Meet Tyler James: The YouTuber Giving A Voice To Your Pop Culture Nostalgia

Nostalgia is a curious and powerful thing. It is not firm recall (then again, human memory never is), but an ethereal reconstruction of how we remember something as being. Our fondness for things in the past, especially those things we loved as children, helps shape our relation to the world and popular culture. 

Take, for instance, the recent announcement from General Mills that Dunkaroos would be making a comeback this summer. When that became prominent news in early February, Twitter was abuzz with excitement from adults who came of age in the 1990s and early 2000s. I myself got swept up in the buzz before realizing that a blue plastic boat full of sugary cake frosting and cookies isn’t something I’d ever want to eat at the age of 25.

Why was this such a powerful marketing move? It’s one thing to view one’s formative years with affection, it’s another thing to verbally express why those “simpler” times were as great as they were. How can you expect a person to try and explain why they loved certain shows, films, or even snack foods growing up? How could they ever articulate the reasons for why a certain piece of media hard-wired their brain into a certain way of thinking? If their mind was still developing at the time, they probably weren’t aware it was even happening.

As someone who was practically raised by old school Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network programming (think Rugrats, Doug, Hey Arnold!, Rocket Power, Cow and Chicken, Dexter’s Lab, SpongeBob SquarePants, Teen Titans, The Fairly Odd Parents, My Life as a Teenage Robot, Jimmy Neutron, Ben 10, The Powerpuff Girls, Johnny Bravo, Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends, Code Name: Kids Next Door, The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy, Samurai Jack, etc.), I was pleasantly surprised to stumble upon Nerdstalgic, a YouTube channel that was actually giving a voice to my nostalgia.

It wasn’t just saying that the things I loved as a kid were great, but explaining why they were great by presenting compelling evidence and fascinating behind-the-scenes information.

Boasting less than 50 videos at the moment, the fledgeling endeavor from millennial Tyler James is unlike any collection of video essays you’re likely to find on YouTube. It is very much the virtual equivalent of digging up a time capsule (Zoey 101, anyone?) and evaluating the historical significance of the objects placed within it. Put simply, Tyler is a nostalgic archeologist, the star of Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Rose-Colored Glasses.

“I kind of just wanted a place where I could talk about things that I really, really loved. And just do it the way I wanted to do it,” James told me during a recent phone interview, describing his videos as “love letters.”

“I just wanted to tell people why things were as great as I think they are,” he added. “This was really a way, when it started, for me to put things out there that I think were extensions of myself and kind of little microcosmic digital versions of my personality. And I just kind of proliferate that out to other people and hopefully, someone liked it.”

As a kid, Tyler found his love of pop culture in touchstones of 1980s cinema like Back to the Future and Revenge of the Nerds. “Stuff that most little kids aren’t probably watching,” he joked. Growing up in the mid-to-late ‘90s, he also found himself inevitably drawn to the famous kids’ programming of that era, as most of us were.

“It kind of spiraled into what was current animation at that time. Things like Ed, Ed n’ Eddy [and] SpongeBob. The early Nickelodeon, early Cartoon Network stuff,” James said.

In hindsight, many of those shows like Invader Zim and Courage the Cowardly Dog (Nerdstalgic has videos on both) were a lot more mature and graphic than what we might see from kid-oriented networks today. To this day, many of us still have images of King Ramses asking Eustace to “return the slab” or of Zim plucking out a boy’s eyeballs seared into our collective hippocampi.

“I think the best part about nostalgia, sometimes, is that it lets you love things, even if you aren’t sure you love them today,” James continued.

And that’s the beauty of Tyler’s channel is not just “Hey, remember Chalk Zone? That was a weird show, huh?” It’s more like “I’m shocked that Chalk Zone ever got made, but here’s why it was unique and here’s how Nickelodeon bungled its rollout.”

