Fun Fright Festival: An Interview with the Big Orange Couch
Podtober is the tried and true event of the year for the ’90s Nickelodeon podcast, just as Halloween season was for the network and era it covers. And it’s only getting bigger.
Cry Baby Lane was destined for first dibs on the Big Orange Couch’s movie musings.
Sure, Nickelodeon released its first three theatrical films in the 1990s. And yes, it completed a fourth within that decade, ahead of a mid-February 2000 premiere. Conversely, Cry Baby Lane was a made-for-TV project that disappeared almost as soon as it debuted October 28, 2000.
But the Big Orange Couch — a podcast that generally sticks with its theme of recalling and revisiting the self-proclaimed First Kids’ Network’s golden age — knows when and how to breach its own boundaries. The buildup to Halloween is a hotspot for those deviations, which have not hurt any more than a one-night candy binge wrecks an otherwise health-conscious person’s body long-term.
Having launched April 30, 2017, the BOC hits its half-birthday on the eve of every Halloween. As such, creators and cohosts Andrew and Joey — who are on a strict first-name basis to their listeners and requested the same treatment for this piece — were developing their brainchild’s identity at five months going on six when they unveiled their October ritual.
“I’m lovingly calling this month Podtober,” a half-cautious, half-confident Joey told the audience in the October 1, 2017, installment. “Take it or leave it, people.”
Fast-forward to Year Four, and enough have taken it. Some have even given to it.
By the end of this month, the BOC will have unleashed 19 percent of its episodes in this accelerated stretch of remembering (mostly) Nick-generated Halloween or Halloween-friendly content. (They are not above taking a break to discuss The Munsters and The Addams Family — both of which did air on Nick at Nite in the ’90s —or The Twilight Zone.)
The reception shows in the mere fact that Cry Baby Lane — which never reran on its original issuer and did not resurface until 2011 on the offshoot channel Teenick — got its own episode October 4.
Out of 178 BOC episodes to date, 25 have focused on Are You Afraid of the Dark?
Andrew and Joey admitted to no recollection of the film. Guest cohost Zach remembered assuming it was a special edition of Are You Afraid of the Dark? — ’90s Nick’s signature horror series — when it premiered. But multiple fans had reached out with vivid memories and demands for a discussion.
“The listeners have been an integral part of the pod from the beginning,” Andrew said via email. “They’re quick to fact-check and clue us in on the dark corners of Nick that even we haven’t visited. As much as we’ve learned from research and re-watching episodes, there is always stuff we miss and, without the listeners, would never know about.”
Fittingly for a nostalgia podcast, the breakdown of Cry Baby Lane meant dissecting two stories. Besides the plot, there was the strange saga surrounding its non-return to Nick, an anomaly for a channel that tends to rerun its output for years afterward.
The real-world half of the mystery, Joey said in an email, made the movie feel “fresh and unknown, which is rare with any of this Nick stuff.”
When Cry Baby Lane was exhumed in 2011, TheWrap reported that it “was deemed so scary after its one airing in October 2000 that it was banned by the network, never to be seen again.” Although, the write-up’s next paragraph notes, “A Nickelodeon rep tells TheWrap that ‘Cry Baby Lane’ was never formally banned. It was simply forgotten in the Nick vaults.”
Ditto in the minds of even some of the network’s most devout viewers, which for Andrew only amplifies the appeal.
“The fact that it disappeared for so many years has given it a sort of meta status,” he said, “a scary movie that has become a scary legend in itself.”
Raising spirits after September
Judging by their podcast, one might believe Andrew and Joey live for Halloween on a par with Linus Van Pelt, Claire Dunphy, and Hubie Dubois. They are not quite on that level, Joey insists. But if nothing else, Halloween or Halloween-esque programming was a crucial adhesive in their initial and lasting attachment to ’90s Nick.
“Ultimately,” Joey writes, “BOC exists because Andrew and I were and are best friends, and growing up on Nickelodeon was part of that. Are You Afraid of the Dark? was one of the shows we most heavily viewed and discussed as kids.
“Don’t get me wrong, I adore Halloween. But in this case, I just think it’s part of why we loved Nick, and so the episodes are the most fun for us to break down and dissect.”
The data doesn’t lie, and it corroborates Joey’s statement. Out of 178 BOC episodes to date, regardless of the time of year, 25 have focused on Are You Afraid of the Dark? As the subject of 14 installments, The Adventures of Pete and Pete is a distant second.
“There’s no doubt Nick’s Halloween offerings have had an impact on some of the things we gravitate toward,” Andrew emailed. “They knew how to make being scared fun, and I think that has stuck with us through the years.”
So much so that suspense fills the prelude to the podcast’s festival of scary-only content. For 10 months out of 12, the Big Orange Couch releases a new episode every Sunday. Then it goes dark for the majority or entirety of September, affording Andrew, Joey, and friends extra production time for the next month’s harvest.
The October output tends to double that of the other active months, with eight or nine installments each year.
For listeners, that fast-to-feast pattern recreates what the BOC crew and much of the generation they represent felt growing up on ’90s Nick. In executing Podtober, they have noted that Halloween was the first high-profile occasion they had to look forward to when the three-month break from school mercilessly ended.
“BOC exists because Andrew and I were and are best friends, and growing up on Nickelodeon was part of that. Are You Afraid of the Dark? was one of the shows we most heavily viewed and discussed as kids.” – Joey
“The entire month of October was an event as a kid, and Nick was the guide,” said Andrew. “This time of year, maybe more than any other, really highlights the lengths the station went to create a kid community.”
Through special episodes of nearly every series and public-relations initiatives like Nick or Treat, Nickelodeon gave millennial children a sweet, savory jumpstart on the holiday. A bounty of humdrum breakers enlivened the second half of what might otherwise have been a two-month drag.
