All That
All That is an American sketch comedy children's television series created by Brian Robbins and Mike Tollin. The series originally aired on Nickelodeon from April 16, 1994, to October 22, 2005, lasting ten seasons, and was produced by Tollin/Robbins Productions and by Schneider's Bakery in season ten. The pilot episode was originally shown as a special "sneak peek" on April 16, 1994, with the show officially debuting as a regular series on January 21, 1995.
The series features original short comedic sketches and weekly musical guests aimed toward a young audience. Its sketches parody popular culture and are performed by a large and varying cast of child and teen actors. Early episodes were taped at Nickelodeon Studios at Universal Orlando Resort and then moved to Hollywood at the Nickelodeon on Sunset theatre, where other Nickelodeon shows such as The Amanda Show, Kenan & Kel, and Drake & Josh were taped.
All That went on to become a fixture on Nickelodeon for over a decade and has received acclaim for its diverse cast and impact on children's television. The series has spun off several members of the cast in their own Nickelodeon television series with varying levels of success. It has been marketed in several ways, including an audio recording, books, a feature film, festival tour, and numerous reunions and specials celebrating the legacy of All That.
In 2019, Robbins, the current president of Nickelodeon and co-creator of the original series, announced a revival of the series with original cast member Kenan Thompson serving as executive producer, with Kel Mitchell later confirmed in the same role. The eleventh season premiered on June 15, 2019, with musical guests The Jonas Brothers. Original cast members Lori Beth Denberg and Josh Server each appeared, and made sporadic appearances throughout the season. The last episode of the series aired on December 17, 2020, after production was permanently suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
History
Development
and Michael Tollin created the show, and the head writer was Dan Schneider who also became the showrunner of the series in the third season. All That marked the beginning of Schneider's prolific career in creating and writing hit television series for young audiences. The New York Times, in separate articles, referred to Schneider as "the Norman Lear of children's television" and "the master of a television genre".In 1986, Robbins and Schneider met when they were cast in the ABC sitcom Head of the Class, where they co-starred as Eric Mardian and Dennis Blunden, members of an honors program for gifted high school students. Becoming close friends, the two performers both shared a mutual interest in writing, eventually coming together to write and then pitch an episode to the show's producers just to see if they could do it. To their amazement, the producers liked their idea and bought it. Their episode later aired during the show's second season in 1988.
Following the success of Head of the Class, Robbins and Schneider were asked to co-host the second annual Kids Choice Awards in 1988 alongside Tony Danza and Debbie Gibson. Although they were unaware of the fledgling Nickelodeon cable channel, the two agreed to participate. The award ceremony that year was produced by Albie Hecht, with whom Robbins and Schneider quickly struck up a friendship. Their friendship continued after the awards, and Hecht suggested they develop something for Nickelodeon. Robbins and Schneider declined his offer, as they were still under contract with ABC.
By 1991, after Head of the Class ended its five-season run, Robbins started a production company with producer friend Mike Tollin, aptly named Tollin/Robbins Productions. The company originally produced several small-budget sports documentaries.
Hecht, now Head of Development for Nickelodeon, contacted them and asked them to tape a project for the network. The half-hour documentary they made featured two of the network's game show hosts, Phil Moore and Mike O'Malley, as co-hosts of a comedy tour as they drove around to different cities to perform. Since their schedule only permitted for two days of taping, Tollin/Robbins had to make the entire show appear as if they had toured around the country.
Impressed with the final product, Hecht later met with Robbins to discuss developing something; asking Robbins if there was any type of show that he would be interested in making. Robbins pitched an idea of creating a kid-friendly version of Saturday Night Live, which cast member Kenan Thompson would later join in 2003. He brought Tollin and Schneider along to help develop the show. The three were influenced by classic sketch shows such as The Carol Burnett Show, You Can't Do That on Television and Laugh In, and began to flesh out a rough idea of the show's format. Schneider decided against writing the pilot episode and instead chose to compile the cast first. Usually, in television, the pilot is written first and the cast is assembled later. However, the three believed it was crucial to find the right actors first and then tailor to their strengths. A nationwide talent search for child and teen actors was launched that would last for several months. Eventually, Angelique Bates, Lori Beth Denberg, Katrina Johnson, Kel Mitchell, Alisa Reyes, Josh Server, and Thompson were hired.
Original series (1994–2000)
The basic concept for the series was a half-hour show that featured a cold open, several different sketches; including "runners", and then a musical performance to close out the episode. The main staple was the Vital Information sketch, which would go on to be featured in every show through the end of the sixth season. Cast and crew flew out to Nickelodeon Studios at Universal Studios Florida in Orlando to shoot the pilot in front of a studio audience on January 17, 1994. After taping was completed, the pilot was shelved as screenings did not test well with the focus groups, consisting of children, both boys and girls in different age groups, that Nickelodeon used. The scores showed that "kids probably wouldn't like this new sketch comedy show for kids". Regardless of the negative response, Geraldine Laybourne decided to pick the series up.During the first season, writing partners Kevin Kopelow and Heath Seifert were brought on as producers and continued working in that capacity through the third season. They continued their relationship with Thompson and Mitchell by co-executive producing and head writing the spin-off series Kenan & Kel and eventually writing the feature film Good Burger with Schneider.
