The idea of Old School Lane came from the fact that we were unemployed, called each other every day to comfort each other during our depressing lives, and looking back fondly on shows we grew up with. Old School Lane started out as simply talking about our favorite movies, TV shows, video games, toys, food, and cartoons from the past. Kevin was writing a script for a movie and I was figuring out what retrospective of a show, movie, or network I wanted to dedicate which was heavily influenced by Gametrailers video game retrospectives and Gexup’s Gaming in the 90’s. I then decided to do a Nickelodeon retrospective starting on June 2012 and concluding it during the summer hoping to do more diverse topics.

We started our blog on Tumblr back when it was used for blogging and sharing pictures. During that time, I wrote my top 10 Pee-wee Herman moments of 2011 after watching The Pee-wee Herman Show on Broadway. I never knew that in a million years that the next day, I received an email saying “Pee-wee himself Tweeted”. I thought that it was a joke, but when I checked Pee-wee’s Facebook and Twitter pages, it was there. I couldn’t believe it! For the next few months, I would cover an event that Pee-wee would be involved in, I interviewed Caseen Gaines, the author of Inside Pee-wee’s Playhouse, and watched as much episodes of various Nickelodeon shows I could find online. Back then, finding 70’s and 80’s Nickelodeon shows were beyond difficult. There were only 10 videos of Pinwheel lasting for about 2 to 3 minutes. But now, there’s hours upon hours of it. It didn’t take me all summer, it lasted for 6 years until I decided to stop. I’ve always wanted to do it in a video format and wanted to start over from scratch. I hope to do it next year, but we’ll see.

How has your recording and video editing process changed over the years compared to when you began?

What intrigues me about looking back at pilots is how far they came from their series follow ups. After watching the original As Told by Ginger pilot for the first time a few years ago, I couldn’t believe how different it was. It was unrecognizable to me. I then saw Derek Alexander’s video series called Getting Super Nerdy comparing the demos of Resident Evil 4 and Final Fantasy VII and how different they were from their final video game products. That got me to do From Pilot to Final Product. I would watch the TV show first and then watch the pilot and jot down whatever differences I would find. It would be a surreal experience to see how they pitched the show originally with a limited budget and actors that didn’t get a full grasp on the show’s concept. Sometimes the styles change or the actors get replaced. Since then, I try to look at other pilots from other TV shows that are so different, it’s jarring. Pilots like the Hey Arnold one was a huge request, but because it’s similar to an episode the writers wrote later on (24 Hours to Live), I had to think of a creative way to do it that wasn’t a 3 minute video saying “The Hey Arnold pilot and this episode are similar and have little to no differences”. That’s where the idea of “The Origins of Arnold” video stemmed from when I researched the history of the character and quickly mentioned about the pilot.

As for upcoming pilots, yes, I still have to get The Wild & Crazy Kids Pilot done. I’ve also been requested to do Jimmy Neutron, but I’ll probably do The History of Jimmy Neutron talking about its origins of the character back when he was called Johnny Quasar. I also want to break out of Nickelodeon pilots and maybe cover a pilot from The Disney Channel or Cartoon Network. But we’ll see.

Can you tease any other shows you plan to cover down the line?

Yes, there’s a new series that I’ve wanted to do for many years called Heroic Gem or Junk where I cover a superhero movie or TV series that’s been forgotten or overlooked and discuss about whether they deserve more praise or they were obscure for a reason. I had Wolverine & the X-Men as my premiere episode, but watching it 3 times, I felt that I missed something so I put it on the side for later and will cover something else. Hopefully it’ll come out soon.

Then there’s another series I want to debut called Influential Marvel. It’s not about Marvel, it’s about looking back on an influential movie, TV show, video game, or anime and talk about why they were so influential to our pop culture and how did it shape our media to what it is today.

There are some unfinished projects like The Carmen Sandiego Retrospective and a few more videos for Hey Arnold Month. Can’t go into details on those. Sorry.

You’ve created many great analysis videos such as “The History of Hey Arnold: The Jungle Movie,” “What Makes As Told by Ginger a Groundbreaking, Yet Overlooked Nicktoon?” and “Is Disney’s Doug Really That Bad?” It undoubtedly varies depending on the content, but how long does it typically take for you to produce these types of videos?

In March, you released an original Manic Expression Podcast Play titled Reflection. Can you talk a little bit about your inspiration for the story and your writing process?

Sure. I’ve had the story of Reflection on my mind for years, but I went through years of writer’s block. So I put it on the side. Then, during my depressive state, I somehow got my creative thoughts flowing again and started writing it. It went through a lot of changes. It was going to be set in the 80’s and Jo and Josie were going to sing “Run with Us” by Lisa Lougheed together. But I scrapped it and instead set in the late 90’s where Josie had a love for music. The inspiration for the story was about love and forgiveness, which I was going through at the time letting go of my past of all my painful memories through therapy. Josie was based mostly on me with my love for music, cooking, history, and being terrible at math. Melanie was based on my younger cousins who were young and didn’t experience a tough life like the previous generations. Judy was a character who was a symbol of someone who sacrificed so much to care for her family and did anything she could to be free, but at the cost of making her family miserable. She sort of became her mother in a sense of being absent from her family’s lives and being closed to sharing her past experiences. Luke was based on Kevin: the optimistic boy who pulled Josie from the dark shadows of her family’s life and saw a bit of bright hope. My mother was another symbol of someone who went too far into focusing on the negatives of their past and never letting go of it. I did throw a few quotes that my mother used to tell me as a kid such as “Grades like this belong to people who work in fast food restaurants for $5 an hour”. But my mom is nowhere near as angry as Jo’s mother is.

