Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past!  On Thursdays, I will be reviewing City Guys, which ran on NBC from 1997 to 2001.  Almost the entire show is currently streaming on YouTube!

It’s taken nearly a year but we’re almost done with City Guys!  This week, it’s time for the last prom and graduation!

Episode 5.23 “Prom-Lems”

(Dir by Frank Bonner, originally aired on December 1st, 2001)

It’s time for the last prom of the graduating class of Manny High!  Al and Dawn decide that, even though they are broken up, they will still go to the prom together.  L-Train and Jamal try to show their dates a wonderful night but first the limo they ordered cancels and then L-Train fails to make the reservations for dinner at Tavern in the Green.  Not surprisingly, their dates are a bit less than impressed with the idea of having jambalaya at the Manhattan Diner.  Meanwhile, Ms. Noble won’t stop going on about how she doesn’t have anyone to go to prom with because her husband is out of town.  Ms. Noble, once again …. YOU’RE THE PRINCIPAL!  PROM IS NOT ABOUT YOU!  Anyway, Ms. Noble’s husband does come back home in time to take her to prom so, fortunately, everyone is spared from having to listen to Ms. Noble whine about it.

The majority of the episode focuses on Chris and Cassidy.  Chris and Cassidy should be happy because they’re named Prom King and Queen but there’s an issue that could have easily been resolved by everyone not being an idiot and not jumping to conclusions.  When Cassidy learns that Chris is going to give her a ring at prom, she thinks that Chris is not only going to ask her to marry him but that he is also pressure her to go to Duke with him and leave behind her plans of attending Cal Arts.  But, it turns out that Chris just wanted to give her a ring because it seemed like a romantic thing to do.  This is another one of those issues that could have been resolved by Cassidy just asking Chris about the ring.

Every high school show produced by Peter Engel featured a “final prom” episode and, by that time City Guys got around to it, the show and its writers were obviously just going through the motions.  It’s a pretty boring prom, to be honest.  It’s nowhere near as touching as the California Dreams playing their final gig or Jessie and Slater sharing one last dance.  It’s just another night at Manny High.

(Why were teenagers in Peter Engel sitcoms always applying to Duke?)

Episode 5.24 “Goodbye Manny High”

(Dir by Frank Bonner, originally aired on December 8th, 2001)

Graduation is approaching but life at Manny High is still as pointlessly complicated as ever.

For instance, Dawn has been entrusted with ordering the school’s diplomas.  Why would that be Dawn’s job?  Shouldn’t that be Ms. Noble’s job or maybe the job of the school district?  Well, needless to say, Dawn screws up and ends up getting a bunch of diplomas that were supposed to go to a private school in Canada.  Al, however, says that his cousin can get them some new diplomas before Ms. Noble ever finds out.  Again …. WHY ARE STUDENTS IN CHARGE OF THIS!?  Here’s the thing with diplomas.  They’re kind of important.  You don’t just hand out homemade diplomas.  When the students of Manny High are applying for their first post-High School jobs, I can only imagine how their potential employers are going to react to being handed a home-made diploma.

Meanwhile, Chris and Jamal have to figure out the best way to end their stupid radio show.  Even after Chris puts on a turban and speaks in a fake Indian accent (and yes, it is all incredibly cringey), Chris cannot figure out how he and Jamal should say goodbye to Manny High.

But the biggest problem might be L-Train’s!  After being held back three times, L-Train is excited because he’s finally going to graduate.  Except …. he’s not!  He’s short one credit and there’s no way he can make up that credit in just four days so it looks like the Bayside Gang is going to have to figure out a way to help Zack graduate.  Oh wait, I’m sorry.  I got confused as to which Peter Engel-produced show’s graduation episode I was reviewing.  It’s understandable as the exact same thing that happens to L-Train also happened to Zack Morris at the end of Saved By The Bell.  It’s almost as if Peter Engel’s stable of writers had collectively given up on coming up with new ideas during the final two seasons of City Guys.…

Anyway, just as how the Saved By The Bell girls totally ruined their final ballet performance so Zack could get his final credit, Cassidy decides to put on a one-act play, starring L-Train.  The play is called For Girls Only and, of course, it requires that L-Train put on a wig and speak in a slightly higher voice.  The school board is impressed with the play and gives L-Train his elective credit.  L-Train graduates!  L-Train thanks Ms. Noble for helping him to go from being a bully to being a high school graduate and, as was so often the case with this show, Steven Daniel’s sweet sincerity makes the scene work, despite the somewhat overwritten dialogue.

As for the other storylines, Chris and Jamal end their final show by announcing, “Goodbye, Manny High!”  The fake diplomas arrive just in time for graduation.  Everyone puts on their red robes and, after five long and punishing seasons, they receive their diplomas.  The camera glides through Manny High’s empty hallways and we hear dialogue from past episodes.  For all the silliness of this episode and the show in general, these final moments were kind of touching, if just because it reminded me of my own feelings when I graduated high school.  Plus, an empty school hallway always feels like the perfect way to wrap up any show about high school.

Yay, it’s over!  City Guys is over!

Except it’s not.  There’s still more two episodes to go.  We’ll get to them next week and then, City Guys will finally be over.