Retro Television Review: One World 3.5 “One of Our Own” and 3.6 “Crushed”

Posted on December 16, 2022 by Lisa Marie Bowman

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.

Retro Television Review: One World 3.3 “The Two Year Itch” and 3.4 “The Race Car”

Posted on December 9, 2022 by Lisa Marie Bowman

The Cast of One World

This week, Jane makes a new friend and Cray gets a new car! That’s life when you’re living in one world.

Episode 3.3 “The Two Year Itch”

(Directed by Mary Lou Belli, originally aired on October 7th, 2000)

Early on in this episode, Sui’s purse is stolen.

“My life was in that purse!” Sui says.

“You mean like your money and your ID card?” Marci says.

“No, I mean my gum!”

This is a joke format that One World used quite frequently and it always felt incredibly awkward. It’s certainly not a reflection of how real people talk. Perhaps that’s understandable, given that this is a TNBC show. But One World was also meant to be edgy and realistic, a step away from the silliness of Saved By The Bell. The show’s combination of corny jokes and real world issues was strange at best and cringey at worst.

As for the rest of this episode, it follows Jane as she tracks down Jessie, the runaway who stole Sui’s purse. It turns out that Jessie is a homeless teenager who is struggling to survive, just as Jane once was. Jessie has an attitude, just like Jane once did. Jane decides to take Jessie home with her. Jane arranges for Jessie to crash in the hippie van that the family refurbished last season but Jane also goes out of her way to try to keep the Blakes from discovering that Jessie is there. Why? Because this is a stupid show.

Anyway, the Blake kids see Jane sneaking around and keeping secrets and they decide that she must be on drugs. An attempted intervention leads to the Blakes discovering that Jessie has been living in the van. Jessie runs away but later, she decides to go to social services and “enter the system” so she can find a family like Jane’s. It’s a good thing that the American foster system is known for being efficient and well-managed.

In the B-plot, Cray is selected to appear in an orange juice commercial. Cray becomes totally focused on getting an agent and pursuing a show biz career. Dave asks Cray why he’s behaving like this and asks, “Why can’t you just rob a liquor store like other child actors?” In all fairness, Brandon Baker is actually kind of funny as he lets fame go to his head. But again, he gets tripped up by One World‘s dumb joke structure. When he finds out that he’s being replaced as the spokesman for the orange juice company, we get this gem:

“You are being replaced.”

“By a big star?”

“By JoJo the Wonderchimp.”

Seriously …. So. Cringey.

Episode 3.4 “The Race Car”

(Directed by Mary Lou Belli, originally aired on October 14th, 2000)

The Warehouse, Miami’s “hottest under-21 club,” is holding a contest. Whoever can keep their hand on a car for the longest amount of time wins it! Cray wins the car, despite the fact that Marci is assistant manager of the Warehouse and Cray should have been disqualified for being a relative. Since Cray is only 13, he needs to find someone to drive him around all the time. St. Neal refuses to do it. Ben can’t do it because his license is suspended because he keeps parking in handicap spots. (The audience laughs, even though it’s really not funny.)

Jane agrees to drive Cray around but Jane also leaves the keys in the car. When Neal and Ben decide to take the car for a joyride, they get approached by a cop who demands to know if they own the car. When Neal attempts to explain that the car belongs to his “little brother,” the cop accuses Neal of being a gang member and arrests him. When Ben attempts to explain that Neal is not in a gang, he gets arrested as well.

While Neal and Ben languish in jail, Sui and Marci get ultracompetitive over a tennis game and opening up a jar of pickles. Naturally, Sui is the ultimate winner because Sui is the coolest character ever.

During this episode, Karen mentioned several times that she was pregnant. This was a plot development that I has forgotten and, from the amount of times that it was mentioned during this episode, I’m guessing the writers had only recently remembered it as well.

The episode ends with Neal telling off the racist cop while also defending good cops and making it clear that the bad cop was just an aberration, which is the type of ending that would get this show slammed by the AV Club today. Back in 2000, though, the audience loved it.

