The premise of this show, for any readers who weren’t in middle school in the 2005 to 2008 range, is that swanky all-boys boarding school Pacific Coast Academy has, at long last, opened its doors and dorms to girls. Today, it’s time to give Zoey 101 the same sabermetric treatment. Other internet analysts have broken down game tape from The Office and Space Jam, Hoosiers and Teen Wolf. Starring Jamie Lynn Spears as the titular Zoey, the show was a minor phenomenon at the time, it was the most-watched show among tweens, and its Season 3 finale was the highest-rated live action episode in Nickelodeon history, with more than 7 million viewers.Īnd on January 9, 2005, that success started with a basketball episode. And Zoey 101, a TeenNick favorite from the mid-2000s, arranges a basketball game. Game of Thrones gives Daenerys dragon eggs. The pilot episode of any good television show sets the stage with the most important elements to come. And while Zoey 101 wasn’t represented in the bracket, this classic show, and classic sporting moment, warrants deep examination. Throughout the week, we’ll be publishing essays, features, and interviews to get at the heart of what made Nick so dang fun-and now so nostalgic. To mark the anniversary, The Ringer is looking back at Nick’s best-ever characters and the legacy of the network as a whole.

Introduced on August 11, 1991, under the brand of “Nicktoons,” Doug, Rugrats, and The Ren & Stimpy Show would quickly become hits and change the course of animation, television, and popular culture at large. Thirty years ago this week, a rising but not-yet-ubiquitous kids network by the name of Nickelodeon launched its first original animated series.

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