Hang Time

Hang Time has continued to become a world-wide success for teenagers. Already in its 4th season, the show continues the formula for which it began, a teen-oriented program that deals with the situations that our teens face today, HIV, drugs, and teen sex. While dealing with those issues, the show has it fair share of humor and comedy mixed in with romance.

Special credit must go to two people: Peter Engel, the executive producer, and Patrick Maloney, the show's director. These two people have made Hang Time one of the most successful and informative teen-oriented shows that will continue their success into the 21st Century and beyond.

Credit also must goto the cast of Hang Time. These actors are incredibly gifted, and have portrayed their characters with the utmost confidence, especially Daniella Deutscher & Megan Parlen, who have been with the show since its initial premiere in September 1995. Both them and many other cast members give us a standout performance in dealing with teen-oriented situations.

This show is bland, trite and predictable... perfect for TNBC. If for some bizarre reason you're ever up early enough to watch this on a Saturday morning, go ahead and do so. It's not really intelligent or well-acted, but it's the kind of show that you don't get sick of because there's nothing there that you don't like, it's exactly like all those other teen/high school sitcoms except this one has sports stars so the girls have more spine and aren't as brain-dead and girly (except for rich kid Mary Beth). They even show a cheerleader who isn't just another dumb blond chick! Amber Baretto does a great job as the token fiery red-head on this show and her character brought on more realistic plots such as interacial dating. However, Julie, the first girl on the sports team, which apparently is a necessary device for any teen show is (barely) played by Daniella Deuschter who couldn't act her way out of a parking ticket. Julie could have been a great character, but Daniella's portrayal has caused the character to become completely one-dimensional since she is unable to portray any emotion beyond confusion. (However, she's pretty good on the court). If you're a fan of the original Saved by the Bell, you'll be disappointed. But if you're in the market for a cute non-thought-provoking way to spend a half-hour on Saturday mornings between SBTB: The New Class and One World, this is perfect for you.

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.

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.

In the lines of the old-fashioned Saved By The Bell, Saved By The Bell; The Next Generation, Malibu CA, and more. The type of show you expect where there are new cast member changes every other season, and everything is alright at the end, this excels most of the average drivel with the humour it displays, the girls, in all honesty, who are all appealing, and the pure addictiveness of the bloody soundtrack. Every season is per Basketball Tournement and League, and every couple of episodes has a cameo by some famous Basketball player. Some classic Teenager characters, including Anthony Abraham (?) as Teddy, the son of a famous basketball player.

An easily enjoyable show on an early Saturday morning, easy to zone in and out of it, it's honestly unfairly picked on, and is worth a watch now and again.