We all have favorite Nickelodeon shows, episodes and characters - but did you know that there is a mind-boggling amount of scenes and characters which never made the final cut of them?
Seventeen reached out to several Nickelodeon stars and creators to learn about the moments and characters that were left on the cutting room floor.
Credit: Nickelodeon
Some of the entries are just fun tidbits and deleted scenes, while others could have drastically changed the shows or movies we know and love today.
1 - Nathan Kress flirted with Miranda Cosgrove onscreen way before iCarly:
Credit: Williams + Hirakawa/Nickelodeon
Before Nathan Kress was Freddie Benson on
iCarly, he played an uncredited kid on the "Battle of Panthatar" episode of
Drake & Josh. However, he originally had a bigger role on the episode that involved him HITTING ON MIRANDA COSGROVE. (Well, hitting on her character, Megan.)
Dan Schneider, who created both
Drake & Josh and
iCarly, told
Seventeen that on the episode, "Megan goes to this cool party and there's this 'rich boy' who's shorter than her and looks about two years younger." Basically, Nathan's character "follow[ed] [Megan] around and tr[ied] to flirt with her."
Nathan had about five lines, "always coming up to Megan at the party, trying to flirt and impress her, [but] she's not interested."
When it came time to edit the episode, Dan was also in the process of creating the
iCarly pilot, on which Nathan had already been cast to play Freddie — a kid who's constantly trying to impress and flirt with Carly.
Dan wanted that relationship to be "fresh and new in
iCarly," so he edited out Nathan's part in the
Drake & Josh episode, though you can
still see him in a couple of shots.
2 - The mom's name and profession were revealed on Drake & Josh:
Credit: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic.
The mom's character name on
Drake & Josh may be listed on
IMDb as "Audrey Parker-Nichols," but her name and profession were actually never revealed on the show, according to series creator Dan Schneider.
TBH, there wasn't really a need for it. The only reason we learned the dad's name, Walter, was because he was an adorkable weatherman who everyone mocked. (This kind of thing isn't uncommon on TV shows. Dan noted how the dad on
Henry Danger didn't get a name for three seasons because it simply wasn't needed. Moreover, Timmy Turner's parents on
The Fairly OddParents weren't ever given names, which then became a kind of
running joke.)
However, there was a line on the series finale Dan wrote for someone to say to the mom at Helen's wedding: "Hey Audrey. How's your catering business going?"
With one line of dialogue, we'd have learned the mom's first name and job, which had become something of a fun little mystery on the show. The line was filmed and included in the editor's first cut of the episode, but after wrestling with the decision, Dan eventually cut the line.
"On the one hand, I thought it was funny to finally reveal it, so casually, in the very last episode — there was something ironic about that," Dan said to
Seventeen. "But then I decided that, because fans always seemed to have fun trying to figure it out (what 'Mom's' name and job were), it would be better to 'keep the bit going' for eternity, by never revealing it in any episode."
3 - The opening of Victorious began with a flashback:
Aaron Warkov/Nickelodeon
On the pilot episode of
Victorious, the show opened with Tori examining different types of mold, but that's not how it originally started.
Matt Bennett, who played Robbie Shapiro, told
Seventeen, "The pilot of Victorious started with a flashback of Tori and Trina singing 'I Don't Need Anything But You' from Annie."
Matt explained how the sisters were 7 and 8 years old and sang the song for their parents' friends. Naturally, Trina hit Tori in the face and knocked her over. "It was the very first scene. They shot it, but it got cut."
4 - Dustin sang with Drake Bell on Zoey 101:
Credit: Nickelodeon
Drake Bell guest-starred as himself on the "Spring Fling" episode of
Zoey 101, eventually performing for kids at PCA.
Paul Butcher, who played little bro Dustin, told
Seventeen, "I actually at one point joined Drake Bell on stage for his song that he was performing in the episode and sang it with him. They even filmed a take/version of this but it was never aired. Was one of my favorite memories from being on set."
It's a bummer that scene never aired because Paul has a fantastic singing voice: from doing covers of
Justin Bieber,
Shawn Mendes, and
Zayn songs to
creating his own music.
5 - Vicky had a little brother on The Fairly OddParents:
Credit: Nickelodeon
We know Vicky had a little sister named Tootie, but she mentioned having a brother at one point on the show.
Series creator Butch Hartman told
Seventeen, "In the pilot of
Fairly OddParents, Vicky
says she has a little brother ... [but] he was never mentioned again." Teasing, Butch added, "Did Vicky do something to him?"
6 - Coconut Head was supposed to get a new 'do on Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide:
Credit: Nickelodeon
Actor Rob Pinkston told
Seventeen there was "a potential for a big [Coconut Head] reveal for the final episode/movie." (The series finale was a two-part episode.)
"I would've gotten a haircut + revealed my character's true name," Rob continued. "However, it ended up getting cut from the script before filming."
For those who don't know, Coconut Head's real name was never revealed on the show. There was a rumor his name was Peter Scholl, but Rob debunked that myth. He told
MTV News in 2015, "No, as far as I know, he never had a name... I always kind of thought his real name should be Cornelius... He felt like a Cornelius."
