People are forgetting that Nickelodeon Studios was empty for over a year before Blue Man Group moved it. Without BMG and the other organizations that use the facilities now, Universal could have easily torn the buildings down and used the land for other purposes.

Today, the buildings are still doing what they were designed to do…..entertain people. The only difference is that Nickelodeon is not the one in there doing the entertaining. Nickelodeon simply could not sustain the vision that caused it to build the complex in the first place.

The studios could very well have been kept alive if:

1) Celebrities were willing to either relocate or live part time in the Orlando area.
2) Interest in the shows that were produced in the facility remained strong.
3) The number of visitors to the complex stayed strong or grew stronger.

With no source of new programming, Nick GaS was reduced to broadcasting a small number of shows with the same episode broadcasting 4 or 5 times a day and then repeating every 3 or so months. With no original programs, trying to get companies to advertise on GaS would have been a hard sell to say the least.

Faced with that reality, Nickelodeon moved GaS to turbonick and put “The N” in its place.

If Nickelodeon ever decided to go back to producing live action shows, it would be a safe bet that production would take place in southern California and not Orlando for the reasons mentioned above and in my comments from February.

Nickelodeon Studios and Nick GaS live on though memories, photos and recordings. Kids of the 90s have much they can look back on and remember their childhoods. Don’t forget that the Nickelodeon time capsule is still around and is scheduled to be opened in 2042.

Nickelodeon Studios was designed to host live action shows, such as GUTS, Legends of the Hidden Temple and the various incarnations of Double Dare. There were some regular shows recorded there too.

One of the problems Nickelodeon ran into was that celebrities had no intentions of relocating from Southern California to the Orlando FL area. This meant that Nickelodeon would have to fly people in from California, put them up in hotels and then fly them back out.

Another problem was that interest in the shows Nickelodeon produced (including live action shows) at the studios fell. Many were the days when Universal Theme Park was full of tourists, but very few people ventured over to the studio for a tour. With no interest in the programs and few visitors to the complex, many of the companies that had sponsored shows in the past decided to stop doing business with Nickelodeon.

All of the above problems (and maybe a few others) were just too much to overcome so in 2005, Nickelodeon folded their tents, turned off the lights in the studios for the last time, and walked away.

The live action shows, while entertaining, show their age much more than animated programs do. For example, hair and clothing styles (at least for guys) have changed since the 90s. This may very well be part of the reason Nickelodeon decided to focus on animated programs.

Depending on contractual arrangements, any residuals (the money paid to the hosts today for the work they did 15-20 years ago) could prove to be a deal breaker should someone desire to show GaS programs on another channel. The residual problem becomes worse for scripted shows.

No questions about it, Nick Studios and Nick GaS left their mark on a generation of kids. But time has moved on. Today’s kids will have their own things to look back on 15-20 years from now much like the kids of the 90s do today.