The series seemingly takes place over one long continuous summer. Ironically, that's the one season the series was never filmed during. It was deemed just "too darn hot" for those city folks, I guess. :) As I recall, the first series of 13 episodes was shot in the spring of 1989; then 13 more that fall; the next 13 in early 1990; followed by 13 more that spring; and the final 13 in the fall of 1990. I know the last episode was shot in December 1990 and everyone went home for Christmas not knowing what the future held (except for David Brisbin, who told me he had a good idea that it was all over).

I guess there was talk of doing 13 more but Nick had just finished work on their studio in Florida and wanted to cut costs by doing all their productions there. Since that would have been impossible for a series set in the Arizona desert, they closed shop and moved on to Clarissa Explains It All.

Q: So, is this the reason Hey Dude was canceled?

Nick completing production on it's Orlando studio may be one reason the show did not continue...but to say it's the reason the show was canceled may be overstating things. Hey Dude was originally planned to only run 52 episodes, that number being considered adequate to rerun the show 5-days a week for years to come. Other Nick series of that same era, Welcome, Freshmen and Salute Your Shorts, only ran for 52 episodes. It was Hey Dude's overwhelming popularity that earned it those additional 13 shows. So why it's true that the show might have continued if Nick's Orlando Studios hadn't been ready to handle new productions, the fact was that Hey Dude had already run longer than originally envisioned.

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