Nickelodeon returns to Game Zero this Monday by premiering another Double Dare reboot.
Yes, another. Double Dare 2000 may have been a not-so-Y2K-compliant flash in the pan, lasting one season. But one diapers-to-dormitories upbringing later, nostalgia fever is spiking, and this revolutionary program would be remiss to sit out.
The channel that has long prided itself on being “the first kids’ network” fastened its pegs through the first bona fide kids’ game show. Between Double Dare and its Super Sloppy and Family offshoots, the fledgling brand had its first original source of respectability.
Besides making Marc Summers a household name, the show sparked a new appetite that transcended its own base. A boom in Nickelodeon game shows and kid/family-oriented shows on other channels fast followed.
Just look at the key elements of Nick cohabitants that gained reasonable traction. GUTS had ample physical challenges. So did Legends of the Hidden Temple, which also featured enriching trivia rounds. Figure it Out picked up the slime torch four years after Double Dare went dormant.
But only the trendsetter can say it has come back for two more whirls in two other decades. With 22-year-old Liza Koshy hosting, the first Double Dare of this century (not counting one-off specials) has a 40-episode foundation.
And with Summers on the side, heads will swivel between hope for the future and fondness for the past. In that spirit, here is a grab bag of the best stories on Double Dare’s inception, growth and impact.
All-inclusive, Part 1
Though it started by pitting two pairs of kids against one another, Double Dare never wanted to alienate parents. By the time it introduced the Family edition, it had well-established standards for prospective viewers and participants alike.
In 1990, parent Linda Kane told the Orlando Sentinel that her experience with her husband and two daughters on Family Double Dare “made us feel so together.” The same article noted that “In auditions, Nickelodeon looked for families who worked well together, who liked to laugh and joke.”
A year later, in a Q-and-A with the Los Angeles Times, Summers opined, “the family that plays together stays together. There is such little time for families to enjoy themselves these days, unless it’s vacation. It’s so neat to see moms, dads and kids hug each other again.”
It was little wonder Double Dare inspired so many parrots, or that it outlasted some misguided ones. Infamous examples included NBC’s I’m Telling, whose premise came across as mean-spirited and divisive for its sibling contestants.
All-inclusive, Part 2
Regardless of ranking or job title, grunt work and glamour went to everyone behind the scenes. An oral history published on Thrillist confirmed as much.
Per executive producer Geoffrey Darby, “I wanted to prove to the stage crew that nobody was above cleaning up. I remember getting on my hands and knees and vacuuming the floor after an obstacle course, and I made sure the other producers helped too. You can’t just stand around and watch the crew slave. If you make the mess, you have to clean the mess up.”
Added director Dana Calderwood, “When we rehearsed the stunts, or tested them, it wasn’t just the stunt team. Everybody would come by. Harvey would have an idea. Marc would have an idea. I would have an idea. PAs would have ideas. Interns would have ideas. One time we were sitting around eating Chinese food. Somebody said, ‘Let’s do a stunt with Chinese food.’”
Just as no one was above cleaning up, no one was beneath thinking up. It is hard to envision many other workplace dynamics that make everyone feel that appreciated.
Slimy Ivy and Big Ten buffs
How fast was Double Dare’s burgeoning, and how broad was its appeal? By 1987, the New York Times reported that “Cornell University and Ohio State University have ‘Double Dare’ fan clubs.”
The founders of those clubs would have already hit their double-digit ages when Nickelodeon hit the airwaves. At the youngest, they were applying to their eventual college when the groundbreaking game show arrived.
Perhaps this their belated way of spelling a slight void in their childhood.
Striking Goldberg
Its virtual half-’80s/half-’90s timeframe made Double Dare natural fodder for a period sitcom like The Goldbergs. Adding to the cozy fit, creator Adam F. Goldberg knew two former contestants.
And so, for a 2016 episode, Goldberg consulted and gave a little screen time to his friends as Adam auditions for the program. Upon completing the show’s fourth season, Goldberg ranked Pops’ attempt at the obstacle course as his 10th-favorite moment.
