The failed attempt to bring back Don Turtelli

[gluestick]

Last year I got in touch with one of the cartoonists for the comic series TMNT Saturday Morning Adventures (which is officially distributed through Nickelodeon). The art style is exactly like the 1987 cartoon so I asked about a commission of Turtelli tickling April. I also asked if there were any plans to use Turtelli in the actual series. This is what the cartoonist said:

“And good news/bad news for Don Turtelli. All characters from the show have to go through legal clearance to be used. The lawyers will say yes or no (but not why.) I wrote Don Turtelli into a script and was told he was not allowed (I changed it to Don Turtellini; a cousin. They’re considering that.)

I don’t know what the reasoning is, but the versions seen aren’t going to be available.”

It seems that the corporate lawyers of Nickelodeon want to avoid anything that can be viewed as a fetish thing- especially given the history with Dan Snyder. So, enjoy what you can of this passing reference to the Don in their 4th issue- we were so close to having something new, but alas. Screenshot is from a blog that reviews issues of the comic.

 

[FeatherEndeavor]

Yeah Dan Schneider was a big black eye for that company. I understand why they're walking on eggshells as far as anything that could possibly be considered fetish material.

 

[duderino84]

It's pretty amazing the subtlety that was used that could have inspired some of our quirks. It just got gradually incorporated into the material. Nickelodeon has changed a lot since back in the day when I was first watching shows like "Get Smart" (take on James Bond), "Mr. Ed", or "I Love Lucy".

But after that and the days of Wiley Coyote and the looney toons was pretty much the start of when predatory shot started coming about. Then you had the Era of "Ren and Stimpy" to find out that John K was grooming kids. I hope nothing bad ever comes out about SpongeBob's Steven Hillenburg.

 

[FeatherEndeavor]

It's pretty amazing the subtlety that was used that could have inspired some of our quirks. It just got gradually incorporated into the material. Nickelodeon has changed a lot since back in the day when I was first watching shows like "Get Smart" (take on James Bond), "Mr. Ed", or "I Love Lucy".

But the big problem with Nickelodeon during the Dan Schneider days is that it wasn't subtle. In shows like "iCarly", "Victorious", "The Amanda Show" and "Zoey101" the foot fetish material and females wearing very revealing outfits was very common with his mostly underage cast. In her book Jennette McCurdy (Sam from iCarly) just calls him "The Creator". Even in interviews she won't say his name. Of course part of that could be to avoid getting sued but I think she could also be experiencing some trauma from her days of working with him.

Slightly off topic from the OP's TMNT post. I apologize.

 

[duderino84]

But the big problem with Nickelodeon during the Dan Schneider days is that it wasn't subtle. In shows like "iCarly", "Victorious", "The Amanda Show" and "Zoey101" the foot fetish material and females wearing very revealing outfits was very common with his mostly underage cast. In her book Jennette McCurdy (Sam from iCarly) just calls him "The Creator". Even in interviews she won't say his name. Of course part of that could be to avoid getting sued but I think she could also be experiencing some trauma from her days of working with him.

Slightly off topic from the OP's TMNT post. I apologize.

I get that you're focused on Dan Schneider but he was basically a much more public/ privileged variant of retard like D'Amato.

I'm just saying that Nickelodeon had a fair reputation of putting out content that could be considered increasingly racy, since it was based on broadcasting old fashioned drama to transitioning into cartoons where we'd see characters like Injun Joe getting tickled through to SpongeBob coming up with "The Feather Friends".

Schneider just seemed to have been given a license to go full ham in his material and Nickelodeon probably shrugged it off since it was more material/ views.

 

[FeatherEndeavor]

I get that you're focused on Dan Schneider but he was basically a much more public/ privileged variant of retard like D'Amato.

I'm just saying that Nickelodeon had a fair reputation of putting out content that could be considered increasingly racy, since it was based on broadcasting old fashioned drama to transitioning into cartoons where we'd see characters like Injun Joe getting tickled through to SpongeBob coming up with "The Feather Friends".

Schneider just seemed to have been given a license to go full ham in his material and Nickelodeon probably shrugged it off since it was more material/ views.

Yeah I suppose you're right. Even aside from Dan Schneider they do have a reputation for putting material out there that some might have a problem with. And these days when you could get cancelled for saying or doing one wrong thing I guess they just feel like they need to be careful. Therefore they shy away from the types of things they used to do including the tickle scenes with April O'Neil.