Retro Television Review: One World 3.1 “Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner” and 3.2 “Push Comes To Shove”

Posted on December 2, 2022 by Lisa Marie Bowman

The Cast of One World

It’s time for the third and final season of One World!

Episode 3.1 “Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner”

(Directed by Mary Lou Belli, originally aired on September 23rd, 2000)

At the end of season 2 of One World, Neal and Jane were both facing an uncertain future. Having been caught cheating on the SAT, they had been banned from retaking the test and they were both going to have to figure out a way to get into a good college with no SAT score. It was a pretty dark situation. Neal even said that it was now going to take him a little bit longer to achieve his dreams. I was curious to see how the show would handle this situation in season 3.

The first episode of season 3 handled the developments of season 2 in much the same way that most TNBC shows handled any sort of unexpected drama. They ignored it. Over the course of the first episode of season 3, no mention was made of the SAT or college. Neal is apparently still in high school (though he was a senior last season) and he’s got the highest GPA of anyone in his class. Once again, his future is bright! Jane, meanwhile, is no longer talking about college but she does now have a really awful spiky hairstyle. Seriously, I want slap whoever it was who decided to dye her hair that color of yellow. It totally washes out all of her features.

As for Ben, Cray, Sui, and Marci …. well, they’re pretty much the same. Marci is still materialistic. Cray is still dorky. Ben is still dumb, And Sui is still way too cool for this show.

The first episode featured a guest turn from James Avery, playing Mr. Richard, the father of Neal’s girlfriend, Kate. (Yes, there is a joke about how he “looks like the guy from Fresh Prince.”) Mr, Richard is a successful and wealthy attorney and a Harvard graduate. When Neal mentions that he used to be in a gang, Mr. Richard forbids Kate (Tasha Taylor) from dating Neal. Neal confronts Mr. Richard and accuses him of being prejudiced. (“Ohhhhhh!” the audience says.) Mr. Richard tells Neal to watch his mouth. (“Ahhhhh!” the audience responds.)

Later, Kate sneaks into the Blake home and tells Neal that she’s willing to defy her father but Neal says that he won’t go against her father’s wishes because he still has the same integrity that caused him to get banned from taking the SAT. (No, Neal doesn’t bring up the SAT. That’s just me wondering what happened to that whole storyline.) Mr. Richard is moved by Neal’s integrity and decides that he’s okay with his daughter dating a former gang member who was will basically never be able to get into a good college.

On the one hand, Neal has a point about giving people a second chance and judging people by their actions and not their past. On the other hand, Mr. Richard is played by James Avery, who was a far better actor than the material deserved. The character is written to just be a snob but Avery instead turns him into a father who sincerely cares about his daughter. So, despite the show’s intentions, Mr. Richard actually comes across as being more sympathetic than either his flighty daughter or the somewhat self-righteous Neal.

Meanwhile, Marci buys a bunch of clothes online but discovers that they were stolen. The most interesting thing about this storyline is that everyone is shocked to discover that you can buy things online. I guess that’s 2000 for you!

Episode 3.2 “Push Comes to Shove”

(Directed by Mary Lou Belli, originally aired on September 30, 2000)

Cray has a bully! Earl (Joshua Boyd) goes from demanding the Cray bring him a sandwich to demanding that Cray bring him money. Jane counsels Cray to beat Earl up. (Has she not seen Cray? Cray’s not beating anyone up.) St. Neal suggests that Cray should turn the other cheek and remember that violence solves nothing. Neal, however, turns out to be a huge hypocrite because, when he talks to Earl, he ends up getting into a fight with him. Neal beats up Earl (off-screen, of course) but he then has an ethical crisis over having violated his principles. Good Lord, Neal’s annoying.

