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 Total Panic was a three hour Sunday morning program shown on the Nickelodeon Cable Network from 1989 to 1992. Created by Andy Bamberger, the show was a throwback to participatory kid’s programs from the 50’s and 60’s, filled with wild antics, special guests, comedy skits and fun game challenges. The show originally featured two hosts, Molly Scott and Keith Diamond (pictured below, but he had considerably more hair and less of a dreamy look). Keith left after only a few episodes and was replaced by Greg Lee for the rest of the show’s run. Molly and Greg made a fantastic team.
 Total Panic was just that: Total Panic! Every week the staff had to come up with a slew of new ideas and challenges to keep the show fresh. The show wasn’t live, but was shot “live to tape”, adding to the excitement. This made the on set production similar in a lot of respects to Saturday Night Live, except that Total Panic sought a high level of audience participation, using kids from the studio audience as participants in many of the shows events.
 The show had a knack for staying topical, showcasing the latest video games, celebrity guests and covering fun events from around the country. The show also featured cartoons and exotic challenges, including innovative interactive games that put kids inside weird video environments as well as the sloppy, slime splattering games that used to be Nickelodeon’s hallmark.
 The video game roll-ins featured on this website were used in the video game review segments, where kids where given an hour or so behind the scenes with the games and then invited on stage to give their take on it with one of the hosts. The roll-ins showed the game and its basic features to the home and studio audience and then the kids would give their review and rate the game in “panic points”.
 Total Panic was one of the last shows of it’s kind. It was just plain fun to watch and kids enjoyed being there. It is fondly remembered by the people who made it happen and hopefully by the kids who participated as well.
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