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!

It’s time for Season 5 of Hang Time!  As usual, the new season starts with several cast departures and additions.  (Since Seasons 5 and 6 were both filmed at the same time, this season is the last one to introduce new characters.)  Season 5 also sees Miguel Higuera taking over as the show’s regular director, replacing Patrick Maloney.

Episode 5.1 “Hello and Goodbye”

(Dir by Miguel Higuera, originally aired on September 11th, 1999)

It’s time for a new school year and a new basketball season!  Julie, who has been a senior for four years now, is still the star of the team.  Michael and Silk are also ready for another run at the championship.  Rico, however, is gone.  Silk mentions something about Rico joining the wrestling team.  Fear not, there’s a new player named Eugene (Phillip Glasser) and he basically acts just like Rico and Vince.  Who knew there were so many goofy Italian basketball players in rural Indiana?

Hammer has also returned but not for long.  It turns out that he’s been offered a scholarship to attend a prep school in North Carolina.  Accepting the scholarship means that Hammer will gain automatic acceptance to Duke.  However, it also means leaving behind Mary Beth.  (Silk also gets upset, saying that the team is starting to “feel like the Spice Girls” because everyone keeps leaving.)  Hammer doesn’t want to tell Mary Beth about the scholarship until he knows for sure whether or not he’s going to accept it.

Meanwhile, Kristy is having a long-distance relationship with Antonio (Jay Hernandez) but she’s upset because she hasn’t seen Antonio in six months.  (Maybe she could have visited him in December instead of spending Christmas in New York.)  Because she’s apparently not required to attend classes or clear anything with her parents, Kristy impulsively decides to fly down to Texas.  However, no sooner has Kristy boarded her flight than Antonio shows up in Indiana.  Upon learning that Antonio is now in Indiana, Kristy flies back from El Paso.  Once they’re both back in Indiana, Antonio tells Kristy that he’s decided to move to Indiana and go to Deering.

“To be with me!?” Kristy says, shocked.

“Well, it’s not for the Mexican food,” Antonio replies.

Do any of these characters have parents?  I mean, is Antonio’s family okay with Antonio moving to Indiana?

Well, regardless, it’s good that Antonio’s there because, even though he initially turns down the scholarship to stay with Mary Beth, Hammer eventually does leave for North Carolina.  The team sees him off at the airport.  (Oddly, no family members are present.)  Julie says that she’s sure she will eventually join Hammer at Duke.  That made me laugh, as Julie’s been in high school for 6 years.  Duke has standards, Julie!

This was actually not a bad start to the fifth season.  I was sad to see Hammer go because Mark Famiglietti really did grow into the role towards the end of the fourth season.  But Antonio seems like he’ll be a good replacement, mostly because he’s played by Jay Hernandez.  He and Kristy make for a cute couple.  This episode also deserves some credit for having Mary Beth mention that all of her boyfriends have eventually ended up leaving the school.  She even mentioned Chris, from the otherwise forgotten first season.  I’m a sucker for a good continuity nod.

Episode 5.2 “Managing Michael”

(Dir by Miguel Higuera, originally aired on September 18th, 1999)

This is a weird episode.  Michael, despite having never mentioned anything about it before, is the leader of a rock band.  Playing keyboards is Eugene, who is apparently now everyone’s best friend.  Mary Beth is hired to manage the band but she discovers that Deering’s biggest (and only) rock promoter is a total sexist who refuses to do business with a woman.  In order to prove that she can handle the music business, Mary Beth somehow manages to organize an entire music festival on her own.  The Moffats, who were a boy band from Canada, even play the show.  How did Mary Beth set all this up?  I have no idea.  All I know is that Mary Beth announced that she wasn’t going to let anything stop her and then, one montage later, the Moffats were singing her a song.  I mean, Mary Beth is the character to whom I relate so I’m always happy when she succeeds but, in this case, it’s not really made clear how she managed to pull it off.  In fact, the last six minutes of the episode is devoted just to the Moffats performing.

Meanwhile, the University of Illinois is planning on giving Coach K a  distinguished alumni award.  However, the team thinks that the college is trying to hire Coach K away from them so they spread a rumor that the Coach is an alcoholic ex-con.  That’s a little extreme and dumb.  Coach K finds out what they’re doing and makes them run some extra laps.  Coach Fuller would have killed them but Coach K laughs it off because he’s still going to get his award regardless of his team’s attempt to ruin his life.

Seriously, this was a weird episode.