I’m sad about the current state of Nick at Nite.

I watched Nick at Nite pretty consistently throughout the mid-2000’s and into the early-2010’s. During that time, Full House and George Lopez were my two go-to shows. But I also regularly watched shows like The Nanny, Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Malcolm In The Middle, Everybody Hates Chris, Friends, and That 70’s Show. Those are just the ones off the top of my head, too. I would even stay up late enough to catch the occasional Family Matters or Married With Children episode. Looking back, Nick at Nite had such a great variety of shows from different decades and eras of TV. Honestly, I think watching Nick at Nite helped me be able to appreciate, value, and enjoy shows that in some cases were well before my time.

Anyway, about maybe 2-3 years back, after not having watched Nick at Nite for several years, I was bored and decided it would be a nice dose of nostalgia to revisit it (I still had cable in my house at the time). I was stunned at how bare-bones the bloc is. It pretty much was Friends for the first 5-6 hours, followed by Mom for 1-2 hours, and then Mike and Molly for 1-2 hours. That’s it. Looking at the schedule again recently, it doesn’t seem like much has changed.

To be clear, I’m actually a big fan of Friends. It’s honestly one of my favorite sitcoms of all time. But when 5-6 hours of your 9-hour TV bloc is dedicated entirely to a show that ended 20 years ago now, that says something. As big of a pop culture impact as Friends has had (love it or hate it, the impact it’s had is undeniable), it can only be milked and run into the ground so much before people fully stop tuning in.

Maybe I’m wrong, but it just seems like Nick at Nite is on its last legs. In 5-10 years, I’d be somewhat surprised if it even still exists.