The Amanda Show Reviews: Episode 9

 Cold Open

Drake wants some fan mail, but the only one he gets is a request for the Dancing Lobsters’ autographs.

• Raquel appears to be reading an issue of Fever Beat.

• Kind of funny in retrospect that Drake is complaining about his lack of fan mail, given how popular he went on to be.

TV Clip: A guy in a tree says “Look at this tree!”

Intro

Amanda’s magic trick goes wrong, so she goes backstage to learn a spell for it. Then Penelope pops out of the magic hat, which is taken away by security.

• The effect of Penelope coming out of the hat is very well done. Too bad her appearance is somewhat spoiled by the fact that her theme is playing while Amanda is doing the magic trick.

• Penelope’s head is replaced by a hilariously obvious dummy when the security guards come to take the hat away.

Fake Ad: Sick Popples

The new popsicles that make you ill, so you won’t have to take a test!

• Another classic ad with a great concept. I wonder how exactly they came up with it?

• As usual with these ads, the intentionally poor acting and obnoxious editing is hilarious.

• The various flavors are all great, but my personal favorite is “Bleeding Gums Berry”.

• Great slogan: “They’re icy cool, and they’ll get you out of school!”

• Nice ending, too, where a kid faints after trying the “Measles Mango” flavor.

Judge Trudy 

A boy named Alex (Drake) has a dinner date with Judge Trudy, which then turns into a case when she finds out that his parents have grounded him for driving their car through the mall.

• I like how the audience knows what’s about to happen as soon as Alex mentions his date is a judge.

• Last time we had a Judge Trudy sketch, I complained that they’re too formulaic. As if to prove otherwise, now we get one that’s a nice change from the norm.

• You have to love how Trudy apparently brings her podium and bailiff along whenever she goes out to dinner.

• I love the gag with the group of kids randomly running in to throw garbage at Alex’s parents.

• I think this is the sketch where The Bailiff finally comes into his own! Every single line he says in this one is funny!

• The mom’s punishment is hilarious. What is it? The Bailiff just screams at her!

Mr. Oldman

The old geezer receives a prank call about winning a cordless pig.

• First time we’ve seen this in a while. Amanda’s character now has her usual hairstyle.

• Not too much to say about these sketches, since they’re so short, but Dan’s performance is great as usual.

When Cheerleaders Attack

Amanda warns us about attacks perpetrated by cheerleaders.

• First appearance of the “When (X) Attack” sketch, based on the many sensationalist specials that were airing on FOX in the late 90s.

• Amanda always introduces these sketches by saying we might remember her from some other role. In this case, she says we might know her as Amanda.

• The first attack video is shot on the same set as Souper Dooper. It’s worth noting that the girl who gets attacked here is the same actress as Tammy from The Girls’ Room.

• My favorite parts of these sketches are the interview segments, where the victims have extremely brutal injuries that don’t really suit the kind of attack they’ve been through.

• Even in this first installment, Amanda has no sympathy for any of the victims, although her statements aren’t as over the top as they will be later on.

• The second attack video appears to be shot on Paramount’s New York Street set. I’m pretty sure it’ll appear again in a later installment of this series.

• Out of all the recurring bits we’ve seen so far, this one seems to be the most fully formed. All of the usual bits are here; the interviews, the hotline we need to call, and the ending where the attackers show up in the studio and assault the cameraman.

Hillbilly Moment 

Eenis gets hit with a steering wheel.

Stop-Motion Amanda

Penelope has a dream where she wins the Best Website in the World Award. Also, Whoopi Goldberg is there.

• Now it’s Penelope’s turn to star in a stop-motion sketch! I like how they made her own special figure instead of just recycling Amanda’s.

• The voice of the Whoopi caricature is so obviously not her that it’s hilarious.

• This week’s video clip is Amanda rinsing her mouth out. Yeah…

Totally Kyle

Kyle talks about a movie he saw with a big lizard in it.

• Another classic Kyle story. You really have to question his taste in movies if the movie he saw is supposed to be the 1998 Godzilla film.

The Castaways

A family washes up on a beach that turns out to be populated.

• The setting reminds me of the Island Girls sketches from All That.

• I’ve never been a big fan of this one, mostly because the family is just too stupid. How dumb are these people if they can’t tell a surfer apart from a fish?

• The only part I like is when a police car drives up and the officer slaps the dad in the face.

