All That

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Image:Allthatfan.png All That is a live-action comedy-variety show on Nickelodeon, that featured sketches in a manner somewhat reminiscent of Saturday Night Live and an earlier Nick show You Can't Do That on Television. The show had guest actors and musical performances each episode. The theme song for All That was performed by TLC.

The show was first aired on April 16, 1994 featuring mainly young adults, but around the turn of the millennium (more specificially, the 2001-2002 television season) it made a big switch to feature only tweens/young adolescents.

Some of the former cast members got their own spin-offs including Kenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell (Kenan & Kel), Amanda Bynes (The Amanda Show), Nick Cannon (The Nick Cannon Show), and Jamie Lynn Spears (Zoey 101). In 1997, Kenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell starred in a big screen version of the popular sketch Good Burger. Also, Kenan Thompson went on to work on Saturday Night Live, where he (like on All That) has provided his comedic personality and Bill Cosby impersonation.

Contents

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Production process

The show originally taped at Nickelodeon Studios at Universal Studios Florida in Orlando before moving to the Nickelodeon on Sunset studio in Los Angeles.

Typically, the cast would randomly film a bunch of different sketches in a day's work. Eventually, the production staff edited them together into full, individual episodes.

Kevin Kopelow and Dan Schneider ran All That together in the first four seasons. Kopelow then ran the show with the help of Heath Steffet in Seasons 5-6. And Schneider, who briefly left All That to work on The Amanda Show, produced the show by himself from Season 7 onward. Schneider was supposedly absent from the 100th episode special while and Kopelow was supposedly absent from the 10th anniversery special.

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The Pilot Episode

Image:I37897777 99207.jpg All That was created by Mike Tollin, Brian Robbins, and Dan Schneider. Robbins and Schneider both starred on ABC's Head of the Class during the 1980s. All That was the first production that Robbins and Schneider had for Nickelodeon. After the replacement of My Brother and Me (which only lasted for 13 episodes and was replaced by Roundhouse) on their 8:30 p.m. Saturday night time slot, Nickelodeon decided they wanted another sketch-comedy series (to succeed You Can't Do That On Television and the aforementioned Roundhouse) on their schedule (hence, All That was born).

The pilot episode of All That, which featured musical guest TLC performing the hit song "What About Your Friends", and the first appearances of Baggin' Saggin' Barry, Earboy, Mavis & Clavis, Miss Fingerly among others first aired as a Nickelodeon special (or sneak preview) on April 16, 1994. It would debut as a weekly series on December 24, 1994. The official series debut featured (besides musical guest Da Brat performing "Fa All Y'all") the first appearances of Randy & Mandy, Vital Information, and Ed from Good Burger. The pilot episode was not reaired on Nickelodeon until the end of the first season and aired as a "lost episode."

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Original Cast

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First Set of New Faces

Seasons 1-3 (and to a much lesser extent, Seasons 2-5 since the show probably didn't really find its footing yet in Season 1) are often considered the "peak years" of All That. Seasons 4-6 are still a part of the "old seasons" but those seasons had a different style than the first three seasons. In the third season, Amanda Bynes, who was the youngest cast member at the time, joined the show to replace the departing Anqelique Bates (who claimed that she left the show because her contract ran out and "needed to pass the torch"). Although Bynes would go on to become arguably the most successful All That cast member ever, some viewers weren't fond of her initial arrival. Detractors of Bynes believe that she significantly wrecked the great chemistry between the original cast. Bynes also in a sense, took over the rapidly growing Katrina Johnson's spot as the token "cute little girl" on the show. Incidentally, about a year after Bynes' arrival, Katrina Johnson and Alisa Reyes left the show.

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Season 4 Cast Members

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Soundtrack

Image:All That 08856118352.jpg On November 26, 1996, an official soundtrack for All That was released. The soundtrack featured the likes of Aaliyah, Faith Evans, TLC, Soul For Real, Coolio, Immature, Brandy, Naughty By Nature, and Mokenstef.

In the first five seasons, All That exclusively used urban contemporary music (i.e. hip-hop and R & B), but in later seasons, All That aimed for more mainstream, pop and/or modern rock oriented, "flavor of the month" acts (thus, lessening the show's original edge). Some fans believe that the shifting taste in music coincided with end of the so-called "golden age" of All That (after Season 6).

The earlier episodes were considerably more diversified in terms of the ethnic backgrounds of cast members. In return, the music and overall vibe usually had a more urban-influenced feel to it (as opposed to a pop feel). Some believe that when All That relaunched in Season 7, the show featured primarily Middle American, suburban whites (Bryan Herne and Giovonnie Samuels were the only African American cast members at the start of the relaunch).

