When Nickelodeon launched The Splat in 2015, pretty much every ‘90s kid freaked out. All That! Rugrats! Back on television! Now, Refinery29 can exclusively reveal that The Amanda Show will join the network’s roster of throwback programming.
Beginning June 10 at 11 p.m., reruns of Amanda Bynes’ variety show will begin airing on The Splat on TeenNick.
Keith Dawkins, executive vice president of TeenNick and Nicktoons, said bringing back The Amanda Show was an easy decision. “I feel like that’s almost a rhetorical question, like you know the answer to that already,” he said, when asked why he’s bringing back The Amanda Show. He’s always been impressed with how talented she was, even as a kid. “Just bringing great humor, great narrative, great storytelling to a generation of kids who wanted that at the time,” he said. “I think that holds up today.”
The show comes back into our lives at a time when the female comedic voice is in high demand. “People have kind of a short memory with history,” he says. “A woman being funny, leading content, and being like The Carol Burnett Show is not a new idea. We forget about it. Women can lead content. Women can lead the charge.” And this show predates the likes of Broad City and Inside Amy Schumer by about 15 years.
Though, he says the network and its audience “has always been about boys and girls,” being inclusive from the beginning. “We’re not here to alienate anyone. We’re here to reflect what’s going on in kids’ lives, which allowed us to put young girls front and center in our content. We’re reflecting our audience.” And bringing back The Amanda Show is simply in line with that philosophy. “It’s less about what’s happening in Hollywood and more about what our audience is asking us to do.”
As for the reaction Dawkins and the network hope ‘90s kids will have to the news? “I’m hoping that people will lose their minds.”