After months of writing came the casting. The very first person I casted for a role in the story was Emmi Walsh as Josie. From the very beginning, I wanted to have her in my podcast play so she ended playing my younger self. I also wanted to have Megan as Judy, James as the older Luke, and Jim as the younger Luke. Then came Melanie. In Manic Expression, we didn’t have a lot of female content creators, but I had known Jashykins for years although she had never been in a podcast play before. Neither did T-Kun as Ms. McNeil and that was an even bigger gamble since she’s a blogger and I’ve never heard her voice until casting her for the play. They turned out great. As for Patrick, I’ve known him and his brother Tim for years and casted him as the male dancer. He’s had larger roles in other podcast plays. The editing took a ton of work. In the past, I’ve had other people edit my podcast plays, but I decided to take on the challenge and do it myself. It’s not hard, but it’s tedious and long. But the payoff was worth it. As for the music, I’ve known Les and Ichabod on Manic Expression and have gotten permission to use their music. Their music is the bread and butter on most of the Manic Expression plays. Max Weiner is the son of Marc Weiner from Weinerville and I’ve known about his music for a while. So I asked him and he approved of it as long as I signed a contract. As for Leandra Rizzo, who guest starred on As Told by Ginger thanks to The Make a Wish Foundation, I asked permission and she said yes. I listened to all their songs and pin pointed what scene the song belonged to. Anything else, I got online from various sources.

Do you plan on creating more original works in the future?

I’d love to. I have a lot of ideas, including a story I’ve worked on since high school called Journey of an Offbeat. It’s essentially based on my life and experiences growing up as a girl with Asperger’s Syndrome in the 90’s. However, I really want to make an online animated series. I don’t know how I’m going to do it, but it’s a dream I would love to see come true.

What’s the biggest thing you’ve learned about yourself since launching Old School Lane?

I was always a nerdy and lonely person growing up. I never had too many friends and pretty much everyone picked on me and called me names. When starting Old School Lane and sharing my thoughts on movies, TV shows, video games, etc., I never thought that there would be people who shared the same thoughts as well. I felt like I was part of a community and we could band together without any worries of hate, rejection, or fear. I know that in this cybernetic world, technology has pretty much done everything for us and a lot of people are fearful of it. I have to thank that for giving me friends, colleagues, and followers I thought I would never get. I have built a lot of confidence in myself and I learned to be okay with myself. I’m not perfect, but I’ve come a long way since I first started. I hope I can continue to learn and grow.

How do you see Old School Lane continuing to grow in the years ahead?

Well, I hope in the future I can get at least 10,000 subscribers on the Old School Lane YouTube account, but seeing how the algorithm has been lately, it’s going to be a bigger challenge.

What’s your biggest hope for Old School Lane’s legacy?

That people take something away from it: whether it be starting their own channel or watching the shows or movies I covered, or even just enjoying the ride. In this vast online world, I’m only a drop in the ocean. But as long as someone found something positive in a blog, podcast, or video I did, then I’ll be happy.

Before we conclude, I’d love to ask you a few scenario questions for fun. Let’s start off with this one: You can only watch one Nickelodeon show and one Cartoon Network show for the rest of your life. Which two shows do you choose?

Oh wow, that’s rough. Let’s see: if I had to choose a Nickelodeon show to watch forever, it would be Hey Arnold or Avatar: The Last Airbender. For Cartoon Network, it would be The Powerpuff Girls or Samurai Jack.

You’re throwing a slumber party! Which five female characters do you invite?

Let’s see: Ginger Foutley, Helga Pataki, Samus Arun from Metroid, Sakaki from Azumanga Daioh, and Sailor Jupiter from Sailor Moon.

Who’d be the worst character from any show to babysit?

Probably Angelica from Rugrats or Mackenzie from Rocket Power. Both of them are spoiled brats who could manipulate me to do something awful or would’ve had temper tantrums so bad that I would have to call a SWAT team to calm them down.

If you could live in any fictional universe, which one would you choose and why?

Hey Arnold’s. Since it takes place in a city similar to Brooklyn where I was born and raised half my life, I would fit in really well. Plus, being neighbors to Arnold and the gang would be awesome.

Which TV character(s) would you say you identify with the most?

That’s tough. Possibly a three way tie between Ginger, Ami from Sailor Moon, and Sakaki from Azumanga Daioh. 

Finally, describe Old School Lane using a quote from one of your favorite characters.

Snoopy from Peanuts once said: “Good writing takes hard work.”