The Amanda Show reviews: Episode 4

Cold Open

Amanda and the Lobsters practice some dance moves. When she leaves, Penelope shows up in a Lobster disguise before security takes her away.

• One of my favorite cold opens. I don’t know why, but Penelope’s disguise makes me laugh.

• In the shot where the Lobster points out Penelope’s disguise, you can see the Blockblister set in the background.

TV Clips: Dancing people, and a guy pointing to his car saying, “Look at that shine!”

Intro

Amanda solves problems of various audience members.

• Boring.


Fake Commercial: Homework Hut

A place that delivers all kinds of homework.

• One of the most creative premises on the show. Who wouldn’t want a place that does your homework for you? I know I sure did.


Hillbilly Moment: Fish


Sketch: Blockblister

Foreigners sell cheaply-made knock-off movies at their video store, such as “The Vantom Menace”, “The Wizard of Voz”, and “Austin Powders”.

• Another one of my favorite recurring sketches makes its debut! While it’s somewhat outdated nowadays because the store it’s spoofing is gone, that doesn’t make it any less funny.

• The first customer returns two videos in this sketch. Later Blockblister sketches would have each irate customer return one video.

• Other than that major difference, the Blockblister formula is already fully in place.

• What makes the Star Wars parody even more brilliant is the fact that The Phantom Menace wasn’t even out on home video yet. It wasn’t released on VHS until April of 2000, while this episode aired in November 1999.

• Favorite line: “But the Force, she is with me.”

• The visual of Amanda dressed in a cheap Austin Powers costume (oops, I mean “Powders”) is hilarious. I especially like when she briefly stops to look at the script.

• An odd ending where, after the last customer leaves, the family turns the TV back on to watch more of Austin Powders. They never did this again.


Stop-Motion Amanda

Amanda takes a bath, but she keeps finding her brother’s stuff in the tub.

• Amanda’s offscreen mother is only the second character in these shorts to not be voiced by Amanda or Schneider.

• I like the ending where it’s revealed that her brother left a shark in the tub, somehow.


Sketch: Judge Trudy

A special Halloween edition. Shelly Barnes takes Mrs. Shane to task for handing out an apple instead of candy to trick-or-treaters. Mrs. Shane is punished by having her dress removed. Then, a young boy is in trouble for egging a man’s house. The judge excuses this by saying he was only trying to make an omelet, so the man is spun around by the bailiff.

• Good to see this back again. The Halloween premise is a nice way to shake things up.

• The Bailiff is now played by his regular actor, Gary Anthony Williams (aka Uncle Ruckus from The Boondocks). His over the top personality still hasn’t materialized, though.

• Drake uses his Kyle voice for his character. Is it supposed to be Kyle in costume or something?


Hillbilly Moment: Cucumber

• A blooper from this sketch was available on the show’s website, in which Amanda briefly forgets her line.


Penelope Taynt

Penelope uses her website as a distraction to escape.

• Nice Nickelodeon reference in how one of the choices in an Amanda Trivia Quiz question about Amanda’s dogs is “Ren and Stimpy”.


Sketch: Totally Kyle

Kyle tells of the time when he found a rock in his driveway and brought it into his room.

• A pretty relatable and funny story. I like how it just randomly ended with him arguing with his father about the rock.


Sketch: Meet the Literals

A family who takes everything literally causes chaos at their new neighbors’ house.

• Probably my favorite of all the freaky family sketches this show did. The whole premise is perfect, and their literal reactions to everything were all so funny.

• The ending where they prepare to kill their new neighbor was the perfect way to finish it.


Closing

Amanda and the Lobsters show off the dance they were rehearsing earlier.

• A nice call back to the cold opening, complete with a reappearance from Penelope in disguise.


Final thoughts: I consider this to be the point where the show finally hits its stride. Things will only get better from here.

The Amanda Show reviews: Episode 3

Cold Open

Drake makes a Dancing Lobster upset by eating lobster for dinner.

• The first time we see one of the Dancing Lobsters outside of a Judge Trudy sketch.

• You must have known that they’d do a sketch like this at some point. It was funny enough, but I would have preferred a full sketch instead of a cold open.


TV Clips: A traffic light, and a guy popping out of the garbage shouting “Garbage!”

Intro

Amanda recieves a box. While she goes to look for a tool to open it, Penelope breaks out of it and runs off to look for her.

• Second appearance of the Swiss Guy. I forgot he was in this one.

• Another near miss for Penelope, as Amanda returns to the stage as soon as she leaves.


Fake Commercial: Call ZAP!!!

The latest technology that allows you to zap unwanted prank callers.

