User blog:AustinDR/My Thoughts on the Kids' Choice Awards

Now when I was a kid, I was an avid watcher of the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards. Forget the Oscars or the Grammies, this was something that I made sure to tune in to. By the time I graduated high school, I was more of a passive watcher of the awards show, because I had the sinking feeling that they were rigged. Sure, I may be sounding like some conspiracy nut, but I was always suspicious as to how SpongeBob seemed to win year after year. Don't get me wrong, I used to love SpongeBob when I was younger, but now I really wish other shows had a shot at winning. It's almost as if the execs are afraid that if SpongeBob were to lose to another show say Steven Universe or Gravity Falls - two critically acclaimed shows no less - then the audience would direct their attention towards other networks. So I suspect that they rig the votes to ensure that SpongeBob is always the winner. If I remember correctly, there was a time that Nickelodeon wasn't doing as great ratings wise until SpongeBob debuted back in 1999. Since then, it became a ratings success. I mean, I'm sure there isn't anyone who hadn't heard of the show. However, I feel that the show was also hurting the network creatively.

More often than not, Nickelodeon would heavily promote new cartoons, but then drop them completely if they didn't have the same success as SpongeBob. Remember how they heavily promoted The Xs or El Tigre? Or how about when they were completely dropped? I understand that Nickelodeon is a business, but they just never seem to have any faith in any cartoon that isn't SpongeBob. Worse, they often sentence those shows to a fate worse than death: Nicktoons Network. Originally meant to air past shows, Nicktoons Network essentially became the burial ground for shows that were doomed from the beginning. There, ratings for those shows suffer, and are never mentioned again by the main channel. It's practically a miracle that the Loud House wasn't sentenced to this fate already. I hope that it lasts longer, not necessarily for ten seasons, but long enough to leave an impression. I know many had said that SpongeBob had gotten better, but I just don't have the same affection for the show as I had when I was a kid. Really, even though I like the fact that the show is still around - mostly for sentiment's sake - I wish that it would end, because I feel that it is a shell of its former self that is heavily depended on.