| The Amanda Show | |
|---|---|
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| Genre | |
| Created by | Dan Schneider |
| Starring | |
| Theme music composer | Stewart Copeland |
| Composer | Richard Tuttobene |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| No. of seasons | 3 |
| No. of episodes | 46(list of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producers | |
| Producers |
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| Production locations |
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| Camera setup | Videotape;Multi-camera |
| Running time | 23 minutes |
| Production companies | |
| Original release | |
| Network | Nickelodeon |
| Release | October 16, 1999 (1999-10-16) – September 21, 2002 (2002-09-21) |
| Related | |
The Amanda Show is an Americansketch comedy andvariety show television series created byDan Schneider and starringAmanda Bynes that aired onNickelodeon from October 16, 1999, to September 21, 2002. Aspin-off ofAll That, another Nickelodeon variety show featuring Bynes,The Amanda Show's cast members includeDrake Bell,Nancy Sullivan,John Kassir,Raquel Lee, andJosh Peck. Writers for the show include Christy Stratton, Jenny Kilgen, Dan Schneider, John Hoberg,Steven Molaro, and Andrew Hill Newman.
The Amanda Show was abruptly canceled after the third season, which left anunresolved plot line in the recurring sketch "Moody's Point".[1] Bynes pursued roles in Schneider's feature filmBig Fat Liar and the Schneider-created television seriesWhat I Like About You forThe WB.[2] Schneider would later cast series regulars Bell, Peck, and Sullivan in his follow-up Nickelodeon series,Drake & Josh.[1]
Decades after the series' end, allegations by cast and crew members have detailed salary discrimination,sexism, inappropriate behavior, andsexual abuse at Nickelodeon during the show's run that were not previously revealed publicly.The Amanda Show is one of several series highlighted in these accusations, which are summarized in the 2024 documentaryQuiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV.
The Amanda Show is a sketch comedy television program set in a universe in which it is broadcast as a popular television comedy (a show-within-a-show). Recurring sketches include "Judge Trudy", a spoof of the courtroom realityJudge Judy; "So You Want to Win Five Dollars?", a spoof of theABC game showWho Wants to Be a Millionaire?; "Moody's Point", a spoof of the teen dramaDawson's Creek; and "Blockblister", a spoof of the now-defunct video rental storeBlockbuster. The show also featured Bynes playing her own superfan, a character called Penelope Taynt.
| Season | Episodes | Originally released | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First released | Last released | |||
| 1 | 13 | October 16, 1999 (1999-10-16) | February 19, 2000 (2000-02-19) | |
| 2 | 17 | July 15, 2000 (2000-07-15) | April 7, 2001 (2001-04-07) | |
| 3 | 10 | January 19, 2002 (2002-01-19) | September 21, 2002 (2002-09-21) | |
| The Best of... | 6 | March 23, 2002 (2002-03-23) | May 18, 2002 (2002-05-18) | |
At age 10, Amanda Bynes was performingstand-up comedy in Hollywood at theLaugh Factory when Nickelodeon's talent scouts, including Dan Schneider, took notice and offered her a role on the network's live-action variety seriesAll That.[3] Finding success on the series, Bynes appeared in an array of guest roles in film and television as well as a recurring panelist role on Nickelodeon game showFigure It Out.[3] Nickelodeon presidentAlbie Hecht noted Bynes' "amazing star quality" and called her "a littleCarol Burnett."[3]
On October 16, 1999,The Amanda Show, anAll Thatspin-off created by series producerDan Schneider,[4] premiered in the Saturday eveningprime time slot on Nickelodeon, which released AmandaPlease.com, a tie-in website, around the same time.[3] The series was filmed in front of alive studio audience atNickelodeon on Sunset inHollywood, California. Beginning with the second season,John Kassir andRaquel Lee left the series, andJosh Peck was added as a series regular.