• Another classic commercial, and another thing that I wish was real.

• Drake and the other boy’s scenes are filmed on the same set as the Meet the Literals sketch we‘ll be seeing in the next episode.


Sketch: The Wrestlebergs

A family that is so obsessed with wrestling, they have their own referee.

• Kind of a lame concept for a “freaky family” sketch. Maybe I’d like it better if I was more of a wrestling fan, like my brother is.

• The father and son’s costumes are based on those of real professional wrestlers, Goldust and The Blue Blazer (RIP), respectively.

• This sketch was also filmed on the Literals set.

• Another appearance from Andrew Hill Newman, this time as the family’s referee.


Stop-Motion Amanda

Amanda plays with her dog, Dumples.

• They’ve finally stopped doing the live-action bookends to these.

• Not one of the best Stop-Motion bits.


Sketch: The Girl’s Room

Amber (Amanda), Sheila (Raquel), Tammy (Jamie Snow), and Debbie (Jenna Morrison) host their own show from the girl’s bathroom. They discuss a pop quiz and then give popular boy Josh Elliot (Drake) a swirly because he doesn’t love them.

• This recurring sketch makes its debut.

• There’s a couple of big differences here. One, the announcer is a different woman instead of Amanda, and two, the set is noticeably different.

• Some of the characterization is a little different too. Debbie, while she does say her famous “I like eggs” line at one point, seems to be more obsessed with trains in this one. The other girls are mostly the same, though.

• I’m going to be honest here and say that I’ve never really been a big fan of these sketches. Aside from Debbie, who never fails to crack me up, most of these sketches are fairly bland.

• Nancy’s teacher character seems to be the same one she played in the Stop-Motion sketch in the first episode.


Hillbilly Moment: Ragdoll

• Another recurring sketch makes its debut. Now this is one that, while extremely repetitive, manages to always be funny in spite of that.


Sketch: Smelling Bee

Contestants have to identify a certain smell while blindfolded.

• I love whenever Kassir uses a British accent on this show. It’s like he’s doing a less creepy version of The Cryptkeeper.

• Foot Joke #2: The first thing Amanda has to smell is a skunk in a sneaker. She refers to it as “footwear”.

• Foot Joke #3: Drake smells army boots with sour milk in one of them, and rotten eggs in the other.

• Another one of Schneider’s favorite topics, hoboes, are referred to here when Amanda has to smell one.

• Funny ending where the entire room faints because of Nancy’s character’s smelly armpits. (Armpits are another fetish of Dan’s)

• I’m honestly shocked that they didn’t have to smell a bare foot at any point.


Sketch: Totally Kyle

Kyle Rostensan (Drake) tells a story about the time he went to his grandmother’s house and had oatmeal for breakfast.

• Yet another recurring sketch makes its debut in this episode! And this just happens to be my favorite recurring sketch of them all.

• Drake already has this character perfected, even though it’s just the first time he’s ever played him.

• One big difference is that the announcer is Dan Schneider instead of Amanda like it would be later on.


Penelope Taynt

Penelope’s attempt to break into Amanda’s dressing room is foiled by the wardrobe lady, Jennifer. After she shows Jennifer her website, Amanda opens the door and knocks her unconscious.

• I bet Dan loved featuring those baby pictures of Amanda on the show.


Closing

Amanda invites the audience to dinner. After they all leave, Penelope runs out and is greeted by an empty studio.

• Funny ending where the entire studio audience leaves to go have dinner with Amanda.


Final thoughts: The show slowly starts to get better. A whole bunch of classic recurring sketches made their debut here, compared to the forgettable ones from the previous episode.

The Amanda Show reviews: Episode 2

Cold Open

Amanda isn’t on the guest list, so she has to fight her way in.

• Another entertaining cold open. It’s hard to tell in the copy I’m watching, but it looks like she actually did her own stunts here.


TV Clips: A monkey, and stock footage of a burger being prepared

Intro

Amanda answers questions from the audience via their cell phones.

• Not much to say here, except the fact that I got unintended laughs from the huge 90s cell phones.

• The person who calls Amanda from her house appears to be on the same set as Amanda’s prank caller character from the Mr. Oldman sketches, which we’ll be seeing later in this episode.


Fake Commercial: Meatloaf Crunch

A meatloaf-flavored cereal.

• One of the most memorable fake ads from the show. It’s easy to see why, because the concept of a cereal that tastes like meatloaf is unique and hilarious, and the jingle is extremely catchy.

• I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Kassir’s performance as “Loaf”, the cereal’s mascot. He seems to be having the time of his life.

