Forgotten TV shows I still like. We’re beginning this blog series with Nickelodeon GUTS from 1992-1995. Except this isn’t really forgotten, and not really a favorite of mine. But hey, we’re just getting started. I promise some true obscurities in weeks to come.

Full disclosure: I did not watch GUTS back in the day. I didn’t really get into this show and others like it until the YouTube era (era), after they’d become huge nostalgia items. It’s pretty clunky when watching it from a modern viewpoint, but it has that early ‘90s kid power feel that is impossible to replicate.

Any given episode has three kid contestants, both boys and girls, competing in various physical challenges. The idea seems to be taking ordinary sports and jazzing them up in various ways, often using bungee cords (called “elastics” on this show) to pull off huge jumps. There were obstacle courses, cannons that shot footballs and baseballs, and a track for running/biking/skating. Later seasons introduced a wave pool and even a mini ski slope.

Every episode built to a big finale in which the kids climbed a manmade mountain called the Aggro Crag. The goal isn’t just about getting to the top first, but hitting a series of buttons (sorry, “actuators”) along the way. It kills the momentum whenever a player reaches the top but has to climb back down because they missed an actuator. The winning prize is a “piece of the Aggro Crag,” That sounds like crap, but it’s actually a gigantic trophy. I checked, and you can buy replicas of the trophy on eBay, but I don’t see any genuine ones.

Just what is the identity of this show? Double Dare was all silly and jokey, while Legends of the Hidden Temple had its Indiana Jones-like theming. You’d think GUTS would have messaging about physical fitness for kids, but there’s none of that. The goal of the series seems to be treating this as if it’s a serious sporting event. The hosts go on and on about how these games are strenuous challenges, and they weirdly describe these scrawny 12-year-olds as having awesome muscular physiques.

About those hosts. Mike O’Malley is hyper to the point of exhaustion, going overboard in selling this show as the most exciting thing you’ve ever seen. The real face of Nickelodeon GUTS, though, is referee and cohost Moira “Mo” Quirk. With her warm, friendly demeanor and her oh-so-proper English accent, it’s no wonder that kids (and some adults) developed crushes on her over the years. Allegedly, although Mo had an education in theater, she was a Universal Studios employee at the time. She got the hosting gig as part of her regular theme park duties, turning her into a TV star pretty much by accident. Not bad.

Other thoughts:

• It’s hard to get a sense of just how big or small the GUTS arena was, but I doubt the tiny studio audience produced the wall of sound that is the constant cheering and applause that roars throughout every episode.
• There are way, way too many cuts to the scoreboard to remind the audience of who’s winning. Most of these have to be filler, right?
• In all the reading I’ve done about GUTS for the blog this week, I couldn’t find a single instance of serious injuries happening on set. Good job, GUTS safety team!

There we have it. GUTS is amusing to throw on an episode once in a while for a nostalgic laugh, but the sameness of episodes make it dull to binge-watch. There are four seasons, plus at least three spinoffs that I know of, so there’s lots of GUTS out there if you’re interested.

Nickelodeon GUTS can be found on Paramount Plus and on YouTube.

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