Man's Best Friend: An Alternate 1990s and Beyond
- Thread starter THE KINGFISH
- Start date
To avoid spoiling the TL to average viewers.
I think we need to make a separate speculation thread kinda like Hensonverse Speculation Thread so that the main thread doesn’t run out of pages.
You can still discuss on the main thread, but if it goes on too long, then the speculation thread is there to carry it on.
Thoughts?
The Yodel Song Lyrics
Hey guys, hope you are enjoying the TL so far! The next post after this one is going to be a big update (at least 4 threadmarks), and will detail The Yodel Son’s effect on music charts and Nick executives’ reaction to the success of Yodelin’ Yaks. But before we do, here are the lyrics to The Yodel Song to tide you guys over!
Yodel-eh, Yodel-eh, Yodel-eh-hoh
I hear a sound that's haunting me
A melody so dark and free
It echoes through my troubled mind
A voice that's calling, so unkind
Yodel, yodel, haunting me
Yodel, yodel, can't you see?
Yodel, yodel, it's all I fear
Yodel, yodel, ringing in my ear
He lures them in with a smile and a charm
But beneath the surface, there's something wrong
He takes them to his lair, a place of fear
And there he makes them suffer, year after year
Yodel, yodel, haunting me
Yodel, yodel, can't you see?
Yodel, yodel, it's all I fear
Yodel, yodel, ringing in my ear
Yodel-eh, Yodel-eh, Yodel-eh-hoh
I hear a sound that's haunting me
A melody so dark and free
It echoes through my troubled mind
A voice that's calling, so unkind
Yodel, yodel, haunting me
Yodel, yodel, can't you see?
Yodel, yodel, it's all I fear
Yodel, yodel, ringing in my ear
He lures them in with a smile and a charm
But beneath the surface, there's something wrong
He takes them to his lair, a place of fear
And there he makes them suffer, year after year
Yodel, yodel, haunting me
Yodel, yodel, can't you see?
Yodel, yodel, it's all I fear
Yodel, yodel, ringing in my ear
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Same structure as SLT, seems it also works as a theme,as SLT was the ultimate pop song parody, it seems the same for alpine one
Chapter IV: Lithium
That Time We Were all Almost Fired
Excerpt from the Stefanimania interlog, 23 September 2009
After finishing our work on Yodelin’ Yaks and seeing the final product hit the airwaves, you’d think we’d be at the top of our game. But apparently not.
So basically, I got a phone call from Kricfalusi - gruff as usual. “Hey, the execs need to give us a beating,” John barked on the other end of the phone. Like many of the staff at Spūmcø, we were no stranger to Kricfalusi’s increasingly autocratic behavior - and his unhinged pursuit of art was hurting the show in the ratings. While he definitely did a number on many of the artists, it was the executives that were most displeased. Vanessa Coffey played a huge part in mediating the tensions between John Kricfalusi and the executives at Nickelodeon, and personally admired Kricfalusi’s artistic skills - but even she felt the need to make the show commercially viable.[1] Then there were the other execs at Nick like Geraldine Laybourne and Herb Scannell who were more hostile to the show and wanted either Kricfalusi gone or the show axed altogether.[2]
Kricfalusi and I were both called to go to New York to meet with Nickelodeon executives. “Those pinkos wanna hear about that song of yours,” he would tell me at LAX. “The Yodel Song” was super popular at the time. I literally couldn’t turn on the radio without hearing it, and every kid or teen I ran into kept yodeling - even though they would’ve probably been bullied for that kind of thing just a couple of weeks ago. There was even talk from big names like Madonna about making some “grunge-style” yodeling album.
Anyways, once we got to Nick’s headquarters and went to the designated conference room, Coffey, Scannell, and Laybourne were all sitting at the distant end of the long conference table. Not a particularly welcoming atmosphere - a little too cutthroat and unfriendly - even by New York executive standards. “Well…. Good morning everybody….” I announced cautiously optimistic, “...sorry we’re late, subways are not my style of travel.” “Sit down gentlemen,” uttered Scannell - lacking even a bit of humor in his voice. John sat at the chair directly facing Scannell, while I sat in the chair left of him. “Guys, look, I’ll get the episodes out sooner,” Kricfalusi suddenly spouted, “I just need more time and money.” “We’re giving you all the time and money we have,” Laybourne retorted, “and you still aren’t cutting it.” “Back in 1991 we ordered just six episodes for Ren & Stimpy, and yet we had to air them over the course of 7 months because you weren’t finished with them yet,” she stated bluntly. “Not only did we have to keep airing the pilot to give the fans more content, but you can say goodbye to any hopes of syndication,” she continued. Scannell leaned towards Kricfalusi, ready to shoot more arrows at him. “Worse, it now looks like we’re gonna have to cut the second season down to thirteen episodes from the original twenty,” he pointed out.[3]
And then all of the sudden, John stood up and told the three of them at point blank - “The episodes will cost what they cost and they will take as long as they needed. I don’t need any help from some corporate bozos.”[4] The entire room was engulfed in complete and utter shock. I myself couldn’t help but look down at the table - I was that embarrassed. As I heard Scannell grunt and about to say something - potentially terminate his contract I suddenly blurted out.