• Overall, a classic, and it appears the writers thought so too, because it re-airs in two more episodes later this season.


Sketch: Jack and Jake

The two least-threatening bullies in school (Amanda and Raquel) try numerous pranks, none of which work.

• Another sketch that seems like it was going to be recurring, but never did. 

• That said, I’m glad it never ended up being recurring, because it was kind of bland and repetitive.

• Rather disgusting scene where a baby pisses on the two of them.


Stop-Motion Amanda

Amanda is on a date with a boy (Drake) who has an extremely large pimple on his head. She ends up falling in love with it.

• Like the last one, there’s a live-action bookend here where we see Amanda on her date. I can see why they stopped doing them after this, because they get weirder later on.

• I can’t remember, but I’m pretty sure this is one of only three Stop-Motion bits to feature a voice actor other than Amanda and Dan Schneider. The second one is in episode 4, and the third is in episode 8, where a certain someone makes a cameo. Not gonna spoil it, though.

• Funny ending where Amanda falls in love with the pimple instead of the boy.

• Also, is it me, or does Schneider love pimples and warts? There was Principal Pimpell from All That, Lewbert from iCarly, and there’s a fake ad coming up in Season 2 which features a girl with a huge wart on her face.


Sketch: Nurse Zelda

Nurse Zelda (Amanda) treats various injuries in class.

• Whaddya know, here’s another sketch that never becomes recurring, even though it looks like it was meant to be. 

• Some impressive physical work from Amanda in this sketch.

• I honestly got more laughs from Kassir as Zelda’s assistant. The way he looked was enough to get a chuckle out of me.


Side Note: The commercial bumpers in this episode are replaced by shots of Penelope applauding in the audience, as part of a storyline where she gets tickets to see the show.


Sketch: The Simians

A family where the father is an ape, the mother is human, and their children are half-human/half-ape hybrids.

• Another freaky family sketch, which this show got a lot of mileage out of.

• Who is the young actor playing “Robert”, the boy visiting the Simian’s house? The credits tend to list the featured actors all together without listing who they played, and, sometimes, they don’t credit them at all!

• Excellent makeup job on Amanda in this sketch, making her almost unrecognizable.

• This was okay, but I’m kinda getting vibes of Mr. Peepers from SNL. Maybe it’s a good thing they didn’t do any more of these.


Sketch: Mr. Oldman

Mr. Oldman (Dan Schneider) gets a prank call about a cheese delivery.

• The first appearance of Mr. Oldman. No matter how much of a sexual deviant Dan Schneider is, he is a riot as this character.

• Amanda’s wig in this sketch is slightly different from the one she would usually wear in these.


Penelope Taynt

Penelope shows someone in the audience her website. 

• Not one of the better Penelope bits, IMO. The “Things That Rhyme With Amanda” feature was kinda lame.


Closing

Amanda does tricks with a ladder, with help from her stunt double.

• Amanda’s clearly male stunt double is funny.

• Excellent conclusion to the Penelope storyline where a fat guy sits on her and blocks her view of Amanda.

• First onscreen appearance of writer Andrew Hill Newman, who will go on to play several minor characters over the course of the series. He’s the audience member in the red tie who talks to Amanda.


Final thoughts: Another mixed bag of an episode. They’re still finding their footing, and it’s telling that the only new sketch in this episode that becomes recurring is Mr. Oldman.

The Amanda Show reviews: Episode 1

Sorry for the delay of my SNL Season 45 overview, but I wanted to share something special I’ve been working on. You see, back when I was a child, one of my favorite shows was The Amanda Show on Nickelodeon. It helped me develop a love of sketch comedy (along with All That) and I’m surprised to see how well most of it has held up. So I thought I’d do a review of all the episodes of the show in order. I won’t be rating the sketches.



Cold Open

Fans try to get into the audience for Amanda’s first episode, while Amanda herself is running late. Johnny Kassir tries to open up the show in her stead, and the audience beats him up. Meanwhile, Amanda’s #1 fan, Penelope Taynt, tries to sneak in.

• A nice way for the show to begin. It gives you a sense of how highly-anticipated the show was when it first aired.

• First appearance of “The Swiss Guy”, a black guy dressed like a stereotypical Swiss man. I don’t know what made the writers come up with him, but he’s hilarious.

• We also get the first appearance of Penelope Taynt, Amanda’s #1 fan, please. She’s pretty much already fully formed in this appearance, though the tattoo of Amanda on her abdomen is never seen or brought up again.

• Amanda’s helicopter scene is a pretty funny way to introduce her.

• The pilot in this scene (played by the late Henry Gibson) asks if she is one of the Rugrats. Ironically, she later did join the cast of Rugrats in that show’s dying years.