After three seasons, the series run concluded on September 21, 2002. Regarding her departure from Nickelodeon in 2002, Bynes stated, "I knew I didn't want to be a Nickelodeon kid when I was 30. I was having fun but at 15, you don't want to be doing what you did when you were 12."[2] Bynes would go on to star in Schneider'sWhat I Like About You forThe WB, and Bell and Peck would co-star in Nickelodeon'sDrake & Josh, also created by Schneider.
In 2024, Drake Bell revealed publicly that he had been sexually abused by dialogue coachBrian Peck[a] in 2001, after the production ofThe Amanda Show when Bell was 15 years old.[5] Peck had been arrested in 2003 and sentenced to 16 months in prison and being required to register as a sex offender in 2004, but the identity of the minor victim had not previously been made public.[5] Bell's testimony coincided with the lead-up toQuiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV, anInvestigation Discovery documentary detailing allegations of abuse from people who worked on Nickelodeon's television productions from the 1990s to the 2000s, specifically series involving Dan Schneider.[5]
Christy Stratton and Jenny Kilgen, two writers who primarily worked during the series' first season, presented further allegations that Schneider's writers' room was rife with inappropriate language and behavior to the point that "Dan was showing pornography on his computer screen," according to Kilgen. The two were allegedly required to split a single salary during their time at Nickelodeon.[6] Agender discrimination andhostile workplace lawsuit filed in 2000 alleged that Schneider inappropriately requested massages from the crew, but it was settled out of court.[5] These allegations were reported publicly as early as 2022, following the release ofiCarly starJennette McCurdy's bookI'm Glad My Mom Died.[7]
In an interview video uploaded on March 19, 2024, one day after the conclusion ofQuiet on Set, Schneider apologized for some of the claims, especially those for his demeanor at the time, stating, "It was wrong. It was wrong that I ever put anyone in that position. It was wrong to do. I'd never do it today. I'm embarrassed that I did it then. I apologize to anybody that I ever put in that situation". He denied having a role in the writers’ salaries, stating that it was a common practice for writers to share salaries.[8] Regarding Bell's experience, Schneider, who denied involvement in the network's decision to hire Peck, stated, "When Drake and I talked and he told me about what happened, I was more devastated by that than anything that ever happened to me in my career thus far", and provided support for Bell, calling the ordeal the “darkest part of my career”.[9]
Following theQuiet on Set revelations, Bell reported on social media that hisAmanda Show andDrake & Josh co-star Josh Peck had "reached out to talk with me and help me work through this. And has been really, really great."[10]
The Amanda Show premiered on Nickelodeon's 8:30 PM segment ofSNICK on October 16, 1999,[11] and new episodes aired until September 21, 2002. Nickelodeon carried reruns ofThe Amanda Show during itsTEENick block until September 5, 2007. On October 13, 2007, reruns started airing as part of the "TEENick on The N" block onThe N. Reruns were pulled in March 2008 before airing again from April 4, 2009, to August 3, 2009. The series' original TV rating wasTV-Y7, but was changed toTV-G, like all of the other shows that aired on the former TEENick block on Nickelodeon.
On July 11, 2011, the BritishNicktoons channel began airing the series; it showed weekdays at 9:00 p.m. Some episodes missing from broadcast included three episodes (episodes 3, 8, 11 and 12) from Season 1, three Season 2 episodes (episodes 3, 7 and 14), and four episodes from Season 3 (episodes 1, 2, 6 and 10). Reasons for these episodes not being shown are unknown.
Nickelodeon Canada began airing the series on September 5, 2011, with the exception of Season 1 episodes 8 and 12 (which featured musical guests), and Season 3 episode 11. The series was removed from the schedule on June 3, 2013.
Reruns ofThe Amanda Show started airing onTeenNick on October 11, 2011. Although it was originally announced as part of TeenNick's 1990s blockThe '90s Are All That,[12] the series instead aired as a standalone series during the daytime. The show would later return on September 17, 2012, and aired in two-hour blocks, until being removed again on March 17, 2013. The series later premiered on The Splat (later NickSplat and NickRewind) on June 10, 2016, and on August 27, 2017, as part of aSNICK 25th anniversary marathon, before briefly returning again in 2020.