An urban legend maintains that Aaliyah, who tragically died in a plane crash at the age of 22 in August 2001, was scheduled to be a musical guest in the seventh season of All That. This would've made Aaliyah one of only a handful of artists to be a musical guest on both the old and new eras of All That. The urban legend even went as far as to say that just prior to her death, Aaliyah's presumed performance was recorded but ultimately replaced by a different musical guest.[1][2]

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The "100th Episode"

Image:22332864.JPG On March 13, 1999, All That celebrated its "100th episode" (even though in reality, it was the 85th episode to be produced) with a live, one hour special. Reportedly, they did it early because it would not conflict with the dates for the ALL THAT MUSIC AND MORE FESTIVAL. The actual 100th episode came in the fifth episode of the sixth season with Hoku as the musical guest.

The special was essentially a precursor or companion piece to the 10th Anniversary Reunion Special. Besides a slate of brand new sketches (along with a backstage tour), the live special also featured clips from memorable characters like Randy & Mandy, Coach Kreeton, the Loud Librarian, Leroy & Fuzz, Miss Pidlin, Detective Dan, and Superdude.

Special guest stars on the 100th episode special included Melissa Joan Hart, who had starred on Nick's Clarissa Explains It All, Larisa Oleynik, who starred on Nick's The Secret World of Alex Mack, and musical guests Lauryn Hill, who performed "Doo-Wop (That Thing)" and Busta Rhymes, who performed "Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Can See" and "Gimme Some Mo'." Britney Spears appeared in a taped segment apologizing to viewers for her knee injury that prevented her from performing and led to her being replaced by Hill.

Original cast members (all of whom had since left All That) Angelique Bates, Katrina Johnson, Alisa Reyes, and Lori Beth Denberg appeared on the episode. Denberg even reprised her Vital Information role when her successor Danny Tamberelli was unavailable. The running gag of the entire special was Tamberelli's struggle to make it to the special in time.

To date, this was the only time that All That has produced a live episode. Incidentally, Kenan Thompson would eventually become a cast member on Saturday Night Live. Nickelodeon has subsequently cut the special down to 30 minutes for rebroadcasts.

Around the same period that Lori Beth Denberg was leaving All That to do The Steve Harvey Show, All That quickly tried to compensate. In 1997, All That recruited Tricia Dixon, Josh LaBove, and Zachary McLemore (who came in the following year). Unfortunately, all three of these cast members had an extremely unremarkable, and very brief run. These three are generally regarded as the most obscure All That regular performers ever.

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Season 5 Cast Members

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Hiatus Period and Relaunch

Image:I50616722 83876.jpg After ten episodes of the sixth season, All That went on a production hiatus. In its place, came a string of "Best of..." compilation episodes for the rest of the season. What happened was that for whatever the reasons, several writers and producers (e.g. Brian Robbins and Mike Tollin), who apparently had originally desired to end it after Season 6, left the show. In addition, a few of the cast members (namely Amanda Bynes, Josh Server, Danny Tamberelli, and Christy Knowings) had reportedly wanted to leave for some time and move on to new things.

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Season 6 Cast Members

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List of "Best of..." Episodes:

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The "Golden Age" of All That Ends

The conclusion of the Best of... episodes in the eyes of many, marked the end of an era. Fans had already seen the writing on the wall after popular cast members like Lori Beth Denberg and subsequently, Kenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell left. Many consider Kenan and Kel to be the first true break-out stars of All That. They were perhaps also akin to the various classic duos from its grown-up counterpart, Saturday Night Live (namely, Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi, Eddie Murphy and Joe Piscopo, Mike Myers and Dana Carvey, and Chris Farley and David Spade respectively). One of the most memorable moments in All That history came on the March 31, 1997 episode when Chris Farley (in what turned out to be one of his final television appearances), who played "The Chicago Ketchup Chef", participated in a "Cooking with Randy" sketch with Kenan Thompson.

It has also been suggested that the vastly maturing young stars' (especially Amanda Bynes) hearts were no longer fully into performing. By the time the sixth season rolled around, Bynes was so busy working on another show for Nick (The Amanda Show), that she only made very sporadic appearances (thus, leaving the load to fellow female cast member Christy Knowings) in the already abbreviated season. Also leaving at the end of Season 6 were writer/producer Kevin Kopelow, who was best known for his on-camera role as Kevin the stage manager, and announcer Soup. Soup was the one who said at the beginning of the opening credits "Fresh out the box! Stop, look, and watch! Ready yet? Get set! It's all that!" At the end of the day, Josh Server, who was the only remaining original cast member in the sixth season, became the longest serving All That cast member not counting Kevin Kopelow.

