Our airdates are currently coming from the Fandom here. The dates that have been updated there has been fixed.

Can you please share images of the few pages of the book with the dates for "Big House Blues", as well as the sources that was used, so we can check ? The Fandom indicate that the first TV broadcast of it took place on August 22, 1992. This episode should be listed inside the series based on its original Nickelodeon airdate.

Hey there,

Finally following up on this. Thanks for your patience and for leaving this discussion thread open.

Here are images from the episode guide in the back of "Sick Little Monkeys" by Thad Komorowski. Included with the listing for "Big House Blues" is the guide's intro outlining the many issues around of establishing an "episode order" the series.

The guide section offers no citations / sources other than the statement that "Airdates are accurate, regardless of contradicting information on the Internet." So with that I have included a photo of the section within the book itself (chapter 3, page 113) where it is mentioned that "Big House Blues" was aired because "Fire Dogs" was delayed. "The haphazard 'Fire Dogs' was late, so a cutdown version of 'Big House Blues' was run in its place, much to John K.'s chagrin."

Again there is no specific source cited for that information. However this book is a legitimate source itself -- it is actually in the references for episode lists on Wikipedia, Imdb, and elsewhere. Thad is well known and respected in animation circles and has periodically posted on animation historian Jerry Beck's Cartoon Research site for almost a decade. "Sick Little Monkeys" contains 30 pages of end notes with 75 - 100 citations per chapter -- many are primary sources. Thad conducted phone and email interviews with many of the significant people involved with the show's production (except for John K and some of his loyal allies such as Jim Smith, Vincent Waller, and Eddie Fitzgerald). The book was well received by much of the rest of the series' alumni and includes interviews with co-creator Bob Camp, storyboard artists Chris Reccardi and Jim Gomez, animation director Bob Jaques, background designer Bill Wray, star Billy West and more. Vanessa Coffey, the Nick executive that bought the show, is quoted in primary interviews extensively. Thad's interviews with Chris Reccardi are especially important now that Chris has since passed. Bob Jacques is also a friend of Thad's, providing much behind the scenes visual material for the book. Bob and Thad used to co-host an animation history podcast together (called Cartoon Logic) and are collaborating right now on a blu-ray project restoring 1920's Van Buren Aesop's Fables. In short, this book is definitely legit despite its "unauthorized story" status without John K.'s personal involvement or the involvement of anyone currently at Nickelodeon.

All that said, I did want to dig up a contemporary source proving the episode's airdate and I came very close. Here is a link to an article from the New York Times archive dated March 12, 1992 (before the erroneous August 22, 1992 air date currently listed on TMDB). Titled "Twisted Humor of Children's Cartoon Gains a Cult," the article states, "As it was with the early days of "The Simpsons," the show's popularity got ahead of its production schedule. So far there are only six half-hour shows and a pilot, and they are in continuous reruns."

• public permalink for the article
• I gifted the story from my subscription, which should (hopefully) remove the paywall for 30 days
• Screenshot of the relevant part of the article from within the NYTimes app

And yes I'd like to just point out the basic logic around the fact that the edited pilot aired on Nickelodeon during the first season on September 15, 1991 -- it is well documented that the show was behind schedule the first few seasons. It's one of the main reasons John K. was fired, right? So it seems reasonable that the network would air an (edited version of an) episode that was actually completed & ready to go during the first season when popularity was exploding, while also experiencing delays and angering advertisers with reruns & broken promises, etc. Why sit on it until August 1992 when you needed it a year earlier?

The fact that Fire Dogs is numbered 4a in the Fandom but is listed as broadcasted only on September 29, 1991, 2 weeks after the 4b episode The Littles Giant on September 15, 1991 may confirm that it was late and has been replaced by something else.

It appears that the Fandom page for "Big House Blues" has been updated between December 8, 2023 and now and is now indicating the September 15, 1991 date instead of the August 22, 1992 date.

I have decided to do the same change here.

Ah yes good catch there on the 4a / 4b. Excellent. Thanks!