Wild & Crazy Kids

Wild & Crazy Kids
Wild & Crazy Kids logo.
Format	Game show
Presented by	Annette Chavez (1990) Jessica Gaynes (1991-1992) Omar Gooding Donnie Jeffcoat
Narrated by	Chavez, Gaynes, Gooding and Jeffcoat
Country of origin	United States
No. of episodes	65
Production
Running time	22
Production company(s)	Reeves Entertainment
Broadcast
Original channel	Nickelodeon
Original run	January 4, 1990 (1990-97-04) – December 0, 1992 (1992-00-00)

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), that aired from 1990 until 1992 for a total of 65 episodes. Wild & Crazy Kids starred three teenage co-hosts: Omar Gooding and Donnie Jeffcoat appeared for the entire series; Annette Chavez (now Annette M. Lesure) appeared in the first season, and was replaced by Jessica Gaynes, who appeared from the beginning of season two through the series finale. In 2002, a revival was produced which lasted ten episodes and was hosted by Mati Moralejo of Nickelodeon Games and Sports.

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 takeoffs 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. Games became more outlandish and gratuitously sloppy as the series progressed.

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; 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 would throw to kids jumping off a diving board.
• 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 the 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.

Team Colors Used

Wild & Crazy Kids had a bank of colored T-Shirts to choose from, many more than most children's game shows. Some uncommon colors were used, such as peach or aqua. The first season's shirts were more neon than the second and third season's, in part due to the show switching clothiers after season one.

Team Color	In Use	Notes
Aqua	1990	Same color as Blue (1990)
Black	1991-1992
Blue	1990-1992
Blue	1990	Same color as Aqua
Blue	1992
Gray	1992	Also called "Grey."
Green	1990
Green	1991-1992
Lavender	1991	Same color as Purple (1991-1992)
Orange	1991-1992
Pink	1990
Pink	1991-1992
Peach	1990
Purple	1990
Purple	1991-1992	Same color as Lavender
Red	1990-1992
Yellow	1990-1992

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

Occasionally, Wild & Crazy Kids would have celebrity appearances. The final ten episodes of the series, as a matter of fact, each had such appearances. Guests were people like 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!. This episode, incidentally, was the series finale. 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 De Milo and Danny Cooksey from the Nickelodeon hit 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.
• As a child, D'Brickashaw Ferguson rode in a BMX vs. Horses race.
• Olympic skiier Bode Miller appeared on the revival in 2002.
• Daryl Sabara and Alexa Vega of the Spy Kids movies appeared on the revival.
• Actor and co-star of The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air Alfonso Ribeiro appeared in a game titled "The Fresh Race of Tortoise-Hare".

Production

The show was executive produced by Woody Fraser, and aired 65 episodes between 1990 and 1992. It was produced by Woody Fraser Productions in association with Nickelodeon and Reeves Entertainment Group.