Posts

#58: Season 2, Episode 9 - "Love and Basketball"

Image
Donnie is coaching The Dingoes – a pretty hopeless elementary school basketball team. Louis ends up becoming Donnie’s assistant coach after accidentally getting through to the kids in a way Donnie couldn’t. He lets it go to his head as usual and completely takes over. Elsewhere, Ren and Bobby become “official” and she starts wearing his letterman jacket. The only problem is that he’s too nervous to kiss, and awkwardly high fives her instead. The episode opens with Donnie coaching The Dingoes. By the end of the first sequence, you get the sense that these kids have no idea what they’re doing. One is eating a jelly donut while he plays. And another, Carlos, refuses to accept that they’re playing basketball and acts like they’re playing soccer (i.e. playing using his feet, knees, and head). I can’t. There’s no way in hell any of these children would make it onto a school basketball team by trying out… But, maybe elementary school is just extra PC like that. Ya know, letting anyone
Post a Comment
Read more

#59: Season 1, Episode 5 - "All About Yvette"

Image
We’ve finally made it out of the 60s to #59! I actually feel like I’m making some progress here, lol. This is the first Season 1 episode to make it into the countdown! Yay! But, it’s probably one of the most generic, cheesy episodes of the entire series. This one is ripe with Late 90s/early 2000s Disney Channel writing and production. It’s such a specific type of vibe. I can’t even explain it. Ren has a placeholder best friend, Charlotte, for only two episodes at the start of the series. Here, the two of them are in charge of decorating the school’s 80s-themed dance. But, when Charlotte’s old BFF Yvette visits from Topeka, she starts monopolizing Charlotte’s time. Ren gets super jealous and feels like a third wheel. This is honestly pretty relatable, though. For the subplot, Louis and Tawny babysit Twitty’s 3-year-old brother. This episode opens with a scene the above image is from. Ren and Charlotte are acting overly “BFF-y” and peppy. They’re on their way to the school gym,
Post a Comment
Read more

#60: Season 2, Episode 20 - "Tight End In Traction"

Image
Donnie makes a “celebrity” guest visit back to Lawrence Jr. High to be enshrined in the Wombat Hall of Fame. Louis starts to feel extra inadequate, so he rigs Donnie’s pommel horse with the motor from a mechanical bull. While demonstrating one of his winning gymnastic routines, Donnie goes flying off the pommel horse and gets a back injury that could cost him his college football scholarship. For this episode’s B-plot, Beans plays pranks on Ren.
Post a Comment
Read more

#61: Season 3, Episode 12 - "The King Sloppy"

Image
When a duchess named Lady Jane comes to visit Sacramento as a foreign exchange student, the Stevens take her in for the week. Ren promises to show her all that America has to offer! Which by Ren-standards, is code for a boring as all hell historical tour of the city. Meanwhile, our main plot follows Louis and Twitty. They’re on a mission to chow down a freaking giant burger called The King Sloppy. If you’re able to eat the entire thing in 30 minutes, you get it for free –  and  your picture on the restaurants’ wall of fame. So, they concoct a scheme which includes a character “Mike Hegeman” who they both dress up as, hoping to get away with taking sneaky turns eating the burger. Spoiler: They don’t.
Post a Comment
Read more

#62: Season 3, Episode 4 - "Your Toast"

Image
Ren starts working with Ruby at the mall food court at this place called Your Toast, where the only food they serve is… toast. (Which is actually not that weird and reminds me of real life, New England based restaurant  Cheeseboy ! Up until recently, their gimmick was only selling grilled cheese.) Their boss, Mr. Squirelli, is running the place like a dictatorship though. Sooo, that’s not cool. For Louis’ subplot, he gets a drumming instructor! (Which is unfortunately the only part of this episode actually worth talking about. Sorry, Ren!) Just to clarify: I weigh both the main plot and the subplot of an episode when determining an appropriate rank for it. Even though Louis’ subplot is pretty strong, Ren’s main plot overshadows that for me and I can’t help but think of this episode as “the toast one I don’t like.”
Post a Comment
Read more

#63: Season 3, Episode 19 - "Model Principal"

Image
If there’s one thing all of my lower-ranked, least-strong episodes have in common, it’s the strange lack of any stand out quotable dialogue or laughs. Not only that, certain episodes feel “off” to me. Specifically in Season 3. As if the show lost it’s touch towards the end or something. It’s hard to explain. But, a handful of episodes in the 3rd season make me feel like I’m watching an entirely different, surreal, and warped version of the show. In this episode, Louis and Twitty get Principal Wexler to quit his job and pursue a career as a model after anonymously submitting some photos of him to an agency. This leaves Vice Principal Landau in charge. (Who we’ve never seen or heard of before.) This was Louis’ goal, because he wants school to be one big party and Landau is a total pushover. Everything  is  one big party, until Landau actually steps up and goes to pretty sadistic extremes to restore order. Elsewhere, Donnie needs Beans’ help to win a giant teddy bear for some random gir
Post a Comment
Read more

#64: Season 2, Episode 22 - "Gutter Queen"

Image
I don’t even know what to say about this one. Louis is my favorite character, so I’m usually not too crazy about certain Ren-centric plots. Sometimes, Louis’ subplot will be enough to save the episode… But, unfortunately, neither plot does enough for me here. This episode is just kinda… There. Not to mention, somewhat forgettable. Ren organizes a one-time, “Mother/Daughter Bowl-O-Rama fundraiser” to raise money for the school. After participating in it with her mom, Ren becomes embarrassed because Eileen was slightly obnoxious and bowled straight gutter balls all night. But Eileen had a blast and thought they were a big hit, so she signs them up for a weekly Mother/Daughter bowling league. Ren’s not too happy. So.. What’s Louis’ subplot, you ask? He hires a butler named Chives for a week, with money he won from a stinky feet competition. Yeah. “Master Stevens is present” Chives says in a posh British accent during roll call while he makes Louis a frappé and the fancy, rich s
Post a Comment
Read more