Nickelodeon today (Jan. 29) announced the premiere of Tooned In, the network's brand new epic gameshow that puts contestants to the test to prove their animation knowledge. Although the competition series is new, it seems that it's based on a unaired pilot that Nickelodeon made over 20 years ago!
In Nickelodeon's new Tooned In series, an animated A.I. robot, Nicky (voiced by Rama Vallury, AOK), hosts a gameshow where kid contestants compete in a battle of Nickelodeon cartoon knowledge for the chance to be named the night’s big winner and take home exciting prizes. Each episode features three kids who must solve animation questions across slime-filled rounds of trivia until only one contestant is left in the competition. The final kid will then be declared the episode’s big winner and move on to a special prize round to compete against Nicky and climb the robot’s motherboard for a chance to win the $1,000 grand prize.
Soon after today's announcement, it was revealed that Tooned In may be based on older format! Although there's nothing strange about that, as older gameshow formats are revived all the time. However, Tooned In seems to be based on a pilot that never made it to air!
In the late '90s. Nickelodeon taped a pilot for a potential new show called Tooned In at Nickelodeon Studios at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida, which also featured an animated host. Not much is known about the pilot - in fact, it's considered "Lost Media", with its only known footage being in a "Best of Nickelodeon Studios" sizzle reel (below, around the 3:38 mark)!
It's unknown whether both versions of Tooned In share anything in common, apart from the name and animated host aspect, but the new version of Tooned In does have another classic Nickelodeon connection: former Nickelodeon host Phil Moore (Nick Arcade, You're On!) serves as producer on the new series! It's not known whether Moore had any involvement in the original, but it certainly is a nice throwback!
Nickelodeon's Tooned In airs Mondays through Thursdays on Nickelodeon beginning Monday, Feb. 8, at 5 p.m. (ET/PT), with the season finale airing Thursday, March 4. Click here for all the details!
Sources: @NickSchedules, @Nickandmore.