After production on the second season wrapped in 1996, the show moved out of the old Nickelodeon Studios at Universal Orlando Resort in Florida. The network, interested in moving production of their live-action series to the West Coast began scouting soundstages in California. Production for the third season was completed at the Paramount Pictures studio lot before Nickelodeon obtained a lease for the 6230 Sunset Boulevard facility. During this period, Bates left the show and was replaced by Amanda Bynes. A Nickelodeon producer discovered Bynes while she attended a children's comedy camp at L.A.'s Laugh Factory. At the end of the third season, Johnson and Reyes left the show.
In 1997, Nickelodeon purchased the Sunset Boulevard property and rechristened it as Nickelodeon on Sunset. Production for the series would remain there until the end of the tenth season in 2005. The fourth season began with the additions of Leon Frierson, Christy Knowings, and Danny Tamberelli to the cast. Knowings and Tamberelli were known to Nickelodeon producers having both participated in other projects for the network; Knowings was discovered while taping a pilot for a show called And Now This; Tamberelli was the star of The Adventures of Pete & Pete, and guest starred on the Nickelodeon game show Figure It Out where he befriended fellow guest star Kopelow. At the end of the fourth season, Denberg and Schneider left the show. Schneider initially left the series to create the short-lived UPN sitcom Guys Like Us, and later took over a fledgling pilot for Bynes that would become The Amanda Show.
For the fifth season, Kopelow and Seifert took over Schneider's responsibilities as head writers and co-executive producers; Tamberelli succeeded Denberg as the new Vital Information anchor; added to the cast were Nick Cannon and Mark Saul. Although a teenager at the time, Cannon previously worked as the audience warm up and writer for the show before joining the cast.
On March 13, 1999, Nickelodeon celebrated the series in an hour-long special episode dubbed All That Live, in honor of the show's "100th episode". The episode was the first, and only occurrence in the show's history done entirely live in front of a studio audience.
The 100th episode featured several celebrity guests: Melissa Joan Hart, Larisa Oleynik, Robert Ri'chard, and Britney Spears all made appearances; with Bates, Denberg, Johnson and Reyes appearing as well.
After the 100th episode, the show won the Kids' Choice Award for Favorite TV Show on May 1, 1999. The fifth season ended with the departures of Mitchell and Thompson. Stand-up comedian Gabriel Iglesias was hired to replace the two for the following season. The abbreviated sixth season was followed by a nationwide summer tour, the All That Music and More Festival, hosted by the cast and headlined by featured musical guests. Kopelow, Seifert and the entire cast left the series soon after. In their absence, Schneider returned as showrunner.
Relaunch series (2002–2005)
In 2000, All That was put on hiatus to be relaunched with a new cast. During the hiatus, Nickelodeon ran a series of specials. Production for the seventh season started back up a year later after an extensive nationwide talent search for child and teen actors. Ultimately hired were Chelsea Brummet, Jack DeSena, Lisa Foiles, Bryan Hearne, Shane Lyons, Giovonnie Samuels, and Kyle Sullivan. The format of the series remained roughly the same as the original seasons, but episodes now featured a weekly guest host who would appear alongside the cast in sketches, just as Saturday Night Live had incorporated since its 1975 premiere. Vital Information was also dropped and replaced with a new regular segment titled Know Your Stars. The first episode of the "new" All That featured special guests Frankie Muniz and Aaron Carter and debuted on January 19, 2002.The eighth season opened with the addition of Britney Spears' younger sister, Jamie Lynn Spears, to the cast. In addition, All That cast members were also included in a new wraparound segment during the SNICK lineup, the SNICK On-Air Dare, in which they attempted various dares ; occasionally, On-Air Dares featured special guests from other Nickelodeon shows. Hearne left the series just as Nickelodeon was promoting a new competition series, R U All That?: Nickelodeon's Search for the Funniest Kid in America, in which the grand prize winner would be given an opportunity to become a cast member on All That. After this contest ended in 2003, the finals aired on the network on July 26, 2003. The contest picked five finalists, all of whom would perform a sketch with the current cast. The winner of R U All That? was Christina Kirkman, who would officially join the cast in ninth season; the competition's runner-up, Ryan Coleman, would join the cast later that year. At the end of the ninth season, Lyons, Samuels and Spears departed the series. Spears left to focus on a new Nickelodeon sitcom that Schneider had created, Zoey 101.
In 2005, the tenth season began with a celebration of the show's tenth anniversary. As part of the event, Nickelodeon aired episodes from the first six seasons of All That in the week leading up to a "reunion special" on April 23, 2005, hosted by Muniz and featuring Ashanti and Bow Wow as the musical guests. The special featured cast members from both the original and relaunch series performing in sketches together. And, after a hiatus, the Vital Information sketch was brought back with Lil' JJ, winner of sister channel BET's Coming to the Stage competition, as the anchor. The special also introduced Kianna Underwood and Denzel Whitaker as new cast members. Approximately 6.2 million total viewers watched the special on both its April 23 and 24 airings, making it the top cable or broadcast program for the 2–11, 6–11, and 9–14 age demographics, and TV.com gave it a rating of 8.7/10.
Chronologically, the anniversary special and season were taped in the fall of 2004, before being aired on Nickelodeon the following year. After the anniversary, the new season began airing a week later. The tenth season would mark the end of the relaunch era of the show as Foiles announced the show's cancellation.