Meanwhile, Jane is dating Bradley Covington, the scion of the richest family in town. Bradley asks out Jane despite her terrible hair and the fact that the supercool Sui was in the same room. Bradley takes Jane to a country club and we get a badly acted scene in which Jane stands up to Bradley’s snooty cousin. That whole subplot didn’t really go anywhere.

Well, that’s not a great start to season 3. Hopefully, next week will be a bit better!

Retro Television Review: One World 2.12 “A Cheating Heart” and 2.13 “Coming of Age”

Posted on November 25, 2022 by Lisa Marie Bowman

The Cast of One World

This week, the second season of One World comes to an end! Will we all still be living in one world once it’s over?

Episode 2.12 “A Cheating Heart”

(Directed by Mary Lou Belli, originally aired on December 4th, 1999)

Finally, Sui gets a storyline!

When Marci sets up a charity date auction at Miami’s “hottest under-21 club,” The Warehouse, Sui is purchased by a guy named Scott (Jason Strickland) and …. ugh, this is cringey already. Anyway, Scott turns out to be kind of dorky and Sui doesn’t really want to date him but Scott decides that he’s totally in love with her and insists that she is actually in love with him too. Scott even befriends Dave so that he can hang out in the Blake House with Sui. Needless to say, Scott’s behavior is stalkerish and more than a little disturbing but the show plays it for laughs. Ugh, poor Sui.

Meanwhile, Ben is purchased by a woman with whom he has little in common and Cray is purchased by an old woman who needs him to do some yard work. Wait a minute …. the Warehouse had an auction in which they sold someone to do manual labor for free? This is seriously icky.

Meanwhile, Jane has suddenly decided that she wants to go to college but, after 12 years of goofing off, she knows that there is no way she’s going to do well on the SAT. Since St. Neal is a genius, he tries to tutor her. Jane suggests just cheating instead but Neal is like, “No! Cheating is wrong!” (He may be right but, on the other hand, cheating is the only way I passed Algebra.) However, when they take the test, Neal realizes that Jane is struggling and he allows her to copy his answers. Good for you, Neal! Your sister deserves a future.

Uh-oh! The SAT proctor noticed what they were doing and, as a result, their tests are thrown out and they’re both told that they will never be allowed to retake the SAT. Jane confesses to cheating but lies and says that Neal had nothing to do with it. Neal announces that he will not lie and will instead accept his punishment. St. Neal says that he’s not going to give up on getting into college, even if it’s going to take him longer now. St. Neal also asks to be allowed to see what his score would have been.

“What did we get!?” Jane asks him.

Neal replies, “Let’s just say that mom and dad would have been very proud of us …. IF WE HADN’T CHEATED!”

And that’s how the episode ends! Seriously, what a dark world!

Anyway, my main impression of this episode is that Neal is a complete chump. After spending two seasons working hard and trying to make something of himself and talking about how important it was to him to go to an Ivy League college, Neal threw it all away for someone who probably would have ended up dropping out of college anyways. Call me a cynic but I doubt this sort of thing would happen in real life.

Episode 2.13 “Coming of Age”

(Directed by Mary Lou Belli, originally aired on January 1st, 2000)

According to the imdb trivia page, this episode was originally supposed to air on September 25, 1999 but it was pushed back to January 1st. I guess that’s why no one mentions the fact that both Jane and Neal have thrown away their futures. This also means that, originally, the plan for the second season of One World was for it to end with Neal and Jane getting busted for cheating. That would have been an incredibly depressing way to end the season.

The delayed air date explains why, in this episode, Cray is noticeably shorter than he was in the previous episode, his voice is noticeably higher, and his hair is a lot longer. In fact, the episode opens with Cray’s birthday party and Cray announcing that he is now a teenager and he’s ready to start dating. Jane and Ben give Cray a lot of silly dating advice. It’s dumb. Maybe if Ben and Jane had done a better job, Cray wouldn’t have gotten caught up with that crazy marijuana girl.