Closing

Amanda tries another trick: sawing Johnny in half. 

• Another instance of Johnny getting humiliated. This time, after getting “cut in half”, a kid from the audience gets to take his lower half home with him. And the episode ends with them just leaving him there. I like how he doesn’t even question Penelope when she runs by, he just cares about getting his socks back.

Final thoughts: A slight step back from the previous episode. That dumb Castaways sketch just dragged it down for me.

The Amanda Show Reviews: Episode 8

 NOTE: The only copy of this episode online is a shitty TV rip that’s out of sync and missing the theme song. It’s never been released on DVD due to the appearance of LFO as musical guests.

Cold Open

Penelope gets a visit from a special guest from The Amanda Show…Cameraman Joe!

• We get to meet Penelope’s parents for the first (and only) time. They say “please” just as much as she does!

• A hilarious twist where the special guest from the show turns out to just be a cameraman.

TV Clip: Not featured in my copy

Intro

Amanda brings out LFO for an audience member who can’t listen to their CD.

• As mentioned earlier, this episode has never been released on DVD due to LFO’s presence in the episode. It’s a shame, too, because this was a sweet moment.

Fake Ad: Pedestrian Air Bag (repeat from Episode 1)

Mr. Gullible 

Mr. Gullible comes to teach a science class and gets tricked into doing more crazy things.

• The best of the Mr. Gullible sketches, bar none.

• Amazing physical work from Kassir when he has to run into the closet.

• I like how Mr. Gullible shows some self-awareness for once when he initially doesn’t believe that there was a bear in the classroom. Not to worry, though, because the kids manage to convince him when they say the bear was from Wisconsin (another favorite target of Dan’s), “home of the flying bear”.

• Memorable ending where Mr. Gullible floats away after inhaling gas fumes. And then the students make him give them his car keys!

Stop-Motion Amanda

Amanda makes fudge brownies, and gets an unexpected visitor.

• The hits just keep on coming in this episode. Here’s probably the most memorable of all the stop-motion bits.

• I particularly love the gag with the “chocolate cow” that produces chocolate milk. Even as a kid I thought that was really creative.

• But the most famous thing about this sketch is the special guest appearance at the end. When the brownies are done, out pops Amanda’s All That co-star Danny Tamberelli! Why is he there? As he explains, “I’m on every Nick show!” And then she ties him to a balloon, sending him into space. 

Hillbilly Moment

Eenis gets hit in the head with a bowling pin.

Penelope Taynt

Penelope shows the members of LFO her website.

• It’s kind of sad in retrospect to see the LFO guys enjoying themselves, seeing as two of the three members have since passed away.

• I like the part where she cuts off one of them when he’s about to plug their own website.

• Today’s video clip is Amanda jumping on trampoline while holding a lamp.

• Not too much to say about this one, but the LFO guys have some great reactions to Penelope’s nonsense.

Totally Kyle

Kyle talks about seeing a shooting star that was actually an airplane.

• Amanda’s voiceover is now the one that will be used for the rest of the season.

• Not one of Kyle’s better stories, but I like how he says he waved to the plane after finding out it wasn’t a shooting star.

Musical Performance: “Girl on TV”

• It’s a shame this episode can no longer be shown again, because this is a genuinely good performance. 

• The intro with the Dancing Lobsters was cute. I can’t get enough of those guys!

The Procrastinator

An extremely lazy superhero promises to help various citizens with their problems…eventually.

• I wonder where they got the footage of the fire at the beginning from.

• This was kind of a one-joke sketch, and not as funny as I remembered. It also didn’t help that the sync in my copy was really bad here, like I’m watching a Bruce Lee movie.

Closing

The Lobsters invite Amanda and LFO to a party.

• A really sweet way to end the show, and, once again, you gotta love those Dancing Lobsters!

Final thoughts: This is definitely a Top 5 episode for me. It helps that this was an episode I saw a lot as a kid, so I’m probably a little biased towards it.

The Amanda Show Reviews: Episode 7

 Man, it’s been a while since I did one of these. But I’m in a Nickelodeon mood, so let’s do it.

Cold Open

Penelope tries to win a dinner with Amanda.

• One of the more memorable Penelope storylines. The visual of 50 phones in her room is amazing.

TV Clips: A man says “Honey, this is great coffee!”

Introduction 

Amanda teaches an audience member how to do karate.