“Yodelin’ Yaks was delivered on time!”
I saw the three executives turn their heads towards me in the corner of my eye. “O-Oh, Y-Y-Yes that’s right,” Coffey spoke up, “which is why I invited Eric Stefani.” My head came up and looked up towards her. “Yodelin’ Yaks was delivered on time,” she explained, “that means that John is capable of managing his own show.” “Vanessa, that doesn’t mean that all the other episodes will be managed well,” Laybourne pointed out. “He didn’t manage that episode,” I said, ignoring John up in arms. “I did,” I answered, “I made Yodelin’ Yaks with director Bob Camp.” I looked over to Kricfalusi, who had his head hung low and supported by his arms. “But I think that if I were to be elevated to a higher position at Spümcø, I could help to assist John better and get the show up and running again.”
The executives looked at both of us in awe. After a couple more seconds of silence, Scannell asked, “Say, what were the ratings for Yodelin’ Yaks again?” “Well,” Coffey said pulling out sheets of paper. “The ratings for Yodelin’ Yaks pulled in an astonishing 15.4 million viewers - the highest in the network’s history,” she explained. “Dear god,” Scannell answered, “that’s even higher than Hey Dude: The Last Dance.”[5] “Not only that,” Laybourne added, “but we’ve received word from the higher ups that Nintendo wants to make a video game for Ren & Stimpy - and they want to use The Yodel Song.”[6]
I just watched the three chatter with themselves. After a couple minutes of corporate babble, the three turned to us. “Alright, the show will go on,” said Laybourne, “but John, this is you last chance to get your work ethic straight.” John - now feeling confident - sat up and told them “Well that’s great to hear and I promise that those episodes will be turned in on time.” “Yes you will,” Scannell replied, “which is why we will make you promote Eric Stefani to showrunner position.” Both of us were shocked.
“What?”
“That’s right,” he reiterated, “Eric will have to be promoted to showrunner of Ren & Stimpy.”[7]
“……….What?!”
Memo sent to Spümcø from Nickelodeon
29 September 1992
“Effective October 1, 1992, Eric Matthew Stefani is to be elevated to the position of executive showrunner of the program The Ren & Stimpy Show. His position on the show is to reverse its stagnant ratings, improve its creative synergy, and to provide a positive role model to not only the creative staff of Spümcø - but also that of series creator Michael John Kricfalusi. Failure to achieve this by 11:00 PM EST on October 1, 1992 will result in the immediate termination of the show contract - as well as the possible cancellation of The Ren & Stimpy Show entirely.”
[1] Vanessa Coffey was one of the main people at Nickelodeon behind the network’s push for more original, creator-driven animated shows - compared to the toy-based cartoons that had been airing on the “Big Three” networks throughout the 1980s.
[2] Herb Scannell on the other hand, arguably played a role in Nickelodeon’s Network Decay of the 2000s and onward. He is said to have laid the seeds during his tenure as the network’s President in the late 90s/early 2000s. Under him, various shows were canceled, several others like Rugrats and Blue’s Clues were run into the ground, Nickelodeon Studios Orlando was shut down, and the network greenlit SpongeBob Squarepants - which while a great show and very successful for the network - created the network’s infamous “milk it to death of send it to Nicktoons” mindset when it comes to its animated programming. Scannell also had rather conservative sensibilities on what was appropriate for children’s shows, with Mitch Schauer’s Angry Beavers running into trouble for saying “shut up”, and also preventing shows like Angry Beavers from having a meta finale due to the fact that it would make children sad to see their show ending.
[3] This is OTL. It was said that these problems were so severe that Nick briefly considered canceling Ren & Stimpy in early 1992. That was before the famous episode “Stimpy’s Invention” aired and restored the show’s popularity.
[4] Kricfalusi actually said something along these lines right before he was fired IOTL in September 1992.
[5] That program was the actual highest rated program in Nick’s history at that point IOTL.