Meanwhile, Karen gets a job as a waitress at the Warehouse and the kids are forced to finally appreciate everything that she does for them. It took two seasons but Karen finally gets to call out all of her spoiled adoptive children. Good for her!

Anyway, this was an episode that in no way felt appropriate for a season finale. Regardless, season two is over! Next week, we start the third and final season of One World.

Retro Television Reviews: One World 2.10 “Tough Love” and 2.11 “Band on the Run”

Posted on November 18, 2022 by Lisa Marie Bowman

The Cast of One World

This is the place where our dream live forever!

Episode 2.10 “Tough Love”

(Directed by Mary Lou Belli, originally aired on November 20th, 1999)

Cray finally gets an episode of his very own and, unfortunately, it’s also the show’s token anti-marijuana episode,

When Meagan (Amanda Fuller, years before playing the eldest daughter on Last Man Standing) invites Cray to a party, Cray agrees. When Meagan offers Cray a joint, Cray initially refuses but then finally agrees to take a hit. Since this is a TNBC show, Cray automatically ends up paranoid and hungry. He goes home. He demands food from St. Neal and Jane. He tells them to stop watching him. Neal and Jane immediately figure out that he’s been messing with the weed with roots in Hell.

“When you’re high, you’re not in control!” St. Neal tells Cray, “Look at you! Just one night and you’re already a paranoid, munchy-head fool!”

“And whatever you do,” Jane adds, “don’t watch the new Love Boat!”

“Because I smoked pot and could totally freak out?” Cray bizarrely replies.

“No, it’s just a really lame show.”

So, already, the show has revealed that it knows very little about the realities of smoking weed. Very few people get stoned the first time that they smoke. Even those who do don’t end up acting like Cray. As I listened to him list all of the people who he felt were plotting against him, I found myself wondering what Meagan’s weed was laced with.

Later, Meagan asks Cray to be her boyfriend. Cray says yes but is shocked to discover that Meagan is still smoking weed! When the police catch Cray holding Meagan’s joint, he gets stuck with both community service and anti-drug classes. After the rest of the Blake family decides that “Meagan has a problem,” Cray tells Meagan’s parents. Meagan get sent to rehab. Yes, that’s right. Meagan’s parents find out that she smokes weed and they send her to DRUG REHAB!

Before leaving for rehab, Meagan tells Cray that she hates him. Jane, however, assures Cray that, someday, Meagan will appreciate what he did for her. Don’t count on it, Cray.

Meanwhile, Marci accidentally put the house for sale online. An English couple tried to buy but, in the end, the Blakes decided that they couldn’t move. I’m glad that worked out!

Anyway, every TNBC show had to do at least one episode where someone smoked weed and then decided never to do it again. One World gets some credit for having both St. Neal and Jane admit to having smoked in the past as well. (Seriously, I never bought that Zach Morris had never seen a joint until Johnny Dakota came to Bayside.) But, ultimately, this episode was too preachy and unrealistic to work. One gets the feeling that the writers were probably stoned and amusing themselves when they wrote it.

Let’s move on.

Episode 2.11 “Band on the Run”

(Directed by Mary Lou Belli, originally aired on November 27th, 1999)

Because this episode features a guest appearance and two songs from the Norweigian pop duo, M2M, this is one of the episodes of One World that is not available on Tubi. However, it is available on YouTube, though the scenes with M2M singing have been muted. Who is M2M? Remember that annoying Don’t Say You Love Me Song? They’re the ones who did that.

Anyway, in this episode, Ben gets fired from his singing gig at Miami’s “hottest under-21 club,” The Warehouse. He’s replaced by M2M. (Huh? Why would a then-hot Norwegian band end up playing at The Warehouse in Miami?) Humiliated, Ben gets a job delivering chicken (and yes, he has to wear a big chicken suit) and trying to reinvent himself as a rapper. Eventually, Ben starts singing boring songs about his feelings and he gets his gig back. Yay, I guess. As for M2M, they’re last seen going on a date with Cray, who I assume has kicked his marijuana addiction.