Or hearing his breakdown of Zoey 101 and the youthful wish fulfillment that comes with a setting like Pacific Coast Academy is so simple, yet so hard to put into actual words. As soon as you hear the thesis, it’s a little eureka moment that miraculously contextualizes your youth.

“The question is, ‘Ok, what can I identify in [a show or movie] that I think is interesting that hasn’t been talked about a billion times before?’ Or, in the case of the love letter videos, ‘How can I articulate how I feel about it?,” James said. “I wanna maybe present [things] in a way that people haven’t traditionally thought about in the past.”

Getting back to the power of nostalgia, Tyler explained how our fondness for the past is often by used to sell us stuff. The return of Dunkaroos, for instance, represents the romanticization of the ‘80s, ‘90s, and early 2000s. Bringing that nostalgia into the forefront is now easier (not to mention cheaper) than ever when you can get a hashtag trending on Twitter instead of pouring tens of thousands of dollars into a traditional marketing campaign.

“There’s always this desire to relive your childhood or to revisit those feelings,” James added. “I think really early on in the 2010s, marketing agencies and companies identified that this new social media-connected generation was much more susceptible to nostalgia than I think past generations were. Because they’re being fed so much information, so much is presented to them, and it’s so much easier to get something in front of us.”

As such, companies and studios “can use nostalgia to sell you on things that aren’t really what you remember,” he said. “I think this generation is so aware, in some ways, of what’s going on around them, that there is this inherent social desire for nostalgia. To engage in these things, to go back in time. I think that’s special in some ways, but I also think we’re getting fed a lot of crap that I don’t think people want at all or need.”

Nevertheless, Tyler does firmly believe that “for the most part, nostalgia’s kind of a beautiful thing. It’s sometimes blinding.”

He cited Rocket Power (1999 – 2004) as an example of how nostalgia can sometimes pull the wool over your eyes. Wanting to do a video on Rocket Power, Tyler went back and rewatched every episode of the animated show about a group of athletic friends living in a beachside town. What Tyler came to understand is that the series was very much a product of a time when extreme sports (the X-Games! Slamball! Skateboarding competitions!) reigned supreme.

Viewing it through a modern day lens, as well as through the lens of adulthood, he came to see Rocket Power as “a relic of the early 2000s,” proving that the things we put on pedestals as children don’t always remain pristine. Maybe they’re only great, Tyler said, because of how they made us feel and act—a notion that sits at the very heart of the Nerdstalgic YouTube channel.

“Rocket Power’s the reason I put on roller blades and started playing street hockey with my friends,” he recalled. “It’s maybe not because the show was excellent, maybe it’s just because of how I engaged with it. I think that’s the real power of nostalgia. It’s kind of allowing you to believe your version of these things, of these properties. Allowing you to live in your version of how these things were or are.”

This also worked in reverse when it came to his binge of Samurai Jack.

“I went back, sat down, and I was like, ‘Oh sh**, now I’m gonna go back and rewatch this and it’s gonna burst the bubble. Maybe it’s just another animated show and maybe it was actually more just an attempt to be pretentious than it was anything else,’” James said.

Luckily, Genndy Tartakovsky’s masterpiece of a cartoon about a lone samurai roaming a post-apocalyptic wasteland ruled by an evil demon wizard remained as great as it ever was. Thanks to a college film degree, Tyler had an even greater appreciation for the show’s unorthodox embracement of visual techniques utilized by comic books and live-action cinematography.

“I actually think it’s even better now than it was then,” he admitted. “I think now, with an even better understanding of how you build something, not just film-wise, but entertainment-wise and media-wise. With a better understanding of things like photography, directing, and writing, it’s even better.”

Put another way, nostalgia can be “a double-edged sword,” as Tyler put it. “Sometimes, you get a good surprise, sometimes it’s exactly what you expect, and other times, it kind of sucks and deflates you a little bit.”