• A bizarre concept, but it works due to the commitment of Amanda and the audience member. I love his over-the-top karate noises as he does the moves.

Fake Ad: Meatloaf Crunch (repeat from Episode 2)

Judge Trudy

Jason Fima (Drake) sues his parents for cutting his allowance. The parents are then beaten up by pro wrestlers. Next, Amy Drummel sues her mother for sending her to her room for refusing to kiss her Aunt Sophie. Mrs. Drummel is sentenced to confinement in a box with sick children.

• The Bailiff finally has his usual over-the-top personality that we all remember him for.

• Johnny’s wig as the father is great.

• As much as I hate to admit it, I’m finding these Judge Trudy sketches kind of formulaic looking back at them. While there will be some occasional changes from the norm, we almost always get the same thing with these sketches.

Stop-Motion Amanda

The adventures of Amanda…IN SPAAAAAACE!!!!!!

• One of my favorite stop-motion bits. 

• The voice of the guy communicating with Amanda is hilarious, and not immediately recognizable as Dan Schneider.

• I’m not entirely sure, but I think a lot of Amanda’s dialogue in these shorts is ad-libbed. It adds a lot of personality to her character, like when she’s singing that song about flying in space.

• Another staple of Schneider’s shows makes its appearance here: a bra joke. One of the things Amanda’s ship runs into is a giant bra.

The Girls’ Room

Amber tries to become School President.

• The sketch now has its usual voiceover from Amanda.

• Debbie seems to have gotten dumber since the last sketch, and is more like how she usually is. Though I guess we have an explanation in this one, as she says she was dropped on the head as a baby.

• Sheila: “You better check the date on your brain, cuz I think it’s expired!”

• Debbie, numerous times throughout this sketch: “Happy Hanukkah!”

• This is the first time we hear about Amber’s rival, the nefarious Danielle Spencer, who would later become a recurring character in these sketches.

• Bizarrely, the sketch ends with Amber and Danielle teaming up to assault a pretty boy named Jamie Bradford. Kind of strange to see given how much they hate each other later on.

Penelope Taynt

Penelope tries to direct all the radio’s calls to her house.

• A follow up to the cold open, we get to see Penelope’s continued attempts to win the contest.

• The feature on her website this week is an interview with Amanda’s mother (which I’m sure she had to pull a lot of strings to get). I like how Penelope has to point out the obvious fact that this is indeed Amanda’s mother’s head.

• One of the questions asked is “Did you do anything special when you were pregnant to make Amanda so talented?”

• This week’s video clip is one of my favorites: Amanda names a tree “Herman”.

Totally Kyle

Kyle tells of the time he asked a girl out on a date.

• Another really relatable story from Kyle about asking a girl out, even if you can already guess what the punchline is.

Souper Dooper

Doreen and her dad now sell disgusting soups.

• Right off the bat, we get Raquel asking if this place used to sell ice cream. I like how continuity-heavy these Dooper sketches are.

• First appearance of the “We’re (insert food here) people” catchphrase.

• Foot Joke #5: One of the soups is “Foot Fungus Chowder”, and we even get a gross close-up of Johnny’s foot.

• I like when Raquel takes home the poodle that they use to make “Noodles and Poodles”, and Doreen’s dad says that she must want to go home and make it herself.

• A pretty memorable scene where Nancy’s soup is revealed to have underwear in it. Why? Because it’s “Underwear Chowder”, of course! Doreen’s dad cheerfully admits that the underwear used to be his.

• Doreen: “Aren’t they cute?” Nancy: “No! They’re disturbing!”

• I’m totally shocked that they were able to get away with the “Pee Soup”.

• Another appearance from Andrew Hill Newman. This time, he plays an irate customer who’s returning a soup filled with hair.

• We get introduced to Doreen’s grandfather for the first time, as the hair in the soup comes from him. Grandpa will go on to become a recurring character in these.

• My favorite part of this sketch is the ending, where the customer enjoys a soup called “Lincoln Punch”, and Abe Lincoln randomly shows up to punch him.

Closing

Penelope wins the contest, but can’t figure which of her phones to answer.

• The Penelope plot concludes in a great way. She actually wins the contest, but because she has all of those phones, she doesn’t know which one to answer. I’d say this was unfair if she didn’t try to cheat.

Final thoughts: Yet another great episode. Next time, we get what might be my favorite one of all…