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!

Hang Time!  This week, YouTube once again tries to keep me from watching every episode of Hang Time.

Episode 4.17 “Sharing the Spotlight”

(Dir by Patrick Maloney, originally aired on November 7th, 1998)

Julie is told that unless she does better in her Math class and passes her upcoming exam, she might not be eligible to play basketball.  OH NO!  I hope everything worked out….

Unfortunately, this is one of the two episodes of Hang Time that are not available on YouTube.  So, I have no idea if Julie learned a lesson about the importance of balancing academics with her extra-curriculars but I’m going to guess that she probably did.

Let’s move on to an episode that actually is on YouTube….

Episode 4.18 “New Girl In Town”

(Dir by Patrick Maloney, originally aired on November 7th, 1998)

Meanwhile, at the basketball camp….

Like I’ve said before, it’s not surprising that NBC showed these episodes out of order because, in the 90s, there were no continuity nerds around to call them out online.  Still, it’s hard not to get a little annoyed at how little NBC apparently cared about whether or not it was possible to follow the storyline from one episode to another.  Even though I can’t watch the previous episode, I can read the imdb plot description and know that it featured Julie in school.  Now, suddenly, Julie is a counselor at a summer camp.  Admittedly, I tend to be a bit over organized but messiness like this just drives me crazy.

Anyway, at camp, Mary Beth and Kristy get their hands tangled in a basketball net.  Julie watches them and refuses to help because she’s having too much fun reminding everyone that she’s not a “bonehead.”  Finally, Julie decides to help but soon, she gets tangled in the net as well.  “Now I’m a bonehead!” Julie declares.

“Awww geez,” Coach K. says as he walks up with Eve (Alexana Lambros), a new girl at the camp.  I haven’t mentioned it before because it was too stupid but “Awww geez” is Coach K’s catch phrase.

Eve is really excited to meet Julie but then again, everyone on this show is always excited to meet Julie.  Eve says that Julie inspired her to play basketball but everyone always says that to Julie.  Personally, I’m more interested in the fact that this new girl is named Eve.  We’ve all seen All About Eve, haven’t we?

And, indeed, it does turn out that Eve will do anything to look good on the court and to show up Julie.  Apparently, college scouts are coming to the camp and, since Eve is from a small high school, this might be her only opportunity to impress them.  It’ll be difficult to do that with Julie hogging the spotlight.  Now, if I was Eve, I would just point out to the scouts that Julie has been in high school for five years.  Instead, Eve tries to sabotage Julie by 1) flirting with Julie’s ex-boyfriend, 2) cutting Julie’s shoe laces, 3) spilling bleach on Julie’s clothes, and 4) locking Julie in a storage shed.

GO, EVE!

Okay, admittedly, Eve isn’t going about things the right way but, after four seasons of Julie always being right and perfect, it’s kind of hard not to appreciate Eve as a force of chaos.  Eve seems to be having so much fun being bad that it reminds us of just how boring a character Julie really could be.  The audience applauds when Eve gets her inevitable comeuppance but I have a feeling that a lot of them were secretly on her side.

Anyway, it all works out.  Coach K sends Eve home.  The University of Connecticut says that they’ll probably still offer Julie a scholarship.  Of course, Julie would have to actually graduate high school first and that’s not going to happen for a while.  Hopefully, someone still offered Eve a scholarship.  Sportsmanship is overrated.

Next week: the team once again prepares for the play-offs!