Sketchs à Gogo!

Let me start off by saying I hardly ever enjoyed Sonny with a Chance. The characters themselves were underdeveloped and very one-dimensional. This being said, when I found out that Disney was going to begin airing the actual variety show from Sonny with a Chance, I was extremely hesitant to watch. I'm nineteen; I grew up on Nickelodeon's All That, a show that's truly one of the best kid shows ever aired. This coupled with the whole Disney versus Nick fight many people continue to argue over had me underwhelmed and uninterested.

I was pleasantly surprised when I saw this show. It's funny, and the new members they've brought to the cast are nothing to scoff at. It definitely has potential to turn Disney's falling ratings around, but there are still several things that I feel prevent the show from really bringing Disney back.

The sketches, while funny, are very similar to All That sketches. Tantrum Girl is equivalent to Ask Ashley. The Spanish sketch is similar to Pierre Escargot. What will be Disney's downfall is trying too hard to create a great show. If Disney's writers can stop trying to imitate a hit 90's series and make So Random their own, this show could really do well. Now that All That is coming back to Nickelodeon though, it's definitely going to be hard for Disney to have a variety show. You can say all you want about So Random being wonderful, but go take a look at Youtube and watch some original All That. So Random has some major growing to do if it's going to keep enough interest, especially with All That airing again. All in all, this show has a great deal of potential.

OK, when this show first came out I loved it, I thought it was stupid, but I loved it anyway. About a month ago I became obsessed with another show, The Amanda Show. I soon realized that many of So Random's sketches were a rip off from The Amanda show, like the Sally Jensen, Kid Lawer(So Random), ripped of Judge Trudy(The Amanda show), who always sides with the kid just like Sally Jensen. Also guaca-mole and bedazzle zit(So random) is just like the crazy hat man(Amanda Show), who distracts people if you have a zit or a mole on your face. Another one is how the sketch with the hillbillies(so random) is wayy to much like a hillbilly moment(Amanda show), I'm surprised that Tiffany thorton doesn't start telling knock knock jokes! There are many other sketches that are the same, but if I listed them all this would be a pretty long review. Back to So Random... So the first time I watched it after I was done watching the Amanda show I was kinda shocked. I remembered it being stupid, but not that stupid. I can seriously watch an episode strait faced the entire time! Most of the sketches annoy me so much, like the stupid anime brothers or That stupid talking hand. The writers are trying to hard to get laughs. When I found out that Demi was leaving Sonny With A Chance I was really sad. She was like my second favorite character after Chad Dylan Cooper. I was worried about what would happen to the show, but more importantly sterling knight. If they were trying to focus on what so random was like before sonny came then what would happen to Chad? He couldn't go on so random because of Mackenzi Falls. So when I watched the first episode of So Random I was really confused. What the heck was Chad doing there. He seemed to leave his arrogantnes behind and became humble. Whats with that?! I've been hoping that Demi will come out of the audience and be like,"I'm back!" and then have them go back to Sonny With A Chance. That will probably never happen, so I guess that So Random will stay on the Disney Channel until it's canceled.

After a very lame start "So Random" began to figure out what it wanted to be and has quietly moved toward becoming a Disney version of Nickelodeon's "Roundhouse" (1992-1994).

"Roundhouse" was a classic sketch comedy show for adolescents; with skits, music, and dancing showcasing a group of relatively unknown young actors and dancers.

Although "So Random" lacks some of the originality of "Roundhouse" ("Tantrum Girl" is a weak reprise of "Ask Ashley" from "All That" and "Kid Lawyer" is an improved Judge Trudy" from "The Amanda Show") the writers have managed to inject enough new material into each episode to keep it fresh.

It has come a long way from its "Sonny With A Chance" origins; a show that was slowly straggling on its Demi Lovato – Sterling Knight focus. It had become increasingly obvious that Brandon Smith and Allisyn Ashley Arm were "Sonny's" comedic strength and extremely frustrating that they were relegated to supporting roles. Both are far better utilized on "So Random".

Arm (who looks like Saoirse Ronan playing Amanda Bynes) also benefits from frequent pairing with new cast member Audrey Whitby. These two girls have a natural comedic chemistry that produces a lot of synergy when they play off against each other.

It's no coincidence that the quality improvement has coincided with Whitby's increasing screen time. She has created an obsessive teen character (Julia Peters) with her own television show (The I'm Going To Marry Zach Feldman Show) in the tradition of "Wayne's World". With Arm as her cameraman the screen is filled with extreme close-ups of the manic Julia and her breathless dialogue, which compare favorably with television's best classic comedy segments.

Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

For viewers of Sonny With a Chance, this is the show within the show but is now its own show. After Disney & Demi Levato split ways, the cast of Sonny With a Chance were kept on and Disney decided to just make the cast do a sketch comedy show in the style of All That, MadTV & SNL which is what So Random was supposed to be within the show Sonny With a Chance.

The show is just skits with some musical guest stars mixed in every so often. The musical guest stars are what you'd hear on Radio Disney so if Disney & Radio Disney aren't your cup of tea, you won't like this show. If they are then you'll enjoy this.

The sudden departure of Demi Lovato from Sonny With A Chance left the rest of the show's cast member somewhat up in the air. I mean as clean teen idols, the Magic Kingdom already has Selena Gomez and Brigit Mendler so they're believers in being prepared.

But instead of cannibalizing the rest of the cast to different projects Disney Studio decided to keep the group together and the show within the show that was in Sonny With A Chance now became So Random. While the other show was on we did see some nice sketch comedy, now we see nothing but on So Random with some occasional musical interludes.

The interesting thing is how Sterling Knight's character Chad Dylan Cooper who had previously disdained the Randoms in favor of his teen soap opera Mackenzie Falls is now part of this show with no explanation. Just whatever happened to his precious Falls?

The sketch comedy is G-rated Saturday Night Live material and pretty funny. I hope this one stays around for a while and the beauty is it can have revolving regulars, cast members can come and go, but the show goes on.

I hope it does.