By the time the sixth season for All That had begun, there were many other new shows starting (most of them now defunct) and Nick executives wanted to make room for the programs in the schedule. Rumor has it that Nick briefly cancelled All That before having a last minute change of heart.

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A New Era of All That Begins

Nick then paid Dan Schneider (the only original producer who agreed to stay with the show) a large sum of money to overhaul and relaunch All That. In the meantime, All That skipped the 2000-2001 television season. During this period, a search was made to find a completely new cast in time for the seventh season. Because of this, many fans of All That often consider Seasons 1-6 and Seasons 7 onward to be almost completely separate entities. The dramatic changing of the guard on All That likely parallels the first five seasons of Saturday Night Live (1975-1980) transition itself into the now much detested period under Jean Doumanian.

The first episode of the "new" All That (with special guests Frankie Muniz and Aaron Carter) was the 121st overall—counting the "Best of..." episodes—airing on January 19, 2002. In this particular episode, Muniz is seen running around the streets grabbing random people to be the new cast members. Image:ATCast1b.jpg

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Season 7 Cast Members

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Weekly "Special Guest Stars"

In conjuction with the seventh (and eighth to some extent) season, All That brought in weekly special guest stars (perhaps as a way to help take some of the heat and burden off of the new cast) who helped open the show and participated in some of the sketches. Among them (in no particular order) were:

Also appearing during this period were Kenan Thompson and Amanda Bynes, who were brought in likely to help bridge the gap between the golden age of All That and the on-going relaunch.

Some viewers didn't appreciate the intensified emphasis on special guest stars since All That (unlike the 90 minute long Saturday Night Live or even the 60 minute long MADtv) was only a 30 minute program (including commercials). Some feared that the guest stars (with the exception of perhaps the likes of Kenan Thompson and Amanda Bynes) were seriously overshadowing the young cast or even hampering the proceedings.

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"Old" All That versus "New" All That

Image:Tv all that jamie lynn spears.jpg Fans generally feel that the latter episodes of All That (i.e. beginning in Season 7 and onward) are greatly inferior in quality to most of the earlier seasons and/or episodes.

A theory is that the golden age of All That was more edgy, risqué, cohesive, pure, natural, innovative, and/or inspired with its humor, while the later episodes were often too juvenile, forced, clichéd, crude, boring, contrived, dependent on special effects and gross-out comedy for gags, and/or even derivative of older, better executed All That sketches. Another theory has been fronted that the declining quality of All That was merely due to the long-time audience's maturing comedic tastes. In addition, there's a general feeling that the newer (and immature according to some) cast members weren't as well tuned in the art of sketch comedy and characterization.

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Minor Differences

Here are some elements from the first six seasons that didn't immediately transfer into the relaunch:

  • The Big Ear of Corn
  • The cast introducing musical guests by using the phrase "Lets give a round of a sound..."
  • The phrase "Fresh out of the box..." being used at the start of the opening credits
  • A portion of TLC's All That theme being played at the beginning of the cold opens
  • Soup as the announcer
  • Vital Information
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Casting Controversy

Many fans were also uncomfortable with the idea of having Jamie Lynn Spears, who was previously better known for being the younger sister of pop star Britney Spears, become a cast member. Reportedly, Jamie Lynn got the job after publicly stating her desire to be on All That. This gave some people the suspicion that she got the part largely through the benefits of nepotism. The controversial casting of Jamie Lynn Spears sharply contrasted the likes of Christina Kirkman, who legitimently earned a shot on All That by winning the R U All That: The Search for the Funniest Kid in America contest. Ryan Coleman, who was the runner-up soon also got a part on the show (midway into Season 9) once the producers realized that they needed a replacement for Bryan Hearne, who left at the end of Season 8.

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The Return of Good Burger

In a decidingly unpopular (and arguably desperate) move in the eyes of many older All That fans, the writers in the ninth season decided to revive the now seemingly legendary Good Burger sketch. The main difference here was that instead of Kel Mitchell playing the part of dimwitted, "surfer dude" fast food cashier Ed, the role was past down to young Ryan Coleman. The revived sketch (one of which featured Ryan Coleman's "Ed" challenging special guest star Britney Spears to a dance-off) in all likelihood, severely alienated many hardcore All That fans, who in return, decided to use it as prime example of their frustrations with the new All That. It was also arguably, the lowest point during the ten year history of the program.

