Weinerville (partially lost Nickelodeon variety puppet series; 1993-1997)

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Title card.

Status: Partially Found

  Weinerville is a variety series/puppet show that originally aired on Nickelodeon from July 11, 1993 to February 17, 1996. It was filmed at Nickelodeon Studios in Orlando, FL and was created by Marc Weiner. 

Despite receiving numerous award nominations, drawing the attention of Entertainment Tonight and Good Morning America, and receiving acclaim from multiple news sources, the series ended after just 2 seasons. Due to the decrease in popularity and copyright issues with the cartoons that would air alongside the sketches, Nickelodeon has only aired 4 episodes since 1997, thus making episodes very hard to come by.

Overview

"Playland" during Season 1.
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The series is based around the fictional town Weinerville. There are many recurring characters, including Dottie, Zip, Boney, Socko, Louie, Pops, and many others. It was hosted and the majority of the characters were performed by Marc Weiner [with the exception of Zip and Louie, who were voiced by writer Scott Fellows, and Pops, who was voiced by head writer Ray Abruzzo].

The show is notable for its unique style of puppetry, where the puppeteer would place their head into a hole above a miniature puppet body. There was also a Double Dare styled segment called "Playland" where audience members would be Weinerized (Become puppets) and compete in games. The losing contestant would get the Silver Hot Dog and the winner would be given the Golden Hot Dog, as well as get slimed.

Much of the episodes' running time was taken up by classic cartoons such as Mr. MagooPopeye the SailorBetty Boop, and The Alvin Show. Marc Weiner said in an interview that had there been a Season 3, there would have been no cartoons.[1]

The show is also known for having many running gags and sketches. The number 1350 was used many times, but it was most commonly used as the price for every item in "The Weinerville General Store". Another sketch/character is Captain Bob, a sea captain who constantly makes jokes. He first appeared on Saturday Night Live in 1981. There is also a sketch called "That's Not Fair!", where a child and an adult would try to win points by answering questions. This was pitched to Comedy Central on its own in 1991, but after testing, they said it was good for kids and it was greenlit by Nickelodeon as Weinerville instead.

Lost Episode Guide

Still of Weinerville's set.

Of Weinerville's 62 episode run, 30 episodes have yet to be unearthed. 

*Please note that the only episodes listed are the ones that have been lost or found since this article's creation. 

102 Toothy Hurty Lost
105 Zip in Space Found
109 Weight Loss Found
127 Show #27 Lost
128 Auxiliary Satellite System Found
129 Show #29 Lost
201 Ratville Lost
202 Dottie's Replacement Lost
203 Weinerville for Sale Lost
204 Eric Von Firstenseconds' Spell Found
205 60 Second News Lost
206 Fire Safety Lost
207 Magic Lamp Lost
208 The Puppet's Court Lost
209 Broken Weinerizer Lost
210 Network Censors Partially Found
211 Louie Becomes a Citizen Found
212 Louie's Crush Lost
213 S.G. Dottie's Cousin Lost
214 Brain Switch Found
215 Parallel Universe Found
216 Boney's Spell Lost
217 The Time-Slot War Lost
218 Dottie's High School Reunion Found
219 Loca Cola Found
220 Weinervilla Lost
221 Eco Crazy Found
222 Marc's Arians Lost
223 Variety Show or Sitcom Lost
225 DTV Found
226 Royal Dottie Lost
227 Zip Runs Away Lost
228 Dottie's Dating Game Lost
229 Weinerville: The Movie Lost
231 Back to the Past from a Look into the Future Lost
233 XR-3 Space Shuttle Game Lost
SP01 The Weinerville New Year's Eve Party Lost
SP04 Election Special: From Washington B.C. Found

Availability

"Election Special: From Washington B.C." title card.

Weinerville, like many of Nickelodeon's early programs, has rarely aired since its creation. It last aired reruns in 1997, making episodes extremely scarce. For 3 years, it only aired on Sundays in 2-hour marathons and on weekdays during 3:00 PM or 3:30 PM. Near 1997, it only aired at 7:00 AM until it vanished entirely.

In 2008, 24 episodes appeared on a private torrent tracker and were eventually uploaded to YouTube alongside 2 other episodes (1x12 and 1x16). The Chanukah Special was originally uploaded to YouTube on 4/19/12 and Lost in the Big Apple appeared on YouTube on 5/8/12. The Election Special was available online for a short time, but it appears no one downloaded a copy as it hasn't been available since MegaUpload was taken down in 2011. A copy was found on Dailymotion in 2018.

The '90s Are All That was supposed to air it in 2011, as it was seen in many promos, however, it wasn't aired until April 2nd, 2015, when four seasons 2 episodes made their premiere on the block. Two episodes also aired as part of the premiere week of The Splat (however, these episodes have been online for years).

References