Marc WeinerRay AbruzzoBrian BernsScott FellowsDavid Jordon
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Roundhouse, Finders Keepers, What Would You Do?, Wild & Crazy Kids, Welcome Freshmen
Weinerville is an American television program on Nickelodeon that was produced in 1993-1994. The show was based around a giant puppet stage which was designed to look like a city called Weinerville. The show was hosted by Marc Weiner.
The show premiered on July 11, 1993 and ended on December 21, 1997.
Weinerville e a g a h b e d d full video 1994 vhs
Production
During the first season, all episodes ran in a two-hour marathon every Sunday. However, Weinerville quickly gained popularity; in the middle of the first season, Nickelodeon began running the show on weekday afternoons. As a result, Nickelodeon allowed Marc and his characters to host a New Year's special event, a kids' version of Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve titled Nick New Year's, with host segments serving as wraparounds for the best Nicktoons and shows of that year, and read letters from kids about their New Year's resolutions as they counted down to midnight, then celebrated by shooting slime into the sky. Marc and his Weinerville characters hosted Nick New Year's in 1993 and 1994 from Times Square in the Nickelodeon Party Penthouse.
For the second season, which premiered on May 2, 1994, the episodes aired daily and were part of the Stick Stickly show Nick in the Afternoon, which included Marc as Dottie in some segments. Unfortunately with all the success of hosting two seasons, promotions, three television specials, and hosting a four-hour New Year's special for two years, and especially hitting a milestone for being the show to tape its 1000th episode at Nickelodeon Studios, Weinerville was not renewed for a third season. According to Marc, the cancellation happened because Nickelodeon was changing their identity from family friendly to edgy, sarcastic, and somewhat subversive shows, and a puppet show did not fit with the network's new direction of programming. After its cancellation, reruns aired on Nickelodeon until June 30, 1997, although the Chanukah special was later repeated as a one-off broadcast on December 21, 1997.
On April 2, 2015, the series came to The '90s Are All That block for their "Out of the Vault" week. When the block expanded and rebranded as The Splat, Weinerville was broadcast three times the night of October 10, 2015. As of today, the show has not broadcast since October 10, 2015.
Overview
Nickelodeon Weinerville was filmed at Nickelodeon Studios in Universal Studios Orlando Florida, it was an audience participation comedy show focused on Weiner and his puppets and about them making a show. The first few episodes did not have much of a plot or story line. During the rest of the first season, the show broke out story lines and plots, especially in the second season. Weinerville also had three television specials.
Human characters
Marc Weiner - The host who is always forced to solve most of Dottie's problems. In season one, Marc wears an unbuttoned Weinerville baseball jersey with a green undershirt. In season two, the color of his undershirt changes.
Kevin Elemeno P. (pronounced: "L-M-N-O-P") - The "executive producer" on the show who makes three appearances (only in season 2). The character, played by an older child, is a pun on the name of the real executive producer of the program, current MTV Networks executive Kevin Kay.
Puppets
The puppets below feature Weiner's head and a puppet body where their parts have been pre-taped so that Weiner can interact with them:
Dottie - The Mayor of Weinerville. Marc is usually forced to solver Dottie's problems and tends to get carried away with things if they don't get out of control. She has a sidekick/assistant named Zip.
Baby Jeffrey - The puppet nephew of Marc. He would usually introduce Marc at the beginning of each episode and always makes a mess.
Big Pops - The owner of the diner "Pops&Pops." Big Pops usually does a lot with his nose, either picking it or playing the kazoo. He only appeared in Season One and was dropped before Season Two.
Schnitzel - Marc's fresh/sassy, parrot sidekick. He only appeared in Season One and was dropped before Season Two.
Commander Ozone - A space captain that runs the AV-1 Spaceship. He defends evil and saves the universe with his sidekick Wilson. However, in Season 1, his name was "Captain Ozone."
Eric Von Firstensecond - Commander Ozone's evil enemy. He always tries to figure out an evil scheme to take over Weinerville or to marry Dottie. He only appeared in Season 2.
Cocktail Frank - The bandleader and guitar player of the house band of the show "Cocktail Frank And His Weenies." Frank is the lead singer/guitarist where his puppet band consisted of Posse on piano/turntables, Antoinette on drums, an unnamed bass guitarist, and an unnamed saxophone player.
Joey Deluxe - The big shot manager and powerful TV show agent.
Soup Tureen - The 'That's not Fair' game show host. Only in Season 2.
The ones listed below are puppet characters:
Zip (performed by Scott Fellows) - Dottie's helper who always gets himself into trouble, makes his famous trademark scream and crashes into the wall. In "DTV," it is revealed that Zip is good friends with Boney.