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The On-Air Dare

One trademark to come from the new cast was the weekly On Air Dare segments. The On-Air Dare segments were not a part of the official All That episodes. They instead, served as bumpers during Nickelodeon's SNICK Saturday night block. The premise of the On-Air Dare was that three cast members (each placed in a glass cylinder) would be forced to play a game of chance. The loser, whose name would be selected via a specially designed slot machine, would then be forced to perform a disgusting activity (a la Fear Factor).

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Know Your Stars

Another, more memorable trademark of the new All That was the recurring "Know Your Stars" segment. In the segment Brian Peck, who could also be seen on-camera as Pickle Boy (and also served as All That's dialogue coach), was the unseen voice who tried to annoy and insult a specific cast member (who is always seated) with outrageously untrue facts. On some occasions, the voice would target special guests such as Britney Spears or Drake Bell (while playing his "Totally Kyle" character from The Amanda Show). The "Know Your Stars" sketch was one of the high points of the "new" All That.

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The 10th Anniversary

Image:Normal ClassPhoto5.jpg In 2005, Nickelodeon celebrated the 10th anniversary of All That debuting by airing "classic episodes" in the week leading up to a "reunion special" hosted by Frankie Muniz on April 23.

Even though popular past cast members like Kel Mitchell, Kenan Thompson, Josh Server, and Danny Tamberelli reprised some of their most memorable characters on the special, many older fans were disappointed that past cast members like Katrina Johnson, Alisa Reyes, Mark Saul, Angelique Bates, and Leon Frierson were in attendance but had no speaking parts. In addition, Nick Cannon, who started off as a stand-up to warm up the audience of All That before becoming a cast member, appeared on the special but only via satellite. Television promos for the special said or hinted that Amanda Bynes (arguably the most recognizable cast member in All That history besides Kenan and Kel) was going to be there only to prove to be a no show (Bynes was busy filming a movie at the time); Bynes only appeared via archive footage of her playing her Ask Ashley character.

Image:I36259603 49096.jpg The reunion special was criticized by some for giving too much airtime to the current (and supposedly vastly inferior) cast. In addition, many of the sketches from the older episodes were ruined by the fact that the new season cast members and characters were present in them. Older viewers were also outraged that a sketch from the new cast (i.e. The Unreal World) was voted the funniest moment in All That history. The Unreal World sketch went up against the likes of such 1990s sketches as Kenan Thompson's Ishboo character and a classic Good Burger sketch.

Image:Allthat2005.jpg In conjunction to the start of the tenth season, a rumor began floating around that original cast members Lori Beth Denberg and Josh Server would return in the form of writers. This rumor would prove to be false by the time of the tenth season premiere on April 30.

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The Return of Vital Information

After a three season hiatus, All That decided to bring back the Vital Information segment with BET's Coming to the Stage winner Lil' JJ succeeding Lori Beth Denberg and Danny Tamberelli respectively. Unfortunately, Lil' JJ quickly came under fire by many fans, who felt that his decidingly shrill and confrontational demeanor wasn't calm or serious enough for Vital Information (especially in stark contrast to Lori Beth Denberg's deadpan delivery).

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Dark Humor

In the first few episodes of the tenth season, All That seemingly started to rely more on dark humor as opposed to gross-out comedy (or even the considerably more absurdist and irreverent humor from the golden age episodes). A perfect example was a recurring sketch about the alien restaunteurs, the Zortogs (which has been sighted by many as a rehash of the Coneheads sketch on Saturday Night Live). The viewers were always led to believe that the Zortogs kill their customers and then serve them as entres. The supposed sudden case of dark humor on All That was kind of weird and off-putting to some.

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Season 10 Cast Members

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Cancellation Rumors

Although Nickelodeon hadn't confirmed anything as of September 2005, rumors had started floating about the impending cancellation of All That.[3] After Nickelodeon aired only a handful of episodes from Season 10 dating back to April 2005, the rest of the season had been scheduled to begin airing in October 2005.

According to Lisa Foiles on her official Yahoo! group[4] the rumors of the impending cancellation of All That were in fact, true. This is the message posted on Lisa's club by Lisa Foiles (as of September 5, 2005):

I know there's been a lot of speculating on the subject of All That
being cancelled, and I thought I'd be the one to tell you that it's
true. All That has finally come to an end. I found out a few weeks
ago, but didn't know if I should tell anyone.
I guess if ten years is long anough for "Friends", it's long enough
for us, too! I probably would have moved on anyway, even if it didn't
get cancelled. I was getting a little too old for the show and I
believe that it should always have a cast of younger kids, no older
than 18.
Where I will go from here, I'm not sure, but I have a few things in
the works. All I ask is that you guys keep me and the other cast
members in your prayers, that we can step into bigger and better
things! :)
So, I guess that's....All That!!!
Luv Alwayz~ Lisa

Finally, in January 2006, Nickelodeon and creator/producer of the show Dan Schneider officially decided to cancel All That after ten seasons. According to Schneider, Nickelodeon said the that show was cancelled because of the "lack of writing."