Armed with Adobe Premiere and After Effects, Tyler (a self-taught edit maven) crafts videos that are kinetic and smooth; the visuals reframing bits of classic pop culture in fun, new ways. Again, it’s a direct reflection of the Nerdstalgic brand, one that wants you to think about media in a different context. To that end, Tyler goes out of his way to draw the viewer’s attention to the editing and create a unique sense of immersion.

“I really want there to be this element of fun because that’s what nostalgia kind of is,” he said. I want there to be an element of, ‘You’re not just clicking on a video, you’re clicking on something very upbeat and something that’s very visually and aesthetically pleasing.’ And you don’t know what you’re gonna see. You know you’re gonna get a bunch of clips of something, but you don’t know how they’re gonna be presented to you.”

This approach applies to the narration as well. Another thing that sets Tyler James apart from other video essayists on YouTube is his earnest delivery. You can tell he’s clearly passionate about the topics he explores, an enthusiasm that makes sure you stay for the 10-minute duration of his uploads, which take about four days (give or take) to create.

“It’s important to be confident in your delivery, especially if it’s analysis. But I think more so than that, it’s important to have fun when you’re recording,” he said. “I love narration because I love the things I’m talking about, so I treat these videos like I’m having this conversation with a friend. I try to keep the narration light and quick to match the more upbeat tone most of the videos as well!”

While Tyler launched the channel less than a year ago (eight months, to be exact), he already has half a million subscribers. That’s with less than 50 videos posted so far. As it did with me, his spot-on analyses of the millennial and Gen Z sub-cultures have connected with hundreds of thousands of people online. The result is a paradoxical utopia on the internet where people are almost always positive.

“It’s crazy right? You don’t ever predict something like that,” he added. “The comments section is really just other people talking about how much they love these things … There’s a real community here of people that just really love popular culture, really love nostalgia. I think that’s what’s really special about its growth.”

And it’s not just fans who are positively responding to his video essays. He’s also gotten feedback from creatives like Jeff “Swampy” Marsh (creator of Phineas and Ferb) and Devon Werkheiser (star of Ned’s Declassified School Survival Guide). Thanks to his large YouTube following, Tyler can now reach out on his own in an effort to pick the brains of creators, actors, and writers.

“Now, it’s a lot easier for me to reach out to someone and say, ‘Hey, I’m doing this piece on X show, maybe you’d like to talk for a little bit about it,’” he explained. “Really, all I’ve done so far, is off the record talked. Just had a conversation [with someone], so that I can kind of get a feel for where they are, and if my angle is something they agree with and that kind of thing.”

While he does have a few videos on the MCU, Star Wars, Joker, and The Dark Knight, Tyler really wants to do more movie analysis on the channel. In other words, he doesn’t want to be typecast for coverage expectations.

“I wanna keep mixing it up,” James said. “I wanna keep focus on diversifying the content. I don’t wanna be just one thing.”

Right now, he’s got an ongoing series of pieces that break down the “perfect episode” of beloved shows like Drake & Josh, Ned’s Declassified, SpongeBob, and The Simpsons. 

In addition, Tyler likes to unpack some of the strangest stories in Hollywood history. Those include: the recasting of Danny Tanner after Full House shot its original pilot episode; how Michael J. Fox replaced Eric Stoltz as Marty McFly after Back to the Future was already six weeks into production; the impact of recasting Aunt Viv on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air; and the ill-advised Friends spinoff centering on Matt LeBlanc’s Joey.

As our conversation came to a close, I asked Tyler what we can expect from future videos, throwing out Hey Arnold! And Danny Phantom as some personal requests.

“It’s so funny you say that. Both those videos are at the very top of my list right now,” he revealed. “[Hey Arnold!] is just so unique and so weird and such an outlier in that early Nickelodeon renaissance era. Like a jazzy soundtrack and the fake New York and Arnold himself, who’s essentially a really unique kind of blank slate, which you don’t see a lot … And Danny Phantom’s coming, too. That was my jam when I was little.”