All That

All That is a live-action comedy-variety show on Nickelodeon, that features sketches in a manner somewhat reminiscent of Saturday Night Live and an earlier Nick show You Can't Do That on Television. The show has guest actors and musical performances each episode. The theme song for All That is performed by TLC.

Hiatus Period and Relaunch (The End of the Golden Age of All That)

After ten episodes of the sixth season, All That went on a production hiatus. In its place, came a string of "Best of..." compilation episodes for the rest of the season. What happened was that for whatever the reasons, several writers and producers, who apparently had originally desired to end it after Season 6, left the show. In addition, a few of the cast members (namely Amanda Bynes, Josh Server, Danny Tamberelli, and Christy Knowings) had reportedly wanted to leave for some time and move on to new things.

Related Topics:
Amanda Bynes - Josh Server - Danny Tamberelli - Christy Knowings

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List of "Best of..." Episodes:

• Kenan Thompson
• Kel Mitchell
• Amanda Bynes
• Josh Server
• Danny Tamberelli
• Lori Beth Denberg
• Leon Frierson
• Christy Knowings
• Peas, Cheese, Bag of Chips: This episode was basically a compilation of skits that focused on food.
• Dates, Goats and Romance

The conclusion "Best of..." airings, signified the end of an era. Soon afterwards, the immediate future of All That became up in the air.

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Fans had already seen the writing on the wall after popular cast members like Lori Beth Denberg and subsequently, Kenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell left. Many consider Kenan and Kel to be the first true break-out stars of All That. They were perhaps also akin to the various classic duos from its grown-up counterpart, Saturday Night Live (namely, Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi, Eddie Murphy and Joe Piscopo, Mike Myers and Dana Carvey, and Chris Farley and David Spade respectively). One of the most memorable moments in All That history came on the March 31, 1997 episode when Chris Farley, who played "The Chicago Ketchup Chef", participated in a "Cooking with Randy" sketch with Kenan Thompson.

Related Topics:
Lori Beth Denberg - Kenan Thompson - Kel Mitchell - Dan Aykroyd - John Belushi - Eddie Murphy - Joe Piscopo - Mike Myers - Dana Carvey - Chris Farley - David Spade - March 31 - 1997 - Chicago - Ketchup

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It has also been suggested that the vastly maturing young stars' (especially Amanda Bynes) hearts were no longer fully into performing. By the time the sixth season rolled around, Bynes was so busy working on another show for Nick (The Amanda Show), that she only made very sporadic appearances (thus, leaving the load to fellow female cast member Christy Knowings) in the already abbreviated season. Also leaving at the end of Season 6 were writer/producer Kevin Kopelow, who was best known for his on-camera role as Kevin the stage manager, and announcer Soup. Soup was the one who said at the beginning of the opening credits "Fresh out the box! Stop, look, and watch! Ready yet? Get set! It's all that!" At the end of the day, Josh Server, who was the only remaining original cast member in the sixth season, became the longest serving All That cast member (unless you also count Kevin Kopelow).

Related Topics:
The Amanda Show - Kevin Kopelow

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By the time the sixth season for All That had begun, there were a lot of new Nick shows that were starting (most of them are now defunct) and they wanted to make room for them in the budget. Rumor has it that Nick briefly cancelled All That before having a last minute change of heart.

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Nick then paid Dan Schneider (the only original producer who agreed to stay with the show) a lot of money to overhaul and relaunch All That. In the meantime, All That skipped the 2000-2001 television season. During this period, a search was made to find a completely new cast in time for the seventh season. Because of this, many fans of All That often consider Seasons 1-6 and Seasons 7 onward to be almost completely separate entities. The dramatic changing of the guard on All That likely parallels the first five seasons of Saturday Night Live () transisition itself into the now much detested under Jean Doumanian.

Related Topics:
Dan Schneider - 2000 - 2001 - Jean Doumanian

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The first episode of the "new" All That (with special guests Frankie Muniz and Aaron Carter) was the 121st overall (if you count the "Best of..." episodes) airing on January 19, 2002. In this particular episode, Frankie Muniz is seen running around and randomly grabbing random people out of the streets to be the new cast members of All That.