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Reaction

The news of All That's cancellation was mostly met with indifference. Viewers who were never fans of the Seasons 7-10 version of All That pretty much welcomed the cancellation. So-called "golden age only" fans feel that All That really ended after Season 6. Whereas, they feel that the latter episodes were essentially a half-baked, poorly constructed attempt at continuing the franchise. Basically, some believe that after ten seasons, All That has pretty much run its course.

Defenders of the newer episodes felt that it was rather unfair to some of the younger cast members (i.e. Ryan Coleman, Christina Kirkman, Kianna Underwood, and Denzel Whitaker), whom they feel didn't get enough of chance to shine. In addition, some gave praise to the efforts and overall enthusiasm of the newer cast members (particularly, Lisa Foiles) despite the considerable level of adversity (or arguable lack of strong material). As a matter of fact, some viewers aren't willing to single out the post-Season 6 cast members. There are those who believe that the real "decline" of All That began around Seasons 4-5 (1998-1999).[5] Seasons 4-5 in some eyes, was not pure (where as Seasons 1-3 had an undescribable freshness to it) due to the lack of the departed cast members (Lori Beth Denberg, Katrina Johnson, Alisa Reyes, and to a lesser extent, Angelique Bates) and the presence of the newer cast members (Nick Cannon, Leon Frierson, Christy Knowings, Mark Saul, and Danny Tamberelli). Some have also argued that around Seasons 5-6, All That started resorting to more "racial stereotypes" as sources of humor (especially with cast members like Nick Cannon and Gabriel Iglesias).

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The Last Episode(s)

The last original episode of All That aired on October 22, 2005 with musical guest Lalaine. It is now assumed that just like with the golden age version of All That, Nickelodeon will also give the newer cast members "Best of..." episodes (expected to debut in the summer of 2006). There have been some rumors though that Nickelodeon will feature two, previously unaired Season 10 episodes to coincide with the Best of... episodes.

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Show Trivia

  • In the book entitled All That - Fresh Out the Box by Savage Steve Holland, interesting information was presented about something called "Dream Remote." Dream Remote was an unaired sketch made for the pilot episode. It starred Kel Mitchell as a pizza delivery guy. This character would serve as Kel's inspiration for his Ed character from the Good Burger skits.
  • The KaBlam! short Action League Now! was first made for All That making KaBlam! a spin-off of All That.
  • For the show's 100th episode in 1999, Britney Spears and Busta Rhymes were scheduled to perform. Spears had to cancel due to a knee injury, and Lauryn Hill filled her spot. Spears did appear in a taped segment, however, apologizing to viewers.
  • On the fellow Nickelodeon program Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide, recurring "sportscasters" Van Earl Wright and Willie Gault work for the fictional television station Channel 6-and-a-half Sports. The "station" was initially created for sketches on All That.
  • Some All That fans generally split the history of the show up into three different eras. Seasons 1-3 are often considered the "classic" period. Seasons 4-6 while still considered part of the "golden age" umbrella can perhaps be regarded as the "Leon Frierson/Christy Knowings/Danny Tamberelli" trial. Seasons 7-10 (otherwise known as the era comprised of a completely new cast) are typically labeled the "New" All That.
  • The final original episode of All That (originally airing on October 22, 2005) likely contains some subtle messages about the impending cancellation of the show. During the cold opening, the cast meets up with a group of clowns from a fictional rival show that just got cancelled. In the last regular sketch (not counting the musical segments and one minute fillers) four characters played by Chelsea Brummet, Jack DeSena, Kyle Sullivan, and Lisa Foiles are trapped in an elevator. Those four were the only cast members that were still with the show dating back to Season 7 (when All That began its relaunch). And at the end of the closing credits, a group of youngers can be heard saying "Thanks Dan!" This is presumably, a message of gratitude to All That producer Dan Schneider.
  • Danny Tamberelli is the only cast member to star in another Nickelodeon series prior to All That. Tamberelli of course, co-starred with Mike Maronna on the hit Nick series The Adventures of Pete & Pete.
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All That Cast Members Through the Years

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See also

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External links/References

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