Boney (performed by Marc Weiner) - An obvious parody of Barney, he is a dinosaur skeleton that lives in the jungles of Weinerville. Boney is beloved by children, but hates them himself. The "theme song" at the end of his show consisted of said puppet singing "Now get outta here! I'm Boney, I'm Boney, leave me aloney!" When Boney quotes "Now get outta here," the children present leave his cave. For Season 2, Boney's puppet was rebuilt which that version also being used for the specials and the new YouTube Channel. In the "Chanukah Special," it is revealed that Boney loves to eat potato pancakes. He was also shown to have been attracted by the Weinerville Ski Lodge's new housekeeper Miss Kabobble (who dislikes it when someone gets snow on the floor and she ends up vacuuming it). According to the 1995 summer issue of Nickelodeon Magazine, Boney is Weiner's favorite puppet.
Pops (performed by Ray Abruzzo) - Known in season 1 as "Little Pops". He is the local chef who works at "Pops&Pops" with Big Pops. He sometimes argues and starts stuff with Louie, but they tend to get along.
Louie (performed by Scott Fellows) - The local laundromat owner who always argues with Pops.
Socko (performed by Marc Weiner) - An inverted hand puppet who likes to kick Marc's buttocks, performed with his own props, and made sarcastic gestures when things did not go right.
Wilson - The sidekick of Commander Ozone. In Season One, he had a squeaky voice like Zip. In Season Two, he sounds like Scotty of Star Trek fame.
Professor Phosphate (performed by Scott Fellows and David Jordan) - A puppet scientist with green hair who can only be seen from the waist up. Professor Phosphate is the owner of Weinerville Labs and often causes explosions with some inventions that don't work well. Despite this, he often solves the problems. He only appeared in Season 2.
Fufusky - A grub-like alien who is Eric von Firstensecond's alien sidekick.
Berny - An old man farmer puppet who has no performer and his mouth is always opened. He is responsible for bringing out the Weinerizer in every episode.
Other sketches
The show also featured several non-puppet characters played by Weiner himself:
Captain Bob - Captain Bob is a sea captain in yellow rain gear that constantly cracks puns. He owns the S.S. Bob at Port Weinerville (which is located near the building where Cocktail Frank and His Wienies are located). On many shows, an audience member would be invited to climb aboard where an offscreen person would fling water on him before the "tidal wave" (a bucket of water, or, in some cases, slime, thrown by a stage hand) soaked the participant. Captain Bob first appeared on Saturday Night Live when Weiner was a writer in the early 1980s. In scenes in which Marc Weiner interacts with Captain Bob, an actor seen from behind would portray Captain Bob with Weiner dubbing his voice in during post-production.
The Weinerville General Store - Members of the audience were also called down to participate in various activities during the main part of the show, such as helping to demonstrate items in the Weinerville General Store. A recurring joke on the show took place in the General Store in which Weiner would sell comedic props similar to those of Carrot Top. Nearly everything in the store sold for $13.50. It only appeared in Season One.
Running Joke - Occasionally, the "$13.50" gag was used in other segments. For example: on the "Talent Show" episode the winners won with 1,350 points; on the "DTV" episode, DTV was on channel 1350; and on the General Store and Captain Bob skits, that would be the price when Marc would hand the participant anything.
That's Not Fair! - A game show where a kid and an adult played for points answering questions. Usually the kids win. It was only featured in Season 2. According to an interview with Marc Weiner, "That's Not Fair" was a pilot he made for Comedy Central in 1991, after it was tested, the network said it was appropriate for children, so Nickelodeon got a hold of it and the pilot became "Weinerville".
Playland - These participants then competed in one of various games in "Playland" that tested the skill of operating their puppet bodies. The runner-up received the "Silver Hot Dog", with the winner receiving the "Golden Hot Dog" as well as the "Special Topping" (a small amount of green slime dumped onto the player's head.) If a malfunction occurred or both players tied they both get the "Golden Hot Dog". Occasionally, both players received the Special Topping, and if the game involved pies, both contestants would be hit with pies themselves instead of anyone getting the Special Topping. The Playland stage was enlarged and revamped the second season to incorporate more elaborate stunts; these frequently had the contestants facing each other and squirting water or whipped cream at some target, usually soaking the other contestant in the process. Season one was a carnival-style, and on the second season it was a radio-active style.
Weinerizing
The show always ended with Weiner choosing two people from the audience to get "Weinerized" (turned into puppets). The participants entered a contraption called the "Weinerizer", which appeared to then shrink them to the puppet size (it did so by having the contestants place their heads into a hole above a miniature puppet body). Although the audience members were ostensibly chosen at random, Matt Day (who at the time was working on another Nickelodeon show, Clarissa Explains It All) revealed that participants were sometimes selected beforehand. They would compete in a game and the runner-up would receive a trophy called "The Silver Hot Dog." The winner would receive "The Golden Hot Dog", as well as a dose of green slime.
Episodes
All episodes aired out of sequence in no particular order.
Broadcast history
NOTE: All times are eastern
Guest stars
Marc Summers of Family Double Dare is referenced regularly, made a cameo on the "Giant Spider" episode, "Chanukah Special", and the "New Year's Special"
