The Amanda Show

The Amanda Show is an American sketch comedy and variety show television series created by Dan Schneider and starring Amanda Bynes that aired on Nickelodeon from October 16, 1999, to September 21, 2002. A spin-off of All That, another Nickelodeon variety show featuring Bynes, The Amanda Show's cast members include Drake Bell, Nancy Sullivan, John Kassir, Raquel Lee, and Josh Peck. Writers for the show include Christy Stratton, Jenny Kilgen, Dan Schneider, John Hoberg, Steven Molaro, and Andrew Hill Newman.

The Amanda Show was abruptly canceled after the third season, which left an unresolved plot line in the recurring sketch "Moody's Point". Bynes pursued roles in Schneider's feature film Big Fat Liar and the Schneider-created television series What I Like About You for The WB. Schneider would later cast series regulars Bell, Peck, and Sullivan in his follow-up Nickelodeon series, Drake & Josh.

Decades after the series' end, allegations by cast and crew members have detailed salary discrimination, sexism, inappropriate behavior, and sexual abuse at Nickelodeon during the show's run that were not previously revealed publicly. The Amanda Show is one of several series highlighted in these accusations, which are summarized in the 2024 documentary Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV.

The Amanda Show is a sketch comedy television program set in a universe in which it is broadcast as a popular television comedy (a show-within-a-show). Recurring sketches include "Judge Trudy", a spoof of the courtroom reality Judge Judy; "So You Want to Win Five Dollars?", a spoof of the ABC game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?; "Moody's Point", a spoof of the teen drama Dawson's Creek; and "Blockblister", a spoof of the now-defunct video rental store Blockbuster. The show also featured Bynes playing her own superfan, a character called Penelope Taynt.

At age 10, Amanda Bynes was performing stand-up comedy in Hollywood at the Laugh Factory when Nickelodeon's talent scouts, including Dan Schneider, took notice and offered her a role on the network's live-action variety series All That. Finding success on the series, Bynes appeared in an array of guest roles in film and television as well as a recurring panelist role on Nickelodeon game show Figure It Out. Nickelodeon president Albie Hecht noted Bynes' "amazing star quality" and called her "a little Carol Burnett."

On October 16, 1999, The Amanda Show, an All That spin-off created by series producer Dan Schneider, premiered in the Saturday evening prime time slot on Nickelodeon, which released AmandaPlease.com, a tie-in website, around the same time. The series was filmed in front of a live studio audience at Nickelodeon on Sunset in Hollywood, California. Beginning with the second season, John Kassir and Raquel Lee left the series, and Josh Peck was added as a series regular.

After three seasons, the series run concluded on September 21, 2002. Regarding her departure from Nickelodeon in 2002, Bynes stated, "I knew I didn't want to be a Nickelodeon kid when I was 30. I was having fun but at 15, you don't want to be doing what you did when you were 12." Bynes would go on to star in Schneider's What I Like About You for The WB, and Bell and Peck would co-star in Nickelodeon's Drake & Josh, also created by Schneider.

In 2024, Drake Bell revealed publicly that he had been sexually abused by dialogue coach Brian Peck in 2001, after the production of The Amanda Show when Bell was 15 years old. Peck had been arrested in 2003 and sentenced to 16 months in prison and being required to register as a sex offender in 2004, but the identity of the minor victim had not previously been made public. Bell's testimony coincided with the lead-up to Quiet on Set: The Dark Side of Kids TV, an Investigation Discovery documentary detailing allegations of abuse from people who worked on Nickelodeon's television productions from the 1990s to the 2000s, specifically series involving Dan Schneider.