YMMV / All That

• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • There's an "Ask Ashley" sketch where one kid writes to her asking why everybody ignores him. Ashley does the same after reading the letter. But is it typical Dan Schneider shtick, or is she uncharacteristically showing tact, albeit still rudely, by not unleashing the truth on him angrily?
  • Is Coach Kreeton a jerkass because he constantly has bad things happen to him? Or are the bad things a result of him acting like a jerk?
• Awesome Music:
  • What else can you say about a mind-blowing theme song performed by none other than TLC? It's so awesome, it even survived both the "Relaunch" era and the current revival era.
  • The barrage of Musical Guests throughout the show's run, such as Dru Hill, Robyn, Backstreet Boys, Spice Girls, etc.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Kenan, Kel, and Amanda.
  • Lisa Foiles is really the only cast member during the later seasons that is remembered. Mostly because she has made a name for herself in the nerd community.
    • Jack DeSena as well, for going on to voice Sokka, Prince Callum, and a couple other parts on Nickelodeon.
  • The Good Burger sketches were so popular, they were made into a movie.
  • Jack Campbell: Fat Cop is one of the most remembered characters despite only appearing in two sketches (one of which was a crossover with Cooking with Randy).
  • Nick Cannon soon got his own series a few years later after just being a recurring cast member on the show along with the lesser known Mark Saul.
  • "Know Your Stars" is probably the most well-received segment from the relaunch era, and is usually the first segment that comes to mind when someone brings up this era
• Fridge Brilliance: In "Simplicity" Larry questions why they brought him back when he lost the previous game. Makes perfect sense since the last time, his opponent won a lifetime supply of whatever she wants so what more could she win?
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • The "Know Your Stars" segment where the mean narrator insults and mocks the actors becomes less funny when it was revealed that Brian Peck, who played the narrator, molested a Nickelodeon cast member, later revealed to be Drake Bell when he came forward in 2024. Peck was only arrested when Bell anonymously came forward with the truth.
  • Angelique Bates's departure in between the second and third seasons which was thought to be a non-issue until Angelique revealed she was physically, emotionally and verbally abused by her mother (even in front of the producers) while she was on the show.
  • Dan Schneider's tenure as producer and showrunner during the first revival is looked upon as this, especially in the wake of the Quiet on the Set documentary which highlighted the hostile working environment, Demographically Inappropriate Humour that went too far with the child cast members and, of course Brian Peck's involvement.
• Heartwarming in Hindsight: In one episode, Chris Farley guest stars in a "Cooking with Randy" sketch with Kenan Thompson. Years later, Kenan would follow in Farley's footsteps and join the cast of Saturday Night Live and make the sketch come across as a Passing the Torch moment between the two generations of cast members.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • In one of the later episodes, there was a spoof of Without Me by Eminem called Without Meat performed by Jack DeSena. He would later go on to voice Sokka, a character known for his love of meat.
  • DeSena also played the psychotic "volunteer fireman" Randy Quench, who would see even the tiniest flame as being a massive blaze. Then his actor became Sokka, who helped fight against the forces of the Fire Nation.
  • Kenan Thompson's Pierre Escargot character now lives on on Saturday Night Live as Weekend Update character Jean K. Jean. One of Kenan's most well remembered impressions from All That was Bill Cosby. This just happened to be one of the biggest entertainment stories his first week on SNL. And he still does his Cosby impression there as recently as 2019.
• It's Popular, Now It Sucks!: The last 4 seasons of the show had wildly higher ratings than the previous 6 seasons (the late 90s still saw many households without cable; Y2K somehow made subscriptions, & thus Nick's viewership, increase dramatically), yet those who saw the entire run of the program by & large insist the first years were the best. Mostly justified in that most of the writing staff & all of the actors (including the final remaining original cast member, Josh Server) left that year. The new guys might've just not been up to snuff. Additionally, the original run was still fresh in peoples' mind, so much like another show that had a mass cast and writers' exodus 5 or 6 years into its run unfavorable comparisons were inevitable.
• More Popular Spin-Off: Most applied in other parts of the American continent where Kenan & Kel did get aired in its entirety than the former.
• Nausea Fuel: The Tilt-A-Hurl sketches from the "Relaunch Era" were this thanks to the sketch's entire premise revolving around the characters getting hit by vomit from people riding the titular roller coaster.
• One-Scene Wonder: Chris Farley's special guest appearance as "Chef Farley" in a season three "Cooking with Randy" sketch, where he proved he could be just as hilarious on a children's show as he was on Saturday Night Live and his adult comedy films.
• Questionable Casting: As popular as Gabriel Iglesias is these days, his casting in season six left many fans scratching their heads as the show's cast was supposed to be composed of pre-teens and teenagers. Iglesias was 24 years old at the time and looked it.
• Replacement Scrappy:
  • Ryan Coleman replacing Kel Mitchell as Ed from the Good Burger sketch. Many fans use the decision to revive the sketch with a different actor as evidence that the show was going stale and wasn't able to come up with new funny material for its new cast.
  • For some, Danny replacing Lori Beth as host of the Vital Information sketch. While some of criticism could simply have been growing pains after Lori Beth's departure, there was a noticeable shift in humor from funny advice to slapstick and randomness.
• Retroactive Recognition:
  • You won't believe how many video website comments are centered on people realizing that comedian Gabriel "Fluffy" Iglesias was once a cast member on the show (though, much like Gilbert Gottfried, Eddie Murphy, and Gail Matthius on season six of Saturday Night Live or Joan Cusack and Robert Downey Jr. on season 11, Gabriel Iglesias was a cast member on the show when the show went downhill and not that many people stuck around to see it).
  • Lisa Foiles has her own web series and is featured in a few others.