In the B-plot, Sui thinks her boyfriend is cheating on her and this somehow leads to Jane joining the football team. It’s dumb and I don’t want to talk about it. Sui’s the coolest character on the show and it bugs me that it’s been a few episodes since she had a decent storyline. Hopefully, that’ll change next week!

Retro Television Review: One World 2.8 “Treasure of the Sierra Lotto” and 2.9 “A Walk On The Side”

Posted on November 11, 2022 by Lisa Marie Bowman

The Cast of One World

Are we still living in One World? Let’s find out….

Episode 2.8 “Treasure of the Sierra Lotto”

(dir by Mary Lou Belli, originally aired on November 6th, 1999)

After the Blake kids pool their resources and buy a lottery ticket, they agree that, if they win, they’ll give the money to the poor. Guess what happens? They don’t win the big jackpot but they do win $50,000! Suddenly, no one other than Jane feels like giving the money to the poor. Jane gets so frustrated with everyone’s greed that she announces that she doesn’t want any of the money and….

Uhmmm, when did Jane become an activist? Seriously, Jane has spent a season and a half being self-centered and greedy but suddenly, she’s obsessed with giving money to charity. The only person who is willing to stand with Jane is St. Neal, who refused to contribute any money to the lottery pool to begin with. So, why exactly is he even allowed to have an opinion?

(At least Neal has been annoyingly self-righteous since the first episode. Jane apparently developed an entirely new personality from out of nowhere.)

While all of this stupidity is going on, Dave is offered a contract to pitch in Japan! Will Dave abandon his chance to make a career comeback for his annoying foster children? Of course he will! What a chump. Maybe if Dave had spent a few months in Japan and made some money, his adopted children wouldn’t have to play the lottery just to have enough money to eat. Ever think about that, Dave!?

Anyway, Jane steals the lottery ticket and uses the money to start a free lunch program at the “hottest under-21 club in Miami,” The Warehouse! It’s amazing that it only took Jane a day start a free lunch program and she was somehow able to do it all without any other members of the family noticing. (Marci is assistant manager at the Warehouse so you would think someone would have mentioned it to her.) Anyway, the Blakes forgive Jane for stealing the money. St. Neal looks around the Warehouse says, “This soup kitchen looks a little understaffed.” Everyone pitches in to help and…

God, I hated this sanctimonious, painfully unrealistic episode. If you give a bunch of teenagers $50,000, there’s a lot that is going to happen but none of it is going to involve opening up a soup kitchen. Let’s move on.

Episode 2.9 “A Walk On The Wild Side”

(dir by Mary Lou Belli, originally aired on November 13th, 1999)

Jane’s old friend from the streets, Lori (Joanna Canton), shows up and stays with the Blakes for a night. Lori tells Jane that her foster family is totally lame and Sui, Marci, and Cray prove her right by convincing themselves that St. Neal is actually a serial killer known as the “Miami Mangler.”

Eventually, Lori tries to convince Jane to rob The Warehouse but, when Jane says that she can’t steal from the place that employs her family, Lori accuses Jane of being a sell-out. Jane makes plans to run away from home but Ben talks her out of it. Meanwhile, Neal is revealed to not be the Miami Mangler but instead to be an aspiring magician. Neal does a really simple magic trick and the studio audience goes crazy.

This was a weird episode. The whole thing about Jane being tempted to “walk on a wild side” seemed like it was taken from an entirely different episode from all the stuff about the Blakes thinking that Neal was a murderer. Jane and Lori broke into The Warehouse after it closed. A scene later, Neal invited Marci, Sui, and Cray to come see him at the Warehouse, again after it closed. Why is this family always hanging out at The Warehouse after it closes? It all made little sense. Jane should have gone to Chicago with Lori.