Furthermore, Rob shared how on the original pilot (which he doesn't believe ever aired but couldn't confirm that) another actor played Coconut Head and singer JoJo played Lisa Zemo before Rachel Sibner took over the role.
7 - Danny and Sam's bond on Danny Phantom was paranormal:
Credit: Nickelodeon
Series creator Butch Hartman shared with
Seventeen, "The original concept had Danny and Sam Manson having a psychic link with each other. That was scrapped."
In late 2018, Butch
teased on his podcast,
Speech Bubble, he does have a
Danny Phantom movie script. Just tossing this out there: It could be cool to see this new side to the Danny/Sam friendship. (Hint hint, wink wink.)
8 - Good Burger had a drive-through setup:
Credit: Paramount/Getty Images
Before the epic 1997 movie came around,
Good Burger was born as a recurring sketch on
All That about a burger joint with an employee who was a hilarious-but-lovable moron.
While discussing how they wanted the sketch to go, producer and head writer Dan Schneider shared with
Seventeen the original idea for the now-iconic sketch.
"At first we [Dan and
All That executive producer Brian Robbins] thought about it being a sketch set in at a drive-through window. But then we realized that building a set with cars that could pass through would be tough and too expensive. So, we ditched the window idea and decided to set the sketch inside the burger joint."
Dan assigned the task of writing a script for the skit to two writers, who called the sketch "Polar Burger."
"I liked it, but the comedy was centered around a frozen theme," Dan explained. "Everything in the restaurant was cold, freezing, and the jokes (which were great) were about the food being frozen solid. And I felt like… that sketch would have been great once or twice. But I wanted a signature sketch for
All That (as did Brian) — one we could come back to again and again."
So, Dan wrote a new draft and
Good Burger was born, though at one point Dan did think about making the title "Average Burger," but felt that "was too on the nose." And while Kel Mitchell became the star of the sketch, Dan noted how the role could've gone to fellow
All That members Kenan Thompson or Josh Server.
"But we picked Kel, and he’s the one who gave Ed that slow surfer dude vibe. Kel's comedy magic brought Ed to life." The rest is history.
9 - There was a different dad on Drake & Josh:
Credit: Nickelodeon
Before Jonathan Goldstein was cast to play Walter Nichols on
Drake & Josh, another actor played Walter on the
unaired pilot.
Stephen Furst, best known for playing "Flounder" in the comedy
Animal House, was the OG Walter.
Series creator Dan Schneider told
Seventeen, "Stephen did a great job in the pilot. But when
Drake & Josh was later picked up for series, Furst was busy with another commitment. So, we replaced him with Jonathan Goldstein, the goofy weatherman we know today as Walter Nichols, dad to Drake and Josh."
10 - Timmy Turner's parents didn't have faces on The Fairly OddParents:
Credit: Nickelodeon.
OK, well, they wouldn't have been faceless, per se, but we wouldn't have seen them. Remember how fans
never saw Cow and Chicken's parents in full body (well, except for that
one time, kind of) on
Cow and Chicken?
Series creator Butch Hartman shared with
Seventeen that Mom and Dad Turner "originally didn’t have faces that were seen, but it got too hard to hide them so [they] ended up designing faces for them."
Not showing the parents faces in animated series continues to this day, most recently with
The Loud House, which only
revealed the faces of the parents during its season two holiday episode, "11 Louds a Leapin'".
It's a good thing, too, because Timmy's parents are arguably two of the funniest characters on the whole series. Can you imagine the
Dinkleberg meme without Timmy Turner's dad's face?!
11 - Cookie didn't exist on Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide:
Credit: Nickelodeon
Ned Bigby himself, Devon Werkheiser, told
TVGuide.com in 2018 that class nerd Simon "Cookie" Nelson-Cook "was originally a different actor and was named Boogie." Actor Stephen Markarian was Boogie, but after Nickelodeon recast the character, he returned to the series as Albert Wormenheimer.
"After the pilot, Nickelodeon auditioned new Neds, Mozes, and Cookies, so they could recast at least one of those characters as ethnically diverse," Devon said. "Daniel Curtis Lee came in and just knocked the role out of the park and the rest is history."
Devon reiterated this story to
Seventeen.
Bonus - An OG "All That" member was a huge part of The Adventures of Huck Finn:
Credit: Walt Disney Pictures
Disney's 1993 film version of Mark Twain's classic novel, starring a baby Elijah Wood, filmed scenes with Nickelodeon's
All That and
The Adventures of Pete & Pete star Danny Tamberelli, but nearly everything of his was cut.
"The movie ran long and my scenes were deemed not as important to the story so they cut me out," Danny told
Seventeen, "and basically just left the scene that they used in the trailer, '
Go for the glory, Huck.'"
Danny was Ben Rogers, Huck's friend. "I think it was a Disney conspiracy since I was a Nick kid through and through...also, the movie's meat and potatoes didn't need an extra friend for Huck."
Keep this fun fact in mind the next time your teacher shows you this movie in English class.
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