[6] Perhaps Nintendo saw Yodel Boys crash and burn upon release that inspired them……
[7] Yep. That’s right. John Kricfalusi by the skin of his teeth - is able to keep his job - but now he has to work with Eric Stefani on the same level.
Excerpt from the Stefanimania interlog, 23 September 2009
After finishing our work on Yodelin’ Yaks and seeing the final product hit the airwaves, you’d think we’d be at the top of our game. But apparently not.
So basically, I got a phone call from Kricfalusi - gruff as usual. “Hey, the execs need to give us a beating,” John barked on the other end of the phone. Like many of the staff at Spūmcø, we were no stranger to Kricfalusi’s increasingly autocratic behavior - and his unhinged pursuit of art was hurting the show in the ratings. While he definitely did a number on many of the artists, it was the executives that were most displeased. Vanessa Coffey played a huge part in mediating the tensions between John Kricfalusi and the executives at Nickelodeon, and personally admired Kricfalusi’s artistic skills - but even she felt the need to make the show commercially viable.[1] Then there were the other execs at Nick like Geraldine Laybourne and Herb Scannell who were more hostile to the show and wanted either Kricfalusi gone or the show axed altogether.[2]
Kricfalusi and I were both called to go to New York to meet with Nickelodeon executives. “Those pinkos wanna hear about that song of yours,” he would tell me at LAX. “The Yodel Song” was super popular at the time. I literally couldn’t turn on the radio without hearing it, and every kid or teen I ran into kept yodeling - even though they would’ve probably been bullied for that kind of thing just a couple of weeks ago. There was even talk from big names like Madonna about making some “grunge-style” yodeling album.
Anyways, once we got to Nick’s headquarters and went to the designated conference room, Coffey, Scannell, and Laybourne were all sitting at the distant end of the long conference table. Not a particularly welcoming atmosphere - a little too cutthroat and unfriendly - even by New York executive standards. “Well…. Good morning everybody….” I announced cautiously optimistic, “...sorry we’re late, subways are not my style of travel.” “Sit down gentlemen,” uttered Scannell - lacking even a bit of humor in his voice. John sat at the chair directly facing Scannell, while I sat in the chair left of him. “Guys, look, I’ll get the episodes out sooner,” Kricfalusi suddenly spouted, “I just need more time and money.” “We’re giving you all the time and money we have,” Laybourne retorted, “and you still aren’t cutting it.” “Back in 1991 we ordered just six episodes for Ren & Stimpy, and yet we had to air them over the course of 7 months because you weren’t finished with them yet,” she stated bluntly. “Not only did we have to keep airing the pilot to give the fans more content, but you can say goodbye to any hopes of syndication,” she continued. Scannell leaned towards Kricfalusi, ready to shoot more arrows at him. “Worse, it now looks like we’re gonna have to cut the second season down to thirteen episodes from the original twenty,” he pointed out.[3]
And then all of the sudden, John stood up and told the three of them at point blank - “The episodes will cost what they cost and they will take as long as they needed. I don’t need any help from some corporate bozos.”[4] The entire room was engulfed in complete and utter shock. I myself couldn’t help but look down at the table - I was that embarrassed. As I heard Scannell grunt and about to say something - potentially terminate his contract I suddenly blurted out.
“Yodelin’ Yaks was delivered on time!”
I saw the three executives turn their heads towards me in the corner of my eye. “O-Oh, Y-Y-Yes that’s right,” Coffey spoke up, “which is why I invited Eric Stefani.” My head came up and looked up towards her. “Yodelin’ Yaks was delivered on time,” she explained, “that means that John is capable of managing his own show.” “Vanessa, that doesn’t mean that all the other episodes will be managed well,” Laybourne pointed out. “He didn’t manage that episode,” I said, ignoring John up in arms. “I did,” I answered, “I made Yodelin’ Yaks with director Bob Camp.” I looked over to Kricfalusi, who had his head hung low and supported by his arms. “But I think that if I were to be elevated to a higher position at Spümcø, I could help to assist John better and get the show up and running again.”
