Amanda Bynes arrested in New York; we wonder what could have been

Over most of the past several months, we’ve done our best to try and steer clear from the near-constant tabloid headlines surrounding Amanda Bynes, mostly because we don’t find any of it to really be that entertaining. It’s easy sometimes to mock a former child star who has seemingly gone off the rails to the point where they are having mug shots taken, but at the same time it’s also difficult when you sit back and wonder what could have been. The reported arrest of Bynes Thursday night, amidst allegations (per TMZ) of possession and reckless endangerment, is just the latest chapter of a story that has been progressing downward for some time.

We’re one of those people who grew up watching Nickelodeon through much of the 1990s, and Amanda was at that time one of the most-popular kid stars. She was on “All That!” for many years along with the likes of future “Saturday Night Live” cast member Kenan Thompson and orange-soda aficionado Kel Mitchell, and she was so successful with that that she landed “The Amanda Show.” From there, it was “What I Like About You,” and then straight on into movies.

During that time, critics and young viewers alike thought she had a chance to be one of the best female comedic actresses out there. She could do impressions, sketches (“Ask Ashley” being a personal favorite), and we actually thought she would more then likely join “SNL” at one point. She just decided to go into movies instead, which did produce good results for a time.

We’re not trying to write a biography here on Bynes’ career, but in looking back at the fact that she was once a pretty talented and funny young star, it makes you wonder what happened to her now that she is in the press so regularly as a tabloid fixture more then for her talent. We want to still be in her corner, but sometimes it has to be left up to the people themselves to figure out what they want to do with their life.

So with that, let’s hope we have some more positive Bynes-related news to write someday.

Photo: Nickelodeon