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© St. Petersburg Times, published October 21, 2002
This year, Nickelodeon has cooked up a huge batch of Halloween fun with "Shriek Week." During the week leading up to Halloween, you'll see some scary, some weird and some funny specials that will help make this Halloween the best yet. Here are three features that you should check out.
For you seasoned fans, you will notice that this show is new to Nickelodeon. It is not a cartoon; it's more a cross between a game show and a mystery. The show takes place at Camp Lindenwood, where camper Dennis Williams walked toward the water at the camp one day and was never seen or heard from again. Since then, the waters around the camp have supposedly been haunted.
Two three-person teams compete by day to earn the right to come back at night and search for clues to help solve the mystery of the disappearance. They have to do everything that he did during the five days before Dennis disappeared.
This show is cool because when the teams get the clues you can figure them out yourself, too. While the story line of the show is kind of creepy, it really shouldn't scare people older than 8. However, this show isn't for very little children because of the suspense. With all the creepy scenes, special effects and music, it might make it too scary for them.
Scaredy Camp airs at 8:30 p.m. Sunday and continues every night through Oct. 30. The finale will air at 7 p.m. Nov. 3. All episodes, not including the finale, also will be presented as a minimarathon beginning at 7 p.m. on Halloween.
In Curse of the Werewuff, the Rugrats Halloween special, all the little Rugrats are excited about the upcoming holiday. Angelica is most excited about the candy. However, when her parents catch her eating all the candy before Halloween, they tell her that she can't get any candy when they all go to the amusement park for Halloween.
To get candy anyway, Angelica tells the babies that they will turn into whatever they are dressed as for "Hallowmean" unless they give all of their candy to her. But Chuckie, who is dressed as a werewolf, stands up to Angelica and finds that he can be in charge of himself even without being a real "werewuff."
This show is really for young Nickelodeon fans. Older kids might get bored with the simple story line. However, it is funny to see what the babies are afraid of, and it teaches that you shouldn't let yourself get bossed around. The episode premieres at 8 p.m. Oct. 28 and repeats on Halloween.
In the Fairly Oddparents Halloween special, poor little Timmy is having the worst Halloween ever. He couldn't get the costume he wanted because there were only four of them and all the rich kids in his neighborhood bought them. He has to dress as a toilet paper mummy and is taken trick-or-treating by his evil babysitter, Vicky.
To make his Halloween better, he wishes that everyone's costume was real. This wish, which is granted by his Fairly Oddparents, who are two little fairies that are his fairy godparents, has some disadvantages, and Timmy must save the world.
This show is not really that funny; it's mostly just stupid jokes. However, the parents and the babysitter are pretty funny, and this show would probably be enjoyed by kids younger than 10. Scary Godparents airs at 8 p.m. Oct. 29 and repeats on Halloween.
-- Jessica DaFonte, 14, is a ninth-grader at Palm Harbor University High School.