'Slimed' brings back Nickelodeon's heyday

If you know who Pete and Pete are or you can rattle off a dozen things explained by Clarissa, you obviously grew up watching Nickelodeon in the '80s and '90s.

Now the cable network's golden age is re-examined in Mathew Klickstein's new book, "Slimed!" (Plume), which features dozens of interviews with the creative forces and performers behind classic Nick shows, from "Double Dare" to "Ren and Stimpy."

Surprise, no comments from former Nick stars Amanda Bynes and Alanis Morissette, but Christine Taylor, Kenan Thompson and Sayville's Melissa Joan Hart are a few of the names who went on to bigger things and share behind-the-scenes stories for the book's nearly 300 pages. Find out how "Ren" creator John Kricfalusi used his dad as an inspiration for Chihuahua Ren's vein-popping, bulging-eyed look (not to mention why Kricfalusi got kicked off the show) and how Hart's gift of a bustier got worked into a plot for an episode of "Clarissa Explains It All." There also are chapters about the raging hormones of so many Nick stars as they went through puberty and the origin of that famous green slime featured on so many Nick shows.

We dare you -- no, we double dare you -- to put this book down.