• Johnny Kassir’s introduction, where he gets beat up by the audience, is a real blast.



Opening sequence

The first season’s intro is an animated sequence where Amanda, bored by what’s on TV (the program she’s watching is different in each episode), turns it off and jumps inside, where she sets up her own show. This was apparently animated in-house by Nickelodeon Animation Studios, and it’s a great way to start the show. The animated Amanda also appears in scene transitions throughout the first season and the first few episodes of season 2. It’s also worth noting that the theme was composed by the legendary Stewart Copeland, drummer of The Police. The theme is based on a composition he did for the first Spyro the Dragon game a year earlier.

TV Clips: Two rabbits, and a man saying the word “Fork” in a foreign language


Intro

Amanda gets pizza and flowers delivered to her by Josh Server and Kenan Thompson, who congratulate her on the start of her new show.

• A really charming appearance from Server and Thompson from All That, which Amanda was also on at the time. They’re even kind enough to give the Swiss Guy a muffin.



Fake Commercial: Pedestrian Airbag

A new airbag that gets you out of sticky situations, like bullies or unattractive boys.

• The first of many fake ads on the show, and it happens to be one of my favorites as well.

• Unlike a lot of the products shown in SNL’s fake ads, the ones on this show feel like they could exist in real life. I know I’ve definitely been in need of something like this in my life before.

• An oddity with this fake ad is that it was shot on film. Most of the show’s commercials were shot in videotape like the rest of the sketches, but processed with FilmLook.

• How in the world did they get away with “The Inflatable Friend”?

Sketch: Judge Trudy

Judge Trudy (Amanda) presides over two cases involving a boy (Drake Bell) who pushed his principal’s (Johnny Kassir) car into the school pool, and a girl (Raquel Lee) who got punished for playing baseball indoors.

• The first appearance of perhaps the show’s most famous recurring sketch. And there’s certainly a lot different about it in this first installment. For one thing, the bailiff is a different, skinnier actor, and he doesn’t have his usual over the top personality.

• The other big difference is when the “Dancing Lobsters” do their usual dance at the end. The generic music that normally plays is instead “Gonna Make You Sweat” by C+C Music Factory. This may be a reason why this episode is not available on DVD, although it still airs on TV.

• Other than those differences, all the usual Judge Trudy routines are in place. Although I must say that I found this one kind of empty.



Stop-Motion Amanda

Amanda battles her mean teacher in a fantasy sequence.

• A hallmark of Season 1 are these bizarre, stop-motion sketches (animated by Tom Megalis, who has also done work for KaBlam!) where Amanda gets into crazy situations. Some people find them creepy, but I find them hilarious.

• This one is a little different from the rest in that it has live-action bookends to establish that this is just a fantasy Amanda is having in class.

• Nancy Sullivan plays her first of many teacher roles. This is also the first appearance of the classroom set that will appear in numerous sketches (most notably the Mr. Gullible sketches).


Sketch: The Klutzes

A crazy family that is extremely clumsy tries to have a nice night at home.

• Another recurring sketch debut. I’ve never been a big fan of these characters, mostly because their catchphrase (“Not a problem!”) gets old extremely fast. It also might be because most of the humor revolves around pratfalls, in my opinion, one of the lamest joke premises ever.



Sketch: Cynthia Worthington

An attractive young lady (Amanda) has some disgusting habits, much to the disgust of her date (Drake).

• Speaking of characters I’ve never been a fan of...

• I LOATHE this character. I feel like she is just an excuse for Dan Schneider to insert his fetishes. Don’t believe me? Two of the things she does in this sketch are shave her armpits (ew) and sand a callous off of her foot (gross!). In fact, I think I’m going to keep a count of all the foot jokes in this show, because there’s a bunch. So that’s Foot Joke #1, out of God knows how much more.



Sketch: Mother Caboose

An extremely old lady (Amanda) reads a story about Katie Beth Sue, before she falls out of her chair.

• This sketch seems like it was set up to become recurring, but it never does. Good thing, too, because it was kind of bland.



Penelope Taynt

Penelope steals part of Amanda’s room, and shows Drake and Raquel her website.

• The first appearance of AmandaPlease.com, which was indeed a real website. In fact, it outlasted the show itself for a long time, until it was shut down in 2012.



Closing

Amanda names all 50 states backwards while punching an astronaut.

• This was amusing enough. And you’ve gotta love Penelope running across the stage at the end, as soon as Amanda leaves, mind you.


Final thoughts: A mixed episode. You can tell they were still experimenting with some things.