Retro Television Review: One World 2.6 “Cyrano De Bengerac” and 2.7 “It’s All Greek To Me”

Posted on November 4, 2022 by Lisa Marie Bowman

The Cast of One World

Uptown, I see a lot of brothers and sisters living on the streets….

Well, not really. But I can agree that we’re living in one world….

Episode 2.6 “Cyrano de Bengerac”

(Directed by Mary Lou Belli, originally aired on October 23rd, 1999)

Good God, this was so painful!

Ben wants to date Roxanne (Ashley Yegan) but Roxane is into poetry and plays and she can basically speak in coherent sentences. Ben, meanwhile, is Ben. Actually, I’ve noticed that Ben’s level of intelligence and maturity tends to change from episode-to-episode, depending on the needs of the story. In this episode, Ben was required to be an absolute idiot.

Knowing that Neal is smart, Ben recruits his brother to tell him what he needs to say to win over Roxanne. Neal agrees, on the condition that Ben read the play Cyrano de Bergerac. This leads to the exact same scenario that showed up at least once in every single TNBC series. Ben puts in an earpiece and goes to a play with Roxanne. Neal sits a few rows away from them and tells Ben what to say. Unfortunately, the earpiece starts to pick up other signals and Ben dumbly repeats everything that he hears, even the stuff that makes no sense and which is obviously not being sent to him by Neal. Roxanne is still impressed enough that, even after she notices the earpiece, she’s still willing to dump Ben so that she can go out with Neal. Sorry, Ben! At first, Neal isn’t willing to betray his brother but then Ben reads the play and tells Neal to go for it.

Meanwhile, Dave tries to bond with his adopted daughters by taking them all camping. Of course, it’s a disaster because Marci and Sui don’t like sleeping in dirt and Jane enjoys starting to trouble. Since I’m not really into the whole camping thing, I could relate to their horror of having to sleep outside. That said, the main message here appeared to be that Dave is an idiot and his daughters, who are all approaching adulthood, are thoroughly incapable of taking care of themselves. Perhaps it’s time for someone to call social services again.

Anyway, as I said at the start, this was a painful episode in which everyone was required to be even dumber than usual. Let’s move on.

Episode 2.7 “Its All Geek To Me”

(Directed by Mary Lou Belli, originally aired on October 30th, 1999)

Oddly enough, this episode was not included on Tubi. I had to go to YouTube to watch it. I was hoping that maybe this would be a controversial episode that was pulled from syndication because someone made an offensive joke or something like that. Instead, this episode was One World at its most jejune.

Sui is failing history and running the risk of getting kicked off the basketball team. (Wait — she plays basketball now?) Neal arranges for her to be tutored by Billy (Michael Thomas Dunn). Billy is kind of nerdy but sweet and when he asks Sui to go to the Dave Matthews Band concert (90s alert!), Sui agrees. But then everyone gives Sui a hard time about “dating a geek” so she lies to get out of it. Didn’t the same thing happen to Zach Morris when an overweight girl bought him at a date auction? Why was everyone on TNBC so shallow?

Anyway, Sui learns the error of her ways and she and Billy share a kiss with the entire football team watching. “Wooooo!’ the audience exclaims.

Sui learned an important lesson about peer pressure and Billy will probably never be seen again.

Retro Television Review: One World 2.4 “The Tangled Web” and 2.5 “Playing the Field”

Posted on October 28, 2022 by Lisa Marie Bowman

The Cast of One World

One world, one world …. but will those brothers and sisters uptown ever stop living on the streets….

One World 2.4 “The Tangled Web”

(Directed by Mary Lou Belli, originally aired on October 9th, 1999)

Every TNBC show featured at least one episode about waiting in line for concert tickets. (On Saved By The Bell, it was all about getting U2 concerts at the mall.) Every TNBC show would also feature at least one or two episodes about sneaking out of the house late at night. Apparently, that was almost as big a problem in the 90s as teenage gambling. One World combined these two storylines by having Jane and Sui sneak out of the house to get concert tickets.