Related Topics:
Frankie Muniz - Aaron Carter - January 19 - 2002

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Weekly "Special Guest Stars"

In conjuction with the seventh (and eighth to some extent) season, All That brought in weekly special guest stars (perhaps as a way to help take some of the heat and burden off of the new cast) who helped open the show and participated in some of the sketches. Among them (in no particular order) were:

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• Melissa Joan Hart
• Frankie Muniz
• Tony Hawk
• David Arquette
• Britney Spears
• Aaron Carter
• Will Friedle
• Christina Vidal
• Matthew Lillard
• Ray Romano
• Alexa Vega and Daryl Sabara (Spy Kids)
• Nick Carter
• Justin Timberlake
• Buddy Hackett
• Barry Watson
• Jennifer Love Hewitt

Also appearing during this period were Kenan Thompson and Amanda Bynes, who were brought in likely to help bridge the gap between the golden age of All That and the on-going relauch.

Related Topics:
Kenan Thompson - Amanda Bynes

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Some viewers didn't appreciate the intensified emphasis on special guest stars since All That (unlike 90 minute long Saturday Night Live or even the 60 minute long MADtv) was only a 30 minute program (including commercials). Some feared that the guest stars (with the exception of perhaps the likes of Kenan Thompson and Amanda Bynes) were seriously overshadowing the young cast or even hampering the proceedings.

Related Topics:
Saturday Night Live - MADtv

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"Old" All That versus "New" All That

Fans often consider the latter episodes (i.e. beginning in Season 7) of All That to be greatly inferior in quality to most of the earlier seasons, with the exception of the reunion special, which is considered as good as the originals by fans.

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A theory is that the golden age of All That was more risky, edgy, cohesive, inspired, and innovative with its humor. While the latter episodes are often too juvenile, clichéd, crude, boring, dependent on special effects and gross-out comedy for gags, or even derivative of older, better executed All That sketches. Another theory has been fronted that the declining quality of All That was merely due to the long-time audience's maturing comedic tastes.

Related Topics:
Golden age - Cliché - Special effects - Gross-out comedy

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Perhaps the lowest point of the new All That was when the writers revived the classic "Good Burger" sketch with Ryan Coleman trying to recreate Kel Mitchell's inept, "surfer dude", cashier Ed. The revivial of the popular "Good Burger" sketch (which in fairness, may have been intended on the surface, as a homage) with anybody other than Kel Mitchell playing the role of Ed, in all likelyhood, severely alienated older fans of All That.

Related Topics:
Ryan Coleman - Surfer

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Many fans were also uncomfortable with the idea of having Jamie Lynn Spears, who was previously better known for being the younger sister of pop star Britney Spears, become a cast member. Reportedly, Jamie Lynn got the job after publicly stating her desire to be on All That. This gave some people the suspicion that she got the part largely through the benefits of nepotism. The controversial casting of Jamie Lynn Spears sharply contrasted the likes of Christina Kirkman, who legitimently earned a shot on All That by winning the grueling R U All That: The Search for the Funniest Kid in America contest. Ryan Coleman, who was the runner-up soon also got a part on the show (midway into Season 9) once the producers realized that they needed a replacement for Bryan Hearne, who left at the end of Season 8.

Related Topics:
Jamie Lynn Spears - Pop star - Britney Spears - Nepotism - Christina Kirkman - Bryan Hearne

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The On-Air Dare

One trademark to come from the new cast was the weekly On Air Dare segments. The On-Air Dare segments were not a part of the official All That episodes. They instead, served as bumpers during Nickelodeon's SNICK Saturday night block. The premise of the On-Air Dare was that three cast members (each placed in a glass cylinder) would be forced to play a game of chance. The loser, whose name would be selected via a specially designed slot machine, would then be forced to perform a disgusting activity (a la Fear Factor).

Related Topics:
Chance - Slot machine - Fear Factor

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Know Your Stars

Another, more memorable trademark of the new All That is the recurring "Know Your Stars" segment. In the segment Brian Peck, who could also be seen on-camera as Pickle Boy, is the unseen voice who tries to annoy and insult a specific cast member (who is always seated) with outrageously untrue facts. On some occasions, the voice will target special guests like Britney Spears or Drake Bell (while playing his "Totally Kyle" character from The Amanda Show).

Related Topics:
Brian Peck - Britney Spears - Drake Bell

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