I just read the news that Peter Engel passed away yesterday. My Retro Television reviews started with four Engel-produced shows, California Dreams, One World, Hang Time, and City Guys. Right now, I’m reviewing one of his later shows, Malibu CA. I would be lying if I said all of those reviews have been positive. I loved California Dreams and Hang Time won me over but the only good thing about Malibu CA is that it’s not Pacific Blue.
But here’s the thing. Peter Engel, regardless of what I may think of some of his later shows. made pop cultural history with Saved By The Bell. When I was a kid, you couldn’t turn on a TV without finding Saved By The Bell reruns playing somewhere. (Myself, I only wish Saved By The Bell: The New Class was as easy to find.) Today, Saved By The Bell has faded a bit from our collective memory, a relic from the childhoods of many elder millennials and their Gen-X siblings. That reboot on Peacock was never quite as good as I used to tell myself it was. But the original show can still be found on Prime, just as California Dreams and Hang Time can be found on YouTube. The Engelverse will live forever.
The Oscar nominations are due to be announced tomorrow and right now, I think everyone’s waiting to see who will be the next big thing. In honor of the occasion, here is Tony Wickes and the California Dreams with today’s song of the day.
Spending this week at my sister Megan’s, I haven’t really watched that much television, beyond the shows that I regularly watch for my Retro Television Reviews.
Megan and I did watch The Young and the Restless, General Hospital, The Bold and the Beautiful, and Days of our Lives this week. I’m a bit off-and-on when it comes to watching daytime dramas. I usually enjoy them when I do watch them but I also only tend to watch when I’ve got someone around who wants to watch with me. I guess I like talking through the boring parts.
I spent quite a bit of time flipping back and forth from Fox to CNN to MSNBC to follow all of the latest on the Baltimore bridge collapse. There has been a lot of criticism and a lot of conspiracy theories in the days following the disaster and that’s understandable. Criticism and conspiracies are how most people deal with tragedies of overwhelming proportion. But there was also a lot of heroism on display right after the disaster occurred. It’s good to reminded that not everyone is as narcissistic in real life as they seem to be on social media.
Every night, Megan and I ducked into her office and binged California Dreams. It was fun to revisit the show. Megan agrees, by the way, with those who think that Lorena and I have a lot in common. We intended to watch a few episodes of City Guys and One World as well but, in both cases, Megan said that sitting through one episode was more than enough.
Erin and I watched It’s The Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown on Thursday night. It was cute but I always feel bad for Charlie Brown. Everyone gets something from the Easter Beagle except for him. I’m not a dog person but I do like beagles.
On Friday night, I watched another episode of Rollergames with Jeff and our friends Pat and Matt. Watching people get tossed over the railings was fun.
And, on Saturday morning, I got caught up with the latest season of It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia! I love those bastards.
Happy holidays! I’ve been visiting my sister Megan this week. Unfortunately, I’ve also been dealing with a cold this week. As a result, I’ve spent a lot of time in my sister’s guest room, getting caught up on all the daytime dramas!
Here’s some thoughts on what I watched:
All You Need Is Love (Night Flight Plus)
On Friday night, I watched an episode of this documentary series about the history of American music. The episode dealt with the birth and popularity of jazz. It featured a lot of very good music. It also featured an interview with Hoagy Carmichael, who Ian Fleming often claimed James Bond was meant to physically resemble.
The Bold and the Beautiful (Weekday afternoons, NBC)
This week, I got caught up with this wonderfully over-the-top daytime drama. I think it had been over a year since I last watched an episode of The Bold and the Beautiful so it was nice to see that everyone was still bold and still beautiful.
California Dreams (DVD)
Megan and I watched a few episodes of California Dreams throughout the week. Megan agreed that I basically am like the red-headed version of Lorena Costa.
Days of Our Lives (Weekdays, Peacock)
Days of our Lives is on Peacock now. Just as with The Bold and the Beautiful, it had been a while since I watched this show. I watched several episodes this week but I’d be lying if I said I paid too much attention. That said, the show was a nice distraction for when I was feeling ill.
