So Random! Vs All That

A couple of years ago, when Sonny with a Chance was announced, some people noticed that there was a sketch show involved, and All That was also a sketch show. Some people also noticed that Brian Robbins, who was involved with All That, was on board for Sonny with a Chance. A couple of months ago, when Demi Lovato announced that she wouldn’t be on season 3 of Sonny with a Chance, Disney announced that they would make Sonny with a Chance become the show-within-a-show So Random!, instead of focusing on the other characters. This lead to more comparisons to All That. And now, with The ‘90s are all that, people can’t help but compare these two shows.

Although everyone agrees that All That is better, there aren’t many clear reasons why. One of these might just be that it was better because it’s older. Here are my thoughts on why All That was better.

• The cast members were younger. According to Wikipedia, only one member, Lori Beth Denberg, was eighteen at the start of the show. And she was the oldest. However, in So Random! four of the five cast members are over eighteen. I think they’re all at least 20, too. While age shouldn’t affect quality, it sort of feels like the adult cast members want to move on from a Disney kidcom.
• All That isn’t the result of a star leaving their vehicle. So Random! would probably be better if it wasn’t just Disney’s chance at keeping the SwaC franchise alive. Like, if the Disney powers that be would just have So Random! from the start, it would probably be (or at least feel) more natural.
• Disney’s priority isn’t comedy. Okay, neither is Nickeldoden’s probably, but Disney cares more for making the next big thing (Miley Cyrus/ High School Musical Cast, anyone?). They also care more for making money.
• All That had more cast members. I believe in season 1 they had 7, while So Random! has 5. Most of the time in So Random! they need to use people outside of the five. If they added more cast members, that would be nice.
• The All That cast members kept their names. I’m not even kidding. In So Random!, the actors still go by their characters’ names (i.e., Sterling is called Chad whenever they’re no sketch, Doug is called Grady, etc.).

So Random! doesn’t suck as much as everyone says it does (Though I have a high tolerance of kidcoms, as long as it’s not Shake it Up! or Victorious). However, they have big shoes to fill. Especially considering there’s one less cast member.