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
The Blake family is growing!
Episode 3.5 “One Of Our Own”
(Directed by Mary Lou Belli, originally aired on October 21st, 2000)
This episode opens with the Blake family once again using the Warehouse, Miami’s “hottest under 21 club,” as their own private dining room but throwing a party to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Cray’s adoption. As usual, Jane makes it all about herself by announcing that she wants Dave and Karen to adopt her. Karen is thrilled and also takes some time to remind everyone that she’s frequently nauseous because that’s a storyline now.
What’s odd is that, when Jane asks why Karen keeps throwing up, Dave replies, “She’s pregnant” and apparently, it’s the first that anyone in the family had heard about it, even though everyone knew about it in the previous episode. So, this is another example of TNBC showing episode out of order and not caring about continuity. Respect your audience, TNBC!
Anyway, Jane’s adoption hits a snag when it turns out that Jane’s father is still alive and he’s in prison! Though initially reluctant to see him and concerned that she won’t have a place in the Blake family after the baby is born, Jane eventually visits her father and gets him to sign over his parental rights.
While Jane thinks about being adopted, Neal falls for a cheerleader who has just moved to Miami from Tallahassee. “If you ever miss your friends,” Neal tells her, “I can teach you how to use the spell check on my computer.” Smooth, Neal! Neal tells the cheerleader that he designs “CD-ROM games and DVDs” for fun. “I’ve been to the DMV!” the cheerleader responds. Eventually, Neal realizes that he and his new girlfriend have nothing in common. Wait a minute …. doesn’t Neal already have a really rich girlfriend? Remember the first episode of season 3, when her father didn’t want them to date but Neal won his over with is integrity? Did the show already abandon that plotline?
This episode was cringey, in the way that most TNBC shows were whenever they attempted to deal with serious subjects. It was a bit overwritten, a bit overacted, and a just a bit too much.
Episode 3.6 “Crushed”
(Directed by Mary Lou Belli, originally aired on October 28th, 2000)
With this episode, we are reminded that Ben still has a gig playing the guitar at Miami’s “hottest under 21 club,” The Warehouse. One of the strange things about the Warehouse is that, for the hottest club in Miami, it’s almost always deserted. No one seems to hang out there. In fact, the Warehouse seems to only exist so that the Blakes can celebrate birthdays and anniversaries.
As for the actual plot of “Crushed,” it’s basically a redo of several Saved By The Bell plots. Cray has a girlfriend but he worries that Ben is trying to steal her away from him. Of course, the opposite is true. Cray’s girlfriend would rather go out with Ben and who wouldn’t? Ben is a hundred times hotter. Meanwhile, Jane becomes a semi-amateur wrestler, using moves that she claims she learned in jail. (Sigh. After three seasons, the writers still hadn’t figured that none of the cast of One World were believable as people who had spent even a day behind bars.) Anyway, Jane is asked to throw a match, because professional wrestling is totally real, you all!
This was all pretty dumb. Sui and Marci are the coolest characters on the show but they were given nothing to do. Meanwhile, Jane’s hair is still annoying the hell out of me.