Dr. Death (Peacock)
My sister Megan and I binged the second season of this show on Monday and Tuesday. It was an interesting story, even if it wasn’t quite as strong as the first season. I love Mandy Moore but she was a bit miscast as a tough New York journalist.
Dr. Phil (YouTube)
I watched a few episodes of Dr. Phil this week but I mostly just used them for background noise. I did make sure to pay attention to the episodes about the girl who was convinced that she was pregnant with Jesus.
The Garden: Commune or Cult? (Max)
Megan and I binged this show on Wednesday night. Personally, I think The Garden is more of a commune than a cult but mostly it’s just a place full of really annoying people. Living off the grid has some appeal when it comes to not paying taxes but I’m just not a fan of living off the land. I guess my ideal living situation would be to live in the city but not have to pay for anything.
General Hospital (Weekday Afternoons, ABC)
It kind of bothers me that this show has scenes that take place outside of the hospital.
Murder In Boston: Roots, Rampage, and Reckoning (Max)
Megan and I watched this last night. This three-part docudrama dealt with a murder that occurred in Boston in the 80s. The same story served as the basis for a movie that I reviewed back in October. It’s an interesting story, though the docuseries was more interested in the cultural context of the crime than the crime itself.
Night Flight (Night Flight Plus)
I watched an episode on Friday about 80s cover tunes.
The Office (Sunday Morning, Comedy Central)
I watched two Christmas episodes on Sunday. One was the Benihana Christmas episode from the Steve Carell years. The other episode was from the post-Carell era. The differences in quality were dramatic. That show really went downhill after Steve Carell left.
Saved By The Bell (DVD)
Megan and I watched a few episodes of Saved By The Bell over the week. We hit all the classics, No Hope With Dope, the episodes where Kelly dumped Zach for Jeff, the episode where Jessie got hooked on caffeine pills, and the rockumentary.
The Simpsons (Monday Morning, TBS)
I watched two Christmas episodes on Monday. Fortunately, they both featured Kelsey Grammer as Sideshow Bob because both of them would have been pretty dire without his ability to turn even the lamest of lines into comedic gold. One episode featured Bart getting lost in an underground missile silo. The other featured Bob taking a job as a Santa’s Village Santa and helping to expose Mr. Burns as the person who stealing the town’s Christmas presents. Both episodes were oddly mean-spirited at times, as if the show’s writers were trying to impress the Family Guy crowd.
T and T (Tubi)
Next week, I’ll be reviewing the episode that I watched this week.
Twilight Zone (SyFy)
Today, I’ve enjoyed several episodes of SyFy’s annual New Year’s Twilight Zone marathon. This is one of those traditions that I hope never goes away.
The Young and the Restless (Weekday afternoons, NBC)
I’m happy to say that everyone is still restless, even if they’re not quite young.
Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Saturdays, I will be reviewing California Dreams, which ran on NBC from 1992 to 1996. The entire show is currently streaming on YouTube!
This is it. This is the last gig This is the end of California Dreams.
But first….
Episode 5.14 “The Fashion Man”
(Dir by Kevin Sullivan, originally aired on December 7th, 1996)
This episode opens with the Dreams performing at Lorena’s loft, except there’s something off. Everyone looks a year or two younger than they did in the previous episode. Sam is singing that old “Hey Baby” song that we haven’t heard since season 3. Sly is hitting on the girls at the Loft, despite the fact that he and Lorena were a couple the last time we saw them. Later, in the episode, Sam will go crazy over a model named Samson and Tony won’t even raise an eyebrow. And, of course, all of the Dreams are still going to high school despite the fact that we saw them graduate a few episodes earlier.