Good times with Good Charlotte
The members of Good Charlotte were barely or yet to be born at the time of Nickelodeon’s 1979 inception. They were between the ages of five and 11 by the time Double Dare gave the network traction.
As such, they were in the right age group to appreciate the program, as one March 2011 music video confirms. With the video, “Last Night” becomes the soundtrack of a ficticious Family Double Dare episode’s condensed recap.
Per a statement published on MTV, guitarist Benji Madden said, “This video takes place in the ’90s and we were all ’90s kids, so we know it pretty well. This was one of our favorite shows growing up. I always wanted to go on ‘Family Double Dare,’ and now my dreams get to come true.”
The presence of Summers in his familiar spot cements the authenticity of the synopsis. As a bonus, Harvey the announcer had a conspicuously good time mock-shredding with the band on set.
Tryout campout
“Physical challenge” may only be an everyday buzzword in a Double Dare context, but it applies to countless situations. One need only epitomize their determination to play the game to show such a challenge in action.
When Double Dare 2000 conducted auditions around the Beltway, the Washington Post was ready to catch anecdotes. One told of a Virginia family that parked before the mall and slept in their car for three-and-a-half hours. Their doggedness paid off when the two kids were summoned to thrust cream pies at their parents.
Isn’t that special?
Summers told multiple sources that Dana Carvey was in the running to host the program. But Carvey was simultaneously auditioning for Saturday Night Live, which offered him a spot for the 1986-87 season.
As it happened, the Summers era of Double Dare spanned 1986 through 1993. Carvey’s SNL tenure encompassed the same seven-year stretch.
In retrospect, the tradeoff worked for all parties concerned. While Carvey could have cut it as a thirtysomething Nickelodeon host, much of SNL would not have been the same. The spoofs of President George H.W. Bush, third-party candidate Ross Perot and news anchor Tom Brokaw come to mind.
Summers cops out
The crew, being only human, has admitted to letting out their respective full-fledged adults. But they took care to do so in the absence of young ears. Still, mature Double Dare fans occasionally created R-rated yarns when Summers and company went on tour.
In the aforementioned Thrillist piece, Summers remembered one “very hot, sexy woman” getting touchy-feely for a photo. He insists that, while they posed, she reached down his pants and made contact with his bare backside.
The woman then reportedly said, “My husband’s a cop, but he works midnight to 8 in the morning. Here’s my phone number and address, you should stop by and see me.” Summers told the site that he thought to himself, “Yeah, your husband’s got a gun, so that’s a great idea.”
It is safe to assume he kept his reaction to himself and simply never called.
A world of influence
Where Double Dare invigorated Nickelodeon, Where in the World is Carmen San Diego? launched Rockapella to its peak. One could argue, though, that the latter two entities owe an intangible debt to the former.
PBS pursued its part-trivia, part-physical activity show for the 1991-92 television season. Its expressed objective, within the network’s spirit, was to make learning fun, specifically learning geography.
At the program’s launch, Education Week likened it to a hybrid of Jeopardy! and Double Dare. Granted, it slighted the latter as a “once-popular…game show for children that did not have educational content.” The program may have had fewer years ahead than behind by then, but its usage of trivia questions negates the second point.
Regardless, for its kids’ programming block, PBS clearly wanted its own twist on a signature show from the self-proclaimed “first kids’ network.” Its ambition was rewarded when its brainchild lasted a not-so-shabby five seasons.
Mars struck
Bruno Mars was born one year before Double Dare hit the air. He was eight by the time Summers was finished hosting new episodes outside of revival specials.
That made him a tad too young to appear on any variation of the series during its original run, if he so desired. But his lasting appreciation was palpable when he invited Summers to meet after a concert.
Summer recounted the encounter in a 2016 interview with Indie Wire, saying Mars had told him, “You raised me.”
The ever-humble Summers then told the site, “It’s like, that was weird.” But in terms of his crew’s collective impact, he was willing to acknowledge, “we struck a nerve in a generation.”
Likely the same nerve he and Koshy hope to find in countless kids in the same age group their parents were in the late ’80s.
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