Nickelodeon Is Reviving 'All That' For A Whole New Generation Of Kids
In case you can't manage to stay up late for Saturday Night Live anymore, you're in store for a nostalgic and bedtime-friendly approach to sketch comedy. Adding to the trend of TV reboots and reunions, Nickelodeon is bound to make '90s kids very happy with its latest move. An All That revival is coming to Nickelodeon soon, and original series star Kenan Thompson is even leaving his mark on it as an executive producer. This is certainly worthy of having a good burger, right?
On Feb. 14, Variety reported that Nickelodeon will revive All That with a brand new cast, but the new series will also feature guest appearances from former cast members. With his name already linked to the program, Saturday Night Live's Thompson will probably be one of the first original actors to appear. Before he became SNL's longest-running cast member, a teenage Thompson debuted on All That in its first season in 1994. Although the comedy show ran until 2005, Thompson and his co-star Kel Mitchell left the show halfway through its run to spend more time on their own Nickelodeon series, Kenan & Kel. Looks like Thompson doesn't mind returning to his old stomping grounds!
According to Brian Robbins, President of Nickelodeon, the project promises a "mash-up of some of the old sketches and a lot of new sketches.” With this hope that we'll see old favorites like "Ask Ashley" and "The Spice Boys" again, we have even more surprises to anticipate. Nickelodeon will particularly play at our nostalgic heartstrings when the All That revival is ready to debut its new cast. "We want to bring the show back in a real fun way," Robbins tells Variety. "This summer, we are going to bring back a lot of the original cast and the cast through the years, and let them introduce the new cast of All That to the world.”
The revival news comes soon after Thompson and Mitchell reunited on an episode of Nickelodeon's rebooted Double Dare. While the network returned to the concept of its beloved game show Legends of the Hidden Temple for a TV movie in 2016, its attempt to mesh the old with the new for All That seems like it'll settle with fans much more smoothly. Thompson is totally confident about the idea, telling Variety that following through on Robbins' plan was a "no-brainer."
Before Twitter starts pitching ideas for another Kenan & Kel reunion and the comedic comeback of former All That star Amanda Bynes, we also have to talk about Thompson's future in sketch comedy. Like his SNL co-star Aidy Bryant, he's been working on another series in between his Steve Harvey impressions. His NBC series Saving Kenan received a pilot order, meaning that the star might leave SNL if the show is picked up for a full season. Because of this possibility and a commitment to All That, Thompson's reign as a SNL ringleader is likely winding down soon. But if he gets his own platform to shine, as well as a tie to the new All That, we can't exactly complain. Thanks for helping to bring back my childhood, dude!
The All That revival is expected to premiere this summer on Nickelodeon.