Yes, this is yet another case of NBC showing episodes out-of-order. In this case, The Fashion Man was filmed for the third season but, for whatever reason, it wasn’t aired until the end of the fifth season. The Fashion Man is silly and a bit derivative of Saved By The Bell and it feels very much like a third season episode. It would be a totally acceptable third season episode but seeing it at the end of the fifth season only serves to remind viewers of how much better most of the fifth season episodes were from the episodes that were made for earlier seasons.
Anyway, in this episode, Sly and the Dreams get conned by a fake modeling agency. The rest of the Dreams figure out that it’s all a scheme but Sly is so desperate that he gives the head of the agency five hundred dollars and ends up with a bunch of useless photographs as the only thing to show for the cost.
Poor Sly! Eventually he does figure things out but only after he spends an additional $250 to cover a fashion show at Sharky’s. The Dreams sabotage the show. They say that they’re doing it to help out Sly but I think they mostly just enjoy humiliating the poor dope. This episode is okay but a bit cartoonish. Let’s move on to …. THE LAST GIG!
Episode 5.15 “The Last Gig”
(Dir by Patrick Maloney, originally aired on December 14th, 1996)
Wipe away those tears. The Dreams are playing their last gig.
This is it. This is the final episode of California Dreams. Everyone has graduated from high school. Everyone is making plans for the future. Many will be going away to college. But Jake is determined to keep the band together. And there’s one last gig on the pier to play!
And wouldn’t you know it …. there’s a producer in the audience! He wants to sign Jake but Jake insists that the producer sign the entire band. The band, though, tells Jake that they are ready to move on and that this is his dream. Even though the producer eventually agrees to sign the entire band, the rest of the Dreams turn down the contract so that they can go off to college and start their lives. With the band’s encouragement, Jake eventually signs.
For the record:
Tiffani went to the University of Hawaii.
Sam moves to England to study physics at Oxford. She and Tony amicably break up. They lasted the longest of any couple on this show and it was interesting to watch their relationship develop.
Mark goes to Julliard to study music and specifically states that he will never have time to return to California. So, I guess he managed to take care of all that community service that he got for nearly killing Tara Reid in the Graduation episode.
Lorena and Sly go to Pacific University together.
And Jake, presumably, goes on to become your grandparent’s favorite rock star.
You know who isn’t mentioned? Matt Garrison, the founder of the band! Oh well. Hopefully, things worked out well for him and Jenny, wherever they are.
Consider just how dismissive I was of this show when I started writing these reviews, I have to say that no one is more surprised than I am about how genuinely touched and moved I was by the final episode. Both the show and its cast really came into their own during the fifth season and it was hard not to feel a bit emotional as they said their final goodbyes to each other. The show ended on a mature and realistic note. Nothing lasts forever, to quote Hang Time‘s Coach Fuller.
Well, that’s it for California Dreams. Next week, a new show will be reviewed in this slot. But I’ll never forget surf dudes with attitude….
Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Saturdays, I will be reviewing California Dreams, which ran on NBC from 1992 to 1996. The entire show is currently streaming on YouTube!
This week, the Dreams graduate!
Episode 5.12 “Graduation”
(Dir by Don Barnhart, originally aired on November 22nd, 1996)
Graduation approaches and Mark is freaking out because he’s never had the courage to ask out Sarah (Tara Reid …. yes, that Tara Reid). When he finally works up the courage to ask her if she might want to go out with him, she says maybe and asks what he has in mind.
“Well, the school’s hosting a clean-and-sober graduation party….” Mark starts.
“I want beer!” Sarah replies.
And you know what? Mark’s a nice guy but that invitation seriously was kind of dorky. I don’t even drink and I would have totally rolled my eyes in high school if anyone had invited me to “a clean-and-sober graduation party.”
Sarah’s reaction should have been enough to let Mark know that they wouldn’t make a good couple but poor Mark. Over the course of three seasons, he has yet to have a real girlfriend. He’s desperate! He invites Sarah to the graduation party that he’s decided to throw at Lorena’s loft. And he’s also decided that there will be beer at the party! This despite the fact that Mark and the Dreams have just attended a school assembly where Principal Blumford (Earl Boen) warned against the dangers of teenage drinking. Someone is definitely not mature enough to leave high school yet!
