Wild & Crazy Kids
| Wild & Crazy Kids | |
|---|---|
 Wild & Crazy Kids logo. | |
| Presented by |
Annette Chavez (1990) Jessica Gaynes (1991–1992) Omar Gooding Donnie Jeffcoat |
| Theme music composer |
Wendy Fraser Todd Sharp |
| Composer(s) | Alan Ett |
| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of episodes | 75 |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Woody Fraser |
| Producer(s) | Noah Edelson |
| Running time | 22 |
| Production company(s) |
Woody Fraser Productions Nickelodeon Productions Reeves Entertainment |
| Release | |
| Original network | Nickelodeon |
| Original release |
Original series: July 4, 1990 – December 1, 1992 Revived series: July 29, 2002 – October 7, 2002 |
Wild & Crazy Kids is an American television game show in which large teams, usually consisting entirely of children, participated in head-to-head physical challenges on Nickelodeon (as well as YTV in Canada). The show lasted for three seasons from 1990 until 1992 for a total of 65 episodes.[1] Wild & Crazy Kids starred three teenage co-hosts with Omar Gooding and Donnie Jeffcoat (seasons 1–3), Annette Chavez (now Annette M. Lesure) in season 1 and Jessica Gaynes in seasons 2 and 3.
In 2002, a revival was produced which lasted ten episodes and aired on Nickelodeon from July 29, 2002, to October 7, 2002. It was hosted by Mati Moralejo of Nickelodeon Games and Sports for Kids.
Games
Each episode consisted of three games with one host emceeing each game. The teams were identified by the color of the shirts they wore, which varied from show to show (see below). The games varied in style; many were take-offs on playground games, sports with unusual rules added, or messy games involving pies or slime (the latter was referred to as "blap" beginning in season three). Occasionally, the show taped special episodes at a theme park such as Raging Waters, Wild Rivers, and Six Flags Magic Mountain.
Take-offs on sports
- The most often repeated (once per season) game was Dizzy Bat Home Run Derby. The game consisted of two teams (one of kids and one of adults) batting in three innings. The kids would attempt to hit home runs off of pitched balls (temporary and closer fencing was put up); any ball that did not leave the field in fair territory was as an out. Once the kids had three outs, the adults would bat. During their half-inning, a grownup would have up to three chances to hit home runs off a batting tee; however, the adult was first required to hold his bat upright against his forehead and spin around it three times; furthermore, each adult would only get thirty seconds to hit the balls. Three adults would bat every half-inning. Donnie Jeffcoat, incidentally, hosted the game all three times.
- Three-Legged Soccer, where kids were tied at the ankle like in a three-legged race.
- Splash Football, where a quarterback Rodney Peete would throw footballs to kids jumping off a diving board and into a pool.
- Bumper Boat Lacrosse, played in bumper boats.
- Donkey Basketball, played with kids on donkeys.
Playground games
- A giant game of Simon Says which looked more like a comedy routine by leader, Brian Seeman.
- Red light/Green light, retitled Red Pie/Green Pie, where if a child was caught trying to advance after the call of "red light," they hit them self with a pie. If they reached their goal, they hit one of their parents with the pie.
- Cops and Robbers played on the set of the Miami Vice Spectacular at Universal Studios Hollywood.
- A Tug of War pitting three professional wrestlers against a team of kids. The wrestlers would face-off against a growing number of kids each round, starting at one and then going to all fifty kids.
Other games
- A massive game of Twister.
- Human Space Invaders.
- Human Battleship, where the spaces selected by the players had navy beans dumped on them (as well as any participant serving as the "ship" in that space.)
Pilot
A pilot was shot in 1989, hosted by Matt Brown (who co-hosted Don't Just Sit There on Nickelodeon), Leslie Hibbard and Cory Tyler.
Guest appearances
During the first and second seasons, there were occasionally adult celebrity guests, and one of Season 2's final episodes held a kids and teens celebrity slide competition game at Raging Waters in San Dimas, California to raise money for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. The entire third season in 1992 featured at least one (and sometimes more) kid celebrity guest(s) every episode. Guests were people like actor and former bodybuilder Arnold Schwarzenegger, Lark Voorhies from Saved by the Bell, Jonathan Taylor Thomas from Home Improvement and Michael Fishman from Roseanne. A young Tobey Maguire appeared on the show long before he was famous, promoting the short-lived Fox sitcom Great Scott!. Other appearances include:
- Marc Summers from Double Dare who appeared in 1990 in a special episode titled "Double Dare vs. Wild & Crazy Kids." He also appeared the following year to pitch in "Dizzy Bat Home Run Derby: The Sequel."
- California Angels pitcher Scott Bailes pitched the first "Dizzy Bat Home Run Derby" and Bruce Hurst of the San Diego Padres pitched the third and final installment.
- Detroit Lions quarterback Rodney Peete appeared on the premiere episode throwing footballs to kids jumping into a swimming pool.
- Michael Bower, Venus DeMilo and Danny Cooksey from the Nickelodeon series Salute Your Shorts appeared on one of the final episodes. This show pitted two teams—one headed by the Salute Your Shorts crew and the other headed by the three Wild & Crazy Kids co-hosts—in an all day showdown.
- Olympic skier Bode Miller appeared on the revival in 2002.
- Daryl Sabara and Alexa Vega of the Spy Kids movies appeared on the revival.
- Brandon Call was in season 2, and as payback for his Wild & Crazy Kids shirt being in the Goo Pool with shorts and shoes, he took Donnie's shirt, Omar's shorts and Jessica's shoes and ran off to put them into the Goo Pool with the hosts chasing after him.
Production
The show was executive produced by Woody Fraser, and aired 65 episodes from July 4, 1990, to December 1, 1992, at Nickelodeon Studios at Universal Studios Florida in Orlando, Florida. Reruns aired on Nickelodeon from December 2, 1992, to February 28, 1999, before moving to Nickelodeon Games and Sports for Kids on March 1, 1999, to December 31, 2007. It's occasionally being shown on TeenNick since January 1, 2008. It was produced by Woody Fraser Productions in association with Nickelodeon and Reeves Entertainment Group.