U to U (partially found Nickelodeon interactive series; 1994-1996)

"U to U" was an interactive TV series that ran on Nickelodeon from 1994-1996.

Hosted by Ali Rivera and Sertrone Starks, the show solicited viewer generated content, showcasing short films, animation, video games, music and other media submitted by viewers through phone, mail, fax, or email, which was then a fairly new technology. The show took advantage of the Prodigy Internet, where viewers could post on an on-line bulletin board.

"U to U" was a magazine-style show, featuring different segments and multiple user submissions per episode. It featured segments as diverse as video letters from pen pals to asking questions with celebrities on air, such as Ben Savage, Bronson Pinchot, Dean Cain, and Fran Drescher, among others.

It appears that 20 episodes were produced in total.

Horror Episode

A user on Reddit named misterfalc0n posted a very detailed memory of a horror themed episode of "U to U," which featured a short horror film created by a group of children. The film features the children sitting around a campfire, telling scary stories about a furry monster with pointy teeth that lived in the woods and ate children at the camp.

To quote misterfalc0n's post: After the last child tells his story about the monster, the children began to bicker about which one of the stories they told was the “real” legend of the monster. Suddenly, a deep voice off to the side of the children interrupts them, and says, “You want to know the real story of the monster?” (or something to that effect). The camera pans, showing the shocked faces of the children briefly, before cutting to the left of the screen. There, on a log, seated next to one of the children, was a hairy, brown creature. It was very small, no bigger than a foot tall, and seemed to consist of nothing but a head with limbs attached. For some reason, the sight of that creature’s face immediately paralyzed me. It had a red, human nose and large white eyes with small black pupils. It also had a huge smile, full of large, white, human teeth. I remember its smiling face, very clearly. I honestly don’t remember if the creatures face was claymation, or puppetry, or just actual human features layered on the screen, but something about it horrified me.

The horror short appears to be confirmed in an article about host Ali Rivera, but no footage of it is known to exist on-line.

One complete episode exists on-line.

A child game designer.

Game designer Paul Hubans as a child animator.

The opening theme.