And Mark’s proves that he’s not mature enough by getting drunk at the party, trying to drive to the beach with Sarah, and crashing into a ditch. Mark gets arrested, loses his license for a year, and — as he explains at graduation — he’ll have to do community service, attends alcohol classes, and pay a fine. Sarah ends up in the hospital and misses graduation. Mark explains that she has two broken ribs, a punctured lung, and a concussion. HOW DEEP WAS THAT DITCH!? At the ceremony, Principal Blumford announces that “to say I’m disappointed in some of you for what happened last night would be an understatement….” Dude, everyone knows you’re talking about Mark. Way to make him feel bad at his own high school graduation! Sam forgoes giving her valedictorian speech so that Mark can take to the stage and apologize. Way to make graduation awkward for everyone!
Oh well. At least graduation works out for everyone else. Jake and Tiffani make a model castle so that they can pass their history class and avoid summer school.
Anyway, this was a depressing episode but I support any show that tries to keep people from drinking and driving. Plus, the Dreams finally graduated! Yay!
Episode 5.13 “A Band Divided”
(Dir by Don Barnhart, originally aired on November 30th, 1996)
Again, yay! This episode opens with the He’s So Funky song!
Unfortunately, the song is so great that it proves to be too powerful for the band’s amp, which explodes on stage. It’s going to cost the Dreams a thousand dollars to get a new amp. Lorena offers to loan them the money, in return for the band making her co-manager with her boyfriend Sly. Sly is actually okay with the idea. “A lot of great couple have worked together,” he says, “Sonny and Cher …. Bonnie and Clyde….”
Sly and Lorena’s first task is to convince the head of the School Dance committee to hire the Dreams to play at the next school dance and….
WAIT A MINUTE! THE DREAMS GRADUATED LAST EPISODE! SCHOOL’S OVER!
Once again, when it came to maintaining continuity by showing the episodes in the proper order, NBC just didn’t care.
Anyway, to the surprise of no one, Lorena and Sly struggle to figure out how to work together and soon, the Dreams have absolutely no gigs! Jake tells them a story about two brothers who both became king and who had to learn how to rule together. This leads to a lengthy fantasy sequence in which everyone gets to wear Renaissance Faire costumes that cause the studio audience to go crazy with each entrance. Unfortunately, the story doesn’t do much good because, rather than learning to compromise, Sly and Lorena demand that the Dreams pick only one of them to be the manager.
To me, Lorena is the obvious choice because she has the best hair. Mark says that he can’t choose because “Sly and Lorena are both our friends.” Uhmm, Mark …. Sly is also your cousin. (This is one of those facts that the show often seemed to forget about.) Tiffani suggests that they let some old surfer dude make the selection. It’s kind of amazing that the Dreams have stayed together as long as they have because none of them appear to be that smart.
Anyway, the old surfer names Lorena as manager and then says that, since he did her a favor, she should do him a favor and have the Dreams play his party for free. Lorena says that’s not a fair arrangement and then Sly jumps up and says it’s not a fair arrangement and the old surfer explains that it was all a trick to make them realize how much they loved the band and he rules that they should both be co-managers. I’m glad that worked out!
This was a silly episode but I enjoyed it. Sly and Lorena are a fun couple and there was a funny B-plot in which Jake tried to rewire Lorena’s house in order to make the new amp work. Jay Anthony Franke was always at his best when the show gave him a chance to balance Jake’s innate coolness with Jake’s general incompetence.
Next week, we have the final two episodes! I’m going to miss the Dreams.
Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Saturdays, I will be reviewing California Dreams, which ran on NBC from 1992 to 1996. The entire show is currently streaming on YouTube!
This week, Sam gets cast on the world’s number one TV show and Lorena and Sly finally get together!