Meanwhile, at The Warehouse (a.k.a., Miami’s Hottest Under-21 Club), Ben wants to date the new waitress, Gina. Marci warns that Gina has just come out of a bad relationship and is very fragile. “She needs a certain type of man,” Marci says, “and that man is not you!”

“Awwwwww!’ the audience replies.

Anyway, Sui and Jane get busted by the cops for violating curfew. A social worker is sent to the house to determine whether or not the Blakes are adequate foster parents. For some reason, Sui and Jane decide that it’s a good idea to hire actors to pretend to be their parents. (You may remember Zach doing the same thing when Mr. Belding wanted to see his father.)

Meanwhile, Ben dates Gina but he tries to condition himself so that he won’t try to kiss her. He does this by having Neal and Cray administer electric shocks to him while he watches Baywatch….

Especially when compared to the first season’s episodes, it’s all a bit too cartoonish for its own good. Far too often, TNBC shows featured problems that could have easily been solved by the people on the show not acting like a bunch of idiots. This is one of those episodes. Let’s move on.

One World 2.5 “Playing the Field”

(Directed by Mary Lou Belli, originally aired on October 16th, 1999)

“No more rules for anyone!” Dave Blake announces, trying to teach his children why the house rules are important. Soon, the house descends into chaos.

Even more importantly, the coach of a rival school is sending Sui gifts in an effort to bribe her into switching schools! Isn’t that illegal? Sui also gets a new boyfriend but it turns out that it’s all a part of the plot to get her to transfer. Boooo! What an evil school.

Watching this episode, I found myself kind of wishing that I had played soccer in high school. Getting gifts from other coaches seems like it would be fun!

Anyway, this was a cool episode because it was a Sui episode but I do have to admit that I couldn’t stop cringing at the sight of that progressively messier house. We’re all living in one world. Keep it clean!

Retro Television Reviews: One World 2.2 “Flushed With Love” and 2.3 “How Neal Got His Groove Back”

Posted on October 21, 2022 by Lisa Marie Bowman

The Cast of One World

One world, we’re living in one world….

Episode 2.2 “Flushed With Love”

(Directed by Mary Lou Belli, originally aired on September 18th, 1999)

“I love men who work with their hands,” Marci says, “Plumbers, sculptors, hitchhikers….”

Yes, hitchhikers are notoriously sexy and cool.

Marci is saying this because she and Sui are competing to see who can get a date with the totally hot plumber who has shown up to fix the house’s pipes. There’s no water coming through the pipes. Earlier, that interrupted Ben’s shower and he was forced to come down to the kitchen while wearing a towel. “Whoooooo!” the audience responded.

While Marci and Sui compete for the plumber’s attention, Cray, Neal, and Ben try to fix the van that their father has just given them. The van is …. well, it’s frightening. It has shag carpeting. “Chick Mobile” is painted on the back of it. It features a beaded hippie curtain between the driver’s seat and the back of the van. Does it have a strobe light? It really looks like it should have a strobe light. Is that van a’rocking?

Marci ends up getting the date with the plumber, who says that he likes the way that Marci’s eyes light up whenever “you talk about your childhood trauma.” My eyes do the same thing! Woo hoo! Sui freaks out over her “younger” sister dating an old guy (there’s only a year difference between them) and the plumber does turn out to be a bit too aggressive. Marci says that she hates her sister but, fortunately, things work out in the end.

Anyway, the van stuff was kind of silly and a little creepy but the Marci/Sui storyline reminded me of my relationship with my sisters and Alisa Reyes and Michelle Krusiec did a good job of portraying Marci and Sui’s complicated feelings towards each other. So, this episode gets a solid B.

Episode 2.3 “How Neal Got His Groove Back”

(Directed by Mary Lou Belli, originally aired on October 2nd, 1999)

This episode is all about having a job.