The executives looked at both of us in awe. After a couple more seconds of silence, Scannell asked, “Say, what were the ratings for Yodelin’ Yaks again?” “Well,” Coffey said pulling out sheets of paper. “The ratings for Yodelin’ Yaks pulled in an astonishing 15.4 million viewers - the highest in the network’s history,” she explained. “Dear god,” Scannell answered, “that’s even higher than Hey Dude: The Last Dance.”[5] “Not only that,” Laybourne added, “but we’ve received word from the higher ups that Nintendo wants to make a video game for Ren & Stimpy - and they want to use The Yodel Song.”[6]
I just watched the three chatter with themselves. After a couple minutes of corporate babble, the three turned to us. “Alright, the show will go on,” said Laybourne, “but John, this is you last chance to get your work ethic straight.” John - now feeling confident - sat up and told them “Well that’s great to hear and I promise that those episodes will be turned in on time.” “Yes you will,” Scannell replied, “which is why we will make you promote Eric Stefani to showrunner position.” Both of us were shocked.
“What?”
“That’s right,” he reiterated, “Eric will have to be promoted to showrunner of Ren & Stimpy.”[7]
“……….What?!”
Memo sent to Spümcø from Nickelodeon
29 September 1992
“Effective October 1, 1992, Eric Matthew Stefani is to be elevated to the position of executive showrunner of the program The Ren & Stimpy Show. His position on the show is to reverse its stagnant ratings, improve its creative synergy, and to provide a positive role model to not only the creative staff of Spümcø - but also that of series creator Michael John Kricfalusi. Failure to achieve this by 11:00 PM EST on October 1, 1992 will result in the immediate termination of the show contract - as well as the possible cancellation of The Ren & Stimpy Show entirely.”
[1] Vanessa Coffey was one of the main people at Nickelodeon behind the network’s push for more original, creator-driven animated shows - compared to the toy-based cartoons that had been airing on the “Big Three” networks throughout the 1980s.
[2] Herb Scannell on the other hand, arguably played a role in Nickelodeon’s Network Decay of the 2000s and onward. He is said to have laid the seeds during his tenure as the network’s President in the late 90s/early 2000s. Under him, various shows were canceled, several others like Rugrats and Blue’s Clues were run into the ground, Nickelodeon Studios Orlando was shut down, and the network greenlit SpongeBob Squarepants - which while a great show and very successful for the network - created the network’s infamous “milk it to death of send it to Nicktoons” mindset when it comes to its animated programming. Scannell also had rather conservative sensibilities on what was appropriate for children’s shows, with Mitch Schauer’s Angry Beavers running into trouble for saying “shut up”, and also preventing shows like Angry Beavers from having a meta finale due to the fact that it would make children sad to see their show ending.
[3] This is OTL. It was said that these problems were so severe that Nick briefly considered canceling Ren & Stimpy in early 1992. That was before the famous episode “Stimpy’s Invention” aired and restored the show’s popularity.
[4] Kricfalusi actually said something along these lines right before he was fired IOTL in September 1992.
[5] That program was the actual highest rated program in Nick’s history at that point IOTL.
[6] Perhaps Nintendo saw Yodel Boys crash and burn upon release that inspired them……
[7] Yep. That’s right. John Kricfalusi by the skin of his teeth - is able to keep his job - but now he has to work with Eric Stefani on the same level.
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Damn I always thought it was gradual but seems entertainment is one of the few industries you can pinpoint failure to a single person.
Kurt right now: " I shouldn't have wrote that stupid soon,at least I didn't accidentally name it after a deodorant "
Oh I have plans for him, just you wait…
I’m still gonna cover Kurt alone don’t worry…
Will the game be developed in Japan by Nintendo, or will the game be licensed out to another developer, presumably in the West, with Nintendo publishing it?
Lol yeah, that's accurate enough.
I wonder what's gonna happen when Eric Stefani becomes executive showrunner of Ren and Stimpy, I'm predicting the episode list for the show will be very different from this point on aside from the TTL-exclusive episode "Yodelin' Yaks" and the non-existence of Man's Best Friend and Dog Show
I’ll give you a minor spoiler, but don’t expect Season 2 of Ren & Stimpy to be too different from OTL - meaning episodes like “Sven Hoek” and “Rubber Nipple Salesmen” would probably still be made to my understanding.
Season 3 however, was the first season of Ren & Stimpy produced without the involvement of John Kricfalusi. So with Kricfalusi still on board, and Stefani also running the show, expect Season 3 go be very different from OTL.
Actually, some episodes in Seasons 3-5 IOTL had some involvement from John K., meaning they were written and/or produced for Seasons 1 and 2 before his firing (Examples: Stimpy's Cartoon Show, Lair of the Lummox, Ren's Brain)
Another great update!
How good will the Ren and Stimpy game be?
Oh, and will Cartoon Network's launch be covered?
The first steps in making the game will be taken in November 1992, but don’t expect it to be released until late 1993.
Yes, I will cover Cartoon Network’s launch in an upcoming post.