Episode 5.10 “Babewatch”
(Dir by Patrick Maloney, originally aired on November 9th, 1996)
Babewatch has come to Pacific Coast High School!
Babewatch, we’re told, is the world’s most popular television show. It’s all about attractive people running on the beach and defusing bombs. Hmmmmm, I wonder what show this is based on. All of the Dreams are really excited about the prospect of being on the show! Mark, Sly, and Lorena get lessons from Tiffani on how to be believable as surfers. Meanwhile, Tony performs “Next Big Thing” (a.k.a. He’s So Funky!) for the Babewatch producers, hoping that they’ll give him a role on the episode. However, the producers are far more impressed with Sam. I guess they really liked the way she shouted, “He’s so funky!” during the song.
Tony freaks out over the prospect of Sam having to kiss the star of the show but he needn’t worry. Sam rejects the TV star’s advances and says that she loves only Tony. Personally, I’m not sure if she made the right choice. Tony is a nice guy but he’s just a drummer in a garage band that has an out-of-date sound. This other guy is the star of Babewatch!
This was a pretty standard episode, one that felt a bit more like a Saved By The Bell story than an episode of California Dreams. But any episode that features “He’s so funky!” is worth watching and rewatching.
Episode 5.11 “Love Letters”
(Dir by Don Barnhart, originally aired on November 16th, 1996)
Graduation is approaching and the Dreams are thinking about the things that they regret having never done. (They’re only 17. Just wait until they hit 30!)
Sam and Tony regret that they didn’t enter a dance marathon.
Mark regrets that he never stood up to the coach that’s always making him run extra laps.
Tiffani regrets being rude to a boy who wouldn’t stop asking her out.
Jake regrets not playing the bagpipes.
Lorena regrets …. nothing. Good for her!
And Sly regrets never telling Lorena how he feels about her.
So, they all decide to do something about those regrets. Jake learns to play the bagpipes. Tiffani apologizes to her former admirer and quickly comes to regret it as he goes out of his way to remind her of why she was rude in the first place. Sam and Tony dance everywhere and look adorable while doing it. And Sly starts sending Lorena unsigned love notes. Lorena falls in love with her secret admirer but Sly worries that she’ll still hate him even if he reveals the truth.
However, when another guy tells Lorena that he’s the one who sent the notes, Sly realizes he has to tell her the truth. Unfortunately, Lorena doesn’t believe him. However, when the other guy can’t think of anything impressive to say about Jake’s bagpipe performance, Lorena realizes that Sly was telling the truth. The episode ends with them sharing their first kiss and the audience going wild. Yay!
This episode is great, largely because it’s the one where Sly and Lorena finally realize that they belong together. They may both be greedy and self-centered but they do love one another and care about their friends. They’re as perfect a match as Sam and Tony. I have no regrets about loving this episode.
Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Saturdays, I will be reviewing California Dreams, which ran on NBC from 1992 to 1996. The entire show is currently streaming on YouTube!
It’s prom time at PCHS! But first….
Episode 5.8 “Letters From Woo”
(Dir by Don Barnhart, originally aired on October 25, 1996)
The band is supposed to practice but Sam says it will have to wait because she’s making a “video letter” for her uncle back in Hong Kong. She and the members of the Dreams discuss all of the wacky adventures that they’ve had and …. oh, it’s a clip show!
I’ll never forget that time I said, “Let’s move on….”
Episode 5.9 “Senior Prom”
(Dir by Patrick Maloney, originally aired on November 2nd, 1996)
Poor Mark!
Seriously, Mark Winkle was the nicest member of the California Dreams and yet he always seemed to be the one who ended up getting screwed over. Consider what happens in this episode:
PCHS has prom fever! Tony & Sam and Jake & Tiffani are running for Prom King and Queen but Mark is more concerned about getting a date with Erica. He’s had a crush on Erica since forever but he’s too shy to talk to her. When he finally does work up the courage to ask her, she says yes. Yay! But, on the day of the prom, she dumps him and tells him that she’s going to the prom with her ex-boyfriend, Dave.
