Nickelodeon’s THE TINY CHEF SHOW Creator Slams Paramount: “Executives Think Kids Aren’t Smart”
Nickelodeon has been home to animated juggernauts like SpongeBob SquarePants, The Fairly OddParents, and Avatar: The Last Airbender. But, while some shows manage to thrive for years, others don’t get the same chance despite having loyal fans.
That’s exactly what happened to The Tiny Chef Show, and its co-creator Ozlem Akturk isn’t holding back on how she feels about the way things ended.
During a panel at this year’s Savannah College of Art and Design Animation Festival, Akturk opened up about the cancellation of The Tiny Chef Show and made it clear that the merger between Paramount and Skydance played a big role in the series’ abrupt end.
“It was a sad moment for us,” Akturk said. “We didn’t know what we’d do financially, so we decided that we were going to put out the viral campaign video to save the show and see if the fans could support us.
“Stop motion animation is very expensive, but we love what we do. The fans are amazing, and they helped us to keep going. Our video became viral, and there were so many articles written about saving the show; we think Nickelodeon hated us for that.”
The Tiny Chef character had already proven to be an online sensation before landing on Nickelodeon, showing up in viral videos and even commercials for DoorDash and Priceline.
Fans embraced the pint-sized cooking expert, and Akturk revealed that the show originally wasn’t meant to be just for preschoolers.
“I wasn’t planning on it originally being a preschool show, but that’s how it happened. My next project will be something different. What I pictured for the show was that I loved cooking, and I wanted it to be a real cooking show that would bring people together.
“Executives think kids aren’t that smart, but kids get it. I was like, ‘Why are you treating them like that? They’re smart and they deserve so much more!”
One thing that did go in Akturk’s favor was holding onto the rights to The Tiny Chef Show, something she and fellow co-creator Rachel Larsen were adamant about from the very beginning.
“We already had a social media presence from the very beginning, and we had friends who didn’t retain the intellectual property for their work, and their projects were shelved.
“Whoever wanted to do the series, we were not selling the I.P., and we were really strong on that. Sometimes, when a series gets cancelled, it just disappears, and we love our baby, so we’re going to protect it.
“We were freelancing originally when Nickelodeon picked up the series, and we could continue that path if need be. As a creator, you need to protect your story if you love it.”
While Nickelodeon may have moved on, The Tiny Chef hasn’t gone anywhere. Online support for the character has exploded, with the show’s Instagram account growing from six hundred thousand followers before the controversy to nearly six million today.
It looks like The Tiny Chef will keep cooking up content long after its Nickelodeon run, thanks to the fans who refused to let the character fade away.