Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a new feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past!  On Fridays, I will be reviewing One World, which ran on NBC from 1998 to 2001.  The entire show is currently streaming on Tubi!

The Cast of One World

We’re all in this together now!

Episode 3.7 “Dad Strikes Out”

(Directed by Mary Lou Belli, originally aired on November 4th, 2000)

Occasionally, the writers of One World would suddenly remember some otherwise forgotten fact about their characters and build an episode around them.  In this case, they suddenly remembered that Dave is a public high school teacher.  At the start of this episode, Dave announces that the teachers are on strike and the high school is closed until further notice.  Dave says that the strike is going to go on for a long time.  So, I guess the school year is canceled and everyone will have to repeat their senior year.  St. Neal is especially upset about this and who can blame him?  He was supposed to graduate at the end of season 2!  Is he ever going to get out of that school?

At the mall, the kids decide to harass the new guy working at Corn Dog World, just to discover that it’s their Dad.  (This family is the worst!)  Since Dave is humiliating himself by taking on another job while on strike, St. Neal announces that all of the kids will get jobs as well.

Cray, who is 13, gets a job searching for alligators in the sewer.  Do they usually hire 13 year-olds for that type of work?  Jane gets as job as a dog walker.  Sui gets a job as a perfume sprayer at the mall.  Marci keeps her job as the assistant manager of Miami’s “hottest under 21 club,” The Warehouse.  Ben plays guitar on the street.  St. Neal makes money as a tutor.  Considering he’s been a senior for three years now, I imagine he knows all of the answers.

The kids also help their parents save money by doing home repairs.  “Is that roof safe?” St. Neal asks.  “I don’t know,” Jane replies, “that why I sent Cray up there.”  Okay, I will admit that line made me laugh.

Meanwhile, Ben dates a smart girl in order to win a bet with Marci.  But then he falls in love with her for real.  He begs her to forgive him when she finds out the truth and eventually, she does.  (“Awwwwwww!” the audience says.)  I’m sure we’ll never hear from her again.

Episode 3.8 “Sui’s In For Stormy Weather”

(Directed by Mary Lou Belli, originally aired on November 11th, 2000)

This episode starts with Neal and Ben making their debut as film critics on the local cable access channel and …. wait, what!?  Like how the Hell did this happen!?  THEY’RE IN HIGH SCHOOL!  What’s weird is that there’s no backstory that explains how Neal and Ben ended up with this gig.  Instead, Marci says, “I can’t believe you guys get paid to be movie critics” and everyone watching is just supposed to accept it.

To be honest, this is type of thing that would normally make me stop watching after the first few minutes but, because the title promised that this was a Sui episode, I stuck with it.  Considering that she’s both the coolest and the best-dressed of the Blake children, Sui has definitely not gotten enough storylines during season 3.

When Sui learns that there’s an opening for a weather girl at the station, she auditions for it and gets the job.  The manager of the studio is named Randy Gekko, which automatically tells us not to trust him.  No one decent person has ever been named Randy Gekko.  And sure enough, Randy is soon pressuring Sui to wear a bikini while reporting on the weather and telling her that he can make her a star if she cooperates.

To the show’s credit, Sui immediately realizes what Randy is doing and that it’s wrong.  One of the reasons why Sui is the best character on the show is because, while she’s often materialistic and a little flighty, she’s also smarter than people realize and she’s willing to stand up for herself.  (Full disclosure: Of all the characters on this show, Sui is the one to whom I tend to relate.)  In this case, she humiliates Randy on the air by announcing to the channel’s viewers (there must be at least half-a-dozen of them) that her boss is a sleaze.  Way to go, Sui!

In the B-plot, Cray considers piercing his ear to impress a girl.  It was a dumb plot and it had no place in a Sui episode.