NFL Slimetime


NFL Slimetime is an American weekly television sports show that premiered on Nickelodeon on September 15, 2021. The show focuses on the National Football League, and airs throughout the NFL season.
The fifth season of NFL Slimetime premiered in September 2025, covering the 2025 NFL season.

Production

On September 10, 2021, ViacomCBS announced that it would air a weekly NFL series on Nickelodeon and Paramount+, NFL Slimetime, hosted by Nate Burleson and Dylan Gilmer.
On August 31, 2022, it was announced that the series was renewed for a second season, which premiered on September 14, 2022.
On May 11, 2023, it was announced that the series was renewed for a third season, which premiered on September 6, 2023, along with the announcement of a second National [Football League Christmas games|Christmas game] to air on Christmas Day 2023.
Nickelodeon teamed with CBS to produce the first Super Bowl alternate broadcast during Super Bowl LVIII on February 11, 2024, billed as NFL on Nickelodeon#Fifth live telecast: [Super Bowl LVIII (February 11, 2024)|Super Bowl LVIII: Live from Bikini Bottom]. Two Super Bowl preview episodes were produced for NFL Slimetime to coincide with Nickelodeon's alternate broadcast. A fourth season of the series premiered on September 11, 2024.

Format

NFL Slimetime features highlights and game footage that recaps the previous week's NFL action. Just like with Nickelodeon's first live NFL telecast on January 10, 2021, these highlights are flavored with digital, comic strip-like animation such as white smoke, You [Can't Do That on Television#Slime|green slime], and blue lightning. Players were given superimposed googly eyes and hamburger hats, with the best play of the week being featured in a segment called "Best Play Ever". Other recurring segments include Dylan Schefter interviewing one particular player each week and commentary by George Johnston IV in a segment called "George Knows Football".
For the 2021 season, NFL Slimetime featured a "Fantasy Showdown" segment, where each week, a new celebrity challenged Burleson and Gilmer to a game of fantasy football. For the 2022 season, the "Fantasy Showdown" segment was replaced by "Celebrity Pick Party", keeping the same format as "Fantasy Showdown", but instead of picking players to form a team, the celebrity and Team Slimetime will pick winners from the different games each week. The weekly winner of "Celebrity Pick Party" reserved the right to wear the "Slime Chain", an oversized NFL Slimetime logo studded in colored rhinestones. "Celebrity Pick Party" returned for the 2023 season, but with a new format. This time, instead of a head-to-head matchup, Burleson and Gilmer, joined by the weekly celebrity guest picker, picked a game from the weekly lineup. Those who made a correct pick reserves the right to wear the "Slime Chain", while those who made an incorrect pick were slimed at the end of the show. In the event that everyone made a correct pick, a surprise sliming would occur.

NVP Award

Following Nickelodeon's first live NFL broadcast, the network brought back the NVP award for each episode, based on a player's performance the previous week and announced by Lincoln Loud, the main protagonist of The Loud House. Starting with the Week 11 episode during the 2022 season, Lincoln Loud was replaced by Big Nate characters and premises#Nate Wright|Nate Wright], from the Paramount+ series Big Nate. Lincoln Loud briefly returned as the NVP announcer for the Pro Bowl, but using the same voice over as Week 4 and slightly changing the accompanying animation. Starting with the Week 1 episode from the 2024 season, Nate was replaced with Dora Márquez, from the Dora reboot series. Starting with the Week 1 episode from the 2025 season, Dora was replaced with Sandy Cheeks from SpongeBob SquarePants.
Kyler Murray was the first winner of the weekly NVP. Other winners during the 2021 season have included the participating quarterbacks in Super Bowl LV, Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes, and Justin Tucker, whose record-setting 66-yard field goal led the Baltimore Ravens season|Baltimore Ravens] to victory in Week 3.

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