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!

This week, the fifth season comes to an end,

Episode 5.13 “Fighting For Your Dreams”

(Dir by Miguel Higuera, originally aired on January 8th, 2000)

The previous episode of Hang Time ended with Deering High’s season coming to an unexpected end.  It also featured Michael and Julie as an established couple and Mary Beth seemingly over Hammer.  That episode aired in December of 1999.

It would be over a month before the next episode of Hang Time aired.

That next episode, Fighting For Your Dreams, features the Tornadoes in the middle of their season, Michael still being rather shy about asking Julie if she wants to see a movie with him, and Mary Beth still hung up on Hammer.  Obviously, this episode was meant to air earlier in the season but, for whatever reason, it didn’t.

It’s actually not a bad episode.  The University of Kentucky is interested in recruiting Antonio for their basketball program but, after Antonio injures his knee during practice, it looks like his playing days might be over.  Antonio wants to spend all of his time feeling sorry for himself in his apartment but eventually both Kristy and Coach K convince him to stop feeling sorry for himself and start physical therapy.  There was one extremely dumb scene in which Kristy, Eugene and Silk hired an actor to pretend to be the recruiter and give Antonio a pep talk but otherwise, this was an effective story and Jay Hernandez, Amber Barretto, and Dick Butkus all gave heartfelt performances.

As for Mary Beth, she and Hammer eventually broke up over the phone because the long distance relationship just proved to be too difficult to maintain.  Awwwwwwww!  Poor Mary Beth.

Episode 5.14 “My Family”

(Dir by Miguel Higuera, originally aired on March 11th, 2000)

Two months after the Fighting For Your Dreams episode aired, Hang Time got around to finishing out season 5 with My Family.

The family in question is Coach K’s.  This episode finally reveals a little about Coach K’s past.  We are informed that he’s divorced, his ex-wife lives up in Canada, and he hasn’t seen his 17 year-old daughter, Kate (Amber Willenborg), in a while.  Coach K is super excited when Kate shows up in Indiana.  It’s a chance for the two of them to rebuild their relationship.  Coach K has an entire weekend in Chicago planned for the two of them.

What Coach K doesn’t know is that Kate has a baby.  Kate is scared to tell him so, instead of taking her child with her to Chicago, she instead gives him to Julie, Kristy, and Mary Beth, three people who she barely knows.  Needless to say, this leads to a whole lot of scenes of, “Ewww!  The baby needs to be changed” and “Oh my God, the baby has a fever!  Take him to the hospital!”  The baby’s cute but Kate’s decision to just abandon him with three people that she’s just met just doesn’t feel right.  Anyway, Kate tells Coach K about the baby in Chicago and they immediately head back to Indiana so that he can meet his grandson.  And, much as with the previous episode, Dick Butkus saves the episode by giving a surprisingly sensitive performance.  Coach K loves his grandson!  Awwwww!

The B-story features the boys selling pagers to raise money for ski trip.  Who cares?  It’s dumb.

Next week: the sixth and final season begins!  The end is in sight!