Neal, the smartest kid in the house, quits high school so he can work with a tech millionaire who is obviously based on Bill Gates but who is, for some reason, headquartered in Miami instead of Silicon Valley. Unfortunately, Neal discovers that he doesn’t like working 24 hours a day and he misses school so he quits his job. The audience applauds, little knowing that, in just a few years, Silicon Valley would start to make millionaires and billionaires out of all sorts of dropouts.

Meanwhile, Sui gets a job playing with Ben’s band but it turns out that they just want her to stand on stage and look cute. Sui is initially annoyed that she won’t be allowed to sing but eventually, she realizes that it’s just as much fun to make money for doing nothing. It’s a good lesson.

At the start of this episode, it’s revealed that Mr. and Mrs. Blake use report cards to determine which one of their kids will get good food and which one will have to settle for whatever’s left. That’s kind of messed up. Some people are just better test-takers than others.

This episode gets a C for failing to predict the tech boom.

Retro Television Review: One World 1.13 “Love Is A Many Splinted Thing” and 2.1 “Love and Foster Kids Aren’t Always Blind”

Posted on October 14, 2022 by Lisa Marie Bowman

The Cast of One World

This week, the first season of One World ends with a new couple and the second season begins with a shocking break-up. Let’s dive right into it …. because we’re living in one world….

Episode 1.13 “Love is a Many Splintered Thing”

(Directed by Chuck Vinson, originally aired on December 12th, 1998)

As the first season comes to a close, Ben and Jane finally go on their first date together. Unfortunately, because they are both foster kids, they’re not allowed to live under the same roof if they’re dating. Ben is willing to move out but Jane doesn’t want to be responsible for breaking up the Blake family. At first, they decide to set aside their feelings for the good of the family but then they decide, “Eh, who cares?” And good for them! Nothing should stand in the way of true love.

Meanwhile, Sui tries out for the Olympic soccer team and …. doesn’t make it. But she gets a pep talk from an older player, who assures Sui that she is the greatest young soccer player in the world and that she’s destined to be a big star. While discussing knee injuries, the older player says that she’s been to rehab “more times than Robert Downey, Jr.” Ouch! Take that, future Iron Man!

Finally, Neal gets the phone number of a girl named — hey! — Lisa but then he loses it when Cray and Marci accidentally donate his pants to charity. When he sees someone who might be wearing his pants, he enlists Cray to pick the man’s pockets. Cray ends up getting arrested as a result. Are these kids ever going to get off probation?

Anyway, as far as season finales go, this one wasn’t bad. The dialogue got a little bit heavy-handed, as often tended to happen whenever TNBC tried to get dramatic. But, after 12 episodes, the cast definitely felt like a real family and the chemistry between everyone was believable. Jane and Ben seems like they’ll be a great couple!

Or will they? Viewers in 1998 would have to wait an entire spring and summer to find out! However, readers today can find out right now.

Episode 2.1 “Love and Foster Kids Aren’t Always Blind”

(Directed by Mary Lou Belli, originally aired on September 11th, 1999)

Two months after he and Jane became a couple, Ben is no longer living with the Blakes. He’s moved into an apartment so trashy that it floods whenever it rains. However, he and Jane are now a couple. Unfortunately, Jane is no longer in love with Ben. It turns out that, according to Jane, “trust and love aren’t the same thing.” After Jane and Ben break up, Ben can safely move back into the house. Yay!

But wait, the Blakes have adopted another teenager, Eddie. And Eddie’s blind! Surely they’re not going to kick out a blind kid. Oh wait, it turns out that Eddie’s just faking to get special treatment. Once Neal figures out that Eddie can see, it becomes perfectly acceptable to kick Eddie out and back into the system. Ben moves back in and, like magic, the show is back to where it all started. Well, that was convenient….

In fact, it’s all a bit too convenient and considering what a good job the show did bringing Ben and Jane together, it’s hard not to be disappointed with how cavalierly it broke them up. Seriously, if Jane and Ben can’t make it, what hope is there for the rest of the world!?

We’ll find out next week.