Throughout the ’90s and portions of its neighboring decades, Nick or Treat garnished the main course of the network’s programs with interactive contests. Kids could enter for a chance to be called on their landline and win prizes, provided they answered with “Nick or Treat.” Or they might have had 40 seconds of fame on the tube by playing a call-in video game, dialing their way to six doors hiding either a monster or merchandise.
For Joey, the presentation indicated a genuine passion by the adults from afar. From the whole AYAOTD anthology to eerie episodes of other programs to Nick or Treat, the way the masterminds “embraced Halloween” left no doubt they “loved it as much as we did.”
So far, besides the bevy of Are You Afraid of the Dark talk, Podtober has covered Halloween episodes of 12 ’90s Nickelodeon shows. It has done so in all of the standard BOC formats — “versus,” a debate pitting one episode against another; “favorites,” a countdown of each podcaster’s preferred and/or least preferred characters, such as AYAOTD villains; and comprehensive single-episode breakdowns. The podcast’s second October installment in 2017 was all about Nick or Treat.
“I have to give the people working for the network a lot of credit for creating such an indelible experience for all of us spooky kids,” Andrew emailed. “Watching these episodes and some of the off-show segments that aired between shows, it’s just so evident that it was created with a care and enthusiasm that just doesn’t seem to exist in the same way today.”
Never burning out
Emulating their idols, Andrew and Joey stoke a digital campfire and invite like-minded listeners to join in. The power of Podtober especially radiates in the BOC’s broad supporting cast.
In its formative months, the Big Orange Couch started sculpting a corps of guest hosts, most of them longtime friends and relatives of the cofounders from their locale. As of this writing, 26 people have come on. And that’s not even counting interviewees from ’90s Nick shows or the runners of other nostalgia podcasts — including one dedicated exclusively to Are You Afraid of the Dark? — or those who have only spoken on the occasional “Call That” segment at the end of select episodes.
The first “Call That” with friend Chris, Joey explained, was an unplanned gateway to the growing guest rotation.
“We got such a kick out of Chris’ call that we decided to ask our friend Brett to do the first versus episode with us,” he said. “That turned out to be a blast, and so at that point we decided, this works better, generally, with a third voice.”
He added that a greater volume of voices means averting a burden on the initial nucleus of third podcasters. As fun as the discussions and debates are, no one wants to take their time and energy overboard any more than they wanted to ingest their trick-or-treat loot in one sitting.
“The high rate of guests probably stems more from us not wanting to burn people out as guests,” Joey said. “We started feeling bad asking the same people to come on over and over again, because it is a lot of prep. This meant branching and talking to a lot of people.”
“The interactivity was definitely one of the things that made the network so special, and hearing from so many people that feel similarly has only increased my appreciation for everything Nick. It’s been an honor having the chance to be a part of something that even simulates some piece of the blending of TV and reality that was Nick or Treat.” – Andrew
It also means retroactively accentuating Nickelodeon’s autumn savvy. Fourteen of the BOC’s recurring or one-off guests have appeared during Podtober. Five had their first full-length episode during the unique festival, including four this year. Another three first lent their voice in a Podtober “Call That.”
“I think people are eager to talk about spooky stuff,” Joey supposes. “So it’s actually made it easier for us to find people during Podtober who want to chat.”
“It still surprises me that there have been that many,” Andrew admits. “We didn’t plan much about who might want to participate beforehand, so the fact that people have been so enthusiastic about joining us has been a pleasant surprise.”
The swelling of the podcast’s roster underscores one silver lining to this year’s at-large upheaval. Nine new people have participated in a physically distant discussion since June, including four Podtober debutants.
“In that sense,” Andrew says, “I think the pod is serving its purpose better than ever.”
Added Joey, “When we recorded in person it was really about hanging out with our friends. Going to dinner after or just chatting. That sort of thing.
“When we went remote, we decided it was a chance to start hearing new voices, and it’s been so cool to interact virtually with all these awesome people. Truly people you could see yourself being friends with.”
Fourteen of the BOC’s 26 recurring or one-off guests have appeared during Podtober. Nine new people have debuted in 2020, including four in Podtober.
Interact is the key verb in that statement. The Nick or Treat contests arguably epitomized the network’s invitation to let its consumers influence parts of the product. As the BOC has noted on its own airwaves, that approach transcended the calendar through programs like Short Films by Short People.
Two decades later going on three, Andrew and Joey lean on their peers to pitch in and fetch kindling for their digital campfire.
“The interactivity was definitely one of the things that made the network so special,” said Andrew, “and hearing from so many people that feel similarly has only increased my appreciation for everything Nick. It’s been an honor having the chance to be a part of something that even simulates some piece of the blending of TV and reality that was Nick or Treat.”
Joey even credits the listeners turned guests and other contributors with ensuring the BOC’s longevity.
“We’re open to new ideas,” he said. “Not to say we follow-up on every suggestion or idea, because there just isn’t always the time, but we read and consider everything people send us. We want people to find enjoyment from our podcast.
“I think we would have already run out of gas if it weren’t for all the thoughtful and caring listeners. It keeps us going to know people care and want more. I think once that stops, we'll know the podcast has run its course.”
To the unabashedly unyielding ’90s Nick devotee, that specter is scarier than all prospective Podtober fodder combined. That said, the masses are bringing extra insurance to ward that possibility off. In so doing, they both feed and form a benevolent beast.
“Thanks to every one of them,” Andrew concluded, “I think Big Orange Couch has become more important to a lot of people, myself included, than we ever thought possible. It’s surreal and really gratifying to be a part of this misfit community.”