In April 2025, the show began airing on the free streaming servicePluto TV, airing during late night hours on the Nickelodeon 90's Kids 2 channel.
Three volumes ofThe Amanda Show were released on VHS and DVD beginning on October 5, 2004. FourBest Of volumes released exclusively oniTunes from 2008 to 2013. Later manufacture-on-demand releases were made available throughAmazon beginning on March 12, 2012. Two releases,Volume 4: Penelope's Picks andVolume 5: Trudy's Duties, were canceled after initially being scheduled to release on July 12, 2005, and September 20, 2005, respectively.[13]
As of March 2021, the show is available to stream onParamount+, without the four episodes excluded on DVD (1, 5, 8, and 12).[14]
| Title | Released | Format | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amanda, Please! | October 5, 2004[15] | VHS and DVD | Includes episodes 214 and 217. DVD exclusives are episodes 222 and 226. |
| The Girls' Room | October 5, 2004[15] | VHS and DVD | Includes episodes 216 and 219. DVD exclusives are episodes 224 and 228. |
| Totally Amanda | February 22, 2005[13] | VHS and DVD | Includes episodes 215 and 220. DVD exclusives are episodes 223 and 225. |
| The Best of Volume 1 | July 29, 2008 | iTunes | Includes episodes 2, 3, 10, 11 and 13. |
| The Best of Volume 2 | June 22, 2009 | iTunes | Includes episodes 210, 216, 217, 219 and 220. |
| The Best of Volume 3 | May 16, 2011 | iTunes | Includes episodes 222, 223, 224, 225 and 226. |
| The Best of Volume 4 | January 8, 2013 | iTunes | Includes episodes 227, 228, 229, 230 and 231. |
| The Best of Season One | March 13, 2012[16] | DVD[b] | Includes episodes 2–4, 6, 7, 9–11, and 13. |
| Season Two | March 13, 2012[17] September 15, 2020 (re-release)[18] | DVD[b] | Includes episodes 14–30 (the entire season two). |
| Season Three | March 13, 2012[19] | DVD[b] | Includes episodes 31–40 (the entire season three). |
| The Best of The Amanda Show | March 13, 2012[20] | DVD[b] | Includes the six best-of episodes. |
The Amanda Show has been met with mostly positive reviews since its premiere. Within weeks of its debut, AmandaPlease.com, the series' official website, had attracted 150,000 hits and received 16,000 emails.[3] The series became the highest-rated live-action program on Nickelodeon during its run, and its primetime slot in Nickelodeon'sSNICK block, which was shared with100 Deeds for Eddie McDowd, further boosted its popularity.[21] Bynes commented on her stardom in a 2000 interview, stating, "It feels like it's unreal.[...] I love doing what I'm doing. And for kids to watch me and come up to me and say they want to be like me, it's a really big honor."[22]
Dan Schneider, creator and producer of the series, spoke highly of Bynes' talent onAll That as it progressed to the star's spin-off series, stating, "You have to feed kids the material; you do have to invent it for them. A lot of kids can regurgitate lines -- the Olsen twins when they first started onFull House.[23] Schneider further stated, "To find a kid who can play the daughter or son on a sitcom is tough, but to find a kid who can do whatDana Carvey andEddie Murphy do, you (have to) look at 2,000 before you find her. I've never seen anything like Amanda."[23]
In a review from theFort Worth Star-Telegram, the series was described as "constant beating-up, peeing, zits, flatulenct, etc. Much of the time, it didn't even make sense."[24]
Bynes was a breakout star from working onThe Amanda Show and experienced high commercial success since, starring in a variety of projects such asShe's the Man (2006),Hairspray (2007), andEasy A (2010), before taking a hiatus from entertainment to focus on her mental health amid struggles with drugs and alcohol.
