female chorus singing "Nick at Nite for me." and a male guy saying "Better living through television".




Don't Adjust Your Set (1992-1998)


Visuals: There is an anthropomorphic dog dancing in a spotlight, with his shadow being shaped like a star with the Nick at Nite logo on it. The dog sings "Hello out there from TV Land, Don't adjust your set! Nick at Nite, as classic as you can get! All night, Every night! Hoo!".

Technique: 2D animation.

Audio: A rock swing jingle and the dog singing.

If TV Sets Could Talk (August 1991-March 1998)


Visuals: In a 3D neighborhood, there is a family with televisions for heads watching the Nick at Nite logo. The daughter plays with a paddleball with the Nick at Nite logo on the ball, while the mother sings "If television sets could talk, then they would tell us the shows they like to play. They all agree for viewing delight, they'd rather be tuned to Nick at Nite!". The daughter ends up knocking over the TV with her paddleball.

Technique: CGI.

Audio: A dixieland theme and the mother singing.

Pre-Post Modern (1992-1998)


Visuals: The sequence starts off with a sky background with a yellow border and countless Nick at Nite logos moving inside. A woman on a sheet of paper held on the frame by a paper clip sings "When it's time to relax, there's only one place for better TV today. It's Pre-Post Modern, wild and free. Watch Nick at Nite for good TV."

Technique: A combination of live action and 2D animation.

Audio: A jazz tune and the woman singing.

Gardening (1992-March 1998)


Visuals: In a farm, a man digs up some dirt and plants some small TV sets in it. He then waters the dirt and four heart-shaped Nick at Nite logos grow out from inside.

Technique: A live action timelapse by Jane Aaron.

Audio: A happy tune with a woman singing "What is the perfect combination for a TV land sensation?" followed by a guitar riff as the dirt is watered and a man and woman singing "You and Nick at Nite, naturally.", followed by a bass singing "That's right!".

Take Control (1992-March 1998)


Visuals: Over a black background is 3 white-outlined kids holding up three slide films, one of which carries the Nick at Nite logo.

Technique: Cel animation.

Audio: A medium tempo surf tune with a chorus singing the channel's name.

Personal Decision (1992-March 1998)


Visuals: A blonde haired woman with no eyes, a pink dress and an apron spins in while holding a TV dinner with the Nick at Nite logo on it, and sings "I've made a personal decision to try better living through television but to make it right, I gotta have Nick at Nite!" She puts the TV dinner in the microwave to cook until it dings, upon which she takes out the heated dinner and shows it to the camera, revealing the Nick at Nite logo with a green heart in one of the compartments.

Technique: 2D animation.

Audio: A piano and bongo theme and the woman singing.

Traffic Jam (1992-March 1998)

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