1. Nickelodeon at first declined the program, informing co-creators D.J. MacHale and Ned Kandel that they “couldn’t scare little kids,” according to MacHale.
But after a brand-new head of advancement took control of a year later on and took a look at the Are You Afraid of the Dark? pitch, they called the duo “and asked why we weren’t doing the show,” MacHale informed The Globe and Mail. “The concept of doing ‘scary lite,’ which is what Dark? is, individuals can’t get their minds around it.”
2. In an effort to get ahead of any reaction from worried moms and dads, the network asked the innovative group to base the tales off of timeless literature.
“Nickelodeon could claim it’s based on classic lit: Daphne du Maurier, Edgar Allan Poe,” MacHale described. “But never did we have any complaints along those lines. We knew what the limit was. You’re not going to show blood, violence or depravity. You’re going to show, ‘Oh my God! What’s behind that door?!’ We were doing Hitchcock 101.”
3. The initial title of the program was Scary Tales, a play on fairy tales. “Nickelodeon really stated, ‘We like the program, however we do not like the title. We require something that’s more special, more Nickelodeon-like,'” MacHale informed Vulture.
