Hang Time

A friend commented to me once that they were sad that there aren't any more cartoons on Saturday morning. This came as news to me since I don't usually crawl out of bed until at least noon on Saturdays. But after a Friday night term-paper session stretched out longer and longer until I noticed (as the paper was screeching it's way out of my old-fashioned printer) that it was Saturday morning, I decided to test the TV waters.

What I found was "Hang Time", which I pegged instantly as a clone of "Saved by the Bell". In this teen-oriented sit-com, we follow the daily hi-jinks of students at Deering High School involved in the basketball program. While it was good for a chuckle, I was initially unimpressed enough to change the channel when I noticed something...or someone to be exact.

Amber Barretto plays the cheerleader of the group, a stunning young lady with a mane of red curly hair the likes of which I've never seen before. Thankfully the writers of the show resisted the temptation to make her character a ditz just because of her cheerleader status. In fact, Miss Baretto (along with Megan Parlen) would make good candidates for a spin-off since they usually get the goofy subplots. They make a pretty good team.

And Daniella Deutscher (that's a hard name to spell) as Julie, the lone girl on the basketball team, is a nordic beauty who practically puts Natasha Hendstridge to shame with her lovely eyes.

No more sleeping in for me. This sure beats Ag Day.

"Hang Time's" first seasons were decent, most certainly better than "Saved By The Bell: The New Class" or that dreadful "City Guys" the first few seasons featured lots of NBA guest stars, a great actor, Reggie Theus, playing the coach, and the kids who played the High School basketball players were, in general, decent actors. Then came the fallout. They got rid of all the great members of the cast, including Theus as the coach and replaced him with Dick Butkus, who couldn't act his way out of a wet paper bag. But until NBC abandons the idea of "TNBC" I believe Hang Time will remain the best show in the lineup, middle ground from the once great Saved By The Bell: Original class, and the horrible New Class.

Hang time was a highly rated show. It was amusing and always enjoyable, but the first season was when the show was at it's highest point. It was different than the rest, the characters, the plots, everything. But then they had to change it around so much and it's not as good. But this show still is cool, and they should bring back the reruns.

I've been watching Hang Time for a long time now. I've learned a lot through watching the show. Daniella Deutscher and Jay Hernandez are personal favorites of mine. The show really shows teens about life, and going through high school. It shows you the good and the bad. The show covers things like aids, teen pregnancy, dating, and things like that.

Of all the american-high-school-coming-of-age-in-a-funny-way this is probably the best, or more correctly the least bad of them. The cast isn't picked by pure looks alone, but their talents (more basketball than acting though). Of course many of the jokes are identical to those of other Peter Angel productions, but still an enjoyable show.