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Kenan & Kel is an American sitcom that originally aired on Nickelodeon from 1996 to 2000. The show starred two friends played by 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 following seasons were filmed at the Nick On Sunset theater in Hollywood.
Premise
The show was set in Chicago, Illinois and centered around the antics of two mischievous teenagers, Kenan Rockmore (Thompson) and Kel Kimble (Mitchell). Kenan is a high school student with a job at the grocery store, while Kel is his clumsy, orange Soda loving 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. This is not always the case, as in the episode Car Trouble when Kel asks Kenan for a hint about the episode, prompting Kenan to give him the word "the" from which Kel is able to figure it out. 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, "Aw, here it goes!"
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 (played by Kenan Thompson): Kenan is the best friend of Kel, and usually the de-facto leader of the two. In many episodes he concocts some crazy scheme that involves the two getting into trouble in some way, often at the hands of Kel.
- Kel Kimble (played by Kel Mitchell): Kel is Kenan's best friend. He usually tags along with Kenan's schemes, and in most cases causes their downfall, although he means well. He tends to act dim-witted despite having a genius IQ. He also loves orange soda.
- Kyra Rockmore (played by Vanessa Baden): Kyra is Kenan's sister. She's often times critical of Kenan, although she has an enormous crush on Kel. She is a character in seasons 3-4 (1998-2000).
- Roger Rockmore (played by Ken Foree): Roger is the father of Kenan and Kyra. He tends to be cheap and short-tempered. His greatest annoyance is Kel, whom he is barely able to tolerate.
- Sheryl Rockmore (played by Teal Marchande): Sheryl is mother of Kenan and Kyra.
- Chris Potter (played by Dan Frischman): Chris is the owner of the Rigby's grocery store and Kenan's boss.
Episodes
- Main article: Kenan & Kel episode list
| Seasons | Episodes | Originally Aired | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season Premiere | Season Finale | |||
| 1 | 14 | July 15, 1996 | January 17, 1997 | |
| 2 | 13 | September 6, 1997 | January 3, 1998 | |
| 3 | 22 | October 10, 1998 | April 24, 1999 | |
| 4 | 13 | August 7, 1999 | May 3, 2000 | |
| Series finale film | Television film | July 22, 2000 | ||
Awards and Nominations
1999 - Directors Guild of America, USA nominated Howard Storm for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Children's Programs for the episode "Haven't Got Time for the Paint".
1999/2000 - Image Awards nominated Kel Mitchell and Kenan Thompson for Outstanding Performance in a Youth or Children's Series/Special
Reruns/Syndication
After not airing on Nickelodeon since 2003, there were plans to rerun it in 2007 but they decided not to reair it due to show changes with SpongeBob SquarePants.They also planned to rerun it in July 2009 but they decided to show Unfabulous instead. No episodes have aired in the United States since the 90s when the show was dropped from Nickelodeon.
Then in Jaunary 2010, BET, plan to air reruns of Kenan & Kel, every Saturday morning at 9:30am ET, and on weekdays at 3:00pm and 3:30pm ET/PT but lied and showed reruns of Drake and Josh. Then Centric, a sister network to BET, also aired reruns of Drake and Josh, along with another show Unfabulous every Monday through Saturday at 10:00am, 3:00pm, and 6:00pm ET/PT.
Kenan and Kel aired reruns in the United States on TeenNick's The 90s Are All That block up until Summer 2014, when it was moved to the daily schedule during the day. It was pulled from the air alongside Unfabulous on July 28, 2014.
In 2015, the show is now currently airing in reruns again with the new block "The Splat", which started on October 5, 2015.
External links
- The Kenan and Kel Wiki
- IMDb.com
- Kenan and Kel DVD
- Template:Tv.com
| SNICK | ||
|---|---|---|
| 1992-1994 | Clarissa Explains It All • Roundhouse • The Ren & Stimpy Show • Are You Afraid of the Dark? | |
| 1994-1996 | The Secret World of Alex Mack • All That • Space Cases • Kenan and Kel• The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo • KaBlam! | |
| 1997-1999 | Rugrats • The Journey of Allen Strange • Animorphs • Cousin Skeeter | |
| 1999-2002 | SpongeBob SquarePants • The Amanda Show • 100 Deeds for Eddie McDowd • The Nick Cannon Show • Taina | |