Double Dare (1986 Game Show) - Broadcast History

Broadcast History

Double Dare began its broadcast history on Nickelodeon on October 6, 1986 as a Monday-Friday program. As a result of the first few weeks of airing, Nickelodeon's ratings nearly tripled. In 1987, after both sets of 65 episodes were taped (the first was taped from mid-September to early October 1986; and the second set was taped from January to early February 1987), a short-lived, forty episode weekend edition, titled Super Sloppy Double Dare, which was taped in New York City, was produced (they were taped in July 1987).

The show was so popular that it caught the eyes of Fox network executives, who, in 1988, partnered with Viacom to pick up the distribution rights to the program. As the very first cable game show to enter first-run syndication, new episodes aired on independent stations and affiliates of the young Fox network from February 22, 1988-September 8, 1989. Fox initially ordered 130 episodes, the first 65 aired in early 1988, and the second 65 aired later that same year. Because of its instant popularity in syndication, Fox produced a 13-episode nighttime edition called Family Double Dare that aired from April 3, 1988-July 23, 1988. These nighttime episodes were taped in March 1988 in between both sets of the initial syndicated episodes that Fox ordered (January–February 1988 and April–May 1988 respectively) On January 23, 1989, following a sneak preview episode that aired on Super Bowl weekend, a new version of Super Sloppy Double Dare premiered, with the first half originating from Philadelphia (they were taped from January–February 1989) and the second half originating from the new Nickelodeon Studios attraction at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida (they were taped from April–May 1989). While new episodes were airing in first-run syndication, reruns of the kids-only version of the show continued to air on Nickelodeon until March 15, 1991. Typically, after a new set of syndicated episodes began airing on local stations, Nickelodeon would then air reruns of an older set.

On August 13, 1990, Nickelodeon began airing Family Double Dare. The original broadcasts were reruns of the Fox series, and the network launched its own version of Family Double Dare on weekends in September 1990. Production began in July 1990, a month after Nickelodeon Studios opened, and ended in July 1992. This series taped at Nickelodeon Studios and ended its run on February 6, 1993 with a one-hour Tournament of Champions episode. Reruns continued to air on Nickelodeon until 1999.

Double Dare 2000, the most-recent version of the show, premiered on January 24, 2000, and continued to air new episodes until November 10, 2000.