Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past!  On Mondays, I will be reviewing Hang Time, which ran on NBC from 1995 to 2000.  The entire show is currently streaming on YouTube!

I’ll always  remember …. me and my friends at Hang Time!

Episode 2.9 “Style Before Substance”

(Directed by Patrick Maloney, originally aired on November 2nd, 1996)

This episode opens with Julie and the basketball team at the diner and getting angry because the football team is in their booth.

“That’s our booth!” Julie says, “We’re the champions!”

Strangely, Josh agrees with her.  Remember how Josh almost walked off the team because he thought they were too obsessed with winning?  Remember how Josh was all about sportsmanship and humility?  I guess that all got tossed out the window once he started dating Julie.  And another thing — when did Julie become so stuck up?  During the first season, Julie was confident but she wasn’t full of herself.  This season, the writers aren’t doing her character any favors.

Needless to say, this all leads to a series of increasingly stupid competitions to decide which team gets to …. sit in the booth, I guess.  I’m not really sure what they were fighting about but then again, I’ve never played team sports.  Occasionally, I play tennis with my sister.  I’ve never won a game but I look good in a tennis skirt so it all works out.

While this is going on, Amy is volunteering for the mayoral campaign of Robert Kent.  Robert Kent is an obviously sleazy politician who says that he cares about the environment.  (To be honest, he reminded me of Beto O’Rourke).  Amy has a crush on Robert and is devastated to discover that he’s lying about being an environmentalist.  It turns out that he supports industrial development.

“Some of the money can be used to clean up the environment,” says Kent.

“But we wouldn’t need to clean it if you didn’t mess it up in the first place!” Amy whines while the audience goes crazy over the most shallow argument possible.

The good thing about this episode is that it portrayed politicians as being sleazy.  That said, I had to laugh at the sight of all the adults listening as Danny and Amy told them how to vote for.  In the end, Danny and Amy’s efforts proved to be futile as Kent won and probably proceeded to personally bulldoze their favorite park.

Episode 2.10 “Son-In-Law”

(Directed by Patrick Maloney, originally aired on November 9th, 1996)

The team is freaking out because they have to win a game against an undefeated team if they have any hopes of making it to the playoffs.  Coach Fuller invites a real basketball player to stiffly deliver some words of encouragement to the team.  Hang Time was big on getting actual basketball players to make cameo appearances and I imagine that was good for the show’s ratings.  But, for the most part, none of the basketball players could actually act so the scene featuring them are often incredibly dull.

Meanwhile, Mary Beth is angry at her father for ignoring her so she dates Vince just to annoy him.  But then she suddenly decide that she actually does like Vince which …. NO!  NO!  NO!  Mary Beth is a thousand times too cool to go out with someone as boring as Vince!  WHAT ARE YOU DOING, HANG TIME!?