35 Years Ago, One of the 90’s Most Popular Kids’ Shows Was Nearly Rejected for Being Too Scary

My idea of a great Saturday night as a kid involved turning the living room into a slumber-party disaster zone. Couch cushions came off, pillows became building materials, and whatever blankets we could find went into a fort that probably violated several basic principles of construction. The television was the centerpiece. We weren’t just looking for something to put on in the background; watching a show was the plan. And scary stories? Those were practically an invitation. Everybody wanted to see something creepy, although I suspect the people insisting they weren’t scared were often the ones sitting closest to the biggest pillow.

That’s why the story behind one of Nickelodeon’s most memorable shows is so interesting. Ah, classic Nickelodeon… Somewhere along the way, somebody decided that a television program designed to scare children might be a little too frightening. There’s a reasonable concern buried in there, certainly. But there’s also a rather funny contradiction. Kids have been daring each other to tell ghost stories, explore supposedly haunted places, and sleep with the lights off long before television executives started worrying about being too edgy. One particular show would eventually turn that appetite for a good scare into a defining part of ’90s children’s television. Getting it there, however, wasn’t quite so straightforward.

Why Nickelodeon Almost Passed on Are You Afraid of the Dark?

I still think it’s funny that Nickelodeon supposedly worried that a show about scary stories would be too much for kids to handle. They either had perfect childhoods or forgot what kids and teens have been doing for decades, whether hanging out or having slumber parties. Before the 2000s, how did you not know at least one urban legend? Based on that, the network had the best formula to work with. Give a bunch of kids a flashlight, turn off the lights, and let somebody whisper that there’s a ghost standing outside the window. That’s pretty much what made Are You Afraid of the Dark? such a great idea in the first place. The show followed the Midnight Society, a group of kids who regularly met in the woods to tell each other frightening stories. Honestly, I would’ve signed up immediately. Well, assuming I didn’t have to walk home alone afterward. There’s something about being scared with your friends that makes the whole experience even better, especially when you can spend the next day arguing about which story was the creepiest.

And how can you ever forget that intro? It was perfect. If you think about it, it was basically a PSA that bedtime was about to become a problem. Nothing says childhood fun like creepy music, spooky woods, and kids gathering around a campfire with absolutely no adult supervision.

According to MacHale, Nickelodeon initially rejected the pitch because executives thought they couldn’t scare little kids. I mean, really? This was the same audience that happily watched Ren & Stimpy, Roundhouse, and all the other wonderfully weird stuff Nickelodeon was putting on television. Kids weren’t exactly strangers to things that were a little strange or unsettling. Thankfully, a change in the network’s development leadership gave the idea another shot, and Nickelodeon eventually reconsidered. Can you imagine if it hadn’t? We’d be talking about a completely different SNICK lineup, and I would’ve missed out on years of wondering whether I was brave enough to watch another episode before bed. Sometimes executives underestimate their audience, and this feels like a pretty good example of that.

How Are You Afraid of the Dark? Became a ’90s Classic

One of my favorite things about Are You Afraid of the Dark? was that you never quite knew what you were getting into. You’d sit down to watch an episode thinking it was just another kids’ show, and then suddenly there’d be some creepy character or genuinely unsettling scene that had you looking around your own living room. And the funny thing is, the show didn’t need to go completely overboard to get under your skin. Sometimes the idea behind a story was enough. That’s what made the Midnight Society such a clever setup, too. Every episode started with those kids gathering around the campfire, and then somebody would launch into a new tale. No complicated backstory to remember, no worrying about missing last week’s episode. Just a scary story, a little suspense, and the possibility that you’d be thinking about it when you were supposed to be asleep. As a kid, I loved that stuff, even if I occasionally regretted watching it right before bedtime.

It also gave SNICK something a little different from the rest of its lineup. Clarissa Explains It All had the family chaos, The Adventures of Pete & Pete had its wonderfully bizarre take on growing up, and Are You Afraid of the Dark? was there for those of us who wanted something a little creepier. You could spend Saturday night laughing at one show and then find yourself hiding behind a pillow during another. That’s a pretty great combination when you’re a kid. And unlike some shows that are remembered mostly because we watched them when we were young, Are You Afraid of the Dark? had stories that could genuinely get under your skin. Maybe that’s why so many of us still remember it. We weren’t just watching a bunch of kids sit around a fire. We were waiting to hear a story that might scare the living daylights out of us, and then, naturally, daring ourselves to watch the next one.

For all of you who watched the series, which episode was your favorite? And which one do you think deserves to be crowned the scariest of them all?