Unfortunately, his friends can’t be there for him because they’re competing like crazy to be named King and Queen. Lorena and Sly don’t help matters by making a bet on who is going to win. Lorena supports Jake and Tiffani because she thinks that they have more class than Sam and Tony. Sly supports Sam and Tony because he thinks they have more of a populist appeal than Jake and Tiffani. Mark, poor dateless Mark, is trapped in the middle.
(Myself, I’m just wondering how a biker and a surfer would have less populist appeal than a wealthy exchange student. For that matter, since when have Jake and Tiffani had any class at all? One of the reasons why Lorena and Jake broke up was because Jake was way too crude for Lorena’s tastes.)
To make matters even worse, Sly has booked the Dreams to play a prom at a junior high on the same day as the high school prom. Everyone tells Sly that it’s a terrible idea but then again, everyone could also use the money. Unfortunately, the gig is a bust because one the amps blows up on stage. Then, while the Dreams are trying to get back for their own prom, their van breaks down in the middle of nowhere! As the Dreams try to flag down a ride, word comes over the radio that the PCHS Prom King and Queen are …. ERICA AND HER DATE, DAVE!
The leads to even more fighting until Mark yells at everyone for being selfish and makes them see the errors of their way. The Dreams, now reunited in love and friendship, have their own prom on the side of the road. Sly dances with Lorena. Tony dances with Sam. Jake dances with Tiff. And Mark …. well, he gets to play guitar. Mark may have saved the band but he still has to spend the prom alone. POOR MARK!
Seriously, there was a lot I liked about this episode. The cast’s chemistry was on fire. Everyone looked good in their prom outfits. But, at the end of the episode, you couldn’t help but feel that Mark really got screwed over.
Next week, Sam is cast on a show called Babewatch! I wonder what that’s based on….
Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Saturdays, I will be reviewing California Dreams, which ran on NBC from 1992 to 1996. The entire show is currently streaming on YouTube!
This week, we finally meet Sly’s father!
Episode 5.6 “Reel Teens”
(Dir by Patrick Maloney, originally aired on October 12th, 1996)
Reel Teens, a reality show, follows around Jake and the California Dreams for a week and reports on how they handle stress. Since this episode is from the 90s, the entire episode is shot in the style of the Real World, with skewed camera angles, colorful title cards, and random use of black-and-white. Though Jake assures the viewing audience that “Jake Sommers doesn’t do stress,” it turns out that he actually has a lot of stress. Jake has to fix Tiffani’s car. He has to write a song by Friday. He has to turn in his term paper and, for his home economics class, he has to sew a wedding dress.
I enjoyed this episode. It was actually a pretty clever satire of 90s-style reality television. Plus. Jake’s wedding dress was actually really nice. Good for him!
Episode 5.7 “Father Knows Bets”
(Dir by Patrick Maloney, originally aired on October 19th, 1996)
After five seasons, we finally get to meet Sly’s father! To be honest, I was expecting him to be some sort of greasy, used car salesman type of guy. I was thinking of maybe the TNBC version of Frank Reynolds from It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia. Instead, it turns out that he’s a high-powered businessman who had apparently never been a part of Sly’s life. In fact, his father is so neglectful that all of Sly’s bad and obnoxious behavior suddenly makes perfect sense.
However, in this episode, Sly finally goes too far when he develops a gambling addiction. Sly wins his first few bets and then he loses big. And, since Sly made the mistake of putting the band’s equipment up as a collateral, the Dreams lose big too. Sly sells his car in order to pay back the band but, by this point, Jake has already called Sly’s father and told him what’s going on. Sly and his father finally have a heart-to-heart talk outside of Sharky’s and you know what? It’s actually extremely touching. By the end of this show, Michael Cade had developed into a very good actor and he proves it in this episode.