  • Danny Tamberelli was already famous when he started in All That thanks to his antics as little Pete on The Adventures of Pete & Pete and voicing Arnold on The Magic School Bus. He may have abandoned the comedy scene during his college years and became focused mostly on music (he has his own band), but during the last few years he has been writing comedy sketches around for his comedy troupe here^note and even former All That cast memebers such as Server, Saul, Thompson and Foiles have participated with him as guests, and now he is also being involved in voice acting with Jimmy DeSanta in Grand Theft Auto V and other few projects around.
  • Josh Server appeared as some cameos in other Dan Schneider series, such as Drake & Josh. He is also doing comedy in the internet.
  • Jamie Lynn Spears may be redundant if you remember whom she is sister from and she also had this little show named Zoey 101, meanwhile All That was finishing its final season production.
  • Nick Cannon went on to do a lot, including hosting Wild 'N Out, America's Got Talent and The Masked Singer and was married to Mariah Carey.
  • To many, it would come as a surprise that Mark Saul was once also part of the show cast during the last two seasons of the original run (he even wrote some sketches with Tamberelli aboard). After that, he had some roles such as Grey's Anatomy and in The Social Network and done many commercial ads. He also has a comedy website.
  • Jack DeSena from the relaunch era, has a familiar voice for some people... that is because he went to do Sokka's voice in Avatar: The Last Airbender, around the same time and has since continued in voice acting.
  • The most damning example of all is Kenan Thompson, who went from being on a kiddie version of Saturday Night Live (this show) to being on the real deal in 2003, lasting more than two decades as a cast member. Sadly, his comedy partner and friend, Kel Mitchell, didn't make the cut. That aside, it's still good that someone from All That found fame on another sketch show — one that's been around for a long time, also has a boatload of memorable characters and sketches, and, for better or worse, is still alive in the public consciousness.
  • Amanda Bynes may be the most recognizable talent of the show's players movie-wise, starring in many feature films as well as The Amanda Show and What I Like About You.
  • Denzel Whitaker who was in the final season of the first revival stayed in acting playing a couple of bit parts here and there, but is notable for playing young Zuri in Black Panther (2018).
  • Behind the scenes, one-time cast member Liz Feldman went on to write for shows such as Hot in Cleveland and 2 Broke Girls; eventually becoming showrunner for the Netflix series Dead to Me.
• Seasonal Rot:
  • Up until season four, the musical guests have been exclusively urban acts from R&B and Hip-Hop, like TLC, Brandy, and Monica. Then in season four, the Spice Girls were featured, and the music acts were a mix of both urban and Top 40. Then from season six onward, it was exclusively Top 40. The 2019 revival does not seem any different, as the musical acts announced thus far (with the sole exception of Kane Brown) are still Top 40, including Jonas Brothers and Daddy Yankee.
  • The seasons during the 2000s, known as the "Relaunch Era" (seasons 7-10), at least for the fans of the 'Golden Era'. Unlike the original cast members who were unknowns selected after a nationwide search and were all trained in improv and comedy, the new cast primarily consisted of young Hollywood-based actors, many of whom had primarily worked in drama. Additionally, the sketches during this era had a tendency to rely on low brow, gross-out humor as opposed to the slapstick and zaniness of the original sketches. The increased emphasis on guest stars at the expense of the main cast wasn't welcomed either. Many cite the fact that this era of the show was led by Dan Schneider without the input of the original 'Golden Era' creators and showrunners Mike Tollin and Brian Robbins as the reason for this downturn in quality.
  • As far as the original run goes most fans agree Season 6 was the weakest. A lot of fan favorite likes Lori Beth Denberg, Kel Mitchell, and Kenan Thompson left the show taking popular segments with them including Loud Librarian, Repair Man Man Man Man, Good Burger, Coach Kreeton, and Ishboo. The newer segments just simply didn't live up to the ones that had been removed. Additionally, the remaining cast members were getting noticeably older, including Amanda Bynes, Mark Saul, and Leon Frierson, who were all entering puberty and couldn't pull off their "kid" roles as well as they could before (Ask Ashley clearly wasn't a cute little girl anymore, Stuart's rants often resulted in his voice cracking, etc). After episode 13, a series of "Best of" compilation episodes were broadcast, recycling past skits into episodes focusing on a particular cast member.
• Special Effect Failure: In the Good Burger clip show, there are some shots where Ed and Kel are supposed to be in the same shot. When that happens, "Kel" is very obviously a dummy.
• Suspiciously Similar Song: "Island Girls" for the Gilligan's Island theme.
  • The sketch when Kel fell in love with a goat featured a rather cheap version of "Close to You".
  • The "Whatever" sketch always uses a similar theme tune to Supergrass' 'Alright', especially the segment of the chorus.
• They Changed It, Now It Sucks!:
  • The reaction to the new cast who replaced the old one in its entirety. In fact, there was a visible backlash among "Golden Era" fans when a "Relaunch" sketch^note specifically, an Unreal World sketch won a poll on the Nickelodeon website for the greatest sketch in all 10 years of All That (leading up to the reunion special).
  • Cutting the Musical Guests from future airings starting in 2011 due to licensing issues was a decision met with a lot of revulsion from the fan base.
• Unfortunate Character Design: Nose Boy, as noted on Quiet on Set while the skit he appears in doubles as Harsher in Hindsight.
• Unintentionally Sympathetic: Can you really blame Ashley for her harsh criticisms when the kids sending her letters are blithering idiots?
• Values Dissonance:
  • Tandy Spork's character would not fly in today's society, with many jokes revolving about her being transgender or intersex. It doesn't help that she is implied to be "heavily medicated".
  • The short-lived Dulmont Junior High music teacher, Mr. Treble, with his wild mood-swings would probably be a lot less acceptable with mental health being a very sensitive topic.

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