Nickelodeon Helps Fill TV’s Hip-Hop Void

Unless you’re a kid between 6 and 15--or a parent of one--odds are you haven’t even heard of the TV show “All That.”

But a lot of people in the music industry are big fans of the weekly show, a sort of “Saturday Night Live Jr.” seen each weekend on Nickelodeon.

In its two years, “All That” has established itself as the outlet for live hip-hop and R&B; performances on TV. The demise three years ago of Arsenio Hall’s nightly talk show left the airwaves without a place where such artists were a regular feature.

“This is invaluable to us, since we’re so limited now with where you can get artists exposed,” says Karen Lee, vice president of media relations for Warner Bros. Records’ black music division.

As a result, the show--which began taping its third season last week with guests including LL Cool J, Montell Jordan, SWV and Brandy--has attracted enough star power to spin off a “soundtrack” album featuring mostly new recordings, a new sitcom called “Kenan and Kel” featuring two cast members, a Coolio theme song and a feature film coming with an all-star soundtrack of its own.

And with all that going on, Nickelodeon moved production of the show from Orlando, Fla. to Paramount Studios in Hollywood. “All That” co-creator and producer Brian Robbins says that the music element is a key factor in that growth.

“It was pretty calculated,” says Robbins, 32, of the initial decision to feature this music. “We knew that Arsenio had just gone off the air and there was a void for these people.”

Robbins, who will direct the movie based on the show’s popular “Goodburger” sketch, created “All That” with partner Dan Schneider, with whom he began working when they were regular cast members of the ‘80s sitcom “Head of the Class.” He also directed the 1995 behind-the-scenes rap documentary “The Show.”

“We got TLC to do the theme song when we did the pilot and to be the first musical guest,” Robbins says. “So we had credibility out of the box. They gave us a nice kick-start.”

Still, at first it was a struggle to line up first-rate acts. But then “All That,” with Nickelodeon now the most-watched basic cable channel on the dial, grew into the highest-rated cable show for its age demographic, with a total of 3.75 million households combined tuning in for the Saturday, 9 p.m. runs and for the Sunday, 12:30 p.m., repeats.

“Now it’s a feeding frenzy from the labels,” Robbins says. “Everybody wants to be on the show.”

Record company representatives report that sales for an artist appearing on the show routinely jump at least several thousand in the week after an appearance--not the kind of numbers you can get from a special event performance such as the Grammy Awards, but nothing to be taken lightly. And the 6-to-15 age target includes one of the prime demographics for pop radio.

There also was no problem getting people for the album, which will be released in late November. TLC is doing a full-length version of the theme song, while Immature teamed up with cast member Kel Mitchell for a new song. Brandy and Naughty by Nature are among the others contributing to the collection.

Of course, not everyone gets on the show, and it’s not just a matter of popularity, but of propriety. Hard-core gangsta rap is completely out of bounds, and even relatively clean artists have to agree to be ultra-clean on the show.

“2Pac never was a guest,” Robbins says. “But virtually everyone has to change lyrics to suit the show, cleaner than even the radio versions of their songs. But we’ve had people like Naughty by Nature on, and everyone understands who the audience is and doesn’t have a problem with it.”