Kenan & Kel

Show name	Kenan & Kel
Caption	The Kenan & Kel opening title screen.
Format	Teen sitcom
Runtime	24 minutes (approx.)
Camera	Videotape; Multi-camera
Creator	Kim Bass
Starring	Kenan ThompsonKel MitchellKen ForeeVanessa BadenTeal MarchandeDan Frischman
Executive producer	Mike TollinBrian RobbinsKevin KopelowHeath Seifert(entire run)Dan Schneider(seasons 1-2)
Company	Tollin/Robbins Productions
Theme music composer	Victor Concepcion
Opentheme	"Aw, Here It Goes", performed by Coolio
Location	Nickelodeon Studios, Orlando, Florida (seasons 1-2)Nickelodeon On Sunset, Hollywood, California(seasons 3-4)
Country	United States
Language	English
Company	Tollin/Robbins Productions
Network	Nickelodeon
First aired	July 15, 1996
Last aired	July 22, 2000
Num seasons	4
Num episodes	62 (including one TV movie)
List episodes	List of Kenan & Kel episodes
Picture format	SD: 480i/576i
Status	Ended
Related	All That (1994-2005)

Kenan & Kel is an American sitcom produced by Tollin/Robbins Productions that originally aired on Nickelodeon from 1996 to 2000. The show starred friends and former All That cast members Kenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell. Sixty-two 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 comedic duos such as Abbott & Costello and Penn & Teller.

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's lyrics), with Kenan being the straight man and Kel his comedic foil; this was referenced in the show's theme. It 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 July 22, 2000, thus ending the series.

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 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 crazy. 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, I do-ooh!" and never pays for the soda he drinks at Kenan's place of business, Rigby's). Kel is also often seen wearing various hats. 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 a hat during the course of the series. He is scared of pancakes, Airplanes, butterflies, brassieres, waffles and monkeys. His catchphrase is "AWWWW, HERE IT GOES!" which he says at the beginning and end of each show.

Roger Rockmore (Ken Foree) - Roger is Kenan and Kyra's father. He works at the local airport as an air traffic controller, and is the only Rockmore who doesn't like Kel. This is mostly due to the fact that Kel often makes a sarcastic remark about Roger's baldness and tends to injure him and damage the Rockmore house during his visits. He is also short-tempered, especially with Kenan and Kel. He met his wife Sheryl in college, and she used to call him "snugglebutt".

Sheryl Rockmore (Teal Marchande) - Sheryl is Kenan and Kyra's mother. Sheryl is kind and always seems to know what schemes Kenan and Kel are up to. She is also much more patient with Kel than her husband. Sheryl is much more of a listener than a punisher; she'd rather discuss problems with Kenan than punish him, though she has demonstrated her anger in several episodes.

Kyra Rockmore (Vanessa Baden) - Kyra is Kenan's younger sister. Kyra's biggest mission is telling on her brother Kenan, but she has devoted herself to Kel, having a major crush on him. Kel being aware of Kyra's crush on him, tries to get far away as possible from her. But this helps Kenan, so Kel convinces her to help them. Kyra is often mysteriously absent during the series run. Only occasional explanations are given such as "Krya is staying with your grandmother". For most of seasons three and four, Kyra did not appear, even in scenes showing the whole family; she did, however, appear in the series' finale film. She often interrupts Kenan by saying "I was talking to Kel!"

Chris Potter (Dan Frischman) - Chris is Kenan's boss and the owner of the local grocery store, Rigby's. He lives with his mom (or the other way around) and his personal life usually revolves around her as she's revealed to be an extremely unhealthy woman. He has frequent nightmares of being chased by a giant rabbit, as well as a phobia of sandwiches. Chris is sometimes caught in the middle of some of Kenan's schemes and may sometimes get hurt. One of his catchphrases is "I have a radio in my car!" Chris often uses words that neither Kenan, nor Kel can understand.

Episodes

Syndication

After not airing on Nickelodeon since 2003, 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. No episodes have aired in the United States since August 6, 2009 when the show was dropped from The N.

It currently airs on Magic Kids

Kenan & Kel had also begun reruns on Nickelodeon UK since July 30, 2010 along with The Amanda Show. The Amanda Show and Kenan & Kel were eventually removed from the lineup, but Kenan & Kel returned for showings 2:30 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. Reruns still air as part of Nick@Nite on Nickelodeon in Latin America.

Kenan & Kel will return to TeenNick in October 2011 as part of its upcoming The 90s are All That block.

Appearances in other shows

The pair had a cameo, as their characters, in "Sabrina's Choice", an episode of another Nickelodeon sitcom Sabrina, The Teenage Witch. In the episode, Sabrina asks a crystal ball, to test it, what would happen if "Kenan and Kel won the lottery".

References

External links

Category:1990s American television series Category:2000s American television series Category:1990s Nickelodeon shows Category:1996 television series debuts Category:2000 American television series endings Category:2000s Nickelodeon shows Category:All That Category:American children's comedy series Category:American television sitcoms Category:Black sitcoms Category:English-language television series Category:Fictional duos Category:Teen sitcoms Category:Television shows set in Chicago, Illinois