Kenan & Kel

Kenan & Kel
The Kenan & Kel opening title screen.
Format	Sitcom
Created by	Kim Bass
Starring	Kenan Thompson Kel Mitchell Ken Foree Vanessa Baden Teal Marchande Dan Frischman Alexis Fields (seasons 3-4) Biagio Messina (seasons 3-4)
Theme music composer	Victor Concepcion
Opening theme	"Aw, Here It Goes", performed by Coolio
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
No. of seasons	4
No. of episodes	63 (including one TV movie) (List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Mike Tollin Brian Robbins Dan Schneider
Location(s)	Orlando, Florida (seasons 1-2) Hollywood, California (seasons 3-4)
Camera setup	Videotape; Multi-camera
Running time	24 minutes (approx.)
Production company(s)	Tollin/Robbins Productions Nickelodeon Productions
Broadcast
Original channel	Nickelodeon
Picture format	480i (SDTV)
Original run	July 15, 1996 – July 22, 2000
Chronology
Related shows	All That The Amanda Show Drake & Josh

Kenan & Kel was an American television sitcom that originally aired on Nickelodeon from 1996 to 2000. The show starred two 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 following seasons were filmed at the Nick On Sunset theater in Hollywood. Seasons 3 and 4 aired on The N, and later seasons 1 and 2 were added.

Premise

The show was set in Chicago, Illinois and centered around the antics of two fun-loving and mischievous teenagers, Kenan Rockmore (Thompson) and Kel Kimble (Mitchell). Kenan is a high school student with a job at a local grocerystore, 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. Episodes also would typically end with Kenan telling Kel another plan of his and to get some random ingredients and meet him at some random place. Kel's signature catchphrase "Aww, here it goes" is often said at the end of the cold open and the final scene.

Production

Though the creator of the show was Kim Bass, the idea actually came from Brian Robbins, who thought that Kenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell had good chemistry on All That. 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 manand 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 15, 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.

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.

Characters

Kenan Rockmore (Kenan Thompson)

Kenan is Kel's best friend. Kenan is relatively intelligent, but he rarely does any schoolwork. Instead, he spends his time plotting schemes (such as transforming the grocery shop at which he works into a nightclub, or telling everybody that Kel has extra-sensory perception). Though good-natured, he frequently angers his parents and boss. A trait that Kenan shares with Kel is that when someone uttered a nonsense word, the duo would repeat the word confusingly. In one episode, Kenan said the word huckleberry. This prompted Kenan's boss Chris and Kel to repeat the word confusingly. Kel also taught their adopted chimpanzee from the local zoo to do the same thing. His catchphrase is "WHYYYYYY!" and he usually yells it when Kel does something wrong. He also passes out when something good or bad happens to him.

Kel Kimble (Kel Mitchell)

Kel is the dim-witted and clumsy best best friend of Kenan Rockmore. He is actually quite intelligent as witnessed by his SAT score, but this does not show in his everyday life. 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 a hat during the course of the series. He is scared of pancakes, butterflies, brassieres, waffles and monkeys. His catchphrase is "AWWWW, HERE IT GOES!" which he says right before the start of the show, and right at the end of the 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.

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 talk out 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. 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 TV movie. 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 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 usually uses nonsense words.

Special guest appearances

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.

Episodes

Reruns/Syndication

No episodes have aired in the United States since August 6, 2009 when the show was dropped from The N. Many believe the show didn't have enough interest for new chairman, Nick Cannon to bring it back. Episodes have been heard to return to TeenNick at Christmas 2009 or during July/August 2010.

In popular culture

The comedy group "The Brentwoods" released a parody of Matchbox Twenty's "Unwell" called "Kenan & Kel". The song is not exclusively about Kenan & Kel however, many other 1990s Nickelodeon shows are mentioned.^[1]

References

External links

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