Meanwhile, all of the school is wondering who will be given the Himalaya Award, which honors the most unique student. Tony is on the committee and he whispers to everyone that the winner will be Jake. However, it turns out that the winner is Tony and the rest of the committee lied to him because they knew Tony couldn’t keep a secret. “I can keep a secret!” Tony says, in front of all the people who he previously told Jake was going to win.
Hey, it made me laugh!
This was a good episode. if you need proof of just how much better California Dreams was than the other Peter Engel-produced sitcoms of the 90s, compare this episode to the Saved By The Bell episode were Zack Morris talked to his Dad or the City Guys episode where Chris found out his parents were getting divorced.
Coming up next week, a clip show and a senior prom!
Welcome to Retro Television Reviews, a feature where we review some of our favorite and least favorite shows of the past! On Saturdays, I will be reviewing California Dreams, which ran on NBC from 1992 to 1996. The entire show is currently streaming on YouTube!
This week, Jake’s Dad gets a job and Sam wins an election!
Episode 5.4 “Mop n’ Pop”
(Dir by Patrick Maloney, originally aired on September 28th, 1996)
With graduation approaching and everyone feeling restless, the senior class of PCHS have all gotten caught up in the newest game, Ba-Boominator! Basically, it’s a game of elimination, where everyone carries a phallic-looking Ba-Boom gun and they shoot silly string at one another. The goal is to be the last one untouched by the milky, white string that spurts out of the end of the gun.
Needless to say, it’s a rather messy game. Fortunately, the school has a new janitor who is very understanding and doesn’t have any problem cleaning up after the students. Unfortunately, that janitor also happens to be Jake’s Dad. Jake’s Dad was an airplane mechanic but, after getting laid off from his job, he had to take whatever he could find and he ended up as a janitor. Jake is not particularly happy about it.
His friends are supportive about it, except for Sly who makes one too many janitor jokes and ends up getting punched in the face by Jake. Sly ends up with a black eyes and Jack’s Dad ends up quitting his job because he realizes how much it embarrasses Jake. At first, Jake is happy but after Sly yells at Jake and tells him that he should be happy just to have a father who cares about him (which is something Sly does not have), Jake realizes that he’s been a jerk.
This episode was a bit of a change-of-pace, if just because it featured Jake learning a lesson as opposed to teaching one. It was also another strong fifth season episode, highlighting just how much the cast had grown as actors over the course of the show.
Finally, the Ba-Boominator competition is won by Sam and Tony, who both decide that their love is more important than winning any game. Awwwwww!
Episode 5.5 “Diss Honored”
(Dir by Patrick Maloney, originally aired on October 5th, 1996)
Samantha has been elected President of the Honors Society! Everyone’s totally excited, even though Sly says that it’s a stupid office that nobody really cares about. In this case, I tend to agree with Sly but, apparently, it really is a big deal in the world of California Dreams. Suddenly, Sam has a lot of extra responsibilities and she can’t spend as much time with Tony. Tony fears that he’s going to lose her! To be honest, if their relationship can’t survive Sam holding a ceremonial post for a few months, maybe there are bigger issues at play.
Tony decides that he has to do get into the Honors Society so he cheats on his midterm. Unfortunately, Sam’s rival and the former president of the Society, Harvey, figures out what Tony did and publicly challenges him to some sort of weird Honors Society duel. At first, Tony lies but then he comes clean and all of his friends act like a bunch of jerks and shun him.
(Because, seriously, no one in the entire history of the world has ever cheated on a high school midterm, right?)
The main highlight of this episode was Tony being haunted by two spirits, an evil spirit that looked like Sly and a good spirit that looked like Tiff. It was a bit silly but William James Jones, Michael Cade, and Kelly Packard really threw themselves into their roles. In particular, this episode probably features Jones’s best work on California Dreams.
And feat not! Tony comes clean to Sam and everything works out in the end.
Next week: Jake appears on a reality show and we finally meet Sly’s father!
Through the Shattered Lens 