Kiwi Farms

The year 2000 wrapped up an iconic moment in television history — the season finale of the original All Thatseries. After six seasons of authentic improv, hilarious sketch comedy acts, and outright feel-good TV for children, the show was put on hiatus to be relaunched with a completely new cast. Leading up to the abbreviated sixth season was the show’s 100th episode, which was filmed live for the first time in the series’ history. With a musical performance from Lauryn Hill, celebrity guests including Melissa Joan Hart and Robert Ri’chard, and appearances from original cast members, the episode was a huge success, leading the show to win the Kids’ Choice Award for Favorite TV Show in 1999.

For six years, beginning in 1994, tuning into All That was a daily ritual for young children in America. Airing every Saturday evening at 8:30 p.m., the one-of-a-kind children’s TV show gave kids a reason to beg their parents for cable television. Opening with a catchy and hip tune by TLC while cast members jump in slow-motion across the screen, the half-hour program provided kids authentic improv, hilarious sketch comedy acts, and outright feel-good TV.

An uncommonly diverse cast for ’90s television instantly set the show apart before the opening credits concluded. Angelique Bates, Lori Beth Denberg, Katrina Johnson, Kel Mitchell, Alisa Reyes, Josh Server, and Keenan Thompson made up the original seven child comedians to pioneer the series, placing All That as the most racially and gender-inclusive show on Nickelodeon during its era. Bold, incomparable moves like performances from TLC, Brandy, Aaliyah, and Usher on a children’s television show, sketches where kids were superior to adults, and cast members dabbling in both feminine and masculine roles were just a few of All That’s unique aspects. At once, the show was a cultural reset, a blueprint, and a barrier-breaker.

“When I got off the plane and saw the cast was such a melting pot, it made me happy because I knew that there was going to be a little boy and girl out there that could relate to us,” says Alisa Reyes, who starred in the show’s first three seasons. Reyes, who is of Dominican, Irish, and Italian descent, says at the time, she didn’t pay much attention to the show’s extreme diversity in comparison to what else was on television because of her young age. “Because I was young, it was from a place of just pure abundance of being happy. It was important for me to be a part of something that I knew was going to be universal. And I knew the minute I was on set with everyone, we had something magical, and having it be diverse was just the cherry on top.”


Angelique Bates, who joined the show at the age of 12, was also unaware of the impact her role on All That would have. “I don’t believe I have even completely grasped the impact of what our show has had on pop culture,” Bates, the first African American girl on the show, tells me. “When you think of the ’90s, you think of All That. The ’90s was an amazing and carefree era for a lot of us. A lot of nostalgic memories that helped kids, in particular, escape into a different world for short moments in their life … we helped create.”

The concept of All That, as Bates notes, was a children’s version of In Living Colorand Saturday Night Live. Parents didn’t have to worry about their children picking up swear words or being exposed to mature content, yet the material still provoked thought and included opinionated and obscene commentary, which was rare for a children’s program. The show was hosted by kids, and the jokes were co-written by kids for kids, but the audience demographic was enjoyable for the entire family.

“I truly believe that we had a little bit more creative control than any kids in television … maybe ever,” Server reminiscences about his experience on the show. Server is the only original cast member of All That who remained through the first six seasons. In addition to himself, he played a variety of characters, including Detective Dan, Earboy, Jimmy Bond Agent 1/7, and Bernie Kibbitz. “They really gave us a lot more leeway to improvise.”

Server was cast at the age of 14 after going through several rounds of auditions for a part on the show. He describes the experience as unique and strenuous and notes that the process of creating your own characters and impressions during an audition was rare for a child actor at the time. “We had amazing kids that were really kind of doing comedy at a level that maybe nobody had seen before, certainly in the sketch world,” he says. “All That was just this creative environment that encouraged us to improvise and be ourselves. And being around Keenan Thompson and Lori Beth made you, as a performer, want to elevate your game. We were coming in every day and week forming friendships, but also just trying to make each other laugh in a fun, competitive environment and trying to get bits on the show.”

In 1997, Server starred alongside other cast members in Good Burger, a film spin-off based on an All That sketch of the same name. The comedy was just one of the many spin-offs originating from the show, including cult-classics like The Amanda Show, Kenan & Kel, and The Nick Cannon Show, which acted as blueprints for later comedy series like Drake & Josh, iCarly, Victorious, and Sam & Cat, proving the series to be an influential force in children’s and teen television.

While still a teen, Server claims he quickly began to recognize the All That franchise wasn’t like other shows. “I think we were very much aware that the show was different. It was diverse … and it needed to be at that time. That’s what I think set it apart as far as being part of the conversations all the time.” But it wasn’t only the multicultural background of All That’s casting that pushed people to talk, it was the authentic and accurate representation in children’s television. “Furthermore, the kids of All That were refreshingly normal-looking. Some were traditionally attractive, sure. Others were still growing into their features,” writer Jake Flanagin observed in a piece for The Atlantic. “Absent were the hyperactive, over-costumed Disney Channel tweens (Lizzie Maguire, et al.), or the pouty, brooding 26-year-olds playing 16 on The WB (like the weirdly grown-up high schoolers of Dawson’s Creek or Popular). The cast of All That reflected the nature of its audience: They were growing up — lanky limbs, zits, and all.”

Bates and Server aren’t the only cast members who saw longtime success from performing on the show. The series also helped launch the careers of Amanda Bynes, Nick Cannon, and Jamie Lynn Spears. Both Thompson and Taran Killam went on to land roles on SNL, and in June 2019, original cast members like Server, Mitchell, and Denberg made a return to the screen while Thompson signed on as an executive producer of the show’s reboot. Prioritizing most of the original framework, producers effectively mixed nostalgic moments with 21st-century pop culture to revive the series with a modern twist — a combination of old skits, new faces, and early features like musical guests, adult characters in supporting roles only, and the original All That theme song, set the reboot up for a diverse audience of ’90s kids and Gen-Z viewers.

Although the series has influenced the many spin-offs that later erupted from its popularity, there is yet to be another show that places real kids at the forefront of children’s television or showcases diverse talent free from stereotypical roles, characteristics, and personas. No other sitcom has yet to challenge and bend the narrative around traditional children’s television or accurately depict kids of its era the way All That did. And lastly, no series has merged multiple cultures in such an authentic form that is digestible for a varying audience. “I feel like everything around us was happening in real time, and it just all sort of worked. I don’t know if you could reengineer that again,” Server says.