Kenan & Kel

Kenan & Kel is an American teen sitcom produced by Tollin/Robbins Productions that originally aired on Nickelodeon from July 1996 to July 2000. The show starred friends and then-All That cast members Kenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell.^[1] Sixty-Five episodes and a made-for-TV movie were produced over four seasons. The first two seasons were filmed at Nickelodeon Studios in Orlando, Florida, and the remaining two were filmed at the Nick On Sunset theater in Hollywood.

Premise

The show was set in Chicago, Illinois, and centered on the antics of two mischievous teenagers, Kenan Rockmore (Thompson) and Kel Kimble (Mitchell). Kenan is a high school student with a job at a local grocery store, while Kel is his clumsy, orange soda-loving best friend. Introduced to the show in 1998 were Sharla and Marc, both of whom had their own quirky characteristics.

Episodes of the series always opened and closed with Kenan and Kel breaking the fourth wall (while still in character) and interacting with the studio audience and each other while standing in front of a red curtain that is placed in front of the main set. A frequent running gag of the openings would be Kel never knowing what the night's episode would be about and Kenan refusing to tell him. The closings would frequently feature Kenan coming up with a new scheme – often asking Kel to get assorted, various items and meet him somewhere. Frazzled, Kel would exclaim his catchphrase, "Aww, here it goes!"

Theme song

The theme song entitled "Aw, Here It Goes" is performed by rapper Coolio. He is featured in the opening credits of the show along with Kenan & Kel. The lyrics describe the format of the show and give references to other famous duos such as Abbott & Costello, Penn & Teller, and former Los Angeles Lakers teammates Magic Johnson & Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (Magic & Kareem), as well as references to Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys.

Production

The series was created by Kim Bass (who also co-created the teen sitcom Sister, Sister). It was reminiscent of the classic comedic duo stylings of Laurel and Hardy, Martin and Lewis or Abbott and Costello (who were actually mentioned in the theme song), with Kenan being the straight man and Kel his comedic foil.^[2] The show was taped in front of a live-studio audience and ran from July 15, 1996, to May 3, 2000, totaling 62 episodes. One full-length TV movie was created, titled Two Heads Are Better Than None, which aired on July 22, 2000, thus ending the series serving as its finale.

Characters

• Kenan Rockmore (Kenan Thompson) - Kenan is Kel's best friend and often the "mastermind" behind the trouble created by the pair. Kenan is intelligent although he rarely does his schoolwork focusing instead on crafting various "get-rich-quick" schemes. While Kenan's plans often land him and Kel in some sort of trouble, he never seems to learn from this pattern. Although he doesn't always show it, Kenan has much love for his family, including Kel. While not as well known as Kel's catchphrase, Kenan often utters a frustrated "WHHYY?!" when Kel screws something up. Kenan would also squeal whenever trouble is coming. Kenan works at a local grocery store called Rigby's. Kenan rarely does anything resembling work at the store. At the end of every episode, Kenan frightens Kel by getting an idea for yet another scheme, naming several random objects for Kel to collect and a location for Kel to meet him. In the final episode "TBD Clip Show" Kel pulls back the curtain at the end to reveal that he has retrieved every single object Kenan asked for throughout the run of the series. Kenan's catchphrase has often been used in other Schneider shows, as well as the movie, Good Burger.

• Kel Kimble (Kel Mitchell) - Kel is Kenan's best friend who is extremely clumsy and somewhat stupid. He loves orange soda (which he professes by talking in the third person: "Who loves orange soda? Kelllll loves orange soda. Is it true? Mm-hmm! I do, I do, I do-ooh!" and never pays for the soda he drinks at Kenan's place of business, Rigby's). Since Kel's parents are rich, busy scientists, he often visits and stays in Kenan's home to keep him company. He might resist following Kenan's schemes at first, but ultimately he is included anyway and Kel somehow usually ruins them, although there are a few episodes that end on a high note. Kel is also an incredible painter, and is always wearing at least one colourful hat during each episode. He is scared of pancakes, airplanes, butterflies, brassieres, and monkeys. His catchphrase is "AWWWW, HERE IT GOES!" which he says at the beginning and end of each show. In the first episode "pilot" and throughout the first and second season, Kel is a tad smarter, noticeably more paronoid to Kenan's schemes, and a little more independent but then is changed to become more of a comic relief for the rest of the series. It was revealed in "I.Q Can Do Better" that Kel is actually a "genius" after scoring a 98 on his IQ test to Kenan's 90.

Episodes

Syndication

After having not aired on Nickelodeon since 2004, it began airing on its sister network The N on October 13, 2007. It eventually left the channel, then returned on July 6, 2009. After that, the show left The N again on August 2, 2009. Nickelodeon UK also aired the show until June 2007, and on June 2, 2008, the repeats returned. Kenan and Kel started airing on TeenNick on July 25, 2011, as part of its The '90s Are All That programming block.

Nickelodeon UK began airing reruns of the show on July 30, 2010, along with The Amanda Show. The Amanda Show and Kenan & Kel were eventually removed from the lineup, but it has returned for showings at 2:30pm on Nickelodeon UK on weekdays since November 1, 2010. It returned again on May 16, 2011 this time on Nicktoons every night at 9:30pm. Starting July 11, 2011, on Nicktoons it only shows weekends at 9:00pm. Starting July 2, 2011, it returned on Nickelodeon UK showing weekends at 9:30pm and 10:00pm. Reruns still air as part of Nick@Nite on Nickelodeon in Latin America. The show will return to Nickelodeon UK on weekends from January 7, 2012.

Nickelodeon Canada began airing the series on September 5, 2011.

iTunes

On July 28, 2011, the first season of Kenan & Kel was released on the iTunes digital music store.^[3] On November 29, 2011, the second season of Kenan & Kel was released on the iTunes digital music store.

References

External links

• Kenan & Kel at the Internet Movie Database